Lyra, here's Salon.com's not particularly hopeful take on it:

Terri Schiavo's parents will get one more chance to argue for the re-insertion of their daughter's feeding tube. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, which has already rejected previous appeals by Schiavo's parents, issued an order last night allowing them to file one more emergency petition. Although the parents' supporters saw the development as the opening for some kind of miracle, it's hard to read much into the court's one-sentence order. It says: "The Appellants' emergency motion for leave to file out of time is granted."

Under the court's previous ruling, the deadline for filing a new petition passed on Saturday. But in papers they filed with the court Tuesday, lawyers for Schiavo's parents said that additional research had persuaded them that U.S. District Judge Whittemore had committed "plain error" when he ruled against them after Congress and the president conferred jurisdiction over the Schiavo matter on the federal courts. In his ruling, Whittemore said that the parents had failed to show a substantial likelihood that they would prevail on their arguments that their daughter's constitutional rights were violated in Florida's courts. In their new filing, the parents say that Whittemore erred by considering not just whether the Florida courts afforded Schiavo her constitutional rights in the procedures they used to reach the conclusion they reached, but rather whether they should have reached that conclusion in the first place. It's not clear why Schiavo's parents didn't make that argument the first time around; it's just clear that they didn't.

While the court's order may be the best news Schiavo's parents have had in a while, there's at least one sign that it's unlikely to lead to the outcome they want: With Terri Schiavo in the last days of her life, the court did not order that her feeding tube be re-inserted while it ponders her case.

And tommyrot, thanks very, very much for posting the link upthread to the interview with one of the neurologists who've actually conducted a thorough examination of her. It's all still awful and sad and a wretched circus, but it seems clear that, whatever agonies her husband and parents are going through, she at least is spared any awareness of suffering. A grim blessing, to be sure, but if there's anything worse than the indignities she's going through it would be those indignities plus awareness and consciousness. It seems pretty clear that Terri herself is gone, free of this horror.

Did anyone catch this week's Veronica Mars? I'm confused about Weevil's assertion that he had nothing to do with the the shenanigans, he was just taking bets. Surely he knew who was rigging the games, right? And that person was obviously tied into the kidnap, because of the "don't play" ultimatum.

Try to avoid hysterical laughter, shrift. I'm told that's a bad response when under scrutiny by new management.

Turns out he's a consultant from an outside firm. It reminds me of crap I had to do at my last job when we were taken over, only in person instead of online. I had to rank my skills on a form that was at least twenty pages long. It was arduous, as I have had many tech jobs. I'm grumpy and vaguely suspicious now.

When I returned to my office, I said something about this being the first time I've wished I didn't know so many programs. Coworker jokingly said, "Yeah, Boss helpfully pointed out that you took longer than I did."

Also (it seemed grossly inappropriate to add this to the previous post), Emmett's procedure is sometime between now and 10:30, probably depending on how wriggly or cooperative the first few patients of the day were. It should all be finished, with Emmett on his way to his mom's house, bandaged up and groggy but conversant and ready to have a little food, by 11:00 at the latest.

Go ice cream milk shakes as a curative! Choose ice cream milk shakes!

(I mean, for general ills, but for hungry people who have completed surgery, too. A good reward for not having leapt out of the chair and run away.)

Hm. Now I want lunch.

Weevil certainly had a pretty good idea who was behind the kidnapping, but he certainly wasn't going to snitch on someone, especially not a lucrative source of business.

It doesn't mean that he was a party to the kidnapping. As a bookie he doesn't really care why someone was making a particular bet, as long as they could cover.

It seems like it, ita, since that guy (I've already forgotten his name) was covering all the action. Though it's possible that Weevil wasn't explicitly aware of exactly what the plan was and was deliberately obtuse about drawing conclusions. However, with the implication that teh same guy had rigged last year's game, Weevil pretty much had to know, I'd think.

I felt like I was not getting a lot of this episode, for some reason. Not sure if the fault is theirs or mine.

Good god, shrift, that sounds like a nightmare.

What tommyrot said. He probably had something to do with the guy throwing the game , but not necessarily with the parrot-napping.

Damnit. I somehow screwed up the taping last night and missed Veronica Mars.

I did, however, watch Project Trainwreck and John, John, John. One step forward, two steps back. Right towards the edge of a cliff.

What tommyrot said.

Who?

He probably had something to do with the guy throwing the game

Not necessarily. Weevil makes money, regardless of who wins or loses.