Who I am…
I am a lawyer, former mother of teenagers, and a quixotic seeker after and champion of factual truth.
I make the best damn brownies you have ever had that are not regulated by the federal government.
I love movies, Broadway, and intelligent conversation.
I think in song lyrics and movie and television quotes.
I believe in the use of proper spelling, punctuation, and grammar even in text messages. I am willing to debate the use of the Oxford comma, if you know what the Oxford comma is. It also makes me very happy if people use the subjunctive mood when appropriate.
I have been told I intimidate people. I am really just a fluffy-centered teddy bear. Really.
- It's all my fault. No, really. The views expressed in this blog are mine and mine alone and in no way whatsoever represent the views of anyone else, including any past, present, or future employer.
- Follow The Wild Winds of Fortune on WordPress.com
Wild Winds of Fortune Feed
Search this blog
Archives
March 2026 S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 
Words to live by ….
“He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8.
“Pray for the dead, fight like hell for the living.” Mary Harris (“Mother Jones”).
“Don’t boo. Vote.” Barack Obama.
“Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.” Reinhold Niebuhr.
“No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We’re always one of Us. It’s Them that do the bad things.” Sir Terry Pratchett.
“Damning facts are still facts.” Steven C. Holtzman.
“If you don’t stick to your values when they’re tested, they’re not values — they’re hobbies.” Jon Stewart.
“Darkness never sustains, even though it sometimes seems it will.” Doctor Who.
“Writing is a form of mischief.” Stephen Sondheim.
“An idea is not responsible for the people who believe it.” Don Marquis.
“If you can see your path laid out in front of you step by step, you know it’s not your path. Your own path you make with every step you take. That’s why it’s your path.” Joseph Campbell.
“Truth is our strongest ally, our biggest weapon, and our best defense.” Me.
“Reality has a well-known liberal bias.” Stephen Colbert.
“The opposite of war isn’t peace, it’s creation.” Jonathan Larson.
“We live through times when hate and fear seem stronger.
We rise and fall, and light from dying embers
Remembrances that hope and love last longer.
And love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love;
Cannot be killed or swept aside.”
Lin-Manuel Miranda.“If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution.” Emma Goldman.
“No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” Samuel Beckett.
“I believe that the God who made (among other things) light, and space, and number, and time, and the spiral curve of Fibonacci numbers, must be acknowledged to understand more than I do about why there’s pain in the world.” Teresa Neilsen Hayden.
“No, it’s not fair. You’re in the wrong universe for fair.” John Scalzi.
“Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got African-Americans the right to vote. Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. Liberals created Medicare. Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act. So when you try to hurl that label at my feet, ‘Liberal,’ as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, it won’t work, because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor.” Lawrence O’Donnell
“So keep fightin’ for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don’t you forget to have fun doin’ it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin’ ass and celebratin’ the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was.” Molly Ivins.
- Art Beadwork Blogging Books Culture (popular and otherwise) Family Feminism Food God faith and theology Health History Justice KIds Kids in all their glory Miscellany Music My life and times nothing special Personal Relationships Politics Science SCOTUS Social Issues Sports The Internet and its perils The World Travel (real or imaginary) Who I am Work! Writing
Tags
- abortion
- Antarctica
- anti-vaxxers
- architecture
- Art
- baseball
- blogging
- Books
- Broadway!
- Capital punishment
- chinchilla races
- computer
- elections
- Everybody talks about the weather
- Feminism
- first
- first-world problems
- Florida
- football
- Gamergate
- Geeks! Geeks! Geeks!
- Get your red hot links here!
- GMOs
- God faith and theology
- Gratitude
- guns
- hehehe
- hehehehe
- History
- LGBT rights and issues
- life
- life sucks sometimes
- Look what I made!
- mental health
- Mindfulness
- Mom
- Moooom!!!!!
- movies
- Music
- My friends are the coolest people
- NASA
- neil-gaiman
- news
- notes to self
- People worth listening to
- poetry
- Politics
- privacy
- Profundities
- Railfan
- really cool things
- recipes
- Reprehensible people
- Space
- technology
- television
- The Interminable Job Search
- The Not-So-Little Drummer Boy
- The NSLDB
- The Red-Headed Menace strikes again
- The Rocket Scientist. the field season
- the search for truth
- The Voice
- The wonderful Penwiper
- things I believe
- torture
- Tragedy
- Trivia
- Unions
- Voting
- What did I do now?
- What I like
- writing
- you have *got* to be freaking kidding me
-
Join 303 other subscribers
Contact info:
Email me at wwf@lithic.net
Author Archives: Pat Greene
Anniversaries I would just as soon forget.
Twenty-five years ago today, I sat in my loft unit in graduate student housing at Stanford, waiting for the third game of the Bay Bridge Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland As to start, when the entire … Continue reading
Just a reminder: this year marks the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Berkeley Free Speech movement. It was a movement that could only take place in an environment free from social media, from a job market where potential graduates have to … Continue reading
Last month, when the pictures of naked female celebrities were leaked online, I read a chorus of “What did she expect? She should have taken better precautions!” My position, articulated in the several comment threads which I deemed to participate … Continue reading
” It is almost as if Plaintiff ’s counsel chose the opinion by throwing long range darts at the Federal Reporter…”
Bradshaw v. Unity Marine Corp. (147F Supp. 2d 668 (S.D. Tex. 2001)) just may be the most entertaining court ruling I have ever read. I am making a spectacle of myself in Starbucks as I giggle, snort, and laugh outright at … Continue reading
The stories in the wine.
In Lisbon, there is a Institute of Port Wine ( Instituto do Vinho do Porto). You can sit in comfortable chairs and taste different types or ports — drinking glasses of ports that are far more expensive than what you could … Continue reading
Where do the rest of us fit in?
I was listening last night to the TED Radio Hour on NPR, and the subject was technology. There were pieces about how current technology — including social media — could be used to magnify the impact of terrorist attacks, the … Continue reading
There are a few advantages to growing older.
I am sad I am aging. I miss having preteens around the house. But… I no longer have to deal with the mommy wars. I no longer have to feel either vaguely guilty or aggressively defiant that I do not … Continue reading
I think the vehemence of the prior post was caused by several arguments I have had today with people who insist labor unions are the worst thing that ever happened to this country, that cops are overpaid, and that public … Continue reading
A manifesto, of sorts.
I will not use any service that purports to replace a regulated service in any city where said service refuses to abide by existing regulations. No Uber or Lyft in cities where they do not follow the same regs as … Continue reading
Hola!
Back from Spain. Great trip. Too much to write about. Saw three museums in Madrid. Ate too much jamon. Fell down a small staircase. Discovered the limits of my mobility. Good times.
Comparative Pharmacology.
Tinto de Verano: not quite as effective as prescription muscle relaxants for dealing with massive back spasms*, but a great deal tastier. The side effect profile is different, however, and the side effects may last after the efficacy has diminished. … Continue reading
Truth in Advertising.
(Note: We didn’t either, but I did get a laugh at the sign.)
I have to be grateful for. It is the turning of the seasons. I will be going to Spain in a week. It is my favorite silly holiday of the year — International Talk Like a Pirate Day.* It is … Continue reading
España, aquí vengo.
Barring disaster (which this year is not a given), I am going back to Spain at the end of the month. Sadly, it will only be for a little over a week. Spain is my favorite European country — scratch … Continue reading
Beware.
I may have been hacked. If you receive a IM from me, it’s not real. I am using this blog to notify people since it cross-posts to both Twitter and Facebook, so I should get everybody, and this is the … Continue reading
The Wild Winds of Fortune 