Coffee Hour

***Numerous Spoilers throughout. But then, we all know what happens anyway. Oh and I discuss clitorises. But that's Debitage's fault***

Just saw the Star Wars movie late last night. As Star Wars movies go, it was pretty good, but it still left many plot holes and questions unanswered.

You know how sometimes you see a movie and you're still thinking it through for days afterward?

My look at this week's blogs starts out with a charity worth supporting.

So is Yoda a buddhist-ish Jedi, or are all Jedi buddhist-ish and Yoda is just the most vocal on the subject? And if Yoda is the only Buddhist-ish Jedi, and the only Jedi alive at the end of the second trilogy other than Luke, who learned from him, does that mean that all future Jedi will be buddhist-ish Jedi?

Debitage is mentioning that as much as scientists can figure out, the clitoris serves no evolutionary purpose. Not to go all Natalie Angiers on y'all but it seems to me that anything that makes people want to have sex more is an evolutionary bonus. I mean, it encourages reproduction and all. But that explanation is so simple that I'm sure that the scientists who see no purpose to the clitoris have discussed and dismissed it. Still, interesting article.

Does the fact that I think one must understand evil to be really good, and indeed don't believe that knowledge in itself can be evil, only what one does with it, make me a Sith? If so, I'm OK with that I think. I look cuter in black anyway

Ibeth wonders about telephone operators. Can't say I ever did... until I read what she had to say.

So why is it that the Sith have faith that good people can fall, but the Jedis assume that Anakin has fallen forever and Obi Wan leaves him for dead? Are Siths in their own funky way more Universalist? Again, I think I may be a sith.

Just Another UU blog has a neat bit about Isaac Asimov up.

Why is it that none of the Jedis could sense the betrayal? Or sense who the Sith lord is, FWIW? If everybody can sense Anakin's anger, why couldn't they sense the Sith lord?

MyIrony is making a subtle point.

I'm still wondering that why it is that Amidala is pregnant for the whole movie and right at the end Obi Wan is like "Is the kid Anakin's?" Like, she hadn't even bothered to come up with a good lie about it to tell everyone, the identity of the father had just never come up. You show me a female Senator assumed to be single who gets pregnant and nobody even asks who the father is until 8 months and 29 days into the pregnancy, I'll stop thinking that's quirky.

The Socinian has a neat article about Pentecost.

Is it just me, or are the droids slaves? Know any other movie that gets away with the heros having happy slaves? I don't even 100 percent have a problem with that, it's just weird.

Paul Wilczynski quote Sinkford on the filibuster. Sinkford proudly talks about the diversity of political opinion within the denomination as he speaks for us all politically.

Sigh.

CC
who is totally in favor of the filibuster and thinks Frist completely sucks, for the record.

And she totally wonders what the Empire's version of OSHA was doing with its time, because there was not one safety railing in the entire movie. Not on the balconies seemingly miles above the city, not helping you get on the airplane, not even in the factories. They must lose more storm troopers that way.

Oh, and this is a UUism blog, so maybe if you want to comment on Star Wars, you should but your comment on the version of this post at my blog. Thankee.

Boy in the Bands is making a SimChurch to test some software. So please, go over there and invent some UU church members. Don't forget the little old lady who runs the social action committee, the Republican old guy who dominates the humanism discussion group, the recently divorced guy using the church for a dating pool and the Pagan single mother with seven children who complains about the President at every joys and concerns.

Give Scott the whole commedia dell'arte, kids.

And Unity points me back there to a really good conversation on ordination

This weeks "CC twists a lock of hair around her finger" award for a post I totally didn’t get goes to Facititating Paradox.

Someone in Ibeth's neighborhood freaked out over a slightly overgrown lawn that looks a little messy when I think about it, but that I could probably have walked past twice a day for months and never noticed.

Jess' Journal is all about mediocrity and how the school system is stifling her children's brilliance.

Just Another UU blog is talkin' Covenants

Left Coast UU looks at Christianity. Unity does too.

When she's comparing us to Nero, you know Peacebang is Breakin' Out the UU Fire and Brimstone

Jeff and Peacebang are having a chat over at Transient and Permanent. Just about what it means to call someone UU. Check it out

the UU enforcer is applying the "mystery worshipper" concept to UUism. CC has been seriously considering starting to review UU services in her area for some time. Anybody else interested?

Oh, and damn.

As I mentioned below, we're introducing resource forums here at Coffee Hour for Unitarian Universalist bloggers looking for tips and resources about blogging technologies.

General questions belong here — things like, How do I find out how many people are visiting my site?, or, How do I decide which blog software to use? If you have a flash of insight, a solution to share, or a general tip you think others would find useful, tell us about it in the comments (or via trackback). Over time, we'll add some of them to the entry itself as a generic Frequently Asked Questions & Answers file.

We've set up Resource Forums for Blogger, Movable Type, TypePad, and WordPress. If you're using another kind of blog software, feel free to post your questions or tips to this entry.

Amazing! On a rainy day in late April, ten Unitarian Universalist bloggers -- and fourteen friends, spouses, and kids -- gathered for the much-anticipated Liberal Religions Bloggers & Readers Picnic. The photo (taken by Mrs Philocrites using PeaceBang's camera) shows nine of the bloggers in an obligatory group shot. Note the coffee hour nametags, cups, and the Olde New England parish hall environs. Why, it's as if Coffee Hour was more than just a UU blogging hub!

(During the tour of our host congregation's beautiful sanctuary, I remarked that the two dozen of us made up a larger congregation than 10 percent of UU congregations. After I got home, I wondered how wildly I had exaggerated: Lo and behold, 82 of the UUA's member congregations reported two dozen or fewer members, which is just under 9% of the congregations that reported membership figures this past year. Of course, I was counting the six kids, too, but 5% of UU congregations reported 18 or fewer members. The Rev. Arthur Reublinger's $2.1 million bequest last week to support small congregations in New Hampshire and Vermont clearly comes at a good time.)

Represented at the festivities: The Chalice Blog; Debitage; Paul Wilczynski's Observations; PeaceBang; Pericles; Philocrites; Prophet Motive; The Socinian; Transparent Eye; and Unity.

Consider this post an open forum about the picnic. Was it fun? Awkward? Surprising? The best thing ever? And how about that potato salad?

One thing that emerged from our after-lunch discussion: Many people wanted an easy way to share tips and ask about blogging tools and techniques, so we'll set up some UU blogging-specific forums here at Coffee Hour where people can ask questions and share answers related to Blogger, Movable Type, TypePad, and WordPress, which are the dominant blogging platforms among UUs at the moment. The forums will be beginner-friendly but will also allow people to share tips for adding more advanced features.

I'm looking forward to the next UU blogger get-together at the UUA General Assembly in Fort Worth, Texas. We haven't set a time or place yet, but I know at least a half dozen bloggers who plan to be there -- and it would be wonderful to hear from people who would like to meet with other UU bloggers at G.A.

This is the place for Unitarian Universalist bloggers to ask questions about using Blogger.com, Google's free blog software. Think of it as a Frequently Asked Questions page that will grow over time.

This is the place for Unitarian Universalist bloggers to ask questions and share tips about using Movable Type, Six Apart's advanced blog software. Think of it as a Frequently Asked Questions page that will grow over time.

This is the place for Unitarian Universalist bloggers to ask questions about using TypePad, Six Apart's subscription blog software. Think of it as a Frequently Asked Questions page that will grow over time.

This is the place for Unitarian Universalist bloggers to ask questions about using WordPress, the advanced open-source blog software. Think of it as a Frequently Asked Questions page that will grow over time.