Baxil [bakh-HEEL'], n.

Would any of you like to take responsibility (personally or via an anonymous comment) for leaving the cookie mix for me at Further Confusion?

I had no capacity for baking it at the convention, but I did very much appreciate the thoughtfulness of the unexpected gift. As it turns out, I took it over to kadyg's house over the weekend, and she baked cookies last night and brought them over to my desk at work today. Mmm, shortbread!

And the pawprint cookie stamp is just a hoot, although none of my officemates seemed to notice the imprint when I passed the cookies around. May have to decorate the next batch with frosting on the paws.

Signs of the times: Today, Massachusetts judges say "no, really, let gays marry." Woot! One more step toward sanity; the way this country pathologizes sex, and (more generally) makes fiat moral judgments based on tendentious interpretations of long-outdated religious documents, just isn't doing anyone any good. Hopefully this is another firm step toward a system of ethics that reacts with empathy (or at least apathy) to harmless, victimless actions.

Also, Ohio has sent a defense of marriage act to the governor. I entirely support this. After all, defending marriage as an institution is a noble goal. It ensures that they'll never have to deal with such slaps in the face to the sacred institution as Britney Spears' spur-of-the-moment union --

*aide rushes in and hands Baxil a sheet of paper*

-- umm ... to another woman. Hypothetically, I mean. Because, um, of course that would cheapen marriage a lot more than what she already did. Because ... uh ... just, y'know, because. It's icky and stuff! So I'm sure married Ohio couples feel a lot safer knowing that they're all defended now.

(37 other states have already rushed to plug that particular, insignificant crack in the marriage wall, including -- shamefully -- my own. So it's a virtual certainty that the debate is only heating up; I wouldn't be surprised if gay rights becomes one of the defining issues of this decade -- and it's certainly going to be a hot-button issue this election season.)

Finally, your gratuitous disturbing image of the day: A baby with two heads. (Worksafe, but not recommended for the easily squicked.)