more on gay marriage in South Africa...

This is cool... lots of churches are actually applying to officiate gay marriages. Too bad about the exam delay though...

Churches get nod for gay marriages

eventeen churches across South Africa have applied to, and been accepted by, the department of home affairs to officiate gay marriages.

A list of the churches, released to the Cape Argus on Thursday by the department of home affairs, excludes the major church groupings.

The 17 institutions had applied to solemnise same-sex unions after the Civil Union Act, which legalised gay marriages, was implemented on December 1.

All were approved by Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, said department spokesperson Mantshele Tau.

Ministers at these churches, are, however, still required to write an examination - which tests their knowledge of the Civil Union Act - but this process has been considerably delayed.

A pastor at the Unitarian Church, Gordon Oliver, applied for his licence on December 5 and is still waiting for material to prepare for the exam.

On Thursday, the Cape Argus reported that four leading denominations - the Anglican Church, the Baptist Church, the Presbyterian Church and the Catholic Church - had instituted policies that barred their ministers from officiating at gay marriages.

It was also reported that individual officials at religious institutions were obliged to submit letters to Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula if they did not wish to officiate over gay marriage ceremonies.

However, Tau said that, according to the Civil Union Act, "churches make their own decisions on whether to marry same-sex couples".

He said the rule of submitting letters to the Home Affairs Department applied to Home Affairs marriage officers only, if they did not want to marry gay couples.

In the meantime, the policies barring gay marriages at larger churches have not gone down well with certain ministers.

Nineteen ministers in the Methodist Church Cape of Good Hope District recently challenged the decision not to marry homosexual couples.

A minister of the church, the Reverend Timothy Attwell, said the church was in discussion with those ministers.

At another church, a gay minister, who did not want to be named for fear of reprisals, told the Cape Argus that he planned to leave his church denomination to move to a smaller denomination that supported same-sex marriages.

He said while he felt strongly about officiating at gay marriages, his church, which is one of the country's largest denominations, would fire him for even considering it. The church is not aware of his sexual orientation.

"I am definitely going to change my denomination because of the church's views towards same-sex couples.

"There are smaller churches that don't seem to be as unfriendly about it and encourage it, but they are in the minority."

an illegal immigrant in Peru...

A confused Magellanic penguin has somehow managed to travel from his native Chile to Peru. Nobody knows how he got there, or why - perhaps to seek asylum?

Well, like other strangers and asylum seekers, it is unlikely he will be given the warm welcome by the local Humboldt penguins, who "usually seek out their own species."

He'll probably get deported back to Chile...

Eurovision so far...

My favorites are Hungary and Serbia...

The commentary:

1 Bosnia & Herzegovina Maria ŠESTIĆ Rijeka Bez Imena
Her dress looks like the top of some hut in Polynesia. Her voice is OK, but the song is slow and boring, and lacking any kind of real tune…

2 Spain D'NASH I Love You Mi Vida
Hah! A boy band! Disco fever baby!

3 Belarus Koldun Work Your Magic
Uh, WTF? Who do you think you are? James Bond? Well, guess what. You’re not! Oh, and you need to learn how to match your makeup to your skin color. Or lay off that spray-tan shit. And button up your shirt please…

4 Ireland DERVISH They Can't Stop The Spring
OK. This is the first Irish singer I’ve heard who doesn’t have a fantastic voice. Very off-key. Too bad, because the song is otherwise good…

5 Finland Hanna PAKARINEN Leave Me Alone
Yes. Please leave me alone… (actually, this isn't too bad)

6 FYR Macedonia Karolina Mojot Svet
Her short skirt doesn’t really make up for the song being dull though. Apparently she has lots of friends in the former Yugoslav republic, so she’ll get a few votes. Even though she doesn’t deserve them.

7 Slovenia Alenka GOTAR Cvet Z Juga
Opera meets rock. Didn’t Nightwish try this already? This will probably do well in the points, the ex-Yugoslav bloc and all. She does have a nice voice, but I think she could do better with it…

8 Hungary Magdi RÚZSA Unsubstantial Blues
Wow… great voice!!! Lots of power. I also like that she looks… um… normal. My favorite so far…

9 Lithuania 4FUN Love Or Leave
The singer is also normal-looking (i.e. not a skanky bimbette)… very nice ballad…

10 Greece Sarbel Yassou Maria
Ææææææ!!! The first “Hatten är din” of the evening. And this is also an example of why I want the return of the rule where the artists have to sing in their native language. Grenglish ick. The only thing this guy is missing is the unbuttoned shirt…

11 Georgia Sopho Visionary Dream
Very 80s… plus a touch of Björk-wannabe… the background dancers make it all the more amusing…

12 Sweden THE ARK The Worrying Kind
What. The. Fuck. Is. That. ?. She-male 70s glam… Think The Sweet… (OK, you can put your shirt back on. Please!)

13 France LES FATALS PICARDS L'amour À La Française
Oh my FSM. It just gets “better and better.” Lots of black and hot pink. On men. French men, but still. It’s nice to see that thte French have a sense of humor… and the song is actually quite good…

14 Latvia BONAPARTI.LV Questa Notte
Oooh, more opera. Charming… tuxedo jackets and shirts, top hats, with jeans. The song is quite nice, energetic for being a ballad…

15 Russia SEREBRO Song #1
Here come the skanky bimbettes… can’t say much more…

16 Germany Roger CICERO Frauen Regier'n Die Welt
OK, he’s dressed like 30s/40s Chicago, same musical style, but in German? (OK, he switched to English) But OK, he can sing…

17 Serbia Marija ŠERIFOVIĆ Molitva
She’s probably a lesbian (she has that anything-but-skanky-bimbette look), but she has a good, powerful voice and the song is very good… this is another one of my favorites…

18 Ukraine Verka SERDUCHKA Dancing Lasha Tumbai
What’s Eurovision without a drag queen? ;-) The costumes are… um… silvery special. Sieben sieben ein zwei drei… charming… very old Soviet bloc meets psycho German nihilist Kraftwerk techno… I have my pocket calculator… this definitely wins the cheezefest, but I don’t really get why it’s one of the favorites…

19 United Kingdom SCOOCH Flying The Flag (For You)
Why is this song even here? (btw – this is the Eurovision example of what British Airways has been reduced to) *ugh*

20 Romania TODOMONDO Liubi, Liubi, I Love You
Very Vaudville… *shudder*

21 Bulgaria Elitsa TODOROVA & Stoyan YANKOULOV Water
Oh for the love of the FSM, is this another Björk wannabe or something?

22 Turkey Kenan DOĞULU Shake It Up, Shekerim
Hatten är din, hatten är din, hatt baby hatt baby…

23 Armenia Hayko Anytime You Need
Anytime I need to kick someone in the nuts… at least he had the decency to keep his shirt buttoned up…

24 Moldova Natalia BARBU Fight
Hike up your trousers, please. Nobody wants to see your skanky crack... you have to shave to wear trousers like that...

en attendant Eurovision...

Tonight's the semifinal for the Eurovision Song Contest, and Saturday night is the big night. We're going to have a little party here. No, I'm not kidding. We're going to serve lots of food and alcohol and have a good, cheezy time...

Tonight's the night we'll see if Guri Schanke will make it to the final. She's some 40-something woman who's going to sing some kind of Latino disco-inspired song. In a short dress. Apparently, she's been "caught" without panties, but nobody can confirm this rumor. The Danish tabloid press believes that she needs to get a grip on her botox injections. Denmark is sending a drag act. Let the bitchiness begin...

Among the drag queens, opera singers, death and glam rockers, and Israel's "Push the Button", Germany is tipped to win...

public service announcement

In case you ever decide to chase after me with a knife, don't. I'll kick you. One way or other, I'll kick you. Back kick, side kick, turn around and roundhouse kick, I'll kick you. And if you start stabbing me with that knife while chasing me, I'll turn around, break your arm, and mash your groin with my knee.

Yep, that's what we did in training tonight. Defenses against psychos chasing you with knives.

We trained outdoors too, so we had plenty of space to run around. And most of us were in plainclothes; I was wearing tight jeans. (Another PSA - groin guards under tight jeans are reeeeeeeally sexy.) It was hard enough running around on grass with tight jeans, let alone executing the kicks. I managed most of the time. I think. Next time I'll wear a skirt...

Another interesting thing we did, at the beginning right after our warmup, was tumbling on the gravel path. I've done tumbling on the mats and on the grass before, but not on gravel. Worked out fine, as my tumbling technique is actually there. I saw that some of the others were having a hard time of it though.

For the last thing we did, I let to guys punch out the RoF. One of those 2-against-1 drills where the 2 attackers hit your torso at 50%. I let myself get hit, as I could have easily fucked up my finger again doing the defenses. It's kind of a good thing to build up "resistance"/"tolerance" anyway. RoF was not amused...

The weather was a bit chilly, but actually perfect for the intensity level of what we were doing, and there were still enough other people out walking, walking their dog(s), jogging, whatever, and when they passed by us, they would stop and gawk. Excellent ;-)

Oh, as I hinted to above, it was a damn physical training. We were literally sprinting back and forth, being the attacker or the defender, not stopping until the instructor told us to stop. We also trained for a little over 2 hours, as opposed to the usual 90 minutes. I'm pleasantly exhausted.

Now it's time for some well-deserved organic sparkling wine :-)

poor Elvis...

This was depressing :-(

Heartbreak Hotel as king penguin Elvis can't leave building

ELVIS is alive and well, but marine authorities say he can't go home.

The fellow is in a rehab centre on a windy headland in Cape St Francis and, every now and then, he throws back his head and croons his rather haunting song.

Elvis is a king penguin that washed ashore near Cape St Francis in January, many thousands of kilometres away from his home on one of the sub-Antarctic islands.

No one knows how he got here, but when Trudi Malan of the Ajubatus Marine Rehabilitation Centre in St Francis was alerted, she and a local nature conservator rescued the creature.

"I can't believe how well he's looking now. He is beautiful. My wish is to release him back home, possibly to Marion Island, but the scientists say we can't because of the risk that he will carry back diseases.

"I understand that from a scientific point they can't take that risk. But for us, it's a very emotional thing. Kings are very gregarious penguins, they breed shoulder to shoulder and they like to be with their friends," said Malan.

"And every time he calls, ah, I just want to die. He throws it back and makes this sound. It's beautiful but it's so sad."

She had hoped the penguin could hitch a ride on the Department of Environment's ship that took research teams to Marion Island, a habitat of king penguins.

Rob Crawford, an ornithologist with Marine and Coastal Management, confirmed yesterday that this was not permitted in terms of the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research.

"Any species that has been in captivity may not be released back into the Antarctic or sub-Antarctic Islands, because there is always a chance of introducing disease.

"It could be disastrous if that happened," Crawford said.

Asked if the penguin could be released off the Eastern Cape coast and left to take its chances, Crawford said he was not sure it would survive in the warm Agulhas current.

"My personal opinion is that it would be best if it could be with another captive population," Crawford said.

Malan said the Edinburgh and Zurich zoos were interested in taking on Elvis.

"The Zurich Zoo has a world specialist on king penguins. He says they've got to be with friends or they fall into depression. They have about 20 but they really wanted a female.

"The Edinburgh Zoo was interested but they can't take him because of the bird flu ban," she said

Two Oceans Aquarium is also interested in taking him for their Antarctic and Islands display, yet to be built.

"I've tried everything. Sometimes I feel if I ever found another one, I would quietly euthanise him," Malan said.

the legs are evil and must be punished...

Lately, I've been training plyometrics quite aggressively, as part of my strength/power training routine, to supplement Krav Maga. Sometimes I do plyometrics-only, sometimes in combination with weights. I'm really enjoying these exercises, especially for the variety factor, but dang - they can really punish the legs! Especially after 3-4 sets of 15-20 reps ;-)

I had a really good killer squats+plyos workout this morning. Neither my legs nor the RoF were amused. I'll be feeling it tomorrow and Wednesday hahaha...

It's too soon to determine to what extent this is benefitting Krav Maga. I still have the damn finger injury, and it's really cramping my style. I can't train properly. (It also makes things difficult to do upper-body work.) Bah. And training starts up again tomorrow, after a long Easter break. I wonder what we'll do... hmmm... if it weren't for the damn finger, I would want to do a lot of ground work. Wrestling and throwing off attackers who are on top of you and the such... perhaps with weapons... good fun...

Anyway... how are your legs doing today?