Baxil [bakh-HEEL'], n.

Cleaning out my browser windows of all of the "I need to mention this later!" cruft from the last few weeks:

• I've been apathetic on The Golden Compass for months now. But something finally came along that got me interested in seeing it.
  
  
• Speaking of which, here's the site of an atheist rapper (sample lyrics).
  
  
• And if anyone ever tells you (as one of the Republican presidential candidates recently did) that the Declaration of Independence's signers were "mostly clergymen," send them to this beatdown.
  
  
• In the department of Science Telling Us Things That Are Obvious To Everyone But The Moral Majority, feminists have better relationships and sex lives. The study shows this also carries over to their partners.
  
  
• I should probably set this link on computer desk posture to be my home page.
  
  
• If you need more sleep, consider the benefits of planned power naps. (roaminrob, I'm looking at you.)
  
  
• Exploitable OS bugs get the most publicity, but they're not the only virus risk to your computer.
  
  
• Another great link on fighting procrastination that I keep meaning to take the advice of. One of these years.
  
  
• Paul Krugman's introductory blog post hits hard in its summary of one of the worst modern American trends: Rising income inequality. The numbers alone tell the story -- we're back in a Gilded Age.
  
  
• And reading this article on why rich countries are rich and poor countries are poor was like a switch clicking on in my head. The basic revelation -- that high-trust conditions are profitable, and low-trust conditions impoverishing, and that it's easy to degrade trust but extremely hard to engender it -- applies far beyond macroeconomics, and (among other things) is the basis of a fantastic critique of Bastard Culture. Unpacking this is probably worth a post of its own.
  
  
• The origin of "DO NOT WANT."
  
  
• Currency as art. Adding a Dream Coin to my get-someday-when-I-can-buy-small-luxuries-without-guilt list now.
  
  
• And a new webcomic find: three beautiful, poignant riffs on hope, sportsmanship, and compassion [that last one might not make sense without the context of the previous strip].

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Here's today's parting shot -- a quotable definition by Jesse Walker (source):
Patriotism: I love my dad.
Nationalism: My dad can beat up your dad.
Imperialism: Here he comes now.

... Christ, what are all you* people doing reading Livejournal at 3 AM** on a Friday night?

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* Other.
** Pacific time. Even later for about half of you.