Ennoia Khora

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:48:02 GMT

God created Arrakis to train the faithful.

Bart Ehrmann lecture tonight!

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 17:22:25 GMT

My wonderful controversy-stirring prof said he overheard some local pastors already getting their counterattack powerpoints ready on this one - it could be quite a rumble in the 'Burg tonight:

Wednesday, October 14 — 7pm
2150 Torgersen Hall
Hammond Lecture in Religious Ethics and Society
“Is the New Testament Forged? The Real-life Authors of the Christian Scriptures”
Prof. Bart Ehrmann
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Mead, round 2

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 14:14:47 GMT

The Apple Autumn Berry mead is bubbling away - all three jugs going strong!

I'm about to head out to look for more autumn berries - this may be the last weekend for them (not sure) as I've found several bushes over by my main tree that have already shriveled and when I did a final pick yesterday, there was a lot that had turned.

laugh of the day

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 18:51:26 GMT

Yep, that's classic Inhofe!!!!

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 19:46:32 GMT

"I don't have to read it, or know what's in it. I'm going to oppose it anyways."

-- Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), quoted by the Express-Star, on the health care reform bill.

Lammas bread recipe

Sat, 08 Aug 2009 03:07:45 GMT

2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of sea salt

Mix together

In another bowl, add 1/2 tablespoon vinegar to 1/4 a pint of buttermilk (this is approximate...I added a little more buttermilk ,too much, then had to correct with more flour.) 1/3 of a pint might be about right.

Mix in the buttermilk a bit at a time to the flour, stirring to moisten. Knead and correct dough until it is smooth and not too sticky (but not too stiff either.

Add a handful of golden raisins, chopped pecans, and a couple tablespoons of honey. Knead until smooth again, adding a little more flour if needed.

Shape into flat round and cut a cross on top. Bake at 350* for 35-40 minutes. Mine puffed up nicely - wasn't hard crumbly bannock at all. Rocks with some butter and sorgham.

"The Heart That I Believed Was Lost"

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 21:02:38 GMT

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 18:36:10 GMT

Changes to friends list

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 12:45:56 GMT

Because I mainly keep this journal for personal news/goings on & local or group-specific organizing, I've decided to scale my friends list back to just people that I know/have known in real-time. Nothing personal, and I wish those of you I've "met" online the best of luck in your work!

For those finding this journal for the first time, if you're in SWVA or the surrounding area, and interested in the topics on my profile, we have a "NRVmagick" list at yahoogroups for discussions/local events (when this hectic crew of adventurers can find the time!)

In case you haven't heard:

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 11:20:58 GMT

(From One Spirit:)

DON'T MISS....."We Shall Remain"
America as seen through the eyes of Native Americans
Beginning April 13, 2009 on PBS

"WE SHALL REMAIN tells the story, not from the point of view of the white people looking west, but of Native people looking east.", says executive producer Sharon Grimberg.

This long awaited five part mini series and multi media project will be airing on your local PBS station in April. The documentary is a product of a collaboration between both Native and non-Native filmmakers, historians, advisors and community leaders and is presented by "American Experience" in association with Native American Public Television. The series begins on Monday, April 13th with "After the Mayflower", followed on consecutive Monday's with "Tecumseh's Vision", "Trail of Tears", "Geronimo" with the final episode "Wounded Knee" airing on May 11, 2009.

The unprecedented multi-media coverage includes a nationwide community outreach campaign targeting television and radio stations, universities, museums, schools and libraries. We Shall Remain Online has an in-depth website with numerous educational resources and several hours of streaming video. Please take time to visit the website We Shall Remain and remember to share this information with your family and friends.

Hokies pushing for Appalachian CSAs in Dell Social Innovation Competition 2009

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 19:51:45 GMT

Annoucement from VT Sustainability list -

The Virginia Tech Sustainable Food Corps developed a proposal for the Dell Social Innovation Competition 2009. Our project is called "Healthy Families, Local Farms" and we encourage you to check out the website
http://www.dellsocialinnovationcompetition.com/apex/ideaList?cat=Food%2FPotable+Water&lsi=1&p=2

If you think our idea is worthwhile, please consider voting for it. You can vote for it by clicking on the "Promote" arrow to the left of the name. [NOTE - I had to search for Virginia Tech to find it]

100 submission will move on to the next round, but the top 25 most popular ideas will move on automatically. We are confident that our idea is good enough to move on without being in the top 25, but it wouldn't hurt to have a guarantee. :-)

*Voting deadline is 5pm CST, March 5.*

Fresh fruits and vegetables should not be a luxury.
Every family deserves food security.

In Appalachian Virginia, one in five families are already living below the poverty level. Difficult economic conditions make these and other families living on the economic margins particularly susceptible to hunger and food insecurity. Job losses and economic hardship virtually insures that providing balanced, nutritious meals – including fresh fruits and vegetables – will become more and more difficult for families.

We believe we can provide a viable, sustainable solution for providing the rural poor with locally produced fresh fruits and vegetables. The Virginia Tech Sustainable Food Corps will partner with SW Virginia Feeding America Food Bank and the Appalachian Sustainable Development (non-profit) to purchase and distribute Community Supported Agricultural (CSA) shares to local, rural families in need. While the popularity of CSA’s has increased significantly over the last decade, the participation has been primarily limited to those at the top of the income scale. It is time for local families to regain access to nutritious, local produce. Goals for supporting the local community are three-fold:

-    In purchasing CSA shares from local farmers, we will be putting money directly back into the local economy. We hope this program will help to re-establish small- scale farming as a viable, income producing endeavor within our community.
-    CSA’s shares will increase access to high quality, healthy foods for local families in need.
-    Virginia Tech will provide nutritional counseling and planning for these families to assist with any difficulties posed by learning to eat seasonally.

With this project, we hope to address poverty, food security, poor nutrition and health, facilitate durable community development, and to begin rebuild our local food system.

Heh

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:33:29 GMT

The Tesseract School.

Coar River Mountain Crew Needs Help

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 03:25:12 GMT

(Just got this notice this evening):

Please help save Coal River Mountain! Call Governor Manchin at 1-888-438-2731 and / or use our simple web form to e-mail the governor.

This morning five activists were arrested after locking down to an excavator on Coal River Mountain. They had giant banners that read "Save Coal River Mountain" and "Wind Mills NOT Toxic Spills." See the photos.

This afternoon, local residents, friends and allies from across Appalachia will gather to demonstrate against Massey Energy's preparation for blasting on Coal River Mountain. Massey's bulldozers have razed a huge mud pit and torn down trees on the mountain, and the first blasts permitted would be next to the world's largest toxic coal slurry impoundment.

That's right, not only is Massey planning to blow up an ideal site for a wind farm, but they will risk destabilizing a nine-billion-gallon toxic coal slurry dam.

Coal River Mountain is slated for a 6,600-acre mountaintop removal site, but local residents have developed plans for a wind farm there instead. The wind farm would provide over a million dollars more in tax revenue per year than the mountaintop removal site, and would provide jobs and clean energy forever. Citizens have been working to convince West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin to support their plan for their community, but they're running out of time.

That's why we need your help! You can join us by calling Gov. Manchin at 1-888-438-2731 and / or using our simple web form to email the governor. Tell him that West Virginia and the nation are ready for a clean energy future, and that he MUST Stop the Blasting! on Coal River Mountain. E-mails are great, but calls are better! http://www.coalriverwind.org/?page_id=119

Please support this effort by donating funds at: http://www.coalriverwind.org/?page_id=2

With warm regards,

The Coal River Mountain Wind Team

www.CoalRiverWind.org

Too much weekend....

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 04:00:04 GMT

Just dragging myself in from a lovely trip to State College, PA, and crashing...I got messages as I was driving in, but will have to catch up with everyone tomorrow!

Penn State would be my #2 choice for grad school...but it would be tough making it in with the non-arch undergrad, and it wouldn't do me as much good if I wanted to go the professional route. But it will make a good weekend getaway, and I am going to go talk to some more people to see if it's worth the time to send an application in there. Great town, beautiful drive up...lots of interesting places in between to explore.

Click to give for animal rescue

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:15:54 GMT

Each click on the purple "Click Here to Give - it's FREE" button at The Animal Rescue Site provides food and care for a rescued animal living in a shelter or sanctuary.

Today's Groove

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 22:48:01 GMT

Put your lights on

"God don't let me lose my nerve."

Notes

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 21:46:18 GMT

Stuff to ponder

And stuff to track down

My Web Gods. They love me.

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 20:58:48 GMT

Oh, little peeples. Here it is - the secret Zachary's Stuffed Pizza Recipe from my faaaavorite East Bay pizzeria.

If they are lying, I *will* know it.

A Must-watch, for many reasons....

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 19:49:11 GMT

From class today: Bill Moyers: Is God Green? Details the fight within the evangelical movement over environmental issues...even if you're not into watching that, there's some other important stuff in there:

Chapter 2 shows mountaintop removal up close and its effects...watch for the part on water quality alone.

Chapter 3 shows how Reagan converted the evangelicals to market religion and old footage of the developing political power of the religious right.

Go U Chi!

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 19:03:56 GMT

The Arete Initiative at the University of Chicago & the Defining Wisdom Research Initiative

Watch your surroundings when shopping...

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 21:32:37 GMT

A reminder to the females out there to stay aware of your environment when shopping, especially at the Roanoke malls. Valley View has had another incident...this time, a woman is reporting that she went into a women's bath room in/near Belks, had a bad feeling about the area being so deserted (she hadn't seen any salespeople on the floor, and the only other person around was a large man she passed going into the men's bathroom as she went into the women's.) She wisely listened to her intuition and went back out and started shopping, only to see the man she had passed come out of the men's and charge into the women's bathroom (not seeing her near the clothes racks). When he came out, he saw her and made straight for the mall exit. Security was alerted, but he was already gone and so likely is still out there. The manager of the store also said that since the cameras only scan areas for a few minutes at a time (to watch for theft), they didn't catch it on tape.

So, please ... keep your sense sharp, your eyes open, and don't let yourself get isolated in a vulnerable location. This would be a good time to make use of those over-eager salespeople and have them nearby when you're trying things on, and make sure that there's a good level of traffic around restrooms and in parking lots. Don't do major shopping alone (where you'd be carrying out many bags and not have your hands free.)

Guys, you be careful too - one of my instructors was once attacked while tending to business in the stall by a man who busted in the door and got several brutal punches to the face in thanks to the surprise before realizing that apparently he had the wrong guy/stall. Don't get caught with pants down....literally.

The way Black Friday has gone this year, I think that shopping heavily armed is not inappropriate.

Music recommendations

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 16:14:37 GMT

I'm craving some really good new Spanish guitar music -- acoustic stuff mainly. Anyone have recommendations? A friend turned me on to Rodrigo Y Gabriela the other night....I want more.

Milton Marathon in MN

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 14:15:35 GMT

Paradise Lost Marathon at St. Olaf's

All 12 books in 12 hours...they get serious admiration. Of course, who knows what they unleashed with their bungling of demonic names (do these academics never read Lovecraft?!!) but hey, it's Northfield, Minnesota...what other forms of excitement can they look forward to?

Uh oh.....

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 13:47:04 GMT

Big blizzard hits South Dakota

The OneSpirit crew sent an emergency update on conditions at Pine Ridge -- electricity is out, lines & poles down, going to be a couple days at least before power can be restored. They have people who will be taking food, water, fuel & needed meds around to stranded elders & families, and helping the Red Cross get to the outlying areas, but donations are needed for gas & wood, and can be made at their website .

....I need an audio optimism dose....

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 23:28:45 GMT

No more turning away....