Did Santa forget that purse you wanted?

This is pretty cool:

Basura Bags are made by a women’s co-op in the Philippines. They use recycled foil juice packs that are purchased through a network of local school children. Indestructible by nature, these foil packs could clog landfills for thousands of years.

Another great movie to recommend ...

... is Good Night, and Good Luck. Exceedingly timely, well-crafted, and compelling, with an impeccable lead actor. Directed by George Clooney!

Side note: my buddy Hawkeye and I joked that cigarette smoke should be listed in the credits among the actors in this film; it was like a supporting character. After the movie, I felt I should almost go have a shower to wash away the cigarette smell I was sure would be in my hair!

Nonetheless, an excellent film - two very enthusiastic thumbs up!!!

Some people just should not be allowed to use technology

From the IT publication Baseline Monthly:

Megachurches like the 25,000-member World Changers of Atlanta can teach corporations the true meaning of customer relationship management. How? They can look at their data and identify members, determine who could be volunteering more, contribute how much in donations, and track who's becoming discontent and may abandon ship.

Entire article here.

Ugh.

Run, don't walk to see "Walk the Line"

Tonight my friend Brendon and I went to see the movie, "Walk the Line", which is about country music stars Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash. I'm not a country music fan, and I don't know if the portrayals of the characters and the facts is accurate, but I really enjoyed this film. The story and acting were compelling, and Joachim Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon are highly gifted actors. To my surprise, they can also sing! (They sounded great - perhaps even better than the real John and June.) I would definitely recommend this film.

The real reason MP3s are so popular ...

... is because the shrink-wrap is so stupidly difficult to get off brand-new CDs.

Yup.

E.

My latest addiction

Several months ago my sister-in-law introduced me to herbed flatbreads served with tabooli/tabouleh/however you spell it. It is deadly. I just gorge myself on this stuff. I particularly like Santa Fe's Rosemary Sesame Flatbread. It's salty and crisp and crunchy and flavourful and I should buy it by the case!

Why Abortion Must Remain Legal

Excellent blog by Maha. Summary: making abortion illegal won't stop abortions, but protect women from unsafe basement abortions that sometimes cause serious health complications or even death.

About one-third of women undergoing unsafe abortions experience serious complications, but fewer than half of these women receive hospital treatment.

Of the estimated 600,000 annual pregnancy-related deaths worldwide, about 13% (or 78,000) are related to complications of unsafe abortion.

78,000 women!!!! That's insane!!! That's roughly the number of people who were killed in the first week after the Pakistani earthquake. That is approximately 173 jetliners of women killed each year!

I know that there are intelligent, compassionate people who believe that abortion is murder and desperately want it to be outlawed everywhere and in North America in particular. There are also those (to whom I cannot give the benefit of the doubt concerning their intelligence and compassion) who also want to make birth control - even condoms! - illegal. To these people, I say: what alternatives do you think many of these people have? What alternatives are YOU providing them?

That's my rant for today.

Eclecta