Geology, Wizardry, Astronomy, Obamanation.

I’m back, and I apologize for the recent lack of posts. Shall we get started?

First, the astonishing. The Chaitén volcano in the Andes in southern Chile erupted on May 2 for the first time in about nine millenia! You can read about it in National Geographic News. The powerful eruption is dramatic enough by itself, but the next day a huge dirty thunderstorm gave us this show. Sweet Flying Spaghetti Monster, I wish I were there to witness it (click on the picture for a slightly larger version)!

Second, the bizzarre. Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomy blogger, drew my attention to this article: Magic trick costs teacher job. If you aren’t going to read it, here’s the short version: a substitute middle school teacher at a Florida public school was fired for… wait for it… wizardry. The guy did a 30 second magic trick in front of his class, making a toothpick disappear and then reappear, and then was dismissed for wizardry. In an attempt to cover his ignorant ass, a school official tacked on a few other accusations (e.g. “not following lesson plans”), and then claimed, “it wasn’t just the wizardry” — I can’t make this stuff up, folks. Anyone from Land’O'Lakes, Florida should be sobbing with shame right now.

And third, I finished my astronomy class! Unfortunately, buying a telescope is on hold until I finish paying for the class itself, but I learned some really cool stuff and have reinvigorated interests in things like the Large Hadron Collider. The LHC is the world’s largest and highest-powered particle accelerator/collider. It was just completed and will begin operating this month to search for things like the Higgs boson, the only particle theorized by the Standard Model of physics that has not yet been observed. Confirmation of the Higgs boson and other new subatomic particles could lead toward the development of a Theory of Everything (also known as the Grand Unified Theory) of physics, incorporating the strong nuclear, weak nuclear, electromagnetic, and gravitation forces. Creationists everywhere, hold your breath: will we discover proof of god? Literally, hold your breath.

Finally, tonight was a big one for Barack Obama. I don’t see how Clinton can continue her campaign beyond the next day or two without being ridiculed by the press. That’s pretty great news. I find it fishy that cable news (CNN, FOX, MSNBC) led in calling the race “too close to call” into early this morning when the Obama campaign had conceded earlier, and when CBS news (with no late-night cable news program ratings to worry about) had called it for Clinton earlier as well. I think the numbers were there to call the race, and they lied about it to keep viewers in suspense and thus glued to their tvs. Seems like a pretty simple scam for a news director to justify with mere plausible deniability about the race’s outcome.

That’s it for now, I’m sleepy. But I’ll say more, and say it more coherently, soon.

An Update

Here’s a quick update, since I’ve been so damn busy lately. I realize I broke one of my new years resolutions; I let more than 7 days pass since my last blog post. A lot has gone on during the last few weeks. The democratic presidential nomination contest has continued, with Clinton nabbing three states but barely denting Obama’s delegate lead. I’ll have more to say about that later.

There have also been some science topics I’ve wanted to ponder aloud in this blog, some of which were raised by the astronomy course I’m taking, which has proved to be very interesting so far. I effin love special relativity.

In other news, yesterday I became the proud new owner of a 2008 Toyota Prius. It has neat gadgets like bluetooth connectivity for hands-free phone calls with voice activated dialing. It is super-duper cool. You can expect a giddy post with pretty pictures soon. And all it cost me was five years of financial servitude to SunTrust bank!

A Lame Excuse to Rattle the Sabres

Bush administration officials announced yesterday that they are going to shoot down a disabled military spy satellite, and that the sole reason for this is “to avoid a spread of toxic fuel in an inhabited area.” Bullshit alert! The odds of this satellite crashing down near anywhere inhabited by people are so low, it’s not worth sweating over. The odds are far better that you’ll be struck by lightning. And besides, the “toxic fuel” they’re referring to is hydrazine, which isn’t all that dangerous. If a populated area were contaminated with hydrazine gas, at worst you’d have some people with symptoms similar to chlorine gas poisoning. This satellite shoot-down attempt is just a way for the U.S. military to test their high tech anti-satellite defenses; the toxicity risk is a lame excuse. The political implications of this action are ugly, especially considering that America got on China’s case for doing the same thing last year. And for pete’s sake, this plan poses a risk to other orbiting objects, such as the International Space Station! Granted, it’s not a very big risk, but it’s still higher than the odds that any of us would be wiped out by a single school bus-sized gas tank dropping out of orbit.

For the record, I am adamantly opposed to any combat occurring in space. If you can shoot at a satellite, it won’t be long before the satellites can shoot back.

The Power of the Potomac

We here in the Potomac states are not all the silver spoon-fed liberal literati that the press make us out to be; still, we know how to pick a winner.

And it was on our shoulders, tonight, that Barack Obama stepped ahead of Hillary Clinton in his rise to what might become the presidency of our generation.

Maryland, take a bow.

Obama beats Clinton for Grammy award!

That is not even a joke.  To be fair, he beat Bill Clinton and not Hillary Clinton, but it’s true.  This is Barack Obama’s second Grammy award for Best Spoken Word Album.  Had Bill Clinton won, it would have been his third Grammy award.  I don’t know how the rest of you feel, but this is hilarious news — in a twisted, allegorical, symbolic way.  Allegory to what, you ask?

Barack Obama wins Maine caucus, defeating rival Hillary Clinton in 4 out of 4 weekend contests.

That is a phenomenal performance.  And, Clinton’s campaign manager stepped down today.  Big ups, Barack.  Tomorrow I’m volunteering at his “Stand For Change” rally at the 1st Mariner Arena in Baltimore.  The rally is free to the public, and the doors open at 2:45 PM.  With luck, I may get to have my picture taken with him.  Then a few years down the road, after he’s turned our country over to a North American Union police state, microchipped everyone, and invaded Iran, I can have something to be embarrassed by! Ha, ha, ha.  Anyway, keep an eye out for pictures and/or video from the rally tomorrow.

By the way,  my astronomy class has started.  It looks like it’ll be a lot of fun.  While browsing astronomy sites, I discovered that the Space Telescope Science Institute is practically in my backyard!  The STSI is, among other things, the public outreach program for the Hubble Space Telescope.  I will definitely pay them a visit sometime this semester.  I’m hoping they’ll have a really nice ’scope on site that I can peek through for free.

Super Tuesday, How Grandiloquent Is Thy Hype…

     Well, ladies and gentlemen, we’re here.  It’s Super Tuesday, and it’s a big milestone in American political history on the democratic side.  I’m pretty swamped at work so I don’t have time to comment in depth, but I’ll say that the most recent polls have been very encouraging and I hope Obama does very well today.  Watch the news, my friends!  I’m sure I’ll have words for you on the early returns tonight.  On one hand, I’m looking forward to Maryland having a chance to really influence the delegate count in next Tuesday’s primary, but I’d much rather see Obama pull ahead today and have some breathing room by then.

Either way, this is exciting.

Weekend Roundup: Underdogs For The Win!

This weekend I rejoiced at my father’s cured cardiac condition (yay, medical science!), ate lots of good food, played basketball, drank very little alcohol, wasted a couple hours of my life on Guitar Hero 2 (thanks a lot, Lauren), saw Barack Obama speak at a rally in Wilmington, and despite near-zero interest in spectator sports, watched the New York Giants win an un-winnable game. The cumulative effect of all this, I think, was inspiring.

Here are a few pictures from the “Stand for Change” rally today at Rodney Square in Wilmington, Delaware. My friend Emily was good enough to tag along despite her total lack of interest in politics, but I haven’t checked to see whether she minds my posting her picture yet. The weather could hardly have been better. It was a great day, and Obama gave (as usual) a great speech. I’m thinking that he might just be able to make like the Giants and pull off an upset in the “big game” on Tuesday. We’ll see!

Obama addresses his supporters.

Panoramic view of the crowd.

This shot seems really poignant to me, for some reason.

The crowd was very diverse, with many racial/ethnic/age/gender groups represented.

Statue of George Washington.

Me and one of several bizarre dinosaur statues I found in Wilmington.

Aerial view courtesy of some newspaper I stole it from and promptly forgot the name of.
The crowd was estimated to be 20,000+ strong.

I Can’t Believe It, I Actually Like a Politician.

I didn’t get excited about Barack Obama at first. As a matter of fact, I figured he was a just another politician—ready to pander to the interests of Illinois agribusiness giants, all flash, and no substance. Yet every time I’ve heard the man speak, (I can barely bring myself to admit it) I’ve been inspired. To inspire someone as cynical and iconoclastic as I am is no small task. And it’s no small matter that Obama opposed the invasion of Iraq from the very beginning. I don’t agree with every word that comes out of the man’s mouth, but for someone with real potential to become the next President of the United States of America, he’s pretty fantastic. This isn’t just a post-Bush “anyone but Dubya” head rush. Nor is it a fairy tale. Obama has shown us twice now that he can win. He won in an overwhelmingly white state (Iowa) and a majority black state (South Carolina). And the Clintons have been behaving terribly (lying a lot!) in this campaign. It’s no wonder that Caroline Kennedy (JFK’s daughter) and Sen. Edward Kennedy (JFK’s brother) have decided to endorse Obama. And now I’m jumping on the bandwagon, at least publicly. I’ve been liking Barack Obama a little more each time I’ve heard him speak.

Even in New Hampshire, a state where most residents haven’t seen a black man since Family Matters went off the air, Hillary Clinton only beat Obama by two measly percentage points. In Nevada, Clinton’s popular vote win still netted her one less delegate than Obama—and delegates are what matter. On top of all that, on Saturday, Obama completely pwn3d Clinton in the South Carolina Democratic primary. Yes, that sealed the deal, and inspired me to write this post. Let’s get ready for Super Tuesday.

So I just made my second contribution to his campaign. It was only $25, but hey. Every little bit helps. And if a politician (even a black man with a funny name) can convince a guy like me to donate to his campaign, he may just have a shot at winning this thing. I set up a personal fundraising goal on his website, so if you’re considering donating, I urge you to donate here.

Mr. Mubarak, Tear Down This Wall!

Ok, so Hosni Mubarak ain’t exactly Mikhail Gorbechev. But he sure is powerless to stop the deluge of Palestinians into Egypt! Run, Gazans, Run! I hesitate to make any predictions of what will come of this, but it’s got the potential at least to be a big deal. News reports are very inconsistent about how many Gazans have crossed the border (doubtless confused by people going both directions), but some estimates are as high as 350,000. Minutemen, eat your hearts out. Anyway, this is news worth paying attention to. I’m sure the Israelis are.

In other news, I signed up for an astronomy class—just for fun. I’ll buy the telescope after I learn a thing or two!

The Grim Reaper v. The United States of America

Tomorrow, the United States Supreme Court will hear arguments in two lawsuits involving the use of lethal injection to execute condemned prisoners. The last time the court considered a method of execution, in 1878, they ruled to allow executions by firing squad to continue. The court is not directly considering the constitutionality of the death penalty itself, although if lethal execution is ruled to be “cruel and unusual punishment,” it might effectively be a death knell (yuk, yuk) for capital punishment in the United States. Of the nearly forty states that still have the death penalty, only Nebraska uses electrocution as its sole method of execution. There has been a de facto moratorium on executions in the United States since September, when the court first agreed to hear arguments in these lawsuits.

The death penalty is an abomination, an obtuse expression of state power, hypocritical, institutionally racist, anachronistic, and utterly wrong. We live in an age where DNA evidence has exonerated prisoners who were mistakenly convicted and sentenced to die at the hands of the state. Even that, however, I feel is tangential to the more salient point: murdering people to punish them for the crime of murder makes no sense at all, and sends no reasonable message to society. The sanctimoniousness with which judges impose the death penalty and executioners carry it out belies its real nature. It is a monument to state authority and power, a relic of times when monarchs and emperors ruled by fear and intimidation.

The crime committed by the prisoner should not be a part of the ethical calculus here. Further, this debate over a method of execution is just a technical squabble. The fundamental question: is it ever acceptable to kill a human being against their will? I say no, with the only exception being an immediate act of self-defense (or defense of others under direct threat of serious harm). Because this exception could never apply to the state, and because the death penalty is carried out with malice aforethought, there seems to me little room for argument over whether it is “cruel or unusual punishment.” At least most murder victims are fortunate enough not to anticipate their untimely end for very long. State murder victims suffer the added torture of anticipating their death.

I hope that this Supreme Court case raises an outcry against capital punishment in the United States. As a society, we need to break the grasp that our prison-industrial complex has developed on our justice system. We also need to get off our fucking high horses, stop imprisoning drug users, and start concentrating on fixing our crumbling public education system. That’s a policy that would pay off in the long run. Instead of jailing and murdering the dregs of society, let’s stop raising so damn many of them.

As an aside, it also gets my goat that so many Christians support the death penalty. These wackos worship a mythological person who was allegedly crucified by the powers that be, and they can sleep at night knowing that their beloved republic carries on that barbaric tradition dozens of times a year. Suffer unto me…