A suspended Roman Catholic priest in Connecticut accused of making more than $300,000 in sales of methamphetamines is expected to plead guilty to one of the charges.
...
Authorities say the 61-year-old Wallin had methamphetamine mailed to him from co-conspirators in California and made more than $300,000 in drugs sales out of his apartment in Waterbury last year.

About the Dothraki Language

Georgia GOP Chair

“You may be as straight as an arrow, and you may have a friend that is as straight as an arrow,” Everhart said. “Say you had a great job with the government where you had this wonderful health plan. I mean, what would prohibit you from saying that you’re gay, and y’all get married and still live as separate, but you get all the benefits? I just see so much abuse in this it’s unreal. I believe a husband and a wife should be a man and a woman, the benefits should be for a man and a woman. There is no way that this is about equality. To me, it’s all about a free ride.”

I wonder why this lunatic thinks homosexual couples would be more prone to do this than heterosexual couples. Surely the motivations and incentives would be the same, no?

Tried three times, but I couldn't get any of my dough to rise - today, of all days.

Update: Rather than toss it in the trash with the others, I put my third batch of dough into a sarcophagus of stainless steel, then locked it in a cold dark cave, hoping for a miracle. And when I checked it, hours later... lo, it had risen!. And I baked it! And 45 minutes later, there was a nearly-perfect French boule on my counter top! My first successful loaf of bread, ever - the last of six attempts in the past 8 days. And we ate four slices of that steamy fresh French bread it as soon as it was cool enough to handle. Even though it was 10:30 at night. The very middle wasn't quite cooked enough, so I popped the whole loaf back into the oven - instead of putting it into the covered Dutch oven it had come out of. Five minutes later, the top was burned to black. Alas! Well, at least I got four heavenly slices out of it.

Thank you, Michael Ruhlman (and your bread-baking app)!

diggy dang diggy diggy

Jesus fucking blistered Wow.

What a great record.

All hail the Minutemen.

How did I miss them all these years?

Maybe partying will help
--------------
As I look over this beautiful land,
I can't help but realize that I am alone.
Why am I able to waste my energy?
To notice life being so beautiful?
What of the people who don't have what I ain't got?
Are they victims of my leisure?
To fail is to be a victim,
To be a victim of my choice.
Maybe partying will help

OK, so since I regained connectivity, I've been buying a ton of music.... including Iron Maiden's "Number Of The Piece" and "Piece Of Mind".

The music and vocals are fucking amazing. I never realized that Maiden was so proggy, when I was 14. At the time. I thought they were just. I dunno, fancier than Priest and (evnentually) not as caffeinated as Metallica. But, wow. And, damn, so good at the technical stuff. whew.

But, then I started listening to lyrics.

He is the king of all the land
In the kingdom of the sands
Of a time tomorrow

He rules the sandworms and the Fremen
In a land amongst the stars
Of an age tomorrow

He is destined to be a king
He rules over everything
On the land called planet Dune

Bodywater is your life
And without it you would die
On the desert the planet Dune

Without the stillsuit you would fry
On the sands so hot and dry
In a world called Arrakis

It is a land that's rich in Spice
The sandriders and the 'mice'
That they call the Muad' Dib

He is the Kwizatz Haderach
He is born of Caladan
And will take the Gom Jabbar

yada yada j'bar

I can't even pull a line to highlight, because the next one is just as bad. And fuck if I can remember how all those syllables fit the music now that I'm listening to the Minutemen. It was awkward. Props to Bruce Dickinson for making it sound awesome, though.

Oh. Well.

I guess musical skill and verbal skills are separate. And I'd be grateful for more of either. Can I Haz Oyster Miracles?

Frequency domain. Fast Fourier transform. Phase correlation. Log-polar coordinates. Complex conjugate. Rotation, translation and scale invariant image registration. Blackman windowing.

What a way to spend one's free time!

In the middle of his latest wonderful travelogue, Ta-Nehisi Coates gives a succinct explanation of a phenomenon that continues to bother many white Americans.

A month ago I was giving a talk at a college where someone asked my why it was wrong for white people to use the word "nigger" in a friendly way. I responded, as I always do, by pointing out that the names people use depend on their relations. That I should not expect to call another man's wife "honey" by pointing out that he calls her the same thing. That my wife and her friends use the word "bitch" between them, but that is not a name I should expect (or want) to employ. That whatever they say, I have no desire to address my gay friends as queer. If you respect the humanity of black people, then you respect that they get to do what other humans do--ironically employ epithets in a communal way.

Go read the rest, because his descriptions of being a stranger in a strange land are great.

The Smartest Invention Ever