“Exit question: How much of [$750 million in U.S. aid to Pakistan] is going to end up buying weapons for Osama?”

For somebody who’s moved as much as I have, this map is pretty spare:

Create your own personalized map of the USA.

I’m including states I’ve driven through enough to see well (like Montana, which you can say you’ve visited after driving through once, it’s so big) and states I was taken through in passing when I was little, well enough to remember, but not states I was only through once, in passing. If I included every state I’ve ever been in, even only in a vehicle, in a vehicle in the dead of night, or during an airport layover, it would look more like this:

Create your own personalized map of the USA.

Better, but misleading. Lot of states I need to make a real visit to.

British girl loses lawsuit against school whose uniform policy forbids her “chastity ring” while permitting headscarves and Sikh bangles.

The court’s finding is entirely appropriate. A chastity ring is not mandated in the “rules,” such as they are, of Christianity and therefore is not a good hill to die on in opposing your school’s dress code.

Guess you better get a more oppressive religion if you want it to be accommodated. Or pick a symbol more integral to the religion if you want to win the case.

Tolkienites, all two or three of you who so far comment on this site, and any Tolkienite reading this who has not yet commented: What do you want to talk about for the Weeklyish Tolkien?

I had an idea but, lacking in form and void, it kind of dribbled away down the drain. Got a Tolkien thing you’ve never quite grokked? Lay it on me. I don’t promise to grok it to your satisfaction, but I’ll tackle it.