[links] Link salad walks into the blood lab, says, "What is this, a joke?"

The joke threads are pretty funny: [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ] — Check them out.

Half-Drag — Some very curious portraits. (Via willyumtx.)

What’s So Bad About a Boy Who Wants to Wear a Dress? — Nothing whatsoever.

My life with schizophrenia

Hopkins Treats Patient with Unknown Skin Disease — This is very strange. (Via David Goldman.)

The Velveteen Robot — Researchers at MIT, Harvard, and Seoul National University have created a robotic worm. “So what?” you ask. They’re also making robotic horses—and robot hummingbirds, for goodness sake. What’s promising about the new robot worm, though—the Meshworm, as it’s called—is that it’s a different kind of robot.

Putting the brakes on climate change with... diamonds? — Picking which substance to put in the stratosphere to cool the planet. Mmm. Geo-engineering. What could possibly go wrong?

You might be Paul Ryan if…. — Juan Cole is snarky, but with documentation. The justly famed intellectual consistency of the American Right precludes any possibility of hypocrisy on the part of a major Republican figure, so I'm sure Rush Limbaugh can explain all this away just fine.

Romney-Ryan and Religious Conservatives

Paul Ryan: An Inspired Choice That Says “We Can Fix This” — After eight years of breaking it under Bush, breaking things so badly that the country will be years recovering, why should any voter trust the GOP to fix what they broke?

?otD: Can you think of a better hobby than cancer?

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8/13/2012
Writing time yesterday: 0.25 hours (WRPA)
Body movement: 60 minute suburban walk
Hours slept: 6.0 (solid)
Weight: 238.4
Currently reading: The Essential Engineer: Why Science Alone Will Not Solve Our Global Problems by Henry Petroski