um. Do I email her back and say 'please respect the fact that ...' or just ignore it?

I vote...well, actually my vote is not condusive to the continuation of her services as a babysitter, so scratch that. But, yeah - I'm all for opening her eyes to the startling discovery that not all good, normal, family-loving people are Christian. I mean, I'd also want to try to make her read the bleeding books before setting out to burn them, but it's not my battle.

You could email her back and point out that Kidman is not only defending the film and her role in it but is a devout Catholic, but I suspect the kind of person who'd send that email would also deduct points for Papistry.

And, damn, what an unpleasantness. Especially since this is someone Iris actually likes and is happy with, which ought to be worth its weight in gold. Sending an email like that in the first place, let alone cc'ing people she doesn't know that well and whose beliefs she can't begin to guess at, speaks poorly for (at least some aspects of) her judgment.

I want to post happy 'versary things too, but those belong in a separate post.

I vote...well, actually my vote is not condusive to the continuation of her services as a babysitter, so scratch that.

My first thought exactly.

But rejection won't help her to learn anything about tolerance...so yeah...scratch that.

Samhain is the end of the Celtic year, time to close up the old year and prepare for winter. According to legend, it's a time when the veil between the living and the dead thins. Its celebration has included leaving out food for the dead, sacred bonfires and predictions for the future. Many of its traditions got rolled into Halloween and, as part of the omnivorous Christian co-opting of existing religions, All Saints' Day.

The people who celebrate it could do a much better job than I'm doing.

Samhain is the end of the Celtic year

And a really annoying punk band.

The people who celebrate it could do a much better job than I'm doing.

I'm one of those and I think you did quite well there.

It is a sacred day that constitutes the last spoke on the wheel of the year. (Yule is considered the 'new' year.)

It's a time for feasting and communing with ancestors...calling for guidance and assistance through the dark months.

Pronounced, by many, as Sow-in.

Oatmeal:

I'm sure I pronounce Samhain wrong, even though I know the correct way to pronounce it -- I can't get my mouth to make the proper sounds. (I pronounce it, more or less, as "saw-ayn.")

I think most Americans pronounce it phonetically (SAM-hayne) until corrected.

Happy Birthday, Daniel!

Happy Anniversary, House Of Reason!!!

(Sorry, Pete, but Jilli's got the job suck right now so she gets the compensatory just-for-her color scheme)

Happy b-day Daniel!!

Happy Anniversary, Jilli & Pete!!!

It took me a bit to figure out that it's probably not a coincidence that the House of Reason's anniversary is on Halloween....