nykola.com | bothering people since 1981

(because there aren't enough hours in the day)

World Barista Championship: Reinforcing the fact that Americans can make a sport of anything, Seattle will host the biggest espresso competition of the year in April. One can only imagine the hyperactivity present at those things.

What Their Mommas Named Them: See a listing of the real names of hip hop and R&B artists. Did you know Foxy Brown (the rapper) was born "Inga Marchand?" Or that "Snoop Doggy Dogg" was born "Cordazer Calvin Broadus." Cordazer!!? Oh I could play with that one for months. Some of these folks have the country bumpkinest sounding names I've seen in a long time. But hey, I think real names are significant. If Oprah (or Ofra, depending on geography) can make her real name popular, anyone can.

Morality TV: Just when you thought they'd done every scenario possible via "reality tv," Fox surprises us again. Their new reality show, "Who Wants to Live Forever," as described by the network, is a show on which " everyday people are confronted with their morality, motivating them to make surprising and dramatic changes in their lifestyles." I must say, I am very curious to know what standard of morality we're talking here....people who smoke? people don't make their beds? This one should be uh, interesting. Let me know how it goes.

Colorado University Keeps Churchill but Dumps Christian: Professor Phil Mitchell, a twenty-year CU veteran has not been invited back and he feels it's for both political and religious reasons. Kevin McCullough takes issue with this. Smart, young freelancer, Nicole Russell discusses Churchill's dishonesty and and poor example for younger generations.

Race and Retirement: Old news, but I thought "The Snob" made some interesting points in his piece on "Economic Apartheid and Social Security." I have a luxury of prentending to ignore the whole SS debate. Too bad I can't.

Abortion as Hate Discrimination: Joe at the Evangelical Outpost discusses a piece of Maine legislation that would prohibit abortions on unborn children who posses the "homosexual gene." The bill's sponsor, a conservative state representative is clearly strategic about this. I think it's ridiculous.

Ok, so according to this bill it's cool to kill off hetero babies, retarded babies, and some of the babies in a multiple pregnancy, but we must draw the line at aborting children that will grow up to have strange sexual preferences. Ridiculous. But I really don't think that there is a homosexual gene, so no real worries there.

This is an astounding website which reveals the Black History of Roslyn, WA. As you know, Roslyn was the set used by the famous program "Northern Exposure." I suspect almost none of those who ever saw the show had any idea about the incredible black history which has taken place there. Perhaps you could give it some exposure, as this story needs to be told to many more people.

http://epl.eburg.com/Roslyn/openeyes.html

I often ask people I meet what their name means, because I too believe names are important. A name is supposed to speak to a person's character/destiny/attributes, so I marvel at given names and even the colorful (and sometimes informative) sobriquets people give themselves. My 'tag' was "Doc", which I quickly dropped when I became a licensed(!) minister because everyone called each other "Doc" (whether they had a doctorate or not), so it ceased to have meaning for me. I LOVE my name, because of the meaning. It reminds me of WHAT (not just who) I am EVERY time I hear it. By the way, what does Ambra mean? If that is too personal a question I apologize.

I think it's great to watch what happens when two PC ideals collide (as in the case of the ACT-UP/PETA wars some years back over animal testing of AIDS drugs).

I don't think Rep. Duprey's idea is ridiculous, but I do have a big problem with it to the extent that the "gay gene" theory has yet to be proven scientific fact. So maybe we'd better hold off on it until we get some hard proof.