i knew i'd finally learn something from constantly watching hours after hours of west wing reruns on bravo:

you can lay down the washington monument inside of the national cathedral.

amazing!

via becca i see that the post had quite a cool gallery of the aurora borealis that showed up in the upper midwest on monday. i mention it 1) because the photos are astonishingly beautiful and 2) because it reminds me to remind you yet again that you should read the his dark materials trilogy by philip pullman, which feature the northern lights prominently (in the UK, the first book is actually titled the northern lights, though it's called the golden compass in the US).

can anyone explain to me how this phenomenon works? i read it in the trilogies, and i guess i could look it up online, but i'm lazy.

from the wapo.com

i mean, i find it hard that no one would want to spend new years in a cabin in the blue ridge mountains while snow fell softly on the pine trees outside and meanwhile you were passed out drooling in the hot tub as the result of drinking too much champagne + ice 101 in your hot chocolate. but, you know, just checking. let me know if that picturesque holiday scene i just set appeals.