short takes

I am pleased to see that the Massachusetts supreme court has ruled that same-sex marriages are legal. 'Bout time someone does. IMO, so long as states are going to assert a vested interest in marriages, they must use civil, not religious, definitions. Any religion is of course free to declare that a union is not a legal marriage for their purposes; that happens already.

Giant Microbes -- plushie toys for your favorite maladies, from the common cold to Ebola. Perfect for your Valentine's Day needs; surely this beats adopted cockroaches. Plushie link courtesy of browngirl.

Ur-ine Control, a urinal turned videogame controller, from those wackos at MIT (I say that with the utmost respect, of course). Link courtesy of the_never.

A good analysis of the current economic doings in Pittsburgh by tangerinpenguin. My favorite part: "[The mayor's] track record for recognizing when he's a part of Playa Politics only in the same sense that Frosted Choco-Bombs are part of this complete breakfast, unfortunately, bodes poorly."

I didn't watch the superbowl (not even the commercials), but apparently one of the anti-smoking ads has a real web site: Shards O Glass Freeze-Pops. As jducoeur said, this shows dedication to a nasty satire. (The ad is there, too, for those who missed it like I did.)

Today in talmud study: some not-very-satisfying, but interesting, attempts at the age-old question of why bad things happen to good people and vice-versa. I'll write it up later. (This is a reminder to myself. And I know I also owe an interview and a set of questions.)

In the last several days the amount of spam I receive seems to have decreased, from about 100 messages a day to about 50-60. I wonder who I should thank. Or is it just seasonal, with the end of the month being more popular than the beginning of the month?