Dopp Juice Archive

This is in response to the cribnotes post about our culture’s “war on Christianity” this holiday season…Dear Stephen,I’m glad you started this post with examples. You make a strong argument, and that’s a refreshing change of pace these days. Personally, I tend to side with the left on this one: Christianity has been forced on too many people for too long, and an education in diversity is crucial for pulling our culture to a higher ground. But just as I believe a feminist is wrong to place herself above men, I agree that it’s destructive to cut Christmas out of that education in diversity. In some situations, it’s appropriate to argue that Christianity gets plenty of attention in the rest of our culture, so we need to emphasize the other traditions whenever we get the chance. But yeah, cutting a secular christmas carol from a concert while leaving in “O Hanukkah” is absurd.It’s not a war on Christianity, at least not compared to the scale of war Christianity has waged on other cultures throughout history. It’s not a war on Christmas either. You had it right with the first point. It’s political correctness run amok. Pendulums of influence swing back and forth until they come to a common ground. And we HAVE made a hell of a lot of progress over the years toward what I believe to be the ideal goal: tolerance, acceptance, and peaceful coexistance across the board. As for “Chrismakkuh,” if you have one Jewish parent and one Christian parent, it’s just a term for what you’ve always celebrated. Don’t forget that Christmas as we celebrate it today is a blend of multiple traditions and holidays–including pagan–that came about when different cultures needed to coexist. It’s fair to keep Christmas on the front lines of the holiday season, as long as there’s space for the other equally significant holidays on the front lines as well. But–to use your analogy–both sides keep taking things too far, shooting off their mouths too much, and knocking out each others’ teeth. It’s time for a little more “live and let live” if you ask me.Peace,Sarah

If Google (or god forbid MSN) is still the first page you see when you open your web browser, it’s time to catch up with the Web 2.0 revolution. You can use that “Home” page so much more efficiently by loading it up with what’s important to you. And as TechCrunch just pointed out, if there’s one thing Web 2.0 is creating for you, it’s start pages, desktops, homepages… whatever you want to call them. I just started using Netvibes because they were included in the list of Best Web 2.0 Software of 2005. They’re incredibly easy to get started with, and so far I’m pretty happy. I think they could stand for a little more customization in appearance (I’d like to be able to play with font size, color, and spacing to increase readibility and affect emphasis), but in general, they’re as smooth as baby’s T-1 line. And I love that they have a flickr module so I can add a rotating series of photographs to brighten my day. But wait, there’s more. TechCrunch gives us the following list (these links will take you to more in-depth descriptions about the sites):

• Eskobo
• favoor
• Google
• Goowy (this one uses Flash)
• Microsoft Live
• Netvibes
• Pageflakes
• Protopage
• Zoozio

Go pick one and customize it with your news, weather, bookmarks, and favorite rss feeds. And say goodbye to someone else’s predefined portal to your web experience. Oh yeah, and of course, this is free.

I’m proud to announce the launch of (and my contribution to) the new sex advice website, DearAmy.net. Amy André is a San Francisco sex educator, and this site holds her weekly Q&A column for sex questions, from the most basic to the most outrageous. Amy herself has a range of self-taught web development skills, so she was a lot of fun to work with. She designed and built the site concept herself in HTML, and I integrated blog software so it would function dynamically. She even took the initiative to learn to edit some of the more advanced files and settings in the software so she can maintain it entirely on her own! Amy’s a great example of a strong, self-directed, and confident creative professional living her dream. Go check her out! (And feel free to ask her your anonymous personal questions while you’re at it…)