"On Wednesday, March 5, an oral argument was held before a three-judge panel of the Court of Special Appeals in Annapolis. The judges were engaged, well prepared, and…"

 An update on Rock Creek Hills Park is available.

"The litigation ... has entered its appellate phase."

An update on Rock Creek Hills Park is available.

So that's how they do it!

"The building almost seemed to glow from somewhere deep within its base, as if lit by a big pile of burning money."

-from the article "Idealized or Caricature, Architectural Renderings Are Weapons in Real Estate" by Elizabeth A. Harris in today's New York Times.

"People Thought He Was A Monster And Wanted Him To Die. I’m Glad He’s Alive To Tell His Story."

I am proud of Thaler for producing this:



More here.

A Top Ten List!

The Top Ten Reasons to Preserve Rock Creek Hills Park are listed at SaveRockCreekHillsPark.org!

"In Case You Missed It"

ICYMI, the defense of Rock Creek Hills Park continues.

" – TO BE CONTINUED – "

An update on our lawsuit to defend Rock Creek Hills Park is available.

Help Preserve Rock Creek Hills Park.

Supporters of Rock Creek Hills Park have contributed to the ongoing legal effort to enforce federal, state, and county park protection laws and overturn a decision to obliterate the park. We've come really far, but there's much more to do.

Learn more at SaveRockCreekHillsPark.org.

Thank you.

"Today, our scientists are mapping the human brain to unlock the answers to Alzheimer’s."

"Now, if we want to make the best products, we also have to invest in the best ideas. Every dollar we invested to map the human genome returned $140 to our economy – every dollar. Today, our scientists are mapping the human brain to unlock the answers to Alzheimer’s. They’re developing drugs to regenerate damaged organs; devising new material to make batteries 10 times more powerful. Now is not the time to gut these job-creating investments in science and innovation. Now is the time to reach a level of research and development not seen since the height of the Space Race. We need to make those investments."

-Remarks by the President in yesterday's State of the Union Address.

Free. Jazz. (or, Sidney & her man Clovis)

May I suggest that you set aside an hour before clicking through to listen to Jason Moran's amazing (and free!) "Live: Time On The Quilts Of Gee's Bend" Suite?

From the NPR website:

Jason Moran, composer and piano
Alicia Hall Moran, vocals
Bill Frisell, guitar
Tarus Mateen, bass
Nasheet Waits, drums

"Citizens Ask Court to Enforce Law, Protect Park."

An update is available at SaveRockCreekHillsPark.org

"How strange is the lot of us mortals!"

"Each of us is here for a brief sojourn; for what purpose he knows not, though he sometimes thinks he senses it. But without deeper reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people — first of all for those upon whose smiles and well-being our own happiness is wholly dependent, and then for the many, unknown to us, to whose destinies we are bound by the ties of sympathy. A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving." 

- Albert Einstein.


h/t: Andrew Sullivan

Some good advice from Karen Amstrong.

"There are times when you have to speak out against injustice or cruelty. But if you speak — and this is what Gandhi said — in order to punish or wound, you will do more harm than good. The Dalai Lama said that to condemn injustice with hatred in your voice will make the injustice worse. ... So it does no good to attack viciously. The thing to do is not to rise to the bait."

-from an interview with Karen Armstrong in the June issue of the Believer magazine.

Board of Education member: Rock Creek Hills Park not "adequate size," so Montgomery Hills site would be needed, too.

Françoise Carrier, Chair of the Montgomery County (Maryland) Planning Board, attended the April 17th meeting of the Montgomery County Board of Education. There, Board of Education member Laura Berthiaume told Ms. Carrier that, due to the small size of Rock Creek Hills Park, if Montgomery County Public Schools were to take the park to build Bethesda-Chevy Chase (B-CC) middle school #2, then it would soon become necessary to build a third B-CC middle school, on the site of the former Montgomery Hills Junior High (currently the Yeshiva and Torah School of Greater Washington).

You can read their exchange on Kensington Patch.

To help spread the word, after you click through to the blog post on Patch, click on the Facebook "recommend" button on that page!

"I am here tonight to support the recommendation of your staff... I will not repeat any of the points they have made."

My testimony at last night's meeting of the Montgomery County (Maryland) Planning Board is available.

"It is our duty to take note."

My testimony at tonight's meeting of the Montgomery County Board of Education is available.

Explain science to an 11-year-old.

Take the flame challenge!

Happy Galileo's Birthday!

"There will be opened a gateway and a road to a large and excellent science into which minds more piercing than mine shall penetrate to recesses still deeper."

- Galileo Galilei (1564–1642)


[h/t: The Writer's Almanac]

A Gazette "Double Feature"!

Supporters of Rock Creek Hills Park may be interested in four media reports on the latest site selection advisory committee meeting, including two articles in yesterday's Gazette newspaper.

"Residents, officials debate parks in Kensington, Silver Spring: Neighborhood groups say use of federal funds prohibits building school."

"Dear Dr. Starr,"

A letter (in six bullet points) to the Montgomery County (Maryland) Public Schools Superintendent is available.