Read "To Market, to Market"

dialecticdreamer has finished posting her story "To Market, To Market" in Frankenstein's Family.  Read Part 3.  There's a minor and highly amusing upheaval at the market, along with Victor and Vladimir making plans for longer term trade arrangements.

Making Relationships Work

... is about what you're willing to invest in them, more than it is about predetermined traits of who you think you could love.

Freedom and Privilege

Here's an essay on how Muslims could exercise freedom of religion in Indiana.  I think it's great to annoy bigots.

I also think that's all it will accomplish.  People outside mainstream Christianity have repeatedly tried to use religion to justify both positive and negative acts.  They lose.  Privilege is for the dominant group only. Doesn't matter if you're right, only if you have power.  Muslim cabbies have repeatedly tried to get permission to refuse rides to people who are drunk and/or carrying packages of alcohol, because drinking is against their religion.  The answer has always been that cabbies are a public service and must serve everyone equally, so they're only allowed to refuse service if someone is violent or abusive (or broke).

Tardigrades in Spaaaaaace!

So I just found out that my favorite little mossbears are vacuum-proof.  Since we also have algae in space, that's looking real good for the panspermia theory, or even just polyspermia that travels from a handful of sources to nearby locations.