Listen to the Requiem a Dying Star Wrote for Itself

The data from the star—which has a small, distant companion—is converted into points on the disk of a music box. The star's pulses become the beats; variations in the strength of its radio waves guide how the music changes. PARTY made 70 disks at different frequencies which play the sad melody....

Direct Action In The Face Of An Intractable Opponent Is Sometimes The Only Way

Palm Beach Libertarians plan to defy ordinance in order to feed the homeless

If you're wondering where the Episcopal Church is in all of this, well...it's complicated.

Sorry, But I'm Not Surprised

We've had a rash of home burglaries in my little town recently.  I'm not sure why, except that it's a place without a police department, with an older than average citizenry who live in remote areas, tend to display their affluence, often leave their doors unlocked, and find the notion of personal gun ownership distasteful.  Really, what in that mixture would attract a criminal?

I can't tell you what it's like to grow up in the kleptocracy of Cleveland and now drive about a town in Connecticut muttering "easy mark, easy mark, easy mark" with every house I pass.

The good news is that the crooks seem to get caught with a brutal frequency.

This Must Be Part Of The Economic Recovery I Keep Hearing About

New report: Child homelessness on the rise in US

"God Only Knows" performed by Bonnie Raitt

Foot Upon Foot Of Snow + Howling Frigid Winds = Great Lakes Surfing!

Science Finally Catches Up To Religion

Science says lasting relationships come down to—you guessed it—kindness and generosity.

A State Government Attempts To Coerce Christian Preaching

Maryland County To Churches: Preach Environmentalism And Get A Tax Break

On general principles, my response would be, "Dear Maryland County: Kindly go to hell."

Lede Of The Week

Columbus police will review their recruit-training procedures after a tumultuous morning in which three cruisers were wrecked in a chain-reaction crash, and tear gas carried by wind to an elementary school irritated the throats and eyes of several children and a pregnant, asthmatic teacher. 

That Fixes Everything

COUNTY SCRUBS RELIGIOUS NAMES FROM SCHOOL SCHEDULE

If You Know Anything About Physics, This Headline Will Make You Unconscious

Spiral laser beam creates quantum whirlpool

What Serves One May Not Serve Another

Letter to a Manhattan Resident

This Is What One Does When Time Is Not Of The Essence: The Domino Version Of Van Gogh's "Starry Night"

Headline Of The Week

Woman must halve her pooping cats

This seems a little drastic, doesn't it?  Couldn't she simply give up a couple?  Oh, wait....

This Probably Should Have Been Written Ten Years Ago

How humanities professors are letting identity politics destroy their discipline.

The discipline is already destroyed.  Only 3% of contemporary college students major in English, which was my major and a reasonably popular one in my day.  Why study a subject that isn't about actual literature but, instead, about how novels, stories, and poems can inform the gender/racial grievance industry?

BVM* Sighting!

Image of Virgin Mary grows on tree in Iowa

"Is this heaven?"
"No, it's Iowa."

[*BVM stands for "Blessed Virgin Mary".]

From An Entertaining Book Review Comes A Perspicacious Observation

But my own interpretation is that the most dangerous people are always those with no sense of humour. Without exception they are nasty, aggressive and stupid. Not geniuses by any stretch of the imagination. Not many laughs in the Kremlin.

Wisdom from the Rabbi

"When I was young, I used to admire intelligent people; as I grow older, I admire kind people" — Abraham Joshua Heschel

Trust In Clergy At An Historic Low And Now...This

Within the Treasury Department, undercover agents at the I.R.S., for example, appear to have far more latitude than do those at many other agencies. I.R.S. rules say that, with prior approval, “an undercover employee or cooperating private individual may pose as an attorney, physician, clergyman or member of the news media.”

An I.R.S. spokesman acknowledged that undercover investigators are allowed to pose in such roles with approval from senior officials. But the agency said in a statement that senior officials “are not aware of any investigations where special agents have ever posed as attorneys, physicians, members of the clergy or members of the press specifically to gain information from a privileged relationship.”

The State Of The Ivy League

43 Dartmouth Students Suspected Of Cheating In Ethics Class