"Miss" Manners?

I was signing Thank You cards over the weekend and asked my husband if he had any message to share with our friends and family. “No, I’m sure you’ve got it covered.” Being a smart ass, he then smirked and made a comment about how thank you cards fall under the woman’s domain, anyway. “Oh, a thank you is too girly for a manly-man?” No, he replied, but if he wants to express appreciation, he will simply tell the person directly.

It got me thinking about the expectations of proper etiquette that women are subjected to, which men escape. Tradition placed the job of completing the thank you cards in the woman’s to-do list. My Oma would tut-tut and bemoan the changing times and the state of the younger generation if she didn’t receive a thank you from someone she gifted. Personally, I don’t expect thank you cards, and always feel slight surprise when I've received one in the mail. I’m not trying to debate the value of thank you cards. I do think that it is a nice gesture -- A way to recognize the time, effort, and money people spent in order to help my husband and I prepare for our baby. It just seems to be a remnant from the past that I wouldn’t miss if gone.

What are your thoughts? Are thank you cards solely a woman’s chore in your family? Is it a responsibility passed along to you? Are snail-mail thank you’s necessary in today’s world, when an email can express the same sentiment?

Digital Photography for Beginners

These are a few photos I took for my digital photography class... I had a good time messing with the settings on manual mode as you can do alot more with a camera than most people think ;)

Draw Muhammad Day: A justified reaction to an overreaction, or a direct provocation of and disrespect toward Islam worldwide?

Is Thunderf00t justified or over the line? It will be interesting to hear everyone's opinion on the matter.

For those that are too lazy or technologically challenged to watched the video, I will give you a quick rundown. Back in 2005 a dozen or so cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed sent the Muslim world into a frenzy of pissed-offedness (yes that is a word, I know this because I just made it up). There was angry-mob fueled violence in the streets throughout the world. As a result over the next 5 years, media organizations all over the world shied away from (more like, downright terrified of) displaying images of Mohammad. In 2010 similar "warnings" were issued. In response this guy who is only so far, known as his internet persona Thunderf00t has made it his personal mission to not only draw the prophet Mohammed, but to do so in as many demeaning and disrespectful ways as possible. After well over a million combined hits on his videos on YouTube, he decided to create "Draw Mohammed Day" so the whole world could join in on what he calls an exercise in the defense of freespeech. But how far is too far?

I believe that the main issue boils down to how you answer the following questions: Does/Should every human being have the unalienable right to live their lives as they see fit; so long as their actions don't prevent another from doing the same? (From now on I will refer to this as "The Supreme Universal Right" or SUR)

If your answer to this question was yes (mine was), then threatening death to those that show irreverence toward your religion or belief system probably seems irrational to you. Then again, you likely aren't a religious person. Which brings me to the next question: Does ones religious/personal belief trump the USR? This is a sticky issue. If we concede that the only authority needed to override the USR is a belief or interpretation of scripture, then we must also concede that that religious belief is all the justification needed to trump any right. For example this would make killing abortion clinic doctors OK; and justify anti-gay rights legislation; also this would give the thumbs up to the 9/11 attacks and so on...