With a clear bulb you get more patterns on the wall. This is an opaque bulb. This is an opaque blog. Buy stuff! It's not buy-nothing-day anymore. Click and buy stuff. Give stuff to Jusby, Trish, and Orion. Give stuff to your friends and relatives. Comment with stuff to buy!

BTW, Bil's having a show at the Capital Theater!

Last Sunday's paper... saw Bil staring up at me from a table in the lobby of the Brigg's YMCA. Jusby was SURE he had already blogged about that lamp, but he couldn't find the story anywhere... It was a winter solstice gift from Bil. A few years ago, around this time, Justin was working full time on medical records for St. Pete's. He's a former form reformatter. He wanted to support the creative work of friends, family and local or progressive companies in the holiday gifting process. He bought from

"First, let me make it very clear, poor people aren't necessarily killers. Just because you happen to be not rich doesn't mean you're willing to kill." —President George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., May 19, 2003

From the open publishing newswire: I remember some years back, when the newly minted "Pearl District" first began to gentrify. People were moving into expensive condominiums and something called "artists' lofts," where they paid a grand a month to live in a fake warehouse and pretend they were artists. And then, those same people were showing up in droves down at city hall, complaining because there were people sleeping in their doorways. (Likely, some of the doorway-sleeping culprits were the real artists who had been thrown out of the real warehouses, which had then been torn down to make way for the "artists' lofts" and the condominiums.) In response, the city began cleaning up for the urban yuppies.

And when they get their way, they create the stale, dead world they moved here from in the first place. The city becomes nothing more than a glass and steel shopping mall. Plastic and surface and all for sale. The gritty culture is gone, the interesting people are gone, the stories are gone. All that remains is shiny, new things no one cares about, boring people just like them, and places to go shopping. And who wants that? Nobody wants to live in a place like that. Nobody wants to visit a place like that.

I'm in the airport on my way to Helsinki, Finland for a weeks worth of work with Nokia. Back sometime Saturday or Sunday or Monday depending on the success or failure of capitialistic efforts. I'm betting on success. Peace out, OB.

EDIT:  Nokia signed this morning!  Helsinki was a blast.  It was cold, of course, but the people were great and their hospitality was top notch.  Spent Friday night in downtown Helsinki making friends with locals and even ventured out to a local house party after being invited by a group of people we met at Aussie Bar.  They hate our administration but love the people!

Nokia isn't a Japanese company but most people think it is based on the name.

Double-click to play the video.

Organized by The People's Legal Defense Fund.

On December 6th, PLDF will be hosting a Know Your Rights workshop at Traditions Cafe in downtown Olympia. Topics will include your rights while interacting with police on the street, as well as at protests. Also discussed will be your rights in the legal system. After the speakers, Larry Hildes, a lawyer who commonly represents activists and serves as a legal observer at protests, and Karen Hildes, will be available to speak with people who were arrested at the Port of Olympia, or feel their rights have been violated by the police.

Looking forward to seeing you there for an informational and community building evening.

Rob Richards and Mark Wedeven,
People's Legal Defense Fund

see original

The Olympia FOR invites the public to participate in our 32nd Annual Holiday Peace Vigil on Saturday December 15 from 12:00 noon to 1:00 p.m. along both sides of West Fourth Avenue — along the south side of Percival Landing and also along the north side of Heritage Fountain.

• Date: Saturday, December 15
• Time: 12 noon to 1 p.m.
• Place: W 4th Ave near Heritage Fountain.

Our annual vigil is a widely appreciated Olympia tradition. Children are welcome. We provide a nice variety of signs, but participants may bring their own.

Vigilers are invited to enjoy social time and free refreshments at our usual nearby location when the vigil ends at 1 o’clock.

During this holiday season of joy and good will, let us invite the whole community to set aside all militarism and violence, which are the opposites of joy and good will. The December 15 vigil gives participants and passersby an opportunity to pause and consider choosing peace instead of violence. Peace is so much more consistent with the holiday spirit!

The December meeting of the Olympia Arts Commission will take place on Thursday, December 6, 2007. The meeting will take place in the Executive Meeting Room of Olympia City Hall, 900 Plum St SE, and is open to the public. Meetings typically take place the second Thursday of the month.

For more information contact Stephanie Johnson, Arts & Events Manager, at 360/709-2678.

Cheney is set to undergo a heart procedure Monday afternoon.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Vice President Dick Cheney will undergo a heart procedure Monday afternoon after doctors discovered an irregular heartbeat, his office announced.

Cheney was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, an irregular heartbeat, when he visited his doctor Monday morning complaining of a lingering cough after a cold. It was then that the arrhythmia was diagnosed, the vice president's office reported.

More at CNN.com

Is jazz "sacred music"? A performance tonight at the Minnaert Center for the Performing Arts at SPSCC may answer that question for you.

The Olympia Jazz Senators will play a benefit for the 2008 World Sacred Music Festival starting at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $15 / $12 students & seniors, and are available at the door. Plenty of free, convenient parking!

The show will include Olympia premier performance of the Ellington Nutcracker -- Duke Ellington's re-imagining of Peter Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Ballet -- along with other holiday jazz and an original klezmer composition.

Tonight's show is a benefit for the World Sacred Music Festival, which takes place Saturday March 8, 2008, also at the Minnaert Center. The 2008 festival will feature klezmer, Native American, Jewish, Indian, African, and many other traditions, including yet more sacred jazz from the Jazz Senators. For details, visit the festival website at www.olysacredmusic.org

For more about the Jazz Senators, visit www.jazzsenators.com