King & Spalding to withdraw from defending DOMA; Clement resigns  | ajc.com

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The 15-year-old act, known as DOMA, defines marriage – for federal tax, Social Security and other purposes – as only a union between a man and a woman. In February, the Obama administration announced it would no longer defend the constitutionality of the act.

For $520 an hour, paid with taxpayer funds appropriated from their congressional budget, House Republicans hired Clement – and King & Spalding – to continue the appeal of a decision by a federal judge in Massachusetts, who struck down the act last summer.

King & Spalding to withdraw from defending DOMA; Clement resigns | ajc.com. (emphasis mine)

Sounds like a great use of the money. I’m glad to see that they’re not letting their commitment to fiscal responsibility get in the way.

A Chance Encounter

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I reached under the kitchen sink this evening to grab a new bag for the recycling. As I was doing so I noticed that the under-sink air was funkier than normal. The building I live in was built in 1927 and the area under the kitchen sink seems that it may be original, so it’s usually a bit musty but this wasn’t quite like normal.

I knelt down to see if I could find the source of the odor…

…and two beady eyes were staring out at me from atop the garbage disposal.

An Opossum!

a baby one

But still an opossum.

I’ve barricaded the cabinet with an Ikea end table and dining chair and now I’m having Scotch.

Now, time for scotch.

This will be a fun conversation with the maintenance guy tomorrow.

Proto-pickles

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Pickle brineCucumbersPickles!I couldn’t resist the basket of pickling cucumbers at the farmer’s market this morning. This is my first shot at refrigerator pickles… taste-test tomorrow at lunchtime!

Locals and Tourists

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Locals and Tourists #3 - San Francisco

This is a pretty fascinating set of images produced by plotting the locations of photos taken and coloring them based on whether the photographer was (presumably) a local or a tourist. I can see these being potentially valuable for finding the interesting areas of a new city and avoiding the standard tourist traps.

See them all at: Locals and Tourists – a set on Flickr.