Tech glitches

Sorry for the lack of posts. I keep having to reset my wireless adapter and 75% of the time it doesn't take. I'm online for only a minutes before it decides to quit on me. A friend recommends I get a new laptop, but I'll have to shuffle the budget around before I go shopping for one.

History in the making

Tuesday, July 14th. Mark that day down. New Horizons is going to come within 12,500 km. of Pluto. That's like hitting a hole in one if the golf course was in California and starting tee is in Australia. Even that analogy doesn't come close because the distance is much farther. The craft is traveling 14 kilometers a second so it won't be able to enter orbit around Pluto. The best we can do is a flyby, taking as many pictures as we can along the way.
Here's some of the images our robot messenger has gathered so far. 
Well it's official. We now have portraits of all the classical planets in the solar system. In the last few years the debate arose, and justifiably so, that perhaps Pluto didn't qualify as a planet. Now that we're getting more than a blurry image of a dot, the question came up again. It is spherical, it's in orbit around our sun. (A highly unusual orbit, but an orbit nonetheless.) One could make the argument that it has cleared out the debris in it's orbital plane.
We've also determined that Pluto has a thin, but detectable atmosphere.
While I think the definition of what constitutes a planet should be loosened, I'm not sure Pluto qualifies. Right now I reserve the right to change my mind later in the week. Make no mistake: I want it to be a planet of our system. Those five moons, perhaps all tidally locked to the largest chunk of stone out there should come together to form a larger whole, but I'm not in charge of that.
Charon, while technically Pluto's moon, is such an influence that they orbit each other. Mass and gravity play a part in this celestial dance and it would seem that a nudge from an outside force would send them careening into one another. With a gravity 0.066 of Earth a 190 lb. person would weigh roughly 12.5 pounds. I freely admit I could be wrong about the math because the information available is changing as you read this. Up to this point we only had a rough idea of the size, composition and mass of that chunk of rock that's smaller than our own moon. Simply put: what we have is an estimate. A best guess. Even the first pictures that have been sent have forced the scientific community to reevaluate our tiny guard at the edge of nowhere. 
No, I do not have planet envy. Rather, I feel the Pluto system is lonely and isolated from it's celestial brothers. The red haired bastard child of the solar system should be welcomed by it's larger eight brothers. 
Personally, I'd love to see New Horizons snap a picture of a pyramid or tower on the surface of Pluto. It would drive the conspiracy theorists crazy and sci-fi writers would have a field day.

Weighing in

'Write what you know about.' That sentence seems simple enough. Take what you have learned or experienced and apply it to paper or the digital light of the computer screen.

A long time ago, I wrote in about same sex marriage. While it is a subject that I have no personal knowledge of, I can handle the thought process as an abstract. It's a no-brainer for me. Give everyone the same rights I enjoy. 

Last weeks Supreme Court decision made many people (including myself) overjoyed. Many people were also bitterly disappointed. Governors, Attorney Generals and Court Clerks were all about 'religious freedom' and the right to discriminate. Yes, I'm looking at you, Greg Abbott. I am ashamed of the politicians in Austin, much like a parent is ashamed when their toddler throws a temper tantrum in the grocery store.

A reminder to the not-so-civil servants holding down a taxpayer funded job. You work for all the people and are there to uphold the law, not to instill your personal beliefs and dictate your private agenda.

Let's see what happened in the week that followed the SCOTUS decision.

A  renounced his citizenship. (The joke is on him. Many countries recognize same-sex marriage.) 

People protested this was the end of the world. (No, it's not.)

Oh yeah, and a bunch of people got married.

Here's what hasn't changed:

My coffee tastes the same.

My wife looks more beautiful than ever, but that's a biased opinion.

My job stayed the same.

My kids are doing the normal stuff kids do on summer break.

A lot of the same arguments used today were once used many years ago against inter-racial marriage. 'Those negros and white folk can't marry,' the said. 'It will lead to bestiality and people wanting to marry their toasters.'

Ah... Nope.

I have friends of all colors, shapes and backgrounds. It doesn't matter to me. I'm not so petty that I can't see past a persons skin. I'm certainly not so prejudiced that I forget one of the first rules I learned from Mr. Red Skelton: I won't ask for any rights if they take away some of yours. My rights end where yours begin.

The pundits out there who are spewing this garbage are missing the point.

If you are single or married: this law doesn't apply to you.

If you are straight: this law doesn't apply to you.

If you are Christian: this law doesn't apply to you.

Notice how the loudest dissenters are Christian. I haven't heard from the mainstream Muslim, Jewish, or Buddhist communities about any protests.

Yesterday my daughter went to a Pride festival/celebration/parade, (I've heard all three terms being used.) When I asked her what she did she replied; "I recorded a mass wedding."

The rest of it is unimportant. She had a good time, was with friends and was home in plenty of time for dinner and a fourth of July fireworks show.

I don't do fear.

That's not ego or bragging. Fox news trying to instill fear about the 'gay agenda' makes me laugh. It's ridiculous. There is a meme floating around Facebook about the alleged gay agenda. It goes something like; 'When was the last time a couple of gays came up to your door and asked if you had heard the good news about Elton John?'

If you are going to be spouting hate and bigotry, you deserve to be mocked.