Shadow Footprints

The first Gay Geek Dinner was held last night. I had an enjoyable time and got to meet new people. After a few late cancels and several no-shows we ended up with eight people in the end, which worked well for chatting together.

We met up at Mighty Mighty, with it's great ambience. Something I hadn't thought about was how strangers could meet each other in what eventually was a busy bar, but we managed. (Maybe that's what happened to the no-shows?)

The Google t-shirts, discounts cards for Moo, and Armageddon swag was well received.

When time came for dinner, i.e. a few people asked when were we eating, we moved on to Southern Cross. Food geeks would love the way steaks are served, on a sizzling hot stone.

One has to slice the steak up into small pieces to cook.

As we finished eating the live music that started playing wasn't to our tastes so wandered back to Mighty Mighty for an after dinner drink, losing three diners in the process.

The evening finished with hot chocolate at Ernesto, being waved at by friendly cops stopped at a red light.

All-in-all an enjoyable evening for the first Gay Geek Dinner, meeting people with similar interests.

Event: A Dinner for Gay Geeks (and partners and friends).

Date: Friday 18 April.
Time: re-dinner drinks from 6pm, Dinner around 7:30pm
Place: Pre-dinner drinks at Mighty Mighty, Cuba St. Dinner somewhere nearby. Suggestions welcome.

The date is the Friday before Armageddon. Any out-of-town gay pulp culture geeks here for the expo are most welcome.

Spread the word and please suggest locations for dinner.

RSVP: Contact me to let me know if you may be coming.
GayGeekDinner@shadowfoot.com
twitter.com/Shadowfoot. Details also on Facebook and Upcoming.

Loot: Google Open Source and Moo have sent stuff for me to give out.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/w/Its-a-football-thing?v=rNiUkN4GssI&search=MadTV

YouTube is great. This one is includes scented candles for the post-Brokeback football fan.

Link: http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,15535904%255E401,00.html

Looking at Pope Benny's comments, it seems that lasting marriages require the following sacrifices:

• Get married young, as it's the only way you're allowed sex
• Stay married, even though you made a mistake in the person you married. Divorce is not acceptable.
• Have lots of kids, whether or not you can afford to bring them up. Artificial contraceptive is not acceptable.
• Marry someone you are not attracted to. Marrying someone you love could be called fake marriage.

Maybe he'd prefer to see people join the priesthood and sublimate their sexual desires.

Pope blasts gays, divorce in first speech

POPE Benedict, in his first clear pronouncement on gay marriages since his election, has condemned same-sex unions as fake and expressions of "anarchic freedom" that threatened the future of the family.

The Pope, who was elected in April, also condemned divorce, artificial birth control, trial marriages and free-style unions, saying all of these practises were dangerous for the family.
"Today's various forms of dissolution of marriage, free unions, trial marriages as well as the pseudo-matrimonies between people of the same sex are instead expressions of anarchic freedom which falsely tries to pass itself off as the true liberation of man," he said.

The Pope spoke to families at Rome's St John's Cathedral on an issue that has become highly controversial around the world, particularly in Europe and the US.

In April, parliament in traditionally Catholic Spain gave initial approval to a law legalising gay marriage. It is widely expected to be approved by the Senate and to become law.

But just last week, California's assembly killed off a bill that would have allowed gay marriage in the most populous US state.

The Pope, who as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger headed the Vatican's doctrinal department for more than two decades, said "pseudo freedoms" such as gay marriages were based on what he called the "banalisation of the human body" and of man himself.

If marriage is restricted to be between one man and one woman, and the word man includes woman, then lesbians can get married in places where gay men can't.

On the way home I almost repeated my accident, at the same spot. A car failed to yield to me while checking the other way. Fortunately the weather was fine and I didn't have wet brakes to deal with.

Billy talks about something every gay man should carry at all times, just in case.

I've just seen Allyson Gofton's Food in a Minute.... Casual Cooking book for $25 instead of $39.95. I'll be buying that, it's just my style of cooking many things. There's also a competition to win one.

I'm into science fiction, and future dystopias are often good reads. This reminds me of those. As multinational companies expand in their power, and people travel more and more, there is less for governments to control.

Someone who I really respect was asked about me. He emailed me after it with the message "you walk on water!"

The upgrade to Queen St is confusing. They're going to retain the number of lanes, make the footpaths wider and still have parking bays? Are they moving all the building back to get the extra space for the footpaths?

Nice! Can I get Oakley Thump with prescription lenses?

I hadn't realised that Carson Kressley was visiting Auckland, briefly, before the horse race. I should have been there, just to meet some of the gay men in Auckland I don't already know.

Aardvark asks about privacy and why a computer repair company would be looking at the pictures on your computer. What else they might look at?

Pan-fried spinach and mozzarella veal sounds delicious.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard.
Highly respected and intelligent. You are an excellent tactician.
You rarely act without thinking, and are an excellent leader, although you can be a bit boring at times.
You aren't very 'hands on', preferring to have your subordinates do the dirty work, but you'll throw down if necessary.

Which Star Trek Character are you?
Quizilla, via Palochi

The choice to not vote is a valid choice. (Except in Australia.) It is different from not bothering to vote. I've seen lots of people saying "Get out there and vote." The message should be "Decide how you're going to vote, and do it!" This applies to FPP voting systems. I think there should be a None of the above category.

A police chief says "Wear a helmet" after a cycling accident where he stood up to go over a speed bump and let go of the handlebars. He wasn't wearing a helmet, and the injuries showing in the photo would still be there if he had a helmet on, unless he's suggesting wearing a full face helmet. Not only is it hypocritical, "I always wear a helmet. I'm a firm believer in helmets", it's also stupid to use this accident as an example.

I've managed to do something on my website that has stopped google from linking it. If only I could find out what.

I've just watched the interview of Marilyn Waring on Queer Nation. (Taped from Thursday night.) In it she talked about her submission opposing the Civil Union Bill. I particularly liked the way she started.

Marriage is a civil and political right, and civil and political rights are not negotiable. You can't have half a right. If it's a civil or political right in international law it's immediately enforceable. It's not something that progressively - you know - as it depends on what you politically can get away with - you might get there.

There's a better transcript on Scoop.

Update: Daid Young writes much more eloquently than me, in a piece titled The Liberals are Wrong to Support the Civil Union Bill. Found via David Farrar