it's like the eye of a duck

I've been following the Knoxville shooting case and it seems to get a bit more disturbing the more I read. One source suggests it was case of domestic violence, but most sources (go to Google News for lots of 'em) focus on the shooter's hatred of liberals (and the UU's are a very liberal denomination, with a long record of supporting civil rights, desegregation, GBLTQ rights, etc).

If this hatred is the cause then pecunium is rightly calling this horror terrorism (found over @ patgreene).

I want to say I'm totally knocked off my feet by this, but I'm somehow not. Perhaps because I'm not a Unitarian and don't know anyone who was at that church and isn't all that personal for me, but more likely because it's not surprising - with all the hateful rhetoric from the right wing media, some nutcase was bound to act on it sooner or later :(

Found over at Shakespeare's Sister: Women feel more pain than men. Evidently this is because we have more nerve receptors/cm².

I prefer to look on the bright side - perhaps we have a greater capacity to feel pleasure, too :) Might also explain why I'm such a sucker for massages!

( truth told, I'm not that familiar with this strip - how do I measure up, y'all? )

Just dropped some serious $ for school books and made a donation to the Red Cross. It was the least - and, I mean, the very least - that I could do. I should try and arrange to donate blood.

It's been a quiet week at work, so I admit I've been overdosing on Katrina coverage. What fascinates me more than the disaster itself is how people are reacting to it: on the one hand, there are reports of looting (and I mean real looting, not food/medicine/water), shooting, violence, and general chaos, then there are people all over the country making donations and even taking people in.

And I've concluded that the mess isn't just like 9/11. That happened all at once. The aftermath of the hurricane is going to be like a slow, bloody trainwreck going on for months :(

One good thing about this week - this morning someone heated up some cider in the office microwave, filling our cube farm with the wonderful scent of apples and cinnamon. The scent always gives me a warm, cuddly reminder of fall :)

I spent the day the same as most of the country -watching the WTC/Pentagon/Pittsburgh coverage. Its still very surreal, even thought watching the footage of those poor people still stuck in one of the towers, and leaning out of the windows really makes it very real and human.

I am reading the analysis, speculations and opinions of different writers on Salon. Most interesting is the speculation about just who did it, how they did it, and that whoever did it, they aren't taking credit (so far?), leaving you with the sick feeling that they committed these acts with no message or purpose, but just to kill as many American civilians as possible.

Talking heads on the various newscasts (BBC America's being the best, IMHO) are calling this "another Pearl Harbor".. I can see that comparison in the sheer scope of destruction, but at Pearl Harbor the only targets were military, not civilian. And the military, by virtue of being military, are better prepared and know that these types of dangerous situations are part and parcel of their jobs - civilians don't.

I am also rather cynical about the quality of national leadership - I'm not shy about pointing out how stupid and inexperienced Bush is in general, and in his speeches today it has shown. I suppose he has good reason to look scared; he'd be foolish not to be. I just wish he were competent. I know he doesn't make all the decisions and is surrounded by some intelligent, seasoned and clever people, but I am still not entirely reassured.

Work is definitely on tomorrow - stiff upper lip and all of that. Which I suppose is as it should be, and I seriously doubt that my office is in any way a serious target; we're not even on the main campus.

I'll be taking lunch hour to give blood. Given the nature of my workplace, they may even have a drive on site.

I guess I wasn't so speechless...

Damn.