My god, it's full of stars...

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

~Percy Bysshe Shelley, Ozymandias

Hubble Deep Field



Seeing the work of the Hubble is on one hand breathtaking, inspiring, and awesome. I use awesome in the way the word was intended to be used, not the way the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles taught me to use it. But at the same time the vast beauty of the universe makes me realize how insignificant I am, how meaningless my accomplishments. On one hand it makes me want to build giant edifices to scream my name to the future and at the same time tell me how pointless it is.

My god the Universe is beautiful. Vast. Cold. Uncaring. But beautiful.

When I say this, I don't mean in a sort of dominatrix "I want to hurt you" sort of uncaring. I mean more of a Suicide Girl kind of casual disinterest, an actual lack of care whether you approve or disapprove...and at the same time not particularly interested in whether or not she approves of you. She could take you or leave you, if you thrive that's okay, if you don't...no big deal. Damn, the Universe is starting to turn me on.

This:






Is kinda like this:



I'm sure you see the resemblance.

As an FYI: it's hard to find a semi-safe for work image at SG.

Baseball

I have healed. At least well enough that I can talk about baseball without feeling the pit of my stomach lurch like a car in the Tower of Terror.

So the British are claiming that a bit of writing by Jane Austin indicates that they were playing baseball before the Americans. I don't really care one way or the other, but it does explain this one passage that always bothered me a bit:

It was not very wonderful that Catherine, who had nothing heroic about her, should - what the-?! SAFE? holy fuck! Are you fucking blind ump?

This revelation about the origins of baseball certainly brings this into a new light, as well as add some "between the lines" information about the author.

Obligatory Political Moment

I'm not going to spend time talking about my political leanings or try to use tarot cards to try to foretell the future.

I'll begin with the right, because I'm right handed:

I was honestly moved my McCain's concession speech last night. It was clear, it was concise...and it wasn't a mouth breathing fear mongering tirade. Where was this man the last months of the campaign? I can only guess that he was convinced that he had to go Rove to win the election. He would have to court the hardcore conservative votes, turn them out in massive numbers, and try to paint Obama as a terrorist socialist... Clearly it didn't work, and I'm not entirely sure his heart was in it. He was hurt when his seven minutes of hate speeches were compared to the rallies in the south during the Civil Rights era...and he never really recovered. But here, at the end, he finally resembled the man from 2000 people I know were hoping for:



As for Obama, what can I say that hasn't been said? Yes, I was inspired, I have hope...and I really hope that his victory marks an end to the murky era of Clintonian back room deals and tyrannical reign of the elite council. Will it? I don't know. I am disheartened by the resounding defeats of gay rights...perhaps in an ironic moment the black community which Obama inspired to vote in record numbers were responsible for defeating prop8 in Cali. (they broke nearly 70-30 against it). Oh well, I'm still...optimmistic? My eyes aren't clouded by unrealistic expectations, but I am excited that this could lead to a new method. Not the best cut of his speech...but who cares.



Oh! And the youth vote...so far it looks like the youth vote increased its overall share of the general vote from 17 to 18%. That doesn't seem much, until you figure that every voting class increased in numbers this year, and the youth vote still gained a percentage point above that increase. Still showing a 33% turnout versus a 51% turnout of older voters...which is sad, but better than it's been before.