Irony, with a side of traffic jam

Yesterday on my commute, while we were trapped in a bumper to bumper to traffic jam. I noticed a Nissan in front of me, with a license plate frame "Happiness is being Swedish"

I wonder why this person didn't have a Volvo.

Thank a Veteran

Today Is Veterans' Day. Or, as my Grandparents originally knew it, Armistice Day.

Why Armistice, to honor the service of our veterans? World War One was the first major European War in a century. With no real memory of the true horrors of war, Europe quickly sank to the horrors of trench warfare, stagnant in military, social, and health terms.

The "War to End all Wars" did not achieve that goal. But the end of WW I by armistice, at 11 am European Time on 11-Nov-1918 ended the horrors of  the trenches, and a generation observed that hopeful event as Armistice Day.

The aftermath of a vindictive peace from Versailles destroyed a generation in Western Europe as the dystopian phoenix of Fascism and Nazism rose in the ashes of defeat and caused World War Two. The social collapse in eastern Europe which ended the Austro-Hungarian, Russian, and Turkish Empires also led to the horrors of Communism, which suppressed the hopes and lives of hundreds of millions for most of 20th Century.

So thank a Veteran today for their faithful service to our nation, and damn the politicians who undermined the work of our Sailors, Soldiers, Airmen / Airwomen, and Marines after 1918, and appear hellbent on the same today as they cut budgets on the backs of services to rehabilitate wounded warriors, and destroy the peace by failure to decide on the goals for our new wars..

Never again!

Today marks the 75th Anniversary of "Kristallnacht", the open salvo of the Nazi's organized attempt to exterminate the Jews. As everyone except the former president of Iran knows, the follow-up to this was the murder of 6 million Jews, as well as numerous Gays, Roma ("Gypsy"), Jehovah's Witnesses, the disabled, and others in Nazi extermination camps, the people deemed "unworthy" by the Nazis.

We need to remember the sheer inhumanity of the Nazis, and make sure this never happens again..

Thank you, Rep Kawakami

Rep Derek Kawakami of Kauai noted in his comments in support of SB-1, the Hawaii equal marriage bill, that there is only one time is is proper to look down on someone. That one time is when you at standing over someone, helping them up when they fall.

The opponents of equal civil marriage do not understand this, and go out of their way to put down and denigrate Gay and Lesbian persons.

Here's hoping that Hawai'i completes the work begun in 1993 with Baehr v Miike, sadly sidetracked for the past 15 years through the 1998 amendment.

Rep Kawakami, you are a saint and a hero.

Best testimony yet from Hawai'i

7:54 pm, HST, 11/4/13

The (straight but not narrow) woman testifying now before the Hawai'i House Judiciary committee just noted that marriage equality for same sex couples will make those opposed uncomfortable, just as the abolition of slavery in 1865 made the live of white people less comfortable.

Cry me a river, build me a bridge, get over it.

There's a map for that.

I saw a link on another news article, pointing to maps you might like. One of the choices was a transit map, showing where you can go in 15 minutes from any spot.

Fascinating what an overlay to Google maps can do.

Have we learned nothing since Thomas More?

I've been watching the news from Honolulu as the Hawai'i legislature debates SB-1, the proposed marriage equality bill.

See, for example, streaming video from the House and Senate.

It's fascinating watching the testimony from the anti-Gay side. The seem incapable of separating religious from secular reasons to support their position. I am always reminded of Robert Bolt's comments in "A Man for All Seasons", arguing with his son-in-law about how to root out "evil".

Roper: I'd cut down every law in England to do that!

More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned 'round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country's planted thick with laws from coast to coast– man's laws, not God's– and if you cut them down—and you're just the man to do it—do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake.

 

 

"In the beginning, God created ..."

I saw a sad and disappointing news item recently about the anti-science wing of the GOP in Kansas suing the state over new science standards that focus on Darwinist evolution as the origins of life.  These taliban-gelicals feel that science which conflicts with their false interpretations of Genesis are imposing religion on them, in violation of the first amendment. (Note: The first amendment was numbered #3 in the original Bill of Rights, because the first 2 proposed amendments were not ratified in 1789. The original Second amendment was ratified in 1992 and is now the 27th Amendment.)

First, I weep (as does Jesus) for anyone whose faith is so weak that they can not accept new interpretation of Scripture in light of new knowledge.  God gave us minds to think and study His marvelous creation. These people are dissing God by refusing to think.

Genesis 1:1 tells us: "In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth." What more do we need to learn in Sunday School? The Big Bang and Evolution are just the methods God used to create our universe. He didn't do it 6 x 24 hours in 4004 BC.

Plus ça change, plus c'est ça même chose

I was working from home today, and had the TV on in the other room.  At one point, an old episode of "Good Times" (This was a 1976, early black Sitcom on TV, for those too young to remember)

They had two zinger lines: "Some day we might even have a Black president".

Then, the young school boy in the series had written letter to the Cuban government for info on a school project. He got a response, triggering an FBI investigation.  Momma said writing the letter might now be such a good idea. "Their security people probably opened your letter, and then when the Cubans answered, our security people opened the reply. There's a lot of letter opening going on."

Prescience and déjà vu in one episode. What more can one ask for?

My Brain is full, I'm ready to go home now...

Last night on the commute home, one of my carpool mates, speculated that he might go to a paid programming camp to learn better programming skills.  "M" is 25, so this prompted the question, "What language / languages are you thinking of studying, and what do hope to do with the new skills?"

"M" said part of the reason he thought about this path was that paying someone to teach a skill would force the discipline to learn something he could in theory do in self study.

This raises the question, why do we not force ourselves to learn if not in a class? I've been carrying my set of "Berlitz Spanish" CDs in my computer bad for 5 years, and still can't conjugate much more  than present tense indicative for regular verbs.

I don't have an answer to "M" or for myself, but "Necesito practicar mi español mucho más." Learning Spanish in California, like learning to swim in world of climate change, is not optional.

Oh, and "M": If you aren't sure what language to study or why, try INTERCAL.  :)

Wait, I should say, "Please try 'Intercal'".  Read the section on politeness, and you will see why I added this last line.

Two of God's beautiful distractions, or making work on Fridays worthwhile

Friday morning, my carpool dropped two of us off at work, at the first building on campus, so we could walk along the lagoon to our building.  Half way round, I looked from trying not to step in goose poop on the sidewalk, to see a beautiful white heron, perched at the waterline, looking for breakfast.

The view of that white heron, one of God's many beautiful creatures, more than offset the annoyance of going into the office on a Friday, when I would far preferred to work at home.

Then, that night on the drive home, the San Mateo bridge was its usually Friday rush hour plod. Half way across, one of my carpool mates called our attention to the crest of the Hayward Hills. There on the eastern horizon was the slimmest edge of the full moon, peeking over the hill top. As we sat in traffic, we could see the moon slowly rise, and grow from sliver, to crescent, to semi-circle, then a fully visible bright circle in the evening sky.

Alleluia! The world we live in is indeed wonderful.