I love the idea of a goddess circle with ita, for her goddess would kick ass.

Aww, Lee, next time you're up here, we'll have a goddess circle. I promise.

t /Not here

Let us pick Ishtar as our goddess, and get circling.

I spent the morning catching up on the Scandinavian news and I had to share an English translation of this article from yesterday's Aftenposten newspaper. I wonder if the Bush administration would support efforts like this to support America's declining rural areas?

F**k for the boondocks

Echoing the notorious 'Fuck for Forest' stunt that combined public sex and fundraising for the rain forest, an organization of rural youth are trying to find ways to raise the population in Norway's outlying districts.

The "Fuck for bygda (rural areas/boondocks)" campaign from the Norwegian young farmers league (NBU) is a humorous - yet serious - attempt to focus attention on the exodus from Norway's rural areas, NRK (Norwegian Broadcasting) reports.

Besides a declining birth rate Norway's outlying districts also see their residents moving to urban areas, and small local schools have begun to disappear.

Six years ago the residents of little Gloppen held a high-profile 'community reproduction effort' in a local gymnasium that embodies the spirit of "Fuck for bygda". The endeavor was a big success according to organizer Per Svein Reed, who told NRK that the school is now "nearly bursting" with kids.

Gloppen's snow-hole project was less of a hit. Gloppen businesses dug out cozy little caves in the mountainside snow and put out hundreds of torches to add to the romantic atmosphere. The effort did not result in a noticeable rise in the local population nine months later.

"Fuck for bygda" will encourage rural youth to get together and reproduce to help maintain their local societies.

F**k for the boondocks

Oh. Not an orgy with McGruder.

Carry on.

my thoughts exactly.

I sympathize with the whole our culture is disappearing thing, but overpopulation is a huge problem on a global scale - it makes my head hurt this stuff.

I know an appalling number of the writers who put together Atlanta Nights as Jim Mcdonald is a long-time friend of mine from my GEnie days. PublishAmerica is just this side of a scam, because it leads the people who publish with it to believe that it is a legitimate publisher and way to become $ucce$$ful. There are legitimate vanity presses out there who will give someone who wants to self-publish fair terms and a proofread text and a decently-bound product that normal bookstores will actually purchase if there is a market.

Heh.

"Gripping, squeezing, mashing, bashing, this book will give a man cramps and a woman a prostate. It delivers." — Vera Nazarian

Betsy, you can't just coast on ita's goddess. What does your goddess bring to the circle?

In my fantasy world, I am getting a week off and going to a warm island to do nothing but walk and read and eat and sleep.

I did this last year, and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT. It wasn't even a full week, but it was freaking fabulous, I tell you what.

Oh. Not an orgy with McGruder.

I don't think that McGruder was involved, but I was wondering about the nature of the " 'community reproduction effort' in a local gymnasium." Unfortunately, the newspaper's search engine goes back only three years so we'll never know.