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.
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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.
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Category Archives: Science
The Rocket Scientist in McMurdo, from yesterday: He’s the small speck of white (those are his pants) in front of the blue building. He wrote yesterday that it was warm (34 Fahrenheit!) and that he had seen an Emperor penguin. … Continue reading
The Rocket Scientist just texted a picture of him and other scientists in the plane that will take him from Christchurch, New Zealand to McMurdo Station, Antarctica. They have been prevented from going for days, and yesterday they got an … Continue reading
T-shirt du jour
Worn by the Rocket Scientist this morning: “1% of the known universe contains over 99% of the known life! #OCCUPY EARTH #ASTROBIOLOGY
Dear Mayan “expert”: An event that happens every 100 years is in astronomical terms (and pretty much in human terms, as well) not “very rare.” In terms of the cosmos, that’s less than a blink of an eye. I think … Continue reading
I just broke one of my own rules: I argued about vaccination with an anti-vaxer on Facebook. Vaccination issues (and the vaccination opponents) are one of those topics that it is wise for me to avoid in person and online, … Continue reading
There are some people not worth listening to.
Recently, on one of the public television channels, I ran across the last five minutes of a Frontline episode on “the vaccination controversy.” It’s not really fair to judge a program on five minutes, and I recognize that, but I … Continue reading
PETA does it again.
I can’t tell whether to be amused or infuriated by PETA’s latest legal manuever: they have filed a lawsuit in federal court in San Diego claiming that the orcas at Sea World are being held in violation of the 13th … Continue reading
I wish it were April 1st…
…And I could write all of this off as a hoax. But it’s not, and I can’t. I have always held that people who opposed vaccination for their children were dangerous. It seems some of them are far more dangerous … Continue reading
Well, that’s a relief, sort of.
South Florida catches a break. From the St. Petersburg Times: The powerful Gulf of Mexico loop current, which seemed primed three months ago to thrust oil to the Florida Keys and beyond, suddenly changed course and helped protect much of … Continue reading
Just one more…
Okay, so by this time you are perfectly fed up with me posting. (Seven posts in one day? Geez, girl, get a life!) And you’re probably fed up with xkcd as well — although that would be a shame because … Continue reading
Anyone who knows me for any length of time knows that I am irretrievably opposed to capital punishment. Nonetheless, some people just deserve to be taken out and shot: the doctor who published the study linking autism and the mumps, … Continue reading
Gold and Darkness
Today, January 31, 2008, is the fiftieth anniversary of America’s entry into space. On January 31, 1958, the aptly named Explorer I took to the skies from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, headed to earth orbit where, besides being … Continue reading
To inspire and guide….
On Devon Island, in the Canadian Arctic, there are seven inukshuks. An inukshuk is an Inuit “stone man” — it serves to comfort people on dangerous journeys and mark pathways. The inukshuks are a little smaller than life-size, and are … Continue reading
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