I haven't seen Bones yet -- so you know my choice, but I couldn't tell you if it was the right one.

This was a very peaceful episode of TAR. No shakeups of any kind. I guess that's what happens when nobody gets hopelessly lost or stuck at a challenge. Poor nerds!

I REALLY want to play kayak polo! What fun.

Thanks Sumi. Tivo was set to record TAR, so I guess I'll stick with that. Especially since I already read the TAR whitefont.

I did NOT get a call from my lost brother tonight.

TAR: My favorite moment was Phil dancing to the music between bathmat arrivies!

Waiting to get involved when it is a "society" that needs to change inside...A philosophy like that doesn't bear out when we look at what sort of outside action we feel is both lawful and Right, where mini-societies are concerned.

Saying that the change has to start from the ground up doesn't equal "waiting to get involved." It means supporting groups that help jumpstart that change through education, as opposed to believing that it can be imposed from the outside.

A family's relationship to a society isn't equivalent to one society's relationship to another. The parallel doesn't work. And even if it did, it's not a functional solution. If you're opposed to the practice, presumably you want to do whatever will eliminate it in the fastest, most effective way. Due to ongoing difficulties with human nature, force is not the fastest, most effective way.

Female genital mutilation is already illegal in many of the countries where it is common practice. That has not prevented it from remaining common practice.

Quester -- I totally meant to mention that moment too.

Doesn't it seem like Phil is having fun this season?

What Strega said. I think there's a difference between doing all one can to create cultural change -- such as people outside the U.S. speaking out and engaging in trade sanctions because we still engage in capital punishment--and forcing a country to make cultural change--such as England coming over and entering our prisons and taking them over to stop us. I am outraged and sickened by FGM, but I don't think force is the way to stop it. The question becomes where you draw the line. A majority of Americans believe arranged marriages are wrong. Do we then invade India to end this custom?

Sometimes force is neccessary, like WWII and the genocide in Rwanda, but if we actively engaged in trying to work inside other cultures instead of imposing our will from the ouside with no understanding of the conseuences, we might effect greater and more lasting change in the world.

I just need to share.

The Beauty of 80's MTV.

Bastard!