Great piece on abuse of women in India, and the use of religious iconography to get the msg out: 'Abused Goddesses' Shows Shocking Images Of Hindu Deities For Campaign Against Domestic Violence In India (PHOTOS)

Hadrian's Wall

Nice intro article about Hadrian's Wall:

...Brought into being by decree of the Emperor Hadrian, during his tour of Britain in 120AD, the main purpose of the wall was to prevent the northern areas of the Roman province of Britannia from being over-run by Pictish tribes from the north, and also spasmodic sea-borne attacks by Danish and Norse raiding parties, who went ‘a-viking’ when the spring brought better sea conditions for their longboats.

Narmer Discovery

Huge discovery, possible early Narmer Pharaoh hieroglyphs discovered:

"...Based on the symbols of power and control in the carvings, Gatto and her colleagues believe the artwork came from the first part of Narmer's reign, before he unified both parts of Egypt...

Remember Julian II

On this date, June 26, 363 AD, Julian II died in battle. The Wikipedia has a pretty good entry on him. The best book I've read on Julian is "The Last Pagan: Julian the Apostate and the Death of the Ancient World. The author of the book has a great blog loaded with information on the emperors of Rome. He currently features some fascinating YouTube clips.

Goddess gets Award, thanx Bolivia!

Mother Earth To Be Given Rights Equal to Humans in new Bolivian Law

From TreeHugger:

...Bolivia is about to pass laws granting all of nature equal rights to human beings. The laws were first proposed after the World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth and show the deep differences in zeitgeist between Bolivia and...pretty much the rest of the planet...

TSA fires Wiccan

Wiccan TSA Agent Fired

Yikes! Once again, Xtains flexing their muscle:

...Smith claims that for over a year she found herself subject to school-yard bullying, and harassment based on her Wicca practices. However, her complaints to officials higher-up went unheeded.

Happy Birthday, Captn!

I first saw this version at CrooksandLiars, William Shatner turned 80 this Friday. But my friend at Toomanytribbles reminded me of this:


Happy Birthday Mr. Shatner. Thank you for a lifetime's worth of entertainment.

Daughter of Isis dies

Elizabeth Taylor, one of the last Hollywood icons, died today.

They are at it again

Ugh, Xtians trying to convert Wiccans:

"Whether spellwork is effective or not," writes Dodd, according to The Telegraph, "has no bearing on the psychological damage that can be done to a young person who is convinced that they have summoned the dead, or have performed a spell that has hurt or injured another."

Oh yeah, all us Wiccans are summoning the dead and casting evil spells! As the author claims to be an Ex-Wiccan, I'd like to know what tradition she is from, as it seems they did not practice Wicca. But what's really strange is the comment "Whether spellwork is effective or not...". That seems to harken back to the early days of Xtianity, where the Apologists did not discount--out of hand--the efficacy of spellwork or influence of the Gods.

Agora

I saw "Agora" this weekend, I received it as a gift. It is amazing,
riveting, and disturbing. And it's wonderful. For it's American release,
the anti-Xtain elements were toned down in the publicity. But anyone
viewing this movie could not avoid the conclusion that early Xtianity
was founded and popularized by a cult that would impress the t*liban.
Much of early Xtainity was strengthened by a diehard
anti-intellectualism, which lives on today in Creationist theme parks,
best selling end-of-times novels, and the demonization of scientists and
environmentalists who give their all in the defense of our planet.

This movie should be required viewing for anyone interested in Wicca and
Paganism. (Thanx GreenGhost, for giving me the DVD.)