On Monday, the first gay weddings (OK, ‘civil partnerships’ – but that’s not going to last long) were performed in Belfast. Already, it actually seems a bit silly to mention it. Was it really just 20 years ago that Thatcher declared “children … need to be taught to respect traditional moral values” versus being gay? (And she was relatively liberal compared to some in her party, believe it or not!) Well yes it was, but in the meantime there’s a new generation who don’t have time for moral values of any description (we’ve got coursework to do people!) and would rather get all this civil rights stuff over and done with before supper time.
About 40 people staged a protest, which is a rather pathetically sad thing to do. Just because you weren’t invited doesn’t mean you have to be a prick. Thankfully two comedians infiltrated the gang holding “BRING BACK SLAVERY” and “EARTH IS FLAT” placards. Good job! (And was I the only one to wonder what on earth an anti-sodomy sign is doing at a lesbian wedding in the first place?)
So yes anyway, now that God is staggering around drunk after a gay wedding reception, it’s the perfect opportunity to push him out of the science classroom. And in America too! I’m so proud 
Of course, ‘intelligent design’ will be back. The challenge now is to recognise the new name creationism will take (I recommend ‘Supper Happy Funtime Theory’ or ‘Amazing Magical Smiley Hour’) and then fight it again. Perhaps get a Supreme Court decision or two just to make things clear.
In the meantime – the zealots might want to start looking out for the Rapture. Oh look, there it is! Oh no, sorry, that’s just your President in a bit of trouble with fulfilling the law (Romans, 13:10)
I still think it was a bit stupid to have to come into school Monday and Tuesday this week, but hey, tomorrow will be the last day of term! Hoorayality! (That’s my new word for the day.) And it’s not like we’re doing much work in the last two days either… although we did face a particularly exciting pub quiz in Mr. Drummond’s history lesson. Exciting because we (Sophie, Lawrence and myself) triumphed over impossible odds (Fabio) thanks mainly to highly specialist knowledge (the members of Take That – thanks Sophie).
12Q also practised our highly informative assembly on Islam that we must give in the first PSHE lesson back. (Yes, we still have PSHE, yes, it’s still worthless.) I was told not to make jokes, but I’ll probably ignore that, because otherwise reading out a list of Arabic contributions to science and culture is rather dull. And if there’s one thing that assemblies don’t need any more of, it’s dullness.
Selfless act of the day – walking into a lamp-post on the way home. Selfless because it made Rishal and Clare laugh no end. 
Oh and I really must mention that Tim Berners-Lee, the father of the World Wide Web, is now blogging. Just… subscribe.
We just decorated! It’s traditional to do it on a Saturday, apparently, or at least for us it is. The tree, the tinsel, the baubles! All there, and now I’m feeling quite Chrismassy at last. And the site isn’t left out – the home page has already been transformed, and I might do something to the banner too. Just to show I care.
Teh tree! Teh tree!
I don’t have any problems with Christmas. It is a secular festival by and large – Father Christmas, trees, snow, tinsel… this is what most people think of, not Jesus in a manger. Those who want to celebrate the Christian aspect can go right ahead. I’d remind you that it was basically Pagan to begin with though. And the name? Pfft… chill out.
It’s also Hanukkah around the same time, of course. Happy Hanukkah!
If you are feeling particularly concerned at the lack of Jesus, this week’s B3ta newsletter would cheer you up. Check out how to put the Benny Hill back into Bible. (Note – not for the squeamish. Or anyone trying to avoid hell.)
(Post edited to show off the tree)
(Double edit to thank Pingu for the marvellous Santa banner)
We got our candidate statements of entry for the AS exams in January today, and I found out that on the 17th I will have English in the morning and Physics in the afternoon. Which is kinda good, I guess, because if I have a good day I can storm through and get it all done. I won’t bother to type ‘But if I have a bad day…’ because I’m sure you’ve already worked that out for yourself.
I also have an ICT exam a few days before on Friday 13th. (Great date for an exam…) I haven’t really blogged much about ICT, because I’m really keeping it a bit quiet. Basically I’m having a go at the thing without the whole going to lessons\doing the homework business. I’ll be doing the coursework over Christmas or something, and reading through the book. Y’know, if it works it works. If not, I’ll have proved that school really is useful once and for all 
Well I saw Jon Stewart live tonight at the Prince Edward Theatre. Wowness! Evening started off with a few clips from the Daily Show reports about London (big laugh at the ‘UK and Falklands Island correspondent) and then Jon and two other Daily Show writers \ producers came out to read from America – The Book. (Yes, the same book I was blogging about exactly a year ago – I feel so ahead! 
The final part of the show was a Q&A from the audience, at which point we realised we were probably the only Brits in the audience! It appears Jon Stewart’s More4 appearances haven’t built up his profile enough… although plenty of Americans and Canadians about.
Oh, and I swear it was Jimmy Carr sitting two rows in front of me. (Yes yes, I guess he’s British too.) Couldn’t be absolutely sure but it definitely looked like him. Jimmy, if you’re sad enough to search for yourself on Technorati, give me a shout OK?
Actually – before the show started I was thinking that as an American Jew, Jon Stewart probably presents a double whammy terrorist target. But honestly, with a pot of Belgium Chocolate ice cream as well, I wouldn’t have cared much.
And if you were wondering – no, I didn’t get woken up at 6 this morning by the explosion. Most likely this was due to me going to bed late after virtually attending (MSN wise!) Josie and Lucy’s wine and sugar fuelled party. Not as late as they were up though, as I turned on my phone this morning to receive not one but three texts from 4am.
Linda Moffitt on Colombia: “Such a sweet memory of the four of you meeting up in Colombia!” Dec 2, 07:42
