Given to me the day I was born

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I’m a bit amused at how those NARAL Pro-Choice TV commercials are very careful to say, “It’s my body, given to me the day I was born.” Yup. Before that, it wasn’t really a body or a person, was it? Just an extraneous parasitic organ that could be excised like an appendix. (Answer here.)

The thought was weighing on my mind because I passed by the Planned Parenthood clinic last week, and a group of Catholic pro-life activists were gathered in front, praying the rosary, with plastic fetuses in their hands. They handed me a plastic rosary and a bunch of “How to Pray the Rosary” and Pro-Life pamphlets. I declined the Marian paraphernalia, of course, but happily took hold of the Pro-Life material.

Via the link from the previous post, here’s more Pro-Life material.

Okay… homosexuality, abortion… what other controversies can we stir up this early morning…

mod_rewrite and homosexual Christians

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Just doing some tweaking and cleaning in the background, and am also trying to figure out mod_rewrite and trailing slashes with the help of the ultimate mod_rewrite guide.

Via Doug, a letter from a gay Christian, and the response. Personally, I am perfectly willing to embrace gay and lesbian church members as fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, saved by the Savior’s sacrifice and washed clean by the blood — but that doesn’t change that the Word of God calls homosexuality a sin, in Old and New Testaments alike.

Standing on the pulpit and denouncing homosexuals to the flames of hell is NOT the solution, however. Meaningful dialogue and loving counseling are called for, to minister to people who are just as much participants in the Body as are fellow believers of normal sexual orientation.

Doreen Fernandez

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Sad news.

Doreen Fernandez, English teacher, head of the Ateneo Communications Department, moderator of The GUIDON, Inquirer gourmet food and restaurants columnist, and mentor to Ateneans everywhere, died of pneumonia early this morning (Tuesday afternoon, Filipino time).

I was never Ma’am Doreen’s student, but I talked to her on several occasions in the Comm. Dept. in my college days, and she was a panelist at my thesis defense. A jolly and ebullient lady, and an inspiring teacher, she will be sorely missed.

Update: Larry Alcala, a great Filipino cartoonist, is lost to us as well.

Blogging is halted for the rest of the day.

Full Moon

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There’s a big beautiful full moon shining in through my window from above the US Capitol. I’d like to take a picture, but I’m pretty sure my camera will show it as a tiny white dot. Anyway, if you’re on this side of the world right now, go take a look to the upper Southeast. It’s real pretty-lookin’ and all.

IE5/Mac CSS workarounds

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IE5/Mac users, some feedback, please: how do indexes 4, 15, 17, 20, and 27 look? Any misaligned graphics? Is the navigation text still getting spaced wrongly? Thanks.

Mac/IE5 CSS problems

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I’ve gone through each blog layout with a fine-toothed comb on IE5/Mac to figure out where the CSS problems are. Expect Mac-friendly changes next week. A codesharing lab is also in the works, and I think I also need to redesign that portfolio. It’s starting to feel more than a bit campy.

In other news, I thank fellow PEXer MENJ for the link from this Freewebspace.net forum thread, though I’m slightly chagrined to hear Guitarnerd dismiss my layout scheme as “annoying.” For your info, I use a combination of PHP and CSS to achieve the layout randomization effect; XML has little to do with it, other than that I use an XML declaration at the beginning of each valid XHTML document as a matter of good form.

Sebsational and Krissy

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Nice to see Seb blogging again, with profound — and occasionally profane — reflections from the guy who first mused that dirt entering oysters turns into pearls, but when it enters people, it turns into boogers.

Now is also your chance to see what Krissy looks like. Aaaww! :)

Mount Vernon Bike Trail

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Today I did my usual weekend skate down 16th Street, past the White House, around the Washington Monument, and down the Reflecting Pool to Lincoln Memorial; but from there I deviated a bit and tried crossing the Arlington Memorial Bridge. That’s where I found something which I can’t believe I didn’t know about before: the Mount Vernon Trail.

I skated as far as the other end of National Airport before I decided to turn back. Fortunately there was a pedestrian underpass to the Airport terminal, from where I could take the Metro back to DC.

Someday I’ll have to try skating all the way. That sounds fun.

Too much espresso

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Starbucks put too much espresso in my Grande Iced Skim Mocha this morning, so that it tasted more like an Americano into which a few drops of milk had been accidentally spilled. As a result, I am feeling far more alive and vibrant than I should on a warm Sunday afternoon. Palpitate.