If there is one group I wish I'd heard in concert...

Queen. It was at least a decade after my dad suggested that I listen to "Bohemian Rhapsody" on my first Sony Walkman before I became a real fan of the group, and my appreciation has only grown in the years since. (And while we're on the topic, where is that Freddie Mercury movie, anyway???)

Terry Gross of NPR's Fresh Air interviewed band co-founder and lead guitarist Brian May earlier this year and re-broadcast the segment today. Among other interesting anecdotes about the group, May, an astrophysicist, explained how he created the sound of many stomping feet in "We Will Rock You." Prime numbers, who knew?

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Note to Dad: I'm listening to "Bohemian Rhapsody" on headphones right now. :-)

Not a very good trade-off

From the New York Times:

Writing in the January issue of The Journal of Gerontology B, the authors conclude that people live longer not because they are less likely to get sick, but because they survive longer with disease.

As a result, a 20-year-old man today can expect to live about a year longer than a 20-year-old in 1998, but will spend 1.2 years more with a disease, and 2 more years unable to function normally.

There's always tomorrow

Merry Christmas, everyone.

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Obama on the end of DADT

Obama signed into law the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell today, and I choked up a bit watching the signing ceremony. It's worth setting aside 25 minutes of your time to watch the video on this historical occasion.

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From the transcript of Obama's remarks (at the 19:18 mark):

Finally, I want to speak directly to the gay men and women currently serving in our military. For a long time your service has demanded a particular kind of sacrifice. You’ve been asked to carry the added burden of secrecy and isolation. And all the while, you’ve put your lives on the line for the freedoms and privileges of citizenship that are not fully granted to you.

You’re not the first to have carried this burden, for while today marks the end of a particular struggle that has lasted almost two decades, this is a moment more than two centuries in the making.

There will never be a full accounting of the heroism demonstrated by gay Americans in service to this country; their service has been obscured in history. It’s been lost to prejudices that have waned in our own lifetimes. But at every turn, every crossroads in our past, we know gay Americans fought just as hard, gave just as much to protect this nation and the ideals for which it stands.

There can be little doubt there were gay soldiers who fought for American independence, who consecrated the ground at Gettysburg, who manned the trenches along the Western Front, who stormed the beaches of Iwo Jima. Their names are etched into the walls of our memorials. Their headstones dot the grounds at Arlington.

And so, as the first generation to serve openly in our Armed Forces, you will stand for all those who came before you, and you will serve as role models to all who come after. And I know that you will fulfill this responsibility with integrity and honor, just as you have every other mission with which you’ve been charged....

Some of you remembered I visited Afghanistan just a few weeks ago. And while I was walking along the rope line -- it was a big crowd, about 3,000 -- a young woman in uniform was shaking my hand and other people were grabbing and taking pictures. And she pulled me into a hug and she whispered in my ear, “Get ‘Don't Ask, Don't Tell’ done.” And I said to her, “I promise you I will.”

For we are not a nation that says, “don’t ask, don’t tell.” We are a nation that says, “Out of many, we are one.” We are a nation that welcomes the service of every patriot. We are a nation that believes that all men and women are created equal. Those are the ideals that generations have fought for. Those are the ideals that we uphold today. And now, it is my honor to sign this bill into law.

ON A PERSONAL NOTE, it was wonderful to see Zoe Dunning on the stage with the President. I met Zoe back in the 90s when she was first becoming active in the fight for the rights of gays and lesbians to serve in the armed forces. Less than 20 years has passed since that meeting and yet it feels like a lifetime ago. It drove home for me just how long this struggle has taken, and that made today all the sweeter.

Isn't it ironic

Know how you always hear Republicans claiming that Democrats are going to "ration" your healthcare?

Well, the Republican-majority legislature and Republican governor in Arizona are doing just that: cutting funding for transplant patients.

Sigh.