Celemiri

Yesterday afternoon, a young man entered the mall three miles from where I live carrying an AR-15 and opened fire.  He killed two innocent people and himself, and a third victim is in the hospital in serious but stable condition with a gunshot wound to the chest.  I was not there when it happened, but I did pass through an hour before the shooting, and that particular mall has simply been "the mall" to me since childhood.  I am supposed to be attending a midnight showing of The Hobbit at that mall Thursday night.  Today the police released the identity of the shooter; I did not know him, but a few of my friends did, and they remember him a...

On Saturday, August 25th, the world lost one of its last great explorers.  Neil Armstrong - Eagle Scout, decorated combat pilot, test pilot, and first human being to set foot on another celestial body - passed away from complications stemming from heart surgery.  He was 82 years old.I feel a particular sense of loss at this, because Armstrong was one of my greatest personal heroes, and not just because he was tapped to be the first person out the door of the Eagle .  Firstly, he saved that landing: the landing zone they'd chosen turned out, at the last possible moment, to be covered in boulders, too dangerous to attempt to land on.  Armst...

I have a pair of good friends, Kyle and Megan.  They are lovely people and make an adorable couple.  On the first, they announced their engagement (not an April Fool's trick, they just wanted to have a bit of fun with it).  However, they are not going to be actually getting married for...well, years most likely.They wrote a guest blog for the Huffington Post about why.  I would very much like for you all to read it: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kyle-steele-and-megan-koler/why-we-wont-get-married-u_b_1420147.htmlI am very proud of my friends, and I support what they are doing unequivocally.  Here's to love winning out over hate and bigotry...