Prop 8 Is No More

No, the California Supreme Court has not suddenly hit the gas on making their decision.

Nevertheless, people who continue to refer to Prop 8 as though it were some standalone, self-contained entity are in denial.

THE SINGLE SENTENCE THAT USED TO BE KNOWN AS PROP 8 IS NOW ARTICLE 1 SECTION 7.5 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA.

Don't Hold Your Breath

Remember when rising fuel prices became an excuse for everyone from American Airlines to your gardener to increase the prices they charged you?

Well, recently, the price of gas looks like this:

SO, NOW...the question is...will they cut their prices because their fuel costs have fallen off a cliff?

I'm not holding my breath.

Captioneer's Challenge!

This photo is screaming for a funny caption. Submit your entry in a comment. I'll publish the winner's name right cheer!

It's All About Us

Warning: physics ahead. But even if you are not a physicist, this post may interest you because it recounts just a few of the reasons why this universe permits you to exist.

Physicist Tim Folger, writing in the latest edition of Discover magazine, provides some interesting facts about our universe that, in my judgment, support what is known in the physics world as "the anthropic principle", i.e., the notion that instead of being an unfathomably complex series of random events and circumstances, the universe was intelligently designed to support life.

Even the most ardent anti-creationists will admit that the universe's basic properties are "uncannily suited for life. Tweak the laws of physics in just about any way and—in this universe, anyway—life as we know it would not exist."

A few examples:



• All atoms consist of more elemental particles, namely, protons, neutrons, and electrons. If protons were 0.2 percent more massive, they would be unstable and decay into smaller particles, which means atoms could not exist, which means WE could not exist.

• Atomic nuclei are bound together by the so-called strong force. If that force were slightly more powerful, all the protons in the early universe would have paired off and there would be no hydrogen, which fuels long-lived stars. Water would not exist, nor would any known form of life.

• Stars like the sun produce energy by fusing two hydrogen atoms into a single helium atom. During that reaction, 0.007 percent of the mass of the hydrogen atoms is converted into energy, via Einstein’s famous E = mc2 equation. But if that percentage were, say, 0.006 or 0.008, the universe would be far more hostile to life. The lower number would result in a universe filled only with hydrogen; the higher number would leave a universe with no hydrogen (and therefore no water) and no stars like the sun.

• Earth's orbit around our sun provides a narrow range of temperatures on our planet within which an astounding variety of life forms can exist. Change the average distance between the sun and earth by a very tiny amount, and we are either crispy critters or popsicles.

• The early universe was delicately poised between runaway expansion and terminal collapse. Had the universe contained much more matter, additional gravity would have made it implode. If it contained less, the universe would have expanded too quickly for galaxies to form.

• Had matter in the universe been more evenly distributed, it would not have clumped together to form galaxies. Had matter been clumpier, it would have condensed into black holes.


What are the chances that, in purely random fashion, the universe became so finely balanced in so many different aspects that this thing we call LIFE could exist?

Despite my technical and scientific background, I cannot believe this all happened by chance. One law of physics nobody questions is: the derivative of entropy with respect to time is always positive, i.e., the universe left to itself is naturally increasingly chaotic. The fact that organisms as exquisitely complex as human beings exist at all is compelling evidence of some vastly intelligent force creating myriad instances of sublime order within the vast universal chaos. Thereby, that intelligence relegates the chaos to the background where it belongs, and infuses the ordered beings (us) with supernal, intrinsic value.

We are what matters in this universe.

Sam Must Be Smiling

If I had to buy and hold the stock of one retailer for the next two years, I'd let it ride on WalMart.

There nothing like watching your 401k get halved to drive you toward a joyous reunion with your inner cheapskate.

Music Defined

"Play it beautiful, play it beautiful. I don't care if you don't hit all of the notes. If you don't move a person's heart it's not music."
-- Christopher Parkening

Science and Faith

"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use."
-- Galileo Galilei

Senatorial Power Under Obama

Many of my Republican friends are using the word, "fear", to describe their reaction to Obama's victory. It seems many of them fear that a Democratic-controlled Congress and White House will claim a broad mandate and drag the country abruptly to the left.

I'm reading a LOT of smart people in the financial and journalism areas and not seeing much of anyone who believes that will happen. None of the investment house forecasts I've read sees radical tax reform happening quickly, but possibly in a second Obama term. Howard Dean, the DNC Chair, told Chris Matthews he would welcome the placement of Republicans in positions within the Obama administration. (I dearly hope for that.)

But, my GOP friends, consider this: The Democrats did not win a filibuster-smothering 60 seats in the Senate. That means they will have to reach across the isle and persuade SOME Republicans to go along on certain issues. Those Republicans will most likely be moderates, and THEY are the ones who will be in the power chairs when it comes to getting things done in the Senate.

The Problem With The Political Faithful

As America chooses a new president today, I wonder how many people are voting either for or against a candidate's caricature instead of the real man?

Instant Relief for a Stuffy Nose

Found in the "you may not believe this" file:

There are many pharmaceutical and mechanical remedies for common nasal congestion and stuffiness. Here's one you can use anywhere, instantly.

Place the tips of your forefingers beside the base of each nostril, along the line where your lip and nose meet. You should feel a tiny bump on each side as you apply gentle pressure. Maintain gentle pressure at these two points for 30 to 60 seconds and see what happens.

If you break out in song, let me know.

Eyes and Toes, Eyes and Toes!

The main cause of all the unnecessary pain, and danger, and inconvenience we experience is that we walk with our eyes and toes pointed in different directions. Sometimes literally, sometimes figuratively.

Missing Tata

One year ago today, Charles "Ted" Rowland passed away after a long bout with dementia.

My mother cared for him 24/7/365 until the last few days of his life. I don't have words to describe that kind of courage and love, but I have now witnessed it and will never forget it.

My father rose from a loving but impoverished family and earned everything he ever had the hard way. My parents made sure I never lacked a thing in my life, and had every opportunity they never did. They gave my brother and I all the self-confidence, support, and encouragement we needed to make our way in the world.

Thank you, Mat and Tat.

I miss you, Tat.

Bluffer's Paradise Lost

Anything is possible if you don't know what you're talking about.

Those Divine Tailfeathers

If love is blind...
And God is love...
And Ray Charles is blind...
then God plays the piano...

Lest We Forget

In Memoriam

The Difference Between Lance and Vin

To those who see an inconsistency in my positions on Lance and Vin:

Lance does it for one reason--to win.

Vin does it for one reason--love of the game, win or lose. Ad honorem.

The prosecution rests.

Polling the Polls

Politicians pay a lot of attention to (and spend a lot of money on) polls.

SURPRISE! There are quite a few companies who provide polling services.

So, which poll are you going to believe?

Your choice. But if you want a convenient summary of major political polling results, click here or visit http://www.realclearpolitics.com/polls/.

The Morning After the Conventions

I don't watch the conventions.

Yes, you heard me right.

The conventions are, quite possibly, the single largest spin executions possible within our political system. I don't watch them because I understand that what you see on the TV screen is a carefully crafted image, a fantasy, concocted by hundreds (even thousands) of very smart people. They spend a ton of money and exert all their professional skill to craft and sell an image, a fantasy, to the viewer.

I'm not sure which galls me more: the fact that they do it or the fact that millions of viewers tune in and lap it all up.

I'm bipartisan in this opinion; both parties do the same thing. They do it because they understand that most people choose a presidential candidate the same way they choose a car or a house; they fall in love first, then seek logical justifications to salve their inner guilt over a lack of rational thought and action.

It's almost enough to make one confess to being a closet Hamiltonian.

The Burden of Conscience

"Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislator? Why has every man a conscience, then? I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward." -- Henry David Thoreau

Character and Competence, Not Gender

Voting for a woman for VP solely because she is female is to spit on the legitimate achievements of women like Margaret Thatcher, Golda Meir, Indira Ghandi, Angela Merkel, Micheline Calmy-Ray, Mary McAleese, et.al.

I think anyone who votes either for or against any candidate on a presidential ticket solely because of their gender should be stripped of the right to vote for being terminally stupid.