There’s such a lot of world to see

“In 1854, in neighboring Jewett City, Connecticut, townspeople had exhumed several corpses suspected to be vampires that were rising from their graves to kill the living.” (via)

“Without the right to engage in blasphemy, there can be no freedom of inquiry, expression, conscience or religion.”

“Moral of the story: Conservative Christians are clueless and the Beck family is going to hell because we like both the Hunger Games and Harry Potter.”

“It’s about a Christian subculture that has moved out to the farthest edge of the rippling real. We’ve made our home 45 minutes from the heart of humanity.”

“It frustrates the heck out of me that my friends, who are resilient and determined and very hard workers, are treated like children or ignored, while ridiculous injustices are done.”

“There is nothing which can better deserve your patronage, than the promotion of science and literature. Knowledge is, in every country, the surest basis of public happiness.”

“Always look up, every chance you get.”

“Many of the things we find ourselves uttering to a person with a health issue may certainly not be true — or theologically accurate, or evidence-based, or helpful.”

“I always say always have a prenuptial agreement, but I won’t say that because you people don’t get divorced, right?”

“A group of citizens that insists on a public policy that can be supported only by means of nonpublic reasons thereby shows disrespect for their fellow citizens.”

“It’s hard to conceive of the idea that a judge would rule as a matter of law that Pussy Riot’s protest represented an ‘act of hatred’ solely on the basis of the principle that it advocates feminism.”

“If we have the courage and wisdom to learn the backstory — ours and theirs — we can begin to transcend the vicious cycles in which we are now stuck, spinning.”

“Where they go, heterosexual women follow, dragging reluctant straight men behind them, who in turn bring Texans. That’s how civilization and musical theater evolve.”

“With his own hands, he sprinkles fresh house-grown rosemary on those potatoes (raises voice to a thundering crescendo), and they are golden brown on the outside and soft on the inside and they are delicious!”

“That’s a much better phrase — more accurately descriptive, harmlessly funny for the kids, and even educational in its way.”

“Dave and Liz and Chicago Save the World,” by John Scalzi.