Tuesday Stirrings

Sneaking peeks at stories outside the headlines on a rainy Tuesday morning.

Topiary: The fascinating link between gardening and governing.

“Gardening marks, as clearly as any activity, the joining of nature and culture. The gardener makes nothing, but rather gathers what God has made and shapes it into new and pleasing forms. The well-designed garden shows nature more clearly and beautifully than nature can show itself. And this can be a model of politics: people left to their own devices can run riot, make themselves and their environment "ruin'd" and "disorder'd"; properly governed, though, they can flourish, they can become their best selves and make the most of their environment.
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We need governors as we need gardeners; but not all forms of government are equally wise or equally beautiful.”

Empathy: Thomas Sowell's latest column, Empathy vs Law:

"That President Obama has made 'empathy' with certain groups one of his criteria for choosing a Supreme Court nominee is a dangerous sign of how much further the Supreme Court may be pushed away from the rule of law and toward even more arbitrary judicial edicts to advance the agenda of the left and set it in legal concrete, immune from the democratic process.
Would you want to go into court to appear before a judge with 'empathy' for groups A, B and C, if you were a member of groups X, Y or Z? Nothing could be further from the rule of law. That would be bad news, even in a traffic court, much less in a court that has the last word on your rights under the Constitution of the United States."

Bon-Vivants: New study suggests the French sleep and eat more than anyone else.

Empowering: Mouth-controlled mouse for disabled computer users.

The device enables a person with no hands to operate a computer mouse with the help of his tongue.
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"If a person loses their arms in a mishap, then this apparatus will enable them to operate the computer and help him earn a living…"

Initiative: Once again, courageous onlookers in Florida put themselves at risk in order to pull drivers from burning cars.

"Flames engulfed three vehicles, sending a column of smoke into the air that was visible for miles. As occupants of the vehicles tumbled from their vehicles, many people became involved.
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'We pried the door of the truck open. Flames were starting to get bigger, and the guy couldn't get out. We pulled him out on the ground, but we were afraid he would get burned and we brought my truck up and put him in the truck.' "