Arleigh Helfer

A thing about certain funny women like Catherine O’Hara—I think also and especially of Eileen Brennan and Madeline Kahn—is that it’s hard often to describe why or even how they’re funny. They just are.

I'm not calling it Greenland anymore. I'm calling it the Sudetenland. IYKYK.

As an organic computer, I do not like what this input does to my visual processing unit.

“The world is too much with us.” — Wordsworth

Thank you, Article III courts. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/u...

Protecting your privacy doesn't have to be scary. Check out our Surveillance Self-Defense guides for step-by-step tutorials for keeping your data and devices secure. ssd.eff.org/

Took Kimber for a hike at Hickory Run State Park yesterday. Explored the Shades of Death trail. Saw the boulder field. It was a beautiful day to spend walking in the mountains and the woods.

Which way are you looking? Is it hard to see? Do you say "What's wrong for him is not wrong for me"? You walk the streets of righteousness But you refuse to understand You say you love the baby Then you crucify the man

One of the best things about free speech is that it often shows you who people really are. Without censorship, scoundrels can't claim to be free-speech martyrs. Make no mistake: Hate speech is protected speech, and these young leaders are within their rights to use it to tell us their beliefs.

I chortled.

I discovered Camper van Beethoven via Dr. Demento in the 1980s. He went to Reed College, which is fitting. I'm surprised he was still making shows. He will be missed.

This summer I went swimming This summer I might have drowned But I held my breath and I kicked my feet And I moved my arms around I moved my arms around

Our wildflower meadow still attracts pollinators in October. Here's hoping the first frost doesn't come soon.

Shirley Jackson’s short story from 1948, which inspired the most mail The New Yorker had ever received in response to a work of fiction—and caused some readers to cancel their subscriptions.

Cat in a skylight. That is all.

Reposting this as long as he keeps killing civilians by bombing them from the sky. The war on drugs is a metaphor, not a justification for cold blooded murder.

While cleaning up the spent annuals in our pollinator oasis of a backyard, I spotted this happy lady sunning herself on the fence. It's only the second praying mantis I've seen in our yard in more than 25 years. She looks ready to lay some eggs. No sign of decapitated males around, though.

These are troubled times that demand we raise our voices in defense of our most cherished freedoms.

A dog starv'd at his master's gate Predicts the ruin of the state. – William Blake

What's the over/under on how many days it will be before Trump has his paramilitary forces seize a judge who rules against him? Clearly, any adverse rulings are a threat to national security. Any odds-makers out there?

"Living through the rise of a dictatorship just means inhabiting a space that is gradually shrinking. There’s no point in resisting, not at first. You just make do with whatever breathing room you still have—until you lose that too." Read Gisela Salim-Peyer: www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Well this will surely lower housing costs. Derp.

Exactly.

Thank you for making a positive difference for freedom of expression, ACLU!

Trump is ordering the premeditated killing of civilians not engaged in hostilities — because, he says, they are drug smugglers. There’s no death penalty for drug trafficking. There’s no due process when the military blows a boat out of the water. www.nybooks.com/online/2025/...

It's only the best damned season of the year.

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Actions speak louder than words. Live by Fred Rogers's example: Treat people with kindness and understanding when you can. Build community. Know and respect your neighbors.

I'm starting to doubt everything I learned in Constitutional Law back in 1997.

I wrote a thing.

"I was of three minds, Like a tree In which there are three blackbirds."

Words aren't violence. But they are powerful. When used irresponsibly, they sure can lead there.

This advice is approximately 200 years old. But it still pertains today. The more things change, the more they stay the same.