Snorkeling in Denmark

A bit of what happened over the last few days while I was busy teaching, attending rehearsals and church meetings, and enjoying rainbows:

The latest about the Russian Olympics shows that the country has no idea what free speech and open debate are all about. The local Olympic head told the IOC to shut up about all that anti-gay stuff. In turn the IOC will tell athletes to behave themselves. Meaning: stay closeted and don't protest.



The National Organization for Marriage received $1 million to use for matching gifts. But they're having a hard time finding gifts for the match. It seems previous donors now see NOM as a waste of money.



The Grio (a part of MSNBC) has an article about Cory Booker refusing to confirm or deny he is gay as he campaigns for the US Senate seat for New Jersey (which I mentioned last week). He has turned the question into a discussion of why the gender of a politician's partner should matter. Soon, it will be impossible to slander someone by saying he is gay.



National Geographic has created a series of maps that would show what our world would look like if all of the ice on land melted. The seas would rise 216 feet. Florida and the Atlantic Coast would be gone, as would Denmark, northern Germany and lots of other places. But they figure it would take 5,000 years for all of the ice to melt while the average temperature rose from the current 58F to about 80F. Even with that long timeline, I think I'll stay here in Michigan (elevation 600). The link isn't to the National Geographic site because it seems you have to be a subscriber to see it all.



Apparently I missed a big event that took place in Washington while I was there at the end of August. 542 handbell ringers played the national anthem at a baseball game between the Nationals and Marlins. Then again, this event was less than two minutes and I would have had no interest in the game itself.