Christ: "King of the World!"

According to James Cameron, director of such classic theological treatises as Terminator, Aliens and especially Terminator 2, Jesus Christ died on the cross at Golgotha. On this, both he and the Pope agree. But instead of rising from the grave three days later, pouring himself a cup of coffee and then wandering the countryside inviting disbelievers to jam their index fingers into his crucifixion wounds, Jesus stayed dead and spent the next two millennia rotting in the grave. And bad news, Christians! James Cameron claims to have DNA evidence to prove it.

From Table of Malcontents

I'm not a big believer in Christ being reborn myself, but.. Titanic director James Cameron? Like, "King of the World", makes him qualified to certify the King of Peace?

The tombs have been around for awhile, but James Cameron has a documentary coming out on the subject, directed by Jewish director Simcha Jacobovici, which may explain the press conference.

Reactions - the theologians think he's misinformed, the archeaolgists think he's press hungry, and the local Jews who live around the area the tomb was found?

They're quite happy.

Local residents told the BBC News website they were pleased with the attention the tomb has drawn.

"It will mean our house prices will go up because Christians will want to live here," one woman said.

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When I link to you, I link myself

I updated some of my links, and added new ones. I've got to think of a better way to organise them, or at least come up with some terrible catchy trendy title for each link section.

I rather liked this one: Muslime-a-day. Lots of lovely photos, and it's a lovely, sensitive website run by Hijabman. Very peaceful.

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The Perfect P

Don't look here.

Seriously, what was he thinking? Was he thinking? And that smile on his face when he talks about having anal.. with what, an elephant? I've never been one for prayer, but if it'll help me forget faster..

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The 40 year old Egyptian Virgin

Shiekh Khaled El Gindy, an Al-Azhar scholar and member of the Higher Council of Islamic Studies told The Daily Star Egypt that he agrees with the new fatwa.

"Islam never differentiates between men and women, so it is not rational for us to think that God has placed a sign to indicate the virginity of women without having a similar sign to indicate the virginity of men," El Gindy said.

"Any man who is concerned about his prospective wife’s hymen should first provide a proof that he himself is virgin," he added.

From Daily Star, Egypt

I rather like Egypt.


Other bits -

Even more shocking to many observers, Gomaa said that if a married woman had sexual intercourse with another man but truly regretted her actions and asked God for forgiveness, she should not tell her husband.

"According to Sharia, if a husband knew that his wife had sexual intercourse with anyone else, he should divorce her, so by not telling him she would be protecting her home and her life," he explained

I rather like the idea of someone interpreting the old books according to the principles they were founded on, rather than on some pet issue latter-day clerics found pressing. It's also good to see someone who realises that there's a huge difference between a cultural practice that sprung up because of the need to be able to apply a principle in that period of time, and a religious obligation.

According to the good mufti here, the overriding principle is protection of life and self, which takes precedence over telling your husband of your vagina's extra-curricular activities. The latter is based on the idea that the vagina somehow belongs to the husband, and as such, he gets to control it, as his personal spawning pond.

In the way he's interpreting it, the mufti is essentially saying that a women's well-being takes precedence over some man's sexual right.

It's International Women's Day next month. I'm in that kind of mood. On a side note, the mufti sounds a bit looney. I should probably check if it's been reported anywhere else.

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The women of Iraq

The war turns gender roles on its head.

In Iraq:

We were asked to send the next of kin to whom the remains of my nephew, killed on Monday in a horrific explosion downtown, can be handed over. The young men of the family, as was customary, rose to go.

“NO!” cried his mother. “Isn’t my son enough?? Must we lose more of our youth?? You know there are unknowns who wait at the Morgue to either kill or kidnap the men who dare reach its doors. I will go.”

So we went, his mum, his other aunt and I.

I was praying all the way there.


I never thought a day would come when it was the women of the family, who would be safer on the roads.

Read the rest of it at Inside Iraq

There really isn't anything that I can say that hasn't been said before, and said better. But with the mess in Iraq now, it's hard to remember that the other conservative Arab nations were worried about Iraq, not for Saddam, but because Iraq looked and behaved a lot like America - wealthy, modern, and moderately secular.

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Ghost Brides of Shaanxi

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese police have arrested three men for killing two young women to sell their corpses as "ghost brides" for dead single men, a Chinese newspaper reported, warning the dark custom might have claimed many other victims.

Yang Donghai, a 35-year-old farmer in western China's Shaanxi province, confessed to killing a woman bought from a poor family for 12,000 yuan ($1,545) last year.

She thought she was being sold into an arranged marriage, but Yang killed her in a gully and sold her corpse for 16,000 yuan, the Legal Daily reported on Thursday. He and two accomplices then killed a prostitute and sold her for 8,000 yuan before police caught them.

"I did it for the money; it was a quick buck," Yang said, according to the paper. "If I hadn't slipped up early, I planned to do a few more."

The women were victims of an old belief, still alive in the yellow-earth highlands of western China, that young men who die unmarried should go to their graves accompanied by deceased women who will be their wives in the afterlife. Often these women die natural deaths.

Police in Yanan, the poor and dusty corner of Shaanxi where Chairman Mao Zedong nurtured his Communist revolution, said the dark trade went beyond these cases.

"The actual number is far from just these," the paper said.

Yang and two helpers sold the bodies to Li Longsheng, an undertaker who police said specialized in buying and selling the dead women for "ghost weddings". It was unclear what happened to Li.

From Reuters

China is a crazy place, and it's on the brink of implosion.

Then again, we've been saying that for awhile.

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Things I heard in the Kallang Roar

A conversation that did not quite happen last night after the Singapore-Thailand game.

"Anyway, we wanted to shout 'Ho Ching', but decided against it."

"'Ho Ching'? Why?"

"Cos she brought down Thailand? And wasn't even trying?"

"No shit. I guess we know who wears the Lee pants now."

"Guess so - didn't they used to say that she's a man?"

"She'd totally take out the Thai team."

"Yeah. They're all girls, anyway."

"Girls? Really?"

"They're Thai, they're all transgender - didn't you watch Iron Ladies, the one about the volleyball team?"

"Those were men pretending to be women, not the other way around."

"Yeah. Wonder if Ho Ching plays volleyball."

"Thanks, now you made me think about Ho Ching's kar-ching."



Anyway, that conversation didn't happen. But the game was fun, for reasons that had nothing to do with the game. The National Stadium's got a lot of memories for me - I remember being a performer for the SEA games, and the days spent with classmates practicing our moves and our bridge game. The way Khong Guan biscuits and 100 plus tasted (the official sponsers). The stairs that always smelled of urine, even after they cleaned it up. Blissfully caught in the rain with the one that I thought was my first true love.

The grand old pee-stained lady's going to go soon. I don't want to launch into a discussion as to whether she should be kept; architect historian that I am, I want to build and preserve at the same time.

But I was glad to be there once last time - with thousands of others, to cheer on the national team, so that we could say all the things we never say, in that one last Kallang Roar.

(And for those of you who weren't there, yes, someone led the crowd in a cheer that went *clapclapclap* SHINCORP!* A lot of things get said at the National Stadium, that we never ever say outloud. )

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