Michael Jackson’s memorial cost LA $1.4 million

So says the mayor’s office.

No mention on how much mourners brought into the city, but Los Angeles is $530 million in the hole, and this is more than they have.

Should mourners pass a hat? The city is asking for donations, but hasn’t nearly recouped their expenses.

This little tot sez:

Jesus loves me-e-e-e-e-e-e.

Well, it would be awesome if it said “no women,” but still…

Is it a hopeful sign that this notice was taped to the wall of a Givenchy fashion show in Paris?

And thanks, Jezebel, as always, for the original link.

Uh. I have this problem?

It’s official — or it’s as official as it can be without having actually attended the closing, signed a buttload of papers, and handed over the keys to our house to the new owners.

We’re moving. And we can’t possibly transport all the crap we’ve accumulated over the 16-or-so years we’ve lived at our current address. One of us has enough boat equipment to equip a small navy, and he must pick and choose what comes along with us to our new and fabulous life. 

And one of us has books — boxes and boxes and boxes of them.

So that one — the book fiend – recently went through her collection and pulled the repeats and the I’ll-never-read-these-agains and filled up her kitchen table, which she has recorded here.

In regard to repeats, what kind of a life have I lived that I would need four (4) copies of “Steppenwolf,” (one of them in German), none of which I’ve actually read? (I believe I acquired the German version in college, and if memory serves, I used to display it prominently in my various beater cars so that my passengers would think me smart.)

Anywhoo. I’m donating these bad boys, the good, the bad, and the ugly. And I’m going to have to fill up the truck to do that.

Still. Don’t I look smart having all these books to share? Just please don’t ask me any details about any of them as I’ve either not-read them, or read them and forgot them.

Uganda outlaws female genital mutilation

More here and here and here.

Announcing the law, President Yoweri Museveni said:

God knew what he was doing when he created us. Do you think you are more intelligent than God? Are you the ones who made the woman the way she is? Can you even make an inch of that part you cut? If God did his engineering, who are you to destroy it?

”

Wish you were here.

 

Wish I was, too.

Got milk?

Evidently, Vitamin D plays a greater role in mental health than we might think.

Now THIS looks like leadership

Fifty United Methodist bishops have agreed to take a 4 percent cut in pay.

Said one UMC bishop:

None of us bishops are going to starve … but it is a good reminder that many people, many pastors, and many congregations are going through tough times.

And this is not a reflection of a decrease in church giving.

Are “marriage” and “masculinity” mutually exclusive?

Alex Wellen says no.

I have found that the men in my life think about marriage every bit as much as do the women in my life. They (the men) may not fantasize about the clothing they’ll wear, but then, the women in my life don’t fantasize about that stuff much, either.

I have vastly interesting friends, I think.

Could this be why certain members of my tribe oppose stem cell research?

While studying fertitility, some British scientists have created human sperm from embryonic stem cells.

The scientists insist the sperm will not be used for fertilization, but the experiment still led to one headline: Could Men Become Redundant?

Uh, no. Most likely not, but isn’t this the fear of people who are particularly dedicated to patriarchy? That not only will they lose power, but that they will be rendered redundant? It must be awful to live with that kind of (groundless) fear.