The most recent 20 comments posted to Making Light by alkali:

My nominee for greatest Senator ever would be Kennedy's predecessor in the very same Senate seat, Charles Sumner. Antislavery, so much so that he was beaten bloody on the floor of the U.S. Senate by a Southerner. Pro-integration. Supported prison reform, public education, and economic relief and civil rights for freed slaves. Opposed colonialist wars. Early opponent of racial preference in immigration laws, a fight Ted Kennedy eventually won. Described by Lincoln as "my idea of a bishop."

"The Utopias of one age have been the realities of the next."

"Worse than any heathen or pagan abroad are those in our midst who are false to our institutions."

Url, qbrf gung ybbx yvxr na nfgrebvq gb lbh?

As for Rancho Cordova, sure, good idea, what could possibly go wrong?

"Make that cappucino a decaf; I've just been tased."

Keeping in mind that everyone ought to wear seatbelts, my concern about seatbelt laws that give police officers the power to pull cars over for suspicion of not wearing a seatbelt is that such a law is in practice the equivalent of giving police officers the power to pull over anyone, anytime, for any reason.

In Massachusetts the seatbelt law is subject to so-called "secondary enforcement," which means that if you are pulled over for something else, the officer can cite you for not wearing your seatbelt, but you cannot be pulled over for that reason alone (which is "primary enforcement").

To quote Stephen Colbert, "People tell me I'm white, and I believe them because police officers call me 'Sir.'" But not everyone is a middle-aged white person who basically never gets hassled unnecessarily by the police.

I was surprised that the indictment contained so many references to dinosaurs and sodomy.

Charlie Stross: The consensus view on that question is yes, the VP can be indicted.

Henry writes:

There's a bit of language play there that may escape non-UK/Irish readers. "Jammy" in "jammy first-timers" means 'possessed of undeserved luck.' It's almost never used afaik except as part of the phrase "jammy bastard."

I was just thinking the other day of this lyric from the musical "Sweet Charity":

All I can say is "Wow-ee!"
Look-a where I am.
Tonight I landed, pow!
Right in a pot of jam.
What a set up! Holy cow!
They'd never believe it,
If my friends could see me now!

In particular, I was thinking that I had never heard the expression "land in a pot of jam" to mean lucky in any other context. (The lyricist, Dorothy Fields, was an American, not a Brit.) Perhaps there's some connection.

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