Running in NJ

I moved out of my old NJ apartment down south a bit, still in NJ but amidst a few more trees. This is my new run through the woods a block from the house. Picture taken about a month ago. I feel really lucky to have moved next to this great run! I didn't even know the park was there until we moved in.

Sex freedom!

Sex toys (including vibrators) are illegal to sell in several states, including Alabama and Mississippi. A 2004 circuit court decision upheld Alabama's ban on the sale of "any device designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs ... ."

Here is a law against queer sex (which I define as any kind of sex that violates dominant social norms) that both 'straights' and 'homos/queers/lgbt/whatever people' can join forces to oppose!

Yay for a sex positive coalition of lots of people! Sex toy shops like Toys in Babeland and Good Vibrations initially sought to market sex toys to women as a feminist act. But they've seen booms in business, and they seem to have made sex toys somewhat respectable even to straight couples. Now will the sex toy industry help build a sex positive political coalition for sex freedom in the U.S.?

(Shout out to HAL for the tip off on these laws.)

Spoooooky

This is our awesome pumpkin.

Nice older men wizards who are GAY

With all this buzz about Dumbledore, let's not forget: Gandalf was also gay.

CBAM emergency: remain calm

I have learned that there was an emergency this evening, when CBAM's cable box went down for about 20 minutes. Do not panic: it is now working again.

Update: The CBAM emergency threat level was raised, then lowered back to its pink/purple level by midnight last night.

Broccoli-ly

HAL has some kind of plan for world domination that depends on making up a very high caliber Tom Swifty. She lately urged people to help her by coming up with one. You know, like "'Pass me the shellfish,' said Tom crabbily." "'Can I go looking for the grail again?' Tom requested."

OK, so here is AM's, it's the best one by far, ever:

"Take that undergarment that's at the moment being worn by that small, furry dog that's traditionally used to herd sheep, and steam clean the undergarment," Tom said broccoli-ly.

(Let's see that pun one more time. It is: "bra-collie-ly"/"broccoli-ly")

Way to go, AM.

Why can't I just write one paragraph?

Why can't I just write one paragraph of my dissertation per day? Every day I could write one really exciting, sexy and/or spooky paragraph. I could do that! Why can't people be happy with that?

Then, in 3 years, my dissertation would be done.

Maybe the problem is that my dissertation is planned to be so long? Maybe a 70-pager would be better?