Category Archives: Uncategorized

In search of life on other blah blah blah

There was a time, not so long ago, that the launch of yet another rocket would have been interesting – even exciting – to me. This one is going to take a look about to see if there might be other planets out there that could maybe possibly support life. If it finds some, then we’ll build yet another telescope to go look closer at them.

*yawn*

The pricetag – $600 million – doesn’t seem justified by the benefits. If we were to find one of these remote planets, then we’d know that perhaps there’s a planet somewhere that might possibly support life. Given the scope of the galaxy, and the millions of stars out there, I think we already know that. Which doesn’t mean that they *do* support life. So we wouldn’t know any more than we know now. And we wouldn’t be able to get there anyways.

I’m increasingly skeptical of the role of NASA. I still don’t have my flying car. I still don’t have my vacation home on the moon. The closest I’ve gotten is shaking Mark’s hand. Yet we continue to pump billions of dollars into the space program, which now lags far behind private enterprise in terms of innovation.

It’s time to stop this, and spend that money where it can do more good.

Nodding Acquaintances

You know that guy you see at the same table every time you go into that coffee shop. Yeah, that guy. You know the one. Do you ache to know what his story is? I do. And it’s been almost ten years now. Always at the same table, with the newspaper. Always a little brusque, but courteous. And he always had a smile for my little girl.

Nodding Acquaintances
March 5, 2009

We nod at one another from across the room,
never-quite, almost, not-any-more acquaintances.
I think I know your name, but I’m not sure.
And you used to know my daughter’s name.
Hardly a first-name basis, but close
enough for a Saturday morning coffee,
shared at separate tables, once a week
like clockwork.

The other regulars weren’t there this morning,
and you did your crossword alone,
no one to argue politics with you today,
the sun full in your eyes at your regular table.

And I’m no longer a regular.
Too many sad memories to be augured
from the dregs of a double-mocha cappuccino.

Neither one of us quite got the world
we wished for. Our ideals sounded good,
but like that slice of Magnificent Seven …
well, chocolate cake for breakfast
is never quite as good as it sounds in your head.

Safari: Review

There’s a new version of Safari available. I’m going to try it for a week, to see if I can switch to it from Firefox. I’m going to keep a list, and publish this in about a week when I’ve been using it long enough to have an intelligent opinion.

Update: Turns out that I don’t really notice much of a difference in daily use, but here’s the list so far:

Things I love

  • Holy cow it’s fast!
  • The “open bookmark folder in tabs” feature works the way I expect it to – closing all open tabs, and opening just those tabs in that folder.
  • The “auto click” feature on a bookmark folder is very handy. (Not new with version 4.)
  • Search highlighting.

Things I hate

  • The tabs across the top of the window. Who thought this was a good idea?

Missing features that I am used to having in Firefox

  • Type to search – Firefox starts searching for something as soon as I start typing. (Note: This is not default behavior, but you can turn it on somewhere in the menus. Default behavior is to start searching when I type a slash / and then start typing a word.)

Torn

This week, I had to give my kids hard news. And then, just as they were reeling from that blow, I had to give my daughter more hard news.

Kids are inscrutable to me. I can’t tell what’s going on in behind their stoic expressions, or even behind their tears. When they say that everything’s fine, does it mean that everything’s fine, or that they don’t have words for their feelings – feelings that, even at 37, I don’t have words for. What can I offer but a safe place for them to feel what they feel? I have no answers to the hard questions they ask, and what few answers I might have, I can’t always give.

We have handed our kids a hard life, and so every new thing that they encounter that hurts them makes us all the more aware of what a hard life we’ve handed them.

A few weeks ago, I took a photo of my son’s torn pants, and it was the prompt on Weekend Wordsmith last week. It came together in the rambling words below. It’s not great poetry. It’s barely poetry at all – just prose with line breaks. But it’s how I process thought and emotion.

Torn
March 3, 3009

I wish, like a million before me,
that I could mend for you
what I have ripped, stitch up
the frayed edges, put back together
the loose ends I have untied,
and those around me
that I had no part in tearing.

My needle is dulled,
my thread snapped,
my hands occupied in mending
my own tattered rags.

If I could put them aside
and repair this one rent
you know I would.

I see in your eyes that you know
I would.

Maybe that’s enough.

It has to be.

Still, I look for that skein
with which we might patch
this wound.

Pocket Watch

Pocket Watch

I haven’t worn a watch for years. I actually don’t remember when I last wore a watch. I carry a PDA of some description, and I carry a cell phone, and they both serve as watches. Having a timepiece strapped to my wrist has seemed as more of an inconvenience than a convenience.

But for a while I have wanted a nice pocket watch – something that would tell me the time, but would also be classy. And, yes, perhaps a little pretentious. I bought one on eBay several years ago, and it was D.O.A. Bummer.

But, last week, my Beloved bought me a pocket watch. It is beautiful, functional, and convenient. And slightly pretentious. 🙂

Safari 4 Beta

I’ve never been a big fan of Safari. I’m not even sure why. It just didn’t feel right, but I’m not sure I could really articulate what, specifically, I don’t like about it. But I’m always willing to try the new version when it comes out.

So, Safari 4 beta is out, and I’m giving it a whirl for a few days.

The first thing I notice about it is that it is fast. I mean, scary fast. It is loading pages faster than it should be possible to download the constituent parts.

It takes Firefox about 3 seconds to load cnn.com. It takes Safari less than a second. How do they do that? It’s unnerving. Did it somehow know that I wanted to go there, and was loading it in the background in anticipation?

So, I’ll give it a few days, and see how I like it. Strangely, I think that I’ll end up back on Firefox, but time will tell.

The Economy

Every time that I read that the economy is circling the drain, I’m reminded that I have it pretty darned good. My kids go to a great school, and have plenty to eat. I have a good job, where I make more than anyone doing the same thing in the rest of the world, as do most of my neighbors, all of whom have nice houses, with running water.

I don’t mean, for a moment, to belittle the fate of folks who have lost their jobs, and who are currently without work. I am overawed, every day, at just how good I have it, and I know it could be gone in a moment. It’s very sobering.

Dialect

Dialect
(Belatedly for Read Write.)

We have our own dialect
with words that mean other words,
phrases that mean paragraphs,
glances that mean
whole conversations.

A stranger would no doubt
feel lost in a foreign land,
while we play the curmudgeonly old couple
insisting on mumbling in the patois,
our guests listening in mute confusion.