From CNN: Atheist Scout given a week to declare belief

"We've asked him to search his heart, to confer with family members, to give this great thought," Brad Farmer, the Scout executive of the Chief Seattle Council of the Boy Scouts, told The Sun of Bremerton.

"If he says he's an avowed atheist, he does not meet the standards of membership."

On membership applications, Boy Scouts and adult leaders must say they recognize some higher power, not necessarily religious. "Mother Nature would be acceptable," Farmer said.

I have an idea. Could it be... Satan?

While looking for Wieland Wagner pictures for my "Woyzeck" post, I came across this excellent Page Not Found error page at Frankfurt Opera.

My friends Emma and Lorelei (of Nerve fame) have just made their debut in the Guardian.

I find this comic vaguely compelling:

It's referring to this:

Maybe this Iranian cleric can start with my building?

I don't hate all dog owners, just most of the ones in my building.

Today's Doonesbury

... is TBOGG. He's consistently funny, whether he's skewering Andrew "shilling for big pharm" Sullivan, having a "Name the War" contest, or castigating President Bunnypants.

Fried Twinkie Fad Hits Arkansas

I love stories like this:

Grade tampering scandal hits Christian college

Gardner-Webb University has been embroiled in controversy ever since the school's president admitted he wrote a memo two years ago ordering a star basketball player's GPA to be calculated without an F he received for cheating -- in, of all things, a religion class.

Without the change, Carlos Webb would have been ineligible in 2000-01, the season Gardner-Webb won the National Christian College Athletic Association championship.

... and we all know how important Christian athletic leagues are in the grand scheme of life.

Why are there always teddy bears at things like this? I find it sort of creepy.

This bench is in front of the grocery store where James's brother shops.

Bob Crane -- of Hogans Heroes fame -- was a home pornographer. His son has a web site where you can get pictures, videos, etc., and he's rather obsessed with how hung his dad was -- to the point of publishing his dad's autopsy report to prove it.

I hate the gym. Hate it hate it hate it! I hate the blank-eyed pretty boys with bed-head who go over and lift their shirts to look at their abs after doing work on their arms. I hate the ones who wear clothes more appropriate for the Roxy. I hate looking around and feeling like I'm the only one in sight who has read something more challenging than HX in the last year.

So of course you're asking, "why go?" I started going about a year ago, after attending the funeral of a cousin. We shared the same immune system condition -- X-linked Agammaglobulinemia. He was about 10 years older than me, which was enough of a difference in terms of medical advances for his life to be much more fucked-up by it than mine is. I also think he fought having to be treated for it more than I did. His last few years weren't pretty, and if being in better shape meant it was less likely to happen for me that way, I thought I should try it.