Brandon is unimpressed with the Colorado General Assembly's proposal:

I would argue on the basis of this that the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is in fact a violation of the principles of republicanism; that, because of this, Congress has the authority to overturn it if it ever is completed; and that, in fact, Congress has the constitutional duty to do so. While states do have the right to determine how to allocate their electors, the United States has the constitutional duty to guarantee that they do so in a form consistent with republican government.

One with Nineveh and Tyre

Supreme Courtship is a comedic visual novel adventure game, where you learn about the people and proceedings of our nation's highest Court. In Supreme Courtship, you’ll be able to:

* Join a bench with young, stylish versions of your favorite Justices - Justice Ginsburg, Chief Justice Roberts, and more!
* Master the powers of the third branch of government!
* Experience the world’s first Judicial Friendship Simulator

Thy mercy on Thy people.

The Making of a Gentleman

“The base assumption is gentlemen are born into a role via class and family. What separates them is not education, not their upbringing, but what they choose to do with it. Austen has a higher standard, I argue, for acceptable marriage-material gentlemen. They make life better for those around them,” Thomas said.

This interpretation is, of course, wrong. A couple in Austen are suited for each other not because they make 'life better for those around them', but because each makes the other a better person--where 'better person' means more virtuous according to the deeply religious sentiments and rather Shaftesburian moral philosophy of the author. Austen is more concerned about the state of her characters' souls than their income. This is obvious when one compares the various couples at the end of, say, Pride and Prejudice.

This is among the most-ignored aspects of English literature, right up there with our blindness to Shakespeare's sincere worriment about male chastity.

Rossetti gleefully reported to William Bell Scott on September 28, 1869 that the wombat had effectively interrupted a long and dreary monologue from John Ruskin by patiently burrowing between the eminent critic’s jacket and waistcoat. This must have been a marvellous thing to watch happen.

 Apparently Rossetti and his circle had quite a thing for wombats.

Since cursory Googling has not revealed an extant one, here's a (moderately Lovecraftian) mnemonic for the Proterozoic geologic periods:

Six red obelisks stand calmly, each steeply tilted, cold, eternal.
[Siderian, Rhyacian, Orosirian, Statherian, Calymmian, Ectasian, Stenian, Tonian, Cryogenian, Ediacaran]

You're welcome!

John C. Wright on H. G. Wells v. C. S. Lewis v. Arthur C. Clarke.

Kyoto, 1929.

The Fourth Riddle is interactive fiction based on Turandot.

In the press of the crowd, old Timur's hand was torn from your shoulder. You tried to reach him, but you were too late to grasp his hand again, and you saw him borne away in the surging sea of people, the gulf between you growing ever wider.

Timur is frail and blind. You haven't guided him along such a long, long road to lose him now.

ht: Emily Short

NB: I haven't played it through. Caveat lector.