Quentin Tarantino

Overheard: "It was like a Quentin Tarantino for teenagers."

Does this mean that Tarantino is high-end art?

Professional driver, closed course

Just about any car ad on TV these days features the disclaimer that the car is being driven by a professional driver on a closed course. The point of this, as I understand it, is that we non-professional drivers, driving on roads with other vehicles also present, shouldn't attempt to get the car to do what is being shown on TV. And in cases where the car is spinning through snow and sleet, or slaloming through pools, this makes sense. Skidding conditions are by their nature unpredictable, and the risk of an accident is real.

But the other day I saw that disclaimer on an ad where a car merely drives down the street. Does this mean that their car is so unsafe that a lay driver can't safely drive it down the street? That being so, why are they bothering to sell it in the first place?

Top men

I've actually wondered why, at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark, God allows the US to keep the Ark. You'll recall that earlier in the movie, while the Nazis have the Ark, it, or God, burn off the Nazi symbol on the packing crate. But nothing happens once the US gets their hands on it.

One explanation is that the US is Good, whereas the Nazis are Bad. These days, the distinction is less obvious, perhaps, but the movie is set back in the thirties.

But another explanation occurred to me today: God wants the US to have the Ark because of exactly what happens in the last scene. The US buries it so deep that no one will ever find it again.

I prefer the second explanation.

To be a pet, or not.

I often wonder/worry about my cats' happiness as pets. I worry more about this with Christian, since he was a stray into his adult life and so has some perspective on this - he knows what he has lost, and what he has gained, in the transition from stray to pet. Shadow, of course, has been with me since she was three month old, and so never had a chance to experience the outside world on her own.

The tally, as I understand it, is this:

Pros of being a pet:
- food is provided twice a day
- clean water is always available
- no predators
- no bad weather, aside from occasional thunder (which may be scary but can't hurt them)
- no cars

I don't add things like veterinary care, since I doubt that they understand its significance.

Cons of being a pet:
- severely constrained roaming area, with
- little to chase
- only one other cat to interact with
- no sex (though they're both neutered/spayed/fixed)
- sometimes a little too much interaction with the resident human (I'm happy to pick them up, pet them, etc a bit more than they're happy to be picked up, petted, etc. But I'm learning to read them and there haven't been any altercations.)

I think there was one other thing, but I forget what it was for the moment. And in any case, the real point of this post is this: when I open the door to enter or exit the apartment, even though they often look out the door (which leads directly into the outside world), they never try to escape. I realized the significance of this only this week, when it occurred to me that that was their vote: to stay as a pet. Which makes me happy.

The Rovers and the Voyagers

Every once in a while I wander over to the NASA page on the Mars rovers. You probably remember those guys - six-wheeled semi-autonomous robots we sent off to Mars several years ago, figuring they'd run for three months before the Martian environment killed them off. Well, they're still running around on the red planet, five years after their three-month warranty ran out, and I'm frequently amazed by that. When Mars and Earth are on the same side of the sun, 50 million miles separate them. Read that again: 50,000,000 miles, when the planets are close to each other.

Mars's temperature averages about -60 C, or -81 F. That's cold. There's little, if any, oxygen (though I suppose that helps prevent corrosion), and dust storms are fairly frequent, which is a problem if you're solar-powered (as the rovers are). And these guys are still running.

And then I think about the Voyager spacecraft. The Voyagers, who were launched when JFK was president, are each now over 8 Billion miles away - that's billion with a b (Voyager 1 is 9.9 Billion miles away). And they're still collecting and sending data back, and still fueling discoveries.

Wow.

Mars Rovers: http://marsrovers.nasa.gov/home/index.html
Voyagers Spacecraft: http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html

Flintstones vitamins

It always seems strange when Dino is any color but purple.

Curiosity and intelligence

Curious Kitten (who is no longer a kitten, but we'll leave that to one side) has developed a fascination for what might be on top of the dresser. This, along with the top of the TV, is the only place outside of a closet or cabinet that the cats can't get to.

This lead me to think about curiosity generally. Cats are perhaps notoriously inquisitive; the fact that curiosity killed the cat is a cliche', testifies to that. People are also curious. Dogs are curious. Dolphins are, too. These are also intelligent species.

Does curiosity lead to, or require intelligence? Indulging in curiosity involves risk; it can lead on into dangerous situations where intelligence needed to survive - would evolution therefor tend to favor those who are both curious and intelligent, rather than just curious.

Not sure how to test that, though.

Gun sales are up

The news is reporting that gun sales are up, including assault rifles, as some people are worried that a democratic President, coupled with a Democrat-controlled Congress, will place new limits on gun sales.

Where have these people been for the last few months? Do they really think that the government's priority is suddenly going to become gun control come January 20th?

And honestly, who really has a need for an assault rifle, anyway?

How many people have incomes over $250,000?

...less than five percent of the population: http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032006/hhinc/new05_000.htm

So, if Obama is proposing to raise taxes only on those making over $250,000, over 95% of people wouldn't see an increase to their tax rate.

Term limits

New York's Mayor Bloomberg wants to run for a third term. The city has a term limit of two terms, though, so if he's going to run again that term limit will need to be overcome, and there seem to be some powerful emotions in the people opposed to that change. "It's undemocratic!" they say. "The people have spoken: they voted for the term limit. Overturning it is undemocratic."

This is a democracy, yes: if you don't want him to have a third term, then don't vote for him.

Right on the money: 99 red baloons

From http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/2085.html

Many people today are worried about global warming; some people are extremely worried about it. But global warming is something that will most seriously affect our children and our grandchildren. We certainly should be concerned about problems we may be leaving for them. But in the 1980s, we were worried about something that would affect us.

That would kill us.

At any time.

With little or no warning.

Boy, do I remember that.

Not sure how to compare that with today, where there is no known nuclear superpower targeting us, but terrorism lurks as a more amorphous, just as ever-present, fear.

And in some ways, I'm still terrified of AIDS (also discussed on the linked page)

Don't know where to vote?

Try this search: where to vote site:.gov (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hs=RoS&q=where+to+vote+site%3A.gov&btnG=Search) and scroll down for your state or locality.

For general info that applies to all states, and links to state offices try http://www.usa.gov/Citizen/Topics/Voting/Register.shtml. If I can find a grand list or locator I'll put it up. -B

Jessica Fletcher does penace for Mrs Lovett

I've only seen Angela Lansbury in three roles: Jessica Fletcher, the amateur sleuth on TV's Murder, She Wrote; the devious mother in the film The Manchurian Candidate; and the possibly sociopathic Mrs. Lovett in the musical Sweeney Todd. Of course, Jessica Fletcher was the last of these roles that Ms Lansbury created. Was it in penance for the crimes of the other two?

The spider and the bee

Shadow is presently fiercely watching, and occasionally trying to pounce on a bee. The bee is outside, so she can't get it, of course, otherwise I'd intervene - Shadow doesn't need to be stung on the nose or mouth. But her harmless pounces have drawn my attention to the plight of this bee, which has caught one of its legs in a spiderweb.

The bee is desperate. It alternately tries to pull itself away by walking and by flying. Neither work. The spider, from its safe location on the far side of the web, watches patiently: the bee is to strong for the moment. Some minutes or hours of struggle will wear it down, and I expect that the spider will then move in to finish the bee off.

And I am faced with a decision. It would be very easy to open the window, cut the web, and release the bee. But our interference in matters like this is rarely beneficial, except in as much as we sympathize with the bee, and feel better once we set it free, as if we've done something to make the world a better, fairer place.

We haven't, of course. We free the bee, and the spider suffers. What is more, how is it that the bee should be valued over the spider? Or the spider over the bee? Gary Larson wrote on this subject in There's a Hair in my Dirt, the story of Harriet, who loved all creatures (all cute, furry ones, at least) and did all she could for them. In each case she freed the bee, and ultimately, she makes the world a worse place for it. There is a balance between bees and spiders.

So do I give in to the emotions and free the bee, or give in to my reasoning and leave it to its death? Either way, I'm not exactly happy.

Postscript: Turns out that the bee escaped on its own, so all this was for nothing.