So a friend told me...

... that guinea pigs are financially very shrewd animals, and they get very excited about the housing market.  See, most people think guinea pigs say "wheek!", but apparently they're actually saying "REIT!", which stands for Real Estate Investment Trust.

She offered  proof.

And then more proof.

I must say, I am convinced.

Apparently I am reading nonfiction these days.

By which I mean, it's time for another link salad!

Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Stephen Colbert weigh in on Bill O'Reilly's "Tides Go In" meme.  This is actually a year old but I just saw it this week.

The woman suing to prevent mandatory health insurance goes bankrupt... because she's uninsured and can't pay her medical bills.  This is just sort of sad.

In a very badly written article, a cancer patient is kicked out of a hospital for using medical marijuana... apparently legally using medical marijuana... in a hospital where they do medical marijuana research?  Admittedly the quality of the newswriting in the article makes the details tricky to figure out.

Jay Lake on Christian persecution complexes.  And then, The Ferrett on Jay Lake on Christian persecution complexes.  There's some interesting stuff in the comments, too.

A Democratic state senator says what's good for the goose is good for the gander -- if women need counseling and examination to get reproductive health care, men should get cardio exams and sex therapy before they're allowed to get Viagra.  In related news, women give Virginia senators some feedback.

James Inofe, the Oklahoma Senator denying humans can change the climate, seems to have forgotten about the Dust Bowl.

That's all for today, but I still have nineteen bookmarks on my sidebar to share with you this weekend.

Preliminary Review.

Reading The Girl Who Played With Fire now.  The plot didn't start until page 108, and at least one full page was spent on furniture shopping and namedropping at IKEA.  So, the pacing issues continue.