It's chilly out there. The Raven posts from the Gulf of Mexico, and we rarely use our fireplace—but we will tonight. It's in the 40s out there and due to hit the teens in the wee hours. Let's see what sort of cold culture we can dig up.

Khun khe jud orn!

That's how you say "You are the weakest link," in Thailand. College lecturer Kritika Kongsompong is hosting a Thai version of the show over there that sounds like fun, but the program is raising concerns because several of its premises contravene Thai values. Stuff like kindness, courtesy, and generosity.

A self-proclaimed psychic who failed to answer a question was told: "It seems your powers are useless."

We Were Waiting for This

Graffiti is fairly ubiquitous around our country, with more of it in some places than others. Generally, though, taggers do their thing on bridges, signs, and walls.

In a Brooklyn neighborhood yesterday, vandals turned their attention to automobiles, spray-painting swastikas on 26 of them. I've been waiting for this to happen but I didn't think it would be nazi crap; "Chongo #125" maybe. This was probably a couple of kids out to get as much fun with a $1.99 can of Krylon as possible, but the NYPD hate crimes task force is involved and the Jewish Anti-Defamation League posted a $1,000 reward—and if I were one of the culprits I'd be feeling pretty nervous right now.

Cold Words

Over at the Chicago Trib you might want to read this review of classic depictions of cold weather. As the writer points out, most of us puzzle over the question of how many "r's" the word "Brrr!" should contain. Some writers take it to a whole new level. Here's an excerpt from Upton Sinclair's The Jungle:

Home was not a very attractive place—at least not this winter. They had only been able to buy one stove, and this was a small one, and proved not big enough to warm even the kitchen in the bitterest weather. This made it hard for Teta Elzbieta all day, and for the children when they could not get to school. At night they would sit huddled around this stove, while they ate their supper off their laps; and then Jurgis and Jonas would smoke a pipe, after which they would all crawl into their beds to get warm, after putting out the fire to save the coal. Then they would have some frightful experiences with the cold. They would sleep with all their clothes on, including their overcoats, and put over them all the bedding and spare clothing they owned; the children would sleep all crowded in one bed, and yet even so they could not keep warm. The outside ones would be shivering and sobbing, crawling over the others and trying to get down into the center, and causing a fight...[T]he cold which came upon them was a living thing, a demon-presence in the room.... They could feel the cold as it crept in through the cracks, reaching out for them with its icy, death-dealing fingers, and they would crouch and cower, and try to hide from it, all in vain. It would come, and it would come; a grisly thing, a specter born in the black caverns of terror; a power primeval, cosmic, shadowing the tortures of the lost souls flung out to chaos and destruction. It was cruel, iron-hard; and hour after hour they would cringe in its grasp, alone, alone."

Yesterday we were talking about harsh movie reviews. How about this one from CNN that takes a cold look at the new film starring Julia Stiles and Jason Lee:

OK, everybody, take a deep breath.

Now, if you're detecting traces of a truly odious aroma, the source may very well be the new film, "A Guy Thing."

Cold Reception

That's what residents of Stewartville, Minnesota are giving an adult entertainment store called Pure Pleasure that opened up in their town. It's not the shop that's causing the trouble, it's the store's sign, which is set up "in view of people entering and leaving Midwest Baptist Church":

People driving toward the church, read: "And God said go out into the world and have great sex. God's gift to women. Amen and amen."

People leaving see: "No need to mail order. Gay videos in stock. Clergy discount. Have good sex. Hallelujah!"

7:52:01 PM       

When it comes on, you're supposed to notice it and do something. The problem is, there are a lot of these things around us coming on all the time, and we don't always know what to do about them. In some cases you need to call a professional, and in others you're supposed to mash the brake pedal to the floor. And sometimes you'd better just turn around and run for it.

I watched some footage of Robert Blake talking to his lawyer on the Today show this morning. A big warning light lit up when I saw his "crazy eyes," and how in Blake's world, it's all about Blake.

Be Paranoid

That's the word from the ACLU in a sharp report they've released on the escalation of post-Sept 11 surveillance technologies.

Over at the ACLU's Website, you can read the briefing yourself and decide if their unease is warranted. They make a good case.

"If we do not act to reverse the current trend, data surveillance—like video surveillance—will allow corporations or the government to constantly monitor what individual Americans do every day," the report said.

People keep asking me, "Man, why are you so worried about those security cameras?" Again, from the report:

"It is not just the reality of government surveillance that chills free expression and the freedom that Americans enjoy. The same negative effects come when we are constantly forced to wonder whether we might be under observation."

The Idiot Light

Nothing makes me feel more helpless than the "check engine" light on my dashboard. That sucker comes on, whaddya gonna do? Pop the hood?

Today's NYT has a feature on what that light tends to mean and what people are inclined to do about it. Turns out—according to the article—that it's usually something to do with the emissions system. I've had to take cars in a number of times to clear that light, and yes, it always the O2 sensor, the Throttle Position Sensor, usually some little diode that's blown out and it's usually around $300 to replace it. You feel like a chump every time. Naturally, people have varying responses and strategies:

A freelance writer says, "I guess you should slam on the brakes, pull over and dial a service station."

A librarian in Connecticut believes that the check-engine light signals a blown fuse, but only in Hondas.

A computer consultant from Kingston, cries, "I haven't a clue! The shame, the horror."

A retired Kentucky banker dodges the question, "Let God be your check-engine light."

A horticulture writer in Philadelphia says she keeps the glowing check-engine light in her 1988 Subaru covered with a piece of black tape.

Our Puritan Heritage

Most Europeans accept that people enjoy sex and the Continentals don't get too hung up about it. Not us. We talk a good game and act like we get a lot of action, but most Americans can't decide whether sex is healthy or an express ticket to Hell. This comes up in a lot of ways, particularly in our attitude toward homosexuality.

Somehow, in this modern age, we still have laws on the books like those in Texas and in a dozen other states that'll put you in the slammer for doing what the Greek philosophers called, "comradeship." This ABC News story covers the state of America's same-sex sodomy laws that criminalize conduct between gays that is legal between heterosexuals.

This article's a fun read because it delves into the Byzantine maze of gay slander law that's our Puritan heritage.

For example, in Texas, an appellate court last month upheld an argument made by a state inmate who claims he was slandered by a guard who called him a "queer" in front of other prisoners. He doesn't have to prove damages because in the opinion of the court the term was "defamatory per se."

If someone is called gay in a state where sodomy is a crime, they are by definition also being accused of criminality, which could be grounds for a defamation per se claim.

Enter the Supreme Court. If they rule that the Texas law is unconstitutional, then sodomy is no longer criminal and thus defamation per se is no longer a valid claim. Calling someone gay would be like calling someone "blond." A professor at a California law school points out that changing morals are already weakening the current framework for defamation per se, but that "plaintiffs could make an accusation of homosexuality libel or slander per quod, meaning that individuals would have to prove the statement was particularly damaging to him or her."

Thus in the Cruise case, Tom could still sue for slander, but on the grounds that he was being accused of adultery, "which may or may not be libel per se."

More critical than libel or slander, however, is another area of homosexual jurisprudence known as the "Romeo and Juliet" law. Here's Matthew Limon, who just one week after his 18th birthday was caught engaged in oral sex with a 14-year-old boy "in the residential center for developmentally disabled youth where they both lived." Had Limon been with a female partner, the Kansas Romeo and Juliet law would have capped his punishment at about 15 months in jail. But it only applies, as you would imagine from the name of the statute, to heterosexuals. Limon got 17 years in prison, and will have the "convicted sex offender" thing to deal with when he's released. The ACLU is taking on the case, due to the inherent unfairness of the sentencing disparities involved. Yet some people think this is just dandy:

"We feel sympathy for a young person facing a long prison sentence for this kind of act, but should that justify overruling a principle of law that has benefits for society?" said Scott Lively, director of the Pro-Family Law Center in Citrus Heights, Calif.

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