Photos from church

Here are some photos from the Sunday service I went to last week here in London. This church is so amazing... you really need to check them out.

Go here to see what it's all about.

Back to Church

This will come as a shock to my closest friends, but I've decided to give church a try again. So it was with great interest when fellow crewmembers invited me along to worship with them yesterday while on a layover in London. I was looking forward to getting back to my Christian roots and the uplifting feeling church can give you. And, I was hoping to pray for Britney Spears, too, as it seems the Devil himself has taken hold of her lately.

So I went to church and had a great time. I strongly encourage all my friends to check out this church, as I've never seen anything like it in the states. There was an amazing crowd of young people from all over the world, but mostly from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and America. They even had really good music there. Check out The Church's website, I think you'll see why I liked it so much. To read more about each Sunday's service, click here.

Dying To Come Out: The War on Gays in Iraq

I read a fascinating article yesterday in the current issue of GQ about gays in Iraq and the persecution they face. Life under Saddam wasn't all peachy for gays, however, being gay was not illegal under Saddam's rule. Now, angry, misguided men are on a witch hunt for gays, burning them alive in the streets of Baghdad. Read about one gay man's life in Iraq and his escape to the relative safety of the west here.

Am I in trouble?

I was going through a small pile of papers today and found a document that made my heart stop: a subpoena to appear in District Court in January. The problem? I didn't appear. Nope, forgot all about it until just this moment. Shit! Now what? I suppose since I haven't heard from them it was no big deal, but still. Makes me happy to know I'm leaving the country in a couple of hours. I was sent the subpoena two months in advance. How was I supposed to remember that? I do know when I called the office of the DA they told me to call a few days in advance of the court date to make sure I was still needed. I didn't do that either.

So why was I supposed to appear in court? I witnessed a pretty nasty accident in which the driver was drunk. Apparently he pled not guilty to the charges and the DA wanted me to testify on their behalf. The guy was clearly driving erratically... It was quite frightening to be driving near him. SpyC's mom and gma were with me at the time of the accident. SpyC's mom got out to help the victims and she said she could clearly smell alcohol on the driver's breath. Anyway, I will be anxious to call the DA on Wednesday to make sure I'm not in trouble, and I suppose turn myself in otherwise. Uh oh... Thank goodness I have prepaid lawyers!

Evolution

Did Dahmer kill Adam Walsh?

Interesting developments today in the decades old case of Adam Walsh, son of America's Most Wanted host John Walsh. Did Jeffrey Dahmer kill Adam? A new book suggests so, and an FBI agent working the case then says he wants it re-opened. If you like following trials, legal proceedings or shows like CSI, this will be interesting to you. Read more here.

What a joke

Have you heard about the brew ha ha over the "talking milkshake" Lite Brite in Boston? Apparently a woman called the MTA to report a suspicious device. When the MTA sent out its special oeprations team to investigate, they quickly determined the Lite Brite was a bomb. Several more "bombs" were located around the city, effectively bringing Boston to a standstill as police blew them up. It was only after they finished playing Commando with them that it was determined the Lite Brites were innocent signs.

I was in Belgium when the story broke. As I watched CNN International from my hotel room and the story unfolded I couldn't believe what ended up being the cause of such mass hysteria: A cartoon character giving the finger. What a joke! But not to the Boston police or Homeland Security. Public officials say the hoax was a bad publicity stunt that diverted attention and resources from real emergencies, and they vow to hold Turner Broadcasting accountable. Turner is the parent company of the Cartoon Network whose show "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" was behind the marketing campaign.

My take? Frickin' idiots! The city that is. The only ones who truly diverted attention and resources from real emergencies were the police themselves and the incomeptent people who determined the Lite Brite was a bomb. Why do I think that? The same marketing campaign went off without a hitch in nine other cities: New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle, Atlanta, Austin, San Francisco and Philadelphia. But not in Boston. Police officials felt it prudent to remind Bostonians and the nation that the city was the jumping off point for a bunch of hijackers on September 11, 2001. That's right, this has to be related to 9/11. Sounds like hysteria to me.

Now, two men hired by the marketing company to place the signs around the city are charged with placing a hoax and inciting hysteria. They face up to five years in prison. If anyone is to be charged with inciting panic, it should be the police. Their handling of the situation is what led to the whole fiasco in the first place. The fact these signs were placed in nine other major cities without incident is proof of that. And who said they were a hoax anyway? They weren't. They were signs developed as part of a marketing strategy for a show about a talking milkshake, a box of fries and a meatball. Apparently that's a recipe for disaster, or at least the making of a bomb.