frivolité

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

November 4, 2008

Friends, Readers, Internet Stalkers (you know who you are),

Today we have a chance to make history.

Today we have a chance to grant civil liberties to those that deserve them.

Today we have a chance to make change.

Four years ago I bundled myself and my 4 year old son up and we walked to the polls to vote. We talked on the way about the importance of voting and how if we want to see change in the world, we have to make it happen. It was a glorious thing, my son and I tromping through the leaves with our "I Voted" stickers on, full of hope and excitement as we walked home feeling we had done something important. When we woke the next morning and I told him that George Bush had won again, I felt like I had lied to him. I told him that we could make a difference, and we hadn't. Nevertheless, I have continued to take him to the polls with me when voting on local issues and keep up the notion that we can help make change happen.

When it came time to vote for the Democratic Presidential Candidate the now 8 year old boy knew who he wanted to be the next president, and it happened that I agreed with him. We got to the polls to vote and a poll worker said, "Now, he is not allowed to influence your vote in any way...." I looked at her and said, "This is his future too, you are wrong." We voted, collected another sticker and left feeling that once again, we had done something important......only to be let down again the next morning. The boy's reaction to the news was simple, he said "Well, I really wanted to see the first woman President, but the first African American President will be ok too." Kids...

The Democratic nominee's for President and Vice President were not my first choice, (frankly I would have liked to have seen a Clinton/Obama ticket)but in politics it always seems you are forced to choose the lesser of two evils, and to me Obama/Biden makes a hell of a lot more sense than "Old for da Earth Cotton Hill & Alaska Hockey Mom Barbie".

Tonight we will make that trek to the polls again and we will vote and we will be unafraid and full of hope.

Again.

Please remember to vote.

Friday, October 31, 2008

Happy Halloween!

I blame the bovine growth hormones in milk for my son's early transition to puberty...

Just kidding, he is a Werewolf.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Favorite Today from McSweeney's

PHYSICAL THEORIES AS WOMEN
BY SIMON DEDEO

0. Newtonian gravity is your high-school girlfriend. As your first encounter with physics, she's amazing. You will never forget Newtonian gravity, even if you're not in touch very much anymore.

1. Electrodynamics is your college girlfriend. Pretty complex, you probably won't date long enough to really understand her.

2. Special relativity is the girl you meet at the dorm party while you're dating electrodynamics. You make out. It's not really cheating because it's not like you call her back. But you have a sneaking suspicion she knows electrodynamics and told her everything.

3. Quantum mechanics is the girl you meet at the poetry reading. Everyone thinks she's really interesting and people you don't know are obsessed about her. You go out. It turns out that she's pretty complicated and has some issues. Later, after you've broken up, you wonder if her aura of mystery is actually just confusion.

4. General relativity is your high-school girlfriend all grown up. Man, she is amazing. You sort of regret not keeping in touch. She hates quantum mechanics for obscure reasons.

5. Quantum field theory is from overseas, but she doesn't really have an accent. You fall deeply in love, but she treats you horribly. You are pretty sure she's fooling around with half of your friends, but you don't care. You know it will end badly.

6. Cosmology is the girl that doesn't really date, but has lots of hot friends. Some people date cosmology just to hang out with her friends.

7. Analytical classical mechanics is a bit older, and knows stuff you don't.

8. String theory is off in her own little world. She is either profound or insane. If you start dating, you never see your friends anymore. It's just string theory, 24/7.