Wedding slide shows

Some couples have slide shows at their weddings to show off childhood pictures and illustrate their time together. Other couples are surprised by performance-oriented relatives who want to tell the story through song and dance. (Make sure to watch all three parts. To watch in high quality, click the YouTube icon and when the new window opens, click "watch in high quality". This will take slightly longer to load.)

Check out Chihuly art

I went to the deYoung Museum today and checked out the Chihuly exhibit. You should too, it's amazing. (If you have ever been to the Bellagio in Vegas, you've seen his art.) Although Chihuly is known for his glass work, I was really digging his drawings.

Ryan J. Portillo art

Check out my brother Ryan's arte. The first one is a bit different than his normal focus. The second is more representative of his main work.

HotTrance.com

I listened to trance more in college than I do now, but a friend of mine recently got me back into it. Check out HotTrance.com for lots of info on different trance artists to sample.

DJ James Williams

If you are looking for a non-Red Bull way to stay focused while doing work on the computer, you might try local trance DJ James Williams from San Francisco. If you don't like trance, you might have to stick to Red Bull. Or maybe jump rope.

On Evolution

"...life on this earth is very ancient. It is not one hundred thousand, or two hundred thousand, or one million or two million years old; it is very ancient, and the ancient records and traces are entirely obliterated."

(Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, p. 160)

Six Bahá'í leaders arrested in Iran; pattern matches deadly sweeps of early 1980s

15 May 2008
Six Bahá’í leaders in Iran were arrested and taken to the notorious Evin prison yesterday in a sweep that is ominously similar to episodes in the 1980s when scores of Iranian Bahá’í leaders were summarily rounded up and killed.

Read the full story here.

If you are a U.S. citizen, contact your Representative and ask him or her to cosponor House Resolution 1008. Below is a sample message you can use.

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Dear Congress (man/woman) ________,

I urgently ask you to cosponsor H. Res. 1008.

The Bahá'í Faith is the youngest of the world's independent religions. Founded in Iran in 1844, it now has more than five million adherents in 236 countries and territories. Bahá'ís come from nearly every national, ethnic and religious background.

Recent reports indicate that seven members of the Bahá'í community are currently in prison. Mrs. Fariba Kamalabadi, Mr. Jamaloddin Khanjani, Mr. Afif Naeimi, Mr. Saeid Rezaie, Mr. Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Mr. Vahid Tizfahm were arrested in Tehran on 14 May 2008, by agents of the Ministry of Intelligence. They are members of the national coordinating group of Bahá'í in Iran, an informal body that was formed with the knowledge of the government to assist the 300,000-member Bahá'í community in the country. Another member of the same Committee, Mrs. Mahvash Sabet, has been arrested in Mashhad in March 2008 and is reportedly still detained.

Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter, and for cosponsoring H. Res. 1008.

Sincerely,

(Your Name and contact information)