RIP Tim Curry

I don't fear death.  I try to avoid it -- as I think we all do.  But I suspect that in the end I will welcome it.  I think it may be very comforting to go bye-bye.  And I want to earn it.  I want to earn the privilege of not being here.  I'm not galloping towards it.

-- Timothy James Curry (19 April 1946 - 25 August 2026), English actor, voice actor, comedian, and singer, Interview with Ben Mankiewicz on CBS Sunday Morning (19 October 2025)

RIP Dolly Parton

My joke [is that] if I have any regrets, it's that I got caught with some of the stuff that I had no regret about.

-- Dolly Rebecca Parton (19 January 1946 - 25 August 2026) was an American singer-songwriter, instrumentalist, actress, author, and philanthropist, known primarily for her work in country music, "Dolly Parton on style, stardom and sexists: 'I know how to push men off and get the hell away'" The Guardian (9 October 2023)

Contributes To Chaos

To be sure, the Court has not foreclosed States from challenging this blatantly unconstitutional Order.  But it declines to explain when, exactly, is the right time to bring a meritorious election-rule claim challenging unconstitutional interference with electoral processes.  The majority just signals that these claimants had to wait -- even though the election cycle had started and despite facing pocketbook costs, threats of prosecution, and an affront to their sovereignty -- before receiving the relief to which they are likely entitled.

I respectfully dissent.  States administering elections and the voting public that relies on them to do so deserve clarity, not caginess or confusion.  The Court does a disservice to all concerned by distorting Article III standing and ripeness principles to issue a ruling that contributes to pre-election chaos instead of quashing it, and by using its equitable authority to facilitate a patently inequitable result. 

-- Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, in dissent after the majority ruled in Donald J Trump v California that the administration can, for the time being, move forward with its directives relating to citizenship lists and mail ballots (24 August 2026), h/t Law Dork, "What Monday’s Supreme Court election order ruling is and is not"

Blessed Are The Young

Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt.

-- Herbert Hoover (1874 - 1964), 31st president of the United States, address to the Nebraska Republican Conference, Lincoln, Nebraska (16 January 1936)

Straight In The Eye

I believe in looking reality straight in the eye and denying it.

-- Garrison Keillor (1942 -), American novelist, humorist, and public radio personality, as quoted in Precision Shooting : The Trapshooter's Bible‎ (1998) by James Russell, p. 54

At Machine Speed

Technical debt can now be generated at machine speed.

-- Muhammad Rafi, Professor at National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences-FAST, "I really miss coding the way I used to in the old days" on the use of AI in software development, via LinkedIn (14 August 2026)

The Latest Trend

To the dismay of paleontologists and researchers in the field, a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton set a record after being auctioned at Sotheby's for $50.1 million.  It's the latest in a trend that turns scientific specimens and artifacts into collector's items for the uber-wealthy, a trend that has been largely condemned by the people who want to keep these fossil records out of the luxury collectibles industry and firmly in the public trust.  It is legitimately gatekeeping science; a 2025 study of T. rex skeletons found that at the time, there were just 61 fossils in public trusts compared to 71 privately held. Museums simply cannot compete against a committed -illionaire.

-- NumLock News (16 July 2026) by Walt Hickey, citing "What science loses when T. rex becomes a trophy" by Kristi Curry Rogers at The Conversation