I have the annoying habit of stubbornly ignoring book or other recommendations for months or years, then suddenly making a few exploratory steps and converting to a zealot. So it was with Stoppard, with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and now with Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan saga (discussed by Heidi Bond here and here and here, and here and by co-blogger Raffi here).

I have had a great deal of trouble figuring out what order to read the books in. Thus far I've hit The Warrior's Apprentice, The Mountains of Mourning, The Vor Game, Cetaganda, and Ethan of Athos. Barring an intervention, I plan to proceed to the rest of the Borders of Infinity, followed by Brothers in Arms, Mirror Dance, Memory, Komarr, A Civil Campaign, Diplomatic Immunity, and then the Cordelia backstory. I anticipate liking Memory the most of all.

As to substance, it is too hard to explain in a few paragraphs why the books are great, so all unconverted readers will be as unpersuaded by this post as I was by Heidi's. The main character is a squiggle-minded, tetragenically deformed nobleman with insubordination problems. The author is an incredibly sassy but subtle critic of science fiction. Hijinks ensue. What more can be said?

The IRS decides that Operation Rescue is no longer a tax-exempt organization. (Via Howard Friedman)

The Nevada Supreme Court decides that substance no longer trumps procedure in constitutional law. (Via Eugene Volokh).