Interview with Mary Robinette Kowal — Cool stuff. She is always sharp. (Via Marta Murvosh.)

Photoshopped Covers Of Book Titles With A Letter Missing Make My Books-And-Wordplay Loving Heart Go Pitter-Patter — Hahahahah. (Via Lisa Costello.)

Oldest Grave Decorated With Flowers Discovered In Israel

Scientists Coax Brain to Regenerate Cells Lost in Huntington’s Disease — Wow. (Via David Goldman.)

Eight Toxic Foods: A Little Chemical Education — Couldn't anyone be bothered to look anything up? There are facts in this world, you know. Learn a few. Another place where liberal-progressives can be as fact-blind as conservatives. (Via David Goldman.)

Mysterious Bursts of Cosmic Radio Waves Detected from 11 Billion Light Years Away

Most common flag colors

Excitement in Russia as ex-spy offers marriage to Snowden

What the Leadership Change Means for Egypt's Future and the Region

Republicans Have Tough Choices On Voting Rights Act — It's tough to be intellectually or politically consistent when you're a conservative. Too bad the rest of us have to get sucked into their paranoid fantasies.

The importance of Republicans with life experiences — Listening to Cantor argue that he supports increased funding on medical research in part because of his ailing father reminded me of Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) arguing in support of marriage equality because of his gay son. And Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) changing his mind about Medicaid because of his own interactions with the program. Or any number of Republican policymakers changing their mind about federal disaster relief after it's their constituents who are hit with a brutal storm. As I argued in March, it seems the key to American social progress in the 21st century is simple: more conservatives having more life experiences. I've said for years, contemporary American conservatism embodies a serious lack of both empathy and imagination. Cantor could neither imagine the problems nor empathize with their sufferers until he personally experienced it. Likewise Kirk, and so forth. (Via scarlettina.)

QotD?: How many trombones?

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7/5/2013
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (vacation)
Hours slept: 8.5 hours (solid)
Body movement: 0.0 hours (away from home)
Weight: n/a (away from home)
Number of FEMA troops on my block building mandatory gay marriage halls: 0
Currently reading: Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation: A 28-Day Program by Sharon Salzberg; Snuff by Terry Pratchett