A couple of days ago, I used a contact form over on the International Rescue Committee's site to contact my senators, asking them to vote against H.R. 4038, which would place additional restrictions on resettling refugees in the United States ( Read more... )

So, it's not news that The Biggest Loser is terrible, but this article adds at least one new reason why it's terrible to the list: I wouldn't necessarily have guessed that rapid fat loss plus intensive exercise would slow down your resting metabolic rate even more than just rapid fat loss ( Read more... )

Since the terrorist attacks in Paris on Friday, I have been gripped with the vague feeling that I ought to Do Something. The question is, "What?" There is a school of thought that seems to think that it is very important that we should go out and Fight Terrorism. I am bothered by the extent to which this seems to translate into "bomb civilians" and ( Read more... )

Okay, last night when I was catching up on the shutdown news, I joked to myself that all we needed to complete the perfect storm of American politics would be a mass shooting in the Capitol.

I don't think this qualifies as a mass shooting, because all that's been confirmed so far is that shots were fired and a police officer was injured. But I'm ( Read more... )

Like a lot of people, I'm disappointed by the verdict in the Zimmerman case. However, based on my own experience serving on a jury, I'm not entirely surprised that it turned out the way it did ( Read more... )

The news seems to be a little more full of grotesque horrors lately, but also a bit more full of acts of heroism by "ordinary" people. If I ever stop to help at what I think is a road accident, only to discover that I have, in fact, walked into the middle of a murder scene and am speaking to one of the killers, I hope I have half the presence of ( Read more... )