If any of you are using an iPhone and are willing to help test out some Slashdot handheld crap, shoot me off a note... my email is the same address as always, and if you can't guess it, you probably can't help anyway ;) I've built a stylesheet and Tim put together a few little options that we think will make a few bits of Slashdot look nice on an iPhone (or really most lower resolution displays) but unfortunately none of us actually HAVE one yet... so anyway, let us know. Or if you work at Apple, send us freebies dammit!

I'm on a Krav Maga break (for formal training anyway) until August. In the meantime, I need something to do, and after the strength drills from hell during Thursday's grading ("the Nazi" among other things), it's quite obvious I need to work on strength...

I still want to work on power, so I figured I'll do this during the summer:

day 1: legs + back (+ biceps)

day 2: shoulders + triceps + chest (+ biceps)

day 3: power/plyometrics (full body) and/or punch and kick work with the mitts (killer drills)

So far, I'm thinking Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday or Friday for this. I'm not quite sure how I want to set up the sets and reps. I'm not sure how I want to fit in abs either... maybe on my condition training days. Otherwise, condition training (both interval and steady-state) first thing in the morning Monday-Friday and maybe an extra jog or punching/kicking during my non-lifting/power days if I'm up to it.

Saturday will be my rest day.

We'll see how this works...
   

Today I purchased the following:

- training pants for Krav Maga
- focus mitts
- a large kick mitt
- mango shower gel
- a little travel-size bottle of conditioner
- lip gloss
- a leg from a suckling pig (tomorrow's dinner!)
- lots of spelt pasta (since it always seems to be sold out otherwise)

This is strangest shopping list I've had for quite some time...

Oh, and I got to visit a pet store that has lots of cute parrots and I got to baby-talk with all of them! And a very cute little African grey let me scratch his head. Wheeeeee :-D

Hmmmf...the soreness from Thursday's grading is really starting to kick in my shoulders, pecs, back and neck... owie... it better go away tomorrow, as it's time to start up a hardcore strength-training program again. After our last set of drills during grading, I realized I need to get myself some pure, raw strength... urgh...

I graded tonight, even though I said I wouldn't. We both decided this afternoon to grade. We were very apathetic about the whole thing...

We're both P4 now :-)

My injuries, in particular my evil finger, weren't bothering me too much. And I was able to execute the most difficult thing in our pensum - defense against an overhead stick attack - almost perfectly. I couldn't be happier about that...

My Little Toe of Doom would like gifts. Lots of gifts... ;-)

Here's why.

Amnesty International supports the rights of all women, including their right to abortion when their health is in danger or human rights are violated, especially in cases of rape or incest. This is essential for women's rights... for human rights...

"We are saying broadly that to criminalise women's management of their sexual reproductive right is the wrong answer," Amnesty's deputy Secretary General Kat

Thank you, Amnesty International!

(AS is the Norwegian version of Inc.)

We were at a Krav Maga seminar yesterday; the theme was protection of third persons. Our guest instructor was a guy from Sweden...

Anyway, we were mostly outdoors (and I have the tan to prove it) and we did a lot of technique work (with and without weapons) and then drills where we use what we learned. I was the only female attending the seminar and consequently the smallest person there. It was rather amusing protecting guys who were a bit bigger than me against guys who were a bit bigger than me. But things worked out nicely. I was able to use a lot of (other) dirty Krav Maga tricks when I was too small/weak to get the techniques we had just learned to work properly. It shows I've learned something during training ;-)

The place where we had our seminar is a place where the police do a lot of "practical" training. There was a building that had these "apartments" set up. Our last drill was protecting someone while that someone was going through the rooms of the apartment, with lots of attackers waiting. (We all switch roles, of course.) It got really crazy in the end. Good fun. Especially when it was much cooler inside the building than outside in the sun...

Today was spent outdoors as well... first at a sort of food festival or farmer's market or something... I got to sample lots of sausages and cheeses and I bought some ecological salad and lots of fresh herbs... and then to the botanic gardens to take some pictures... and well, here I am now :-)

Not that I care. This whole ID check thing serves no other purpose than to make sure that someone doesn't pass off their non-refundable non-transferrable ticket to someone else anyway. Maybe the airlines should stop being so anal about that...

Homemade ID enough for air travel

ID checks for all domestic flights have been in force since March 1, but the ID cards used do not have to be issued by an authority.

Eilert Sundt from Stamsund shows a homemade club ID at security control when flying within Norway, newspaper Lofotposten reports.

Sundt is one of three members of the Norwegian Map Zoology Association, a group that looks for the shapes of animals in the layouts of city street maps. The ID card is for the association, and was made as a joke, the newspaper reports.

The requirements for ID used for domestic flight security are that the card has the name, picture and social security number of the bearer, information adviser Bjørn Erlandsen at the Civil Aviation Authority told consumer web site Forbruker.no. He confirmed that the homemade ID meets the requirements.

Erlandsen explained that the idea of the domestic ID check was to ensure that the person checking in baggage was the same person that boards the plane.

"This is not a legal check of the person's identity," Erlandsen said. According to regulations travelers with only hand baggage do not need to show ID.

Progress Party member of parliament Kenneth Svendsen demands a system where passengers must show an official ID card.

"This is completely unacceptable. I thought that everyone had to show an officially issued identification at airports. I have shown my parliamentary ID and been told that it was not valid because my social security number was not on it," Svendsen said.

How cool is this?!?!

Jewish same sex marriages welcomed

Jewish gays have lauded a decision by the South African Union for Progressive Judaism (SAUPJ) to allow marriage between Jewish couples of the same gender.

The Jewish OutLook: SA Jewish Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Alliance - an organisation representing lesbian and gay people in the Jewish community - said the decision affirmed the full humanity of all Jews.

"It is particularly important that the status of lesbian and gay relationships will be equal to that of heterosexual couples and will be recognised as full Jewish marriages or kiddushin," it said in a statement on Wednesday.

SAUPJ announced the decision to allow marriage between Jewish couples of the same gender on Monday.

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."

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...

Edit: Serbia won!

My favorites are Hungary and Serbia...

The commentary:

1 Bosnia & Herzegovina Maria SESTI 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 SERIFOVI 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 DOULU 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...

...to the frog who wishes to take up residence in my throat.

Don't.

If you do, I'll pluck you out and put you at the mercy of the owlets. We all have seen what they can do to lizards.

That is all.

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...

Mirrors cut moose fatalities

Small mirrors hung alongside a major highway in Oppland County are proving highly effective at keeping wildlife off the road and preventing accidents. Moose aren't the only animals being spared.

The use of mirrors has been so successful at eliminating collisions between animals and cars, reported newspaper Adresseavisen this week, that the national railroad agency Jernbaneverket is interested in adopting the practice to keep wildlife off train tracks.

The mirror idea came from Mentz Skjetne, who drives emergency vehicles himself and knows the financial, human and wildlife costs of collisions between animals and vehicles. He has also seen first-hand the effect that light has on animals, how it scares them and makes them run away.

Skjetne figured that hanging simple mirrors along the road would reflect passing headlights, bounce the light into the forest and keep wildlife away from the road before the vehicles pass.

Mirrors were strung up three years ago along a 500-meter stretch of the busy E6 highway at Krokan, north of Oppdal. The mirrors dangle freely about six meters from the road on both sides and move with the breeze.

Not a single collision involving vehicles and wildlife has been recorded in the area since the mirrors were hung.

"I would never have dreamed that the number of animals hit by cars and trucks would go from 25 to 30 a year to nothing," said Skjetne.

He was quick to stress that the most effective means of avoiding collisions between animals and vehicles remains the clearance of trees and bushes away from roadsides. But the mirrors seem to be a major deterrent as well.

"The results far exceed what we had hoped for," said Arild Hoel of Oppdal County. "If you look at the overall economics of this, the mirrors are worth their weight in gold, not least in relation to the injuries we avoid."

Clock ticks for Malta's spring hunt

If that wasn't enough to make you sick, take a look at the victims of the "hunt" (more like massacre... I think it would be an extreme insult to real hunters to call this a hunt).

What kind of barbarians do something like this? Well, you sort of get an idea when you have an organization that justifies the slaughter with "spring is the best time of year to enjoy the countryside" when large numbers of people can't even enjoy the countryside because of the hunters...