Tangled Bank #70 is succinct and to the point this time ’round, so check it out for some great science writing.  You’re apt to learn something, I promise.

Amba notes something in a post completely unrelated to her closing thought.  It was this final sentence that I felt noteworthy: “It also expresses that annoying insistence of some writers — I’m probably guilty of it myself — to be original in every word they ever wrote, to torture the salutation and reinvent the pleasantry.”  That refers to a missive she received from someone, yet I felt it pertinent because I wonder—perhaps too often—if I’m guilty of the same thing, of turning an ordinary e-mail into some literary expression, some anguished, over-the-top, punishing prose that leaves the reader wondering if I actually remembered who I was writing to when I wrote it.

This is cool and rather heartwarming: “A experimental electronic ‘crosswalk’ designed to keep Arizona’s animals and drivers safe will begin operating east of Payson for the first time this month. The high-tech crossing is part of an extensive system of wildlife underpasses and electrified fencing along a three-mile stretch of Arizona 260 about seven miles east of Payson. The fences funnel the creatures to places where they can cross under the road, or, to the electronic crossing. The crossing uses infrared cameras and military-grade software to set off large signs and warning lights so that drivers will be prepared for an elk, mule or another animal of significant size that may be about to cross the highway.”  I’d like to see more efforts like this—to tend to the welfare of the animals we’re displacing, harming, and ultimately killing due to our reckless hemorrhaging into their territories.

We’re hearing it more and more from those in the know, and it’s about fucking time!  “The Army general who was Joint Chiefs chairman when the Pentagon adopted its ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy on gays says he no longer opposes allowing them to serve openly. John Shalikashvili, who retired in 1997 after four years as the nation’s top military officer, had argued that allowing homosexuals to serve openly would hurt troop morale and recruitment and undermine the cohesion of combat units. He said he has changed his mind after meeting with gay servicemen. ‘These conversations showed me just how much the military has changed, and that gays and lesbians can be accepted by their peers,’ Shalikashvili wrote in an opinion piece in Tuesday’s New York Times.”  The truth is that the policy has consistently and substantially damaged our military and our nation.  Many of our country’s Arabic-speaking experts have been let go because they were or were suspected of being gay.  And now the military is scrambling because they don’t have enough Arabic experts to keep up with the state of the world.  That’s right, poppets: Our government is continually shooting itself in the foot over its own ignorant bigotry against homosexuals.  Pathetic.  Drop the goddamn policy now and let people serve this nation, protect its people, and uphold the wonderful Constitution that binds us all together.  This fucking bullshit about everything being against the gays HAS TO STOP.  I’m so sick of it.  If you don’t like gays or have a problem with them serving, find the nearest gun, put it to your temple, and insert one or more bullets into your brain.  You deserve less, but that’s the best offer I have at present.

And you want to know something else?  Go see the Israeli military to find out precisely what kind of damage openly gay soldiers cause.  NONE!  ABSO-FUCKING-LUTELY NONE!  And the same is true in many other nations.  Take your hate, your hypocrisy, your brainless, witless, stupid mother fucking ass to the edge of the nearest cliff and jump if you want to argue the point.  I’ve had it with the anti-gay shit in America and around the globe—but especially in America.  I’m tired of your backwater, medieval, Inquisition-controlled ignorance.  If you don’t like us, do the world a favor and kill yourself.  That’s the best thing you could do, the most humane action you’ll ever take, the most Christian thing you could consider.  Just find the quickest way to end your life and GET THE FUCK OFF THE PLANET!