I’ve been meaning to get a post up for, like, a week, and there are lots of things I want to write about. So.

+ I have yet to meet a person who does not have a crush on Rachel Maddow, myself included. Maybe that’s why profiles of her can’t stop mentioning that she’s a lesbian.

+ Is RENT too edgy for high school? I think I heard the music for the first time when I was maybe 16, right after it came out. We listened to the soundtrack a lot in the work room of my high school lit mag. Our adviser didn’t object. I mean, it’s not The Music Man, but it’s also not as groundbreaking as it was 15 years ago.

+ 50 must read women in science bloggers

+ How to get from Washington to Lincoln via the subway.

Just listen to the rhythm of my typing.

I’ve been out of town 8 out of the last 14 days. In other words, it’s time for some quickies:

+ John McCain on the captors who held him as a POW: “A lot of them were homosexual.”

+ Baseball pitcher Dottie Collins dies at 84. Quoth Dottie “I pitched and won both games of a doubleheader once pitching underhand. I think I could have pitched a doubleheader overhand, too. I don’t think it would be that hard. Nowadays, the men can’t do it, but hell, they can’t do nothin’.” Ha!

+ Julia Child was a spy!

+ Today’s internet oddity. Cats swimming.

+ I’ll admit that I’ve been watching as much Olympics coverage as my schedule allows, and part of it’s for the eye candy. (Call me, Michael Phelps!) Turns out I don’t have to feel shame because that’s what the Greeks intended.

+ Polygamy watch: courts say a few of the kids taken from Yearning for Zion should go into foster care.

+ Newspapers in my home state may be folding. (Quote: “Soon Jersey residents will have to go back to getting all their news from Springsteen lyrics and Kevin Smith movies.”)

+ Knit historical tyrants.

+ This tool that analyzes browser history is 95% certain I am female.

+ We haven’t done a Polygamist Watch in a while. Check out these photos in the Times about the women of FLDS. Also, practices are being defended in court. Also, Warren Jeffs got indicted.

+ When Batman was gay.

+ Corollary: How awesome was The Dark Knight? I know, right?

+ This will make you happy:

I’m totally late to the party on this, but HBO recently aired a documentary called Resolved.

You can view the trailer by going to the official website. Jezebel has a clip up that that explains what those kids are up to.

And, yes, I did that. I spoke just as fast as those kids and was a part of the culture for all four years I was in high school, and I kept on going in college and even coached and judged for a while, both high school and college level, afterwards. I had to quit with great reluctance a couple of years ago because I couldn’t take the travel anymore, and I miss it a lot, so it’s fun to run into things like this. It’s all coming back to me! (Proof: I was interviewed for an article about debate way back in 1997.)

But, yeah, high school debate is a cult. It’s got its own language. It’s incomprehensible to outsiders. It’s competitive as hell. It’s a lot of fun.

See also the awesome movie Rocket Science, maybe the most accurate cinematic portrayal of debate I’ve seen.