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WorcesterActivist.org back on its feet
WorcesterActivist.org has been running on a really flaky shared server. After months of wanting to move it, it’s finally moved. Let me know if there is anything wrong (as I expect there is).

Apologizing to the indigenous
Whispers: The Power of “Sorry”:

At a recent Mass to commemorate the 190th anniversary of a California mission built by native converts, the Miwok Indians, Sacramento’s bishop-emeritus apologized for the church’s mistreatment of the early community.

Presidential Occupation Project a success
So if you read any Catholic Worker blog, you know about the Presidential Occupation Project, in which Catholic Workers and others did civil disobedience in the campaign offices of presidential candidates to keep the war issue on the front burner. It’s a measure of the success of the project that even if you don’t follow this scene, you may have seen reports in the mainstream media about it.

HMB CW troubles drag on?
If you read any Catholic Worker blog but this one, you probably haven’t seen the latest news about the whole Mike Niece/Half Moon Bay CW scandal. Previously it looked like Niece would be pleading, but as of last week “Niece may get full sentence”:

Holm offered Niece, who was present at the hearing, the chance to change his plea. After a short conference with his attorney, Niece declined, and the judge withdrew the 10-day minimum sentence.

Niece will be sentenced on Feb. 1, after the judge has read a pre-sentence report from the probation department, said Wagstaffe. Niece could now face the full six months, in addition to fines yet to be determined.

Award-winning institutions
Junk Charts reviews some interesting charts about the awards won by colleges in the US and Europe. Features both Caltech, alma mater of most Pie and Coffee contributors, and Oxford, employer of one contributor. Interesting to note that there are three colleges from New England on the chart, and 4 from Southern California.

China bans plastic bags
Plenty of localities have done something like this, but China? That’s huge. See also: how to knit a plastic bag, how to make a canvas bag.

Bruce Sterling explains it all
Great stuff. I especially liked this:

Some people still think that there’s an “Islamo-fascist tyranny” somewhere that hates our freedoms and can organize Islam-dom into a coherent fascist state… There’s just no way. Al Qaeda and the Taliban aren’t true “fascists.” Fascists can at least make trains run on time. Even Communists were better-organized. The mujihadeen have no organized army and no industrial policy and they don’t know where to find any.

Also:

If people a hundred years from now are soberly engaged with phenomena we have no nouns and verbs for, I think that’s a victory condition.

Warcraft and pacifism
As Boing Boing reported: Pacifist Warcraft player trying to hit the top without killing anything. A reader points out this section from the original story:

Tell us about the concept behind Reinisch, your first pacifist character. I started him from a roleplaying point of view, based very loosely on a real German priest, Franz Reinisch, who refused to serve in Hitler’s army and was executed. My undead priest’s back story is basically the same, and he still refuses to kill.

Portland
They now have a vegan mini-mall.

Anger-Man #1
Review from Jacob Berendes.