It WAS a romantic weekend

Deb wants me to acknowledge to the world that she was ready AHEAD of time and we left when I got back from giving a lecture at Northwestern University at 3:25 p.m.

It was a nice weekend. Earthrider in Brodhead, Wisconsin was a great place to stay (see link below). We watched the Olympics in the evening, and the funny romantic comedy "Fever Pitch", which is about an obsessed Boston Red Sox fan.  I indulged my own obsession by biking up the Sugar River Trail to Swiss-themed New Glarus, where Deb and I ate sauerbraten at the New Glarus Hotel and walked around most of the town. I biked back, the the path wasn't frozen over any more and it was soft; I spent a few miles on the roads. This was good because I got a chance to get some hills in and see more territory.

Sunday we went back up to New Glarus to walk around again. We bought some local rhubarab wine, then headed home. I'm working on laundry and bills now and heading to the grocery in a bit, so I won't start the week behind on chores.

Biker Valentine Weekend Getaway

I was the high bidder at the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation auction for a weekend at Earth Rider Hotel and Bicycle Shop, in Brodhead, Wisconsin.  It's a small hotel, with all the suites named after multiple winners of the Tour de France. I'm staying in the Bernard Hinault suite, although it possible that Greg Lemond will want the room before I'm done with it (there's a cycling joke hidden in there).

The hotel is right at the start of the Sugar River Trail, which runs to Swiss-themed New Glarus. http://www.earthridercycling.com/

My wife doesn't cycle, so this is more likely to involve walking around sightseeing. Luckily it is off-season for the antique shops, since we have enough junk. Perhaps I can get a few miles in if I let her sleep in during the morning.

It will be good to get out of the routine a bit and get out of the city together.

Equal Opportunity Blasphemy

"Muslim protesters infuriated by cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad raised the diplomatic stakes last night as Iran's best-selling newspaper announced it would retaliate by running images satirising the Holocaust.

The decision by the rightwing Hamshari daily to launch an international competition to find the most suitable caricatures came as demonstrators hurled firebombs and stones at the Danish embassy in Tehran and the Iranian government imposed a formal trade ban on Danish imports. Last night mobs were attempting to storm the Danish compound."

From The Guardian Feb 7, 2005 http://www.guardian.co.uk/cartoonprotests/story/0,,1703925,00.html?gusrc=rss

Perhaps this is a good idea. Some tasteless cartoons from the other side might eventually trivialize the "free speech" part of the idea from the western side and provide a nonviolent outlet from the Muslim side.  A few salvos of cartoons and we'll be thinking cable TV farting contests will look dignified by comparison, but maybe there will be no fatalities. 

Fallujah: Glad I'm not there

I got little perspective lesson this week.

Periodically, my knee hurts. It hurts now. This problem originated in a pick-up football game in high school, when Dan gave me a cheap block in retaliation for something he thought I'd done earlier.

I haven't seen Dan for decades, but I think of him more often than I do most of my classmates. I don't think of him in a hostile way -- after all, we co-edited the school newspaper during and after this incident -- but I can't forget him.

He didn't make our reunion because he was preparing to go to Iraq at the START of the war. Now, I see from a posting he made on another alumni's obituary, he's STILL in Fallujah. Either he's on his second stint, or he's been there a long time.

Either way, I felt silly feeling sorry for myself with minor knee pain when he's in a combat zone.

Come back safe, Dan.

An Iconic Dispute

This week there is a huge furor over a Danish newspaper's publication of cartoon images of the prophet Mohammed. The editor of France-Soir has been fired for reprinting these. 

The story is all over the place, but I can't find the actual cartoons. They are probably somewhere out there on the web, but there are too many places to look.

I tried a Google image search of the term Mohammed, and got 75,000 hits. Most, not surprisingly, are photographs of men named Mohammed. There's this woman, whose last name is Mohammed and is in somewhat non-Islamic attire, although there's certainly a hint of "Arabian Nights"..

But there are a good number of drawings of the prophet himself. 

Does this mean there will be a holy image war? Is this just a case of these particular drawings generating an unusual response because of current tensions in the Muslim world? (Iraq, Hamas, Iran, Afghanistan -- just to name four trouble spots)  Will there be pressure on libraries in the west to purge themselves of images?

This is a particularly tough call because there are no images in Islam (which is clear from the average mosque) and western religions make heavy use of images/icons (clear from the average cathedral). So, culturally, we westerners are not even remotely attuned to the issue.

By following enough links, I did finally find the drawings, which are best described as editorial cartoons, including one "St. Peter at the Pearly Gates" type.  Suicide bombers arrive in heaven, only to be told "Stop! Stop! We're out of virgins!"  By western standards, nothing unusual. But then fundamentalist Muslims don't want to be westernized.

Running through my head as I write this, and oddly appropriate, is:

     I don't care if it rains or freezes,

     'long as I got my plastic Jesus

     Ridin' on the dashboard of my car.

 

     Goin' 90 I ain't scary

     'Cause I got the Virgin Mary

     Assuring me that I ain't goin' ta Hell.

 

8th grade Zen poetry

I am an 8th grade student

I have a very happy teacher

She teaches us poetry

BORING  

 

There is a principal i hate

he thinks every body is his frien

but nobodie likes him

he is very strict  

 

(courtesy of the teacher, my daughter Beth)

Possibly somebody else who got frustrated by the Bush presidency?

This was just a random news picture I picked to see if I could get a picture into the blog if I do the entry via AIM.  Unfortunately, I can't find it again to give proper photo credit.