A random thought about the space program

The Universe: Congratulations, humans! You have evolved! You use tools and forge things out of metal and soon will invent even more wondrous things, like the internet and that weird nacho "cheese" that they put on your chips at the movie theater! Well done!

Humanity: Yeah, but I kind of feel like something's missing. We still haven't done everything we can with the technology we have.

The Universe: Well, you've pretty much been everywhere there is to be. You've explored pretty much all of all seven continents. You've been to the south pole. You've been to the north pole. You've even, however briefly, descended to the very deepest depths of the ocean! What more is there to explore?

Humanity: *looks up at the heavens* Y'know, I've always wondered what it's like up there.

The Universe: Don't be silly, humanity! Space is incompatible with life. There is, for starters, a fundamental force that effectively pins you to land, making it quite hard to go up. And even if you could, there is a distinct lack of things like air and water and everything else up there, which present some significant obstacles to squishy little things like you.

Humanity: *thinks for a moment, then shrugs* Let's get building, boys.

Humanity proceeds to build a series of rockets that are strong enough to overcome a fundamental force of the universe, yet gentle enough to safely carry humans, and then goes and does a couple loops around the planet.

The Universe: Well done. I'm impressed.

Humanity: Oh, just you wait. *lands on the moon*

The Universe: Very nice, guys.

Humanity: And how about this? *shoots several probes off in various directions, receives data for thirty some years* And this? *builds robots, sends robots to Mars* *builds another robot and sends it to the surface of Venus*launches satellites to predict weather* *launches satellites so someone can watch TV broadcast from the other side of the planet* *launches satellites that can take pictures of your license plate*

The Universe: Sweet.

Humanity: *builds manned space stations* *puts up some satellites so that anyone can precisely pinpoint exactly where on earth they are* *builds reusable spaceships to ferry supplies and people back and forth* How 'bout your fundamental forces now, Universe?

The Universe: I stand corrected, guys. You all are pretty good at finding new frontiers to explore.

Humanity: *looks at thirty years of data from Voyager 2, six years of data from two Mars rovers, and twenty years of pictures from the Hubble telescope* Man, this is expensive and boring. Let's go drill for oil! *abandons manned space exploration*

The Universe: ...what the hell?

Haiti

There are times that I'm incredibly glad that I don't naturally have any sort of spirituality or faith in a sentient Higher Power.

This is one of those times.

If I did have belief in some sort of Higher Power, I would just be wondering what the hell. Seriously - Haiti? One of the world's poorest and certainly the poorest in the western hemisphere? Haiti, which even without a nation-shattering earthquake has pretty much no industry to speak of? Which has an incredibly unstable government, and absolutely no real infrastructure in any meaningful sense? This is the country that deserves to get run over by some tectonic activity?

I'm just going to go ahead and say 'screw you', Nature.

Phreaking Phillies

Game 4 of the World Series. You're trailing the series 2-1.

In the bottom of the eighth you tie the game up, 4-4.

Top of the ninth. Two outs. No one is on base. Two strikes.

And then, somehow, inexplicably, amazingly, you lose by three.

My. God.

...

I adore The Onion.

I don't question God. The Lord is my Shepherd and I shall put none above Him. Which is why I know that if it were part of God's plan for me to stop viciously condemning others based solely on their sexual preference, He would have seen fit—in His infinite wisdom and all—to have given me the tiniest bit of human empathy necessary to do so.

And that's the way it was

Walter Cronkite, legendary newscaster, has passed away at the age of 92.

I wasn't even born when he retired, but I certainly realize what a tremendous influence he had on America. He was a reporter's reporter: every night he sat down in front of a camera and said what happened. Sometimes he did let his emotions show: he expressed his amazement and excitement at the Apollo 11, he shed a tear at Kennedy's assissnation, and - most famously - he laid bare his concerns about Vietnam, but only after plainly stating that what followed was his opinion, not fact.

He did not understand the idea of a newscaster as a celebrity and clearly wanted no part of that. He wanted to spread information, nothing more, and he did so magnificently. With his death, we perhaps lose the last of his breed: honest, trustworthy, hard-working television reporters, who see TV as a medium to communicate and inform for the greater good. Generations of Americans grew up trusting him, maybe more than any other public figure, and that's something not likely to ever happen again.

Rest in peace, Mr. Cronkite.

Australia :-(

The body count is now over 125.

The fires are still burning and they're expecting an even higher toll by the time this is over with.

Over 1,200 square miles have been affected. Some towns have apparently been completely leveled.

Australian Red Cross

Australian Salvation Army

Meanwhile....

The apocalypse has begun in Australia; nearly a hundred dead from wildfires, probably started by arsonists.

How awful.

Aaaaargh!

So that 'blue card' visa that I had when I went to Britain? Where I had an amazing time and fell madly in love with London? The visa I was in every way intending to get again for immediately after I graduate?

The British Government has killed the program. No more blue cards.

May I say, god damn it!

While I'm hating on Texas

It's kind of old at this point, but why the hell not - there's never enough hating on Texas.

This is why I hate Texas and want the majority of their population to die horrible horrible deaths

What the hell:

Gonzalez had endured several break-ins at his trailer when the four boys, ranging in age from 11 to 15, broke in. Gonzalez, who was in a nearby building at the time, went into the trailer and confronted the boys with a 16-gauge shotgun. Then he forced the boys, who were unarmed, to their knees, attorneys on both sides say.

The boys say they were begging for forgiveness when Gonzalez hit them with the barrel of the shotgun and kicked them repeatedly. Then, the medical examiner testified, Anguiano was shot in the back at close range. Two mashed Twinkies and some cookies were stuffed in the pockets of his shorts.

Another boy, Jesus Soto Jr., now 16, testified that Gonzalez ordered them at gunpoint to take Anguiano's body outside.

That's terrifying. But it gets worse:

Many people in Laredo — a town just across the Rio Grande from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, where drug violence runs rampant — defended Gonzalez's actions. In online responses to articles published by the Morning Times, comments included statements such as "The kid got what he deserved" and calls to "stop the unfair prosecution."

Jesus Christ in a bathtub, what is wrong with these people? Your constitutional right to property does not take precedence over another person's right to life, you under-evolved troglodytes! Shooting anyone at close range in the back is not self defense, it's an execution. Shooting a kid who stole some of your shitty snack food in the back at close range as he kneels on your floor begging for mercy is not self defense, that's murdering a child.

This guy should rot in prison for the rest of his disgusting, worthless life, as should every member of the jury that apparently is A-OK with shooting an unarmed, crying child in the back. The only thing I can hope for is that the family of the victim sues the asshole into oblivion.

Save Mr. Rogers

PBS is intending to take Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood out of regular rotation, limiting it to one episode a week, on weekends.

I dare you to watch this and not feel just...cheated by this decision.


Or how about this one?


Or this?


Fred Rogers was probably one of, if not the most sincere, honest, loving man in television. He absolutely, truly believed in the sanctity of childhood, that absolutely every child was worthwhile and wonderful. He taught children that it was okay to feel however you felt, and that sometimes even your very own emotions are scary, but that's okay. He taught that there was a time and place for make-believe, but that the real world was just as interesting. He said over and over that there is someone who loves you and you are worthy of that love.

Mr. Rogers never talked down to children but also didn't treat them as miniature adults. He treated them with respect as people and tried to give the comfort and nurturing that children need. He didn't preach, or lecture, but engaged in dialogue through the TV, reaching out to kids in the most genuine way possible.

I remember being home sick from school one day in high school, maybe ninth or tenth grade. Both my parents were at work and I was alone in the house. I was lying on the futon downstairs and turned on the TV, and there was Mr. Rogers. He was just the same as he'd been when I was ten years younger - and he was every bit as comforting to watch.

To deprive a generation of children of that is just mean. In this world, we could all benefit from someone who was regularly there, every day, to say he likes you just the way you are, and things may be scary but it's okay to be scared. Children may need that more than ever right now. Why would we possibly want to take that away?

A bad time for Asia, a good time to do something

The death toll from the earthquake in China is possibly over 50,000.  There's over 43,000 dead in Burma and 28,000 some missing.

From my (admittedly brief) searching, it looks like this might be one of the best ways to make a meaningful donation to aid efforts in Burma.  

Larger aid organizations are of course also trying to help - groups such as Doctors Without Borders, UNICEF, the American Friends Service Committee, Oxfam, the American Refugee Committee, of course the Red Cross, and the World Food Program would (as they always are) be worthwhile places to send a small donation.  There's also MercyCorps, which I've only recently become aware of, and seems like one of the better international charities out there: they'll direct your donation to relief in Burma, or aid in China, or a number of other causes you can pick.  

If none of those strike you as a worthy group, I'm sure a minute or two with Google can help you find someplace that will help.  

It takes five minutes to make a donation, and any tiny amount you can give helps.  There are millions who are now homeless, without food or clean water, without any basic sanitation - without anything.  We have the luxury of houses and unlimited clean water and more likely than not more food than you can eat, electricity and DEET insect repellent and nice warm beds.  Millions don't.  Please, do something to help.

My god, it's full of stars...

Sir Arthur C. Clarke, brilliant scientist, author of dozens of fantastic novels, inventor, and all-around genius has passed away.  

It's the loss of a truly tremendous giant in several different fields.  He certainly won't ever be forgotten.  I suppose now he's just on the next journey.  Let's hope it's a good one.

Yay America

Five videos.  One of many reasons why the "Support our Troops!!1" idiocy is just that.

I admit I only watched the second and third, because I'm pretty sure the rest of them involve killing or torturing dogs, and I can't watch that.  The first video, I believe, is one I heard about in which a puppy is tortured.  I'm not going to watch it to find out.  

Our military seems to be composed primarily of assholes.  Go us.

And so it ends...

Well. That was...disappointing.

So what now, Phillies, another 14 years of "Hey, we really freaking SUCK"? If you were going to just throw it away, you know what? A lot of your fans probably would have preferred if you didn't even bother getting our hopes up that we might maybe get a third shot at, hell, the NLCS, let alone the World Series. Considering that you're a franchise that's been around for well over 100 years and have been there five times in 124 years. The guys you just got swept by haven't ever been there, but that's because they've only been in existence for 14 years. Note that their entire history as a franchise is the amount of time since you last were in the playoffs.

And now I'm going to have to hope that the Diamondbacks of all teams beat the Rockies, just because I sure as hell can't cheer for the Rockies after the way they just smeared you around.

*sigh* Philly.

Oh, Aramark

On my way out of the cafeteria today, I spied something potentially tasty on the dessert table. At first glance I thought it might have been some sort of eclair or creme puff, a notion which had me very excited. Perhaps some leftover goodies from some formal to-do?

Closer inspection revealed traces of artificial red fruity stuff. And that it was, like, a dinner roll.

*sigh*

Oh yeah.

Phillies. The game started well.

...

Middle of the sixth and the Rockies lead 10-3.

*sigh*

Yep, that's the Phils playing.

eta: goddamnit, chance of a comeback? Quit playing around with my emotions, Phillies! >:-(

A few new enemies are born

If we're so morally right in our kidnap and detain strategy, what do we have to lose by providing our detainees with the right of habeas corpus?

Also, please note the text of the 14th amendment:

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Note the strategic, certainly intentional use of person rather than citizen.

Oh dear

The Canadian dollar is now just about equal with the US dollar. Interesting.

The Pound is of course still easily twice the dollar, which depresses me.

re: Iowa, same-sex marriage

If John and Jill want to marry each other, or Jack and Susie want to join in "blessed union", then no one's going to think that they have a moral obligation to petition the state to keep them from getting married. Mostly because it doesn't really effect anyone but John and Jill, or Jack and Susie.

But if John wants to marry Jack, or Jill wants to marry Susie, then suddenly everyone's screaming about how the peoples' will must be honored so they can't get married.

I don't get it.