theodosia | April 26th -- Skwirlcrazy

I thought, therefore I twittered:

Warm enough to wear shorts and eat breakfast on the patio. Squirrel is watching me, coveting my Munchkins.

There are regular Squirrel Wars over the possession of the trees in my backyard. It's not a big backyard, but there are two maple trees, about 50yo each, according to an arborist I consulted, and they're relatively sheltered from the street, and very accessible to all the backyards with all their squirrel-friendly garbage can and bird feeders and whatnot. At least once a day I heard them barking at each other, and chases are common, with daring leaps from branch to branch. It's all quite hectic.

Just saw my first butterfly of the year!

I have successfully installed XAMPP onto the iBook. Now I just have to learn enough Javascript and PHP to be dangerous.

It's amazing to me how much more comprehensible it is, too, now that I have enough OOP under my belt to be able to recognize the design patterns. Very encouraging, it is!

ow.ly/41jm "No power is more fatal to freedom and the rule of law than torture. It is like Tolkien's ring."

Here's the more complete paragraph from Andrew Sullivan, because I think it should be read and memorized:

"If I had one belief in politics, it would be that the freedoms secured by the modern West are worth fighting for. Absolutely central to those freedoms is barring the executive branch from torturing people. No power is more fatal to freedom and the rule of law than torture. It is like Tolkien's ring: no society remains free, if its rulers use it. Its power is banned because it is a solvent to the rule of law, the establishment of truth, and the limits of government. For an administration to secretly and illegally unleash this weapon - against citizens and non-citizens alike - and to demand that it not be subsequently called to account, that it be allowed to get away with it under some absurd notion that it's too divisive to hold war criminals accountable for their crimes is and was an outrage. Punishing those responsible for war crimes is not "scapegoating". You know what scapegoating is? It's throwing Lynndie England in jail for following orders given by George W. Bush, while leaving him to the luxury of a Texan suburb."

5 Things You Didn't Know About Bea Arthur: A Tribute - Neatorama ow.ly/41uO

Like... she was a Marine? No, seriously!

Yesterday it got up to 92 here, but the humidity was low enough that it was comfy in the shade of the patio... and then between 5 and 7 PM, it dropped over 20 degrees. Now, if the whole summer would be like that, I'd be pretty damn happy!

Meantime, I've made more progress with Javascript, and am getting myself ready for class. So it goes in crazy job-free land.