Ants on the Melon
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Friday evening around 8pm I walked out to the office parking garage, started my truck, and wondered why it was suddently so loud. As it turned out, someone stole the catalytic converter from my truck. On one side of my truck was a Lexus, on the other, a Porsche. Both were untouched.

The catalytic converter is a small device that sits between the engine and the muffler. Without it, your car or truck is loud. Really loud. I only had to drive about 3 or 4 miles home, but it was an embarrassing 3 or 4 miles. In the picture on the right you can see where it is missing.

It’s about $60 – $120 to buy a new catalytic converter for a Nissan pickup truck. Honestly though, I would have preferred that they just asked me for the cash to buy one if they needed it so badly.

Burglar: Hey, I was gonna slide under your truck and unbolt your catalytic converter, but I’m feeling lazy. How about you save us both the trouble and just give me the $100?

Me: You got it.

At least then I wouldn’t be inconvenienced and have to deal with this.

Apparently, there was a period when Cadillac bumpers were a hot item, and then later truck tailgates were a frequent target. But everyone who I’ve told about this agrees that it is a pretty weird thing to steal.

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I’m 28 years old, and yesterday I got braces.

Ouch. These things hurt.

So what did I do this evening? I went to the mall, of course.

It took me about 45 minutes to eat my bowl of tomato basil soup at La Madeleine, which was the only real food I could eat with my teeth in such pain. Even the biggest bowl of soup wasn’t able to fill me up, but I was so tired of sitting there that I had to leave, which is when I spotted Smootie King.

I walked up to the counter, and said “Hi.” I noticed the guy look down at the counter in disgust, and that’s when I realized that I had spit something out onto the counter. A small piece of tomato basil colored soft wax (used to protect your tongue from the metal) was on the counter between the two of us, and each of us saw it. It was pretty embarrassing.

A little while later I was in a store, and I asked the girl working there about the sizes available for a piece of clothing.

Me: “Is this all you have in?”

Her: Blank stare……… “yes sir, we are open until 10″

That’s when I decided it was time to come home.

It’s going to be a long two years.

I just read that Edgar Allan Poe, the poet, is credited with being the first person to conceptualize what we now call “Space-time,” that is, the idea that space and time are one in the same. From Wikipedia’s entry on Space-time:

The origins of this 20th century scientific concept began in the 19th century with fiction writers. Edgar Allan Poe stated in his essay on cosmology titled Eureka (1848) that “Space and duration are one.” This is the first known instance of suggesting space and time to be different perceptions of one thing. Poe arrived at this conclusion after approximately 90 pages of reasoning but employed no mathematics.

Recently I’ve taken a renewed interest in history, particularly with the early days of the United States. Although I majored in history during college, I never enjoyed U.S. history that much. Several months ago, however, I stumbled across the Wikipedia page for George Washington and I became fascinated with his life, ideas, and actions.

A friend recommended that I read Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington, a so-called “moral biography.” The book is divided into three main sections: Washington’s life, his character, and his role as the father of the United States. I just finished reading it and I would highly recommend it.

The most amazing thing about Washington was his rock-solid character. Even his contemporaries were amazed by his level of integrity. Time after time he was put into positions that could have easily been abused, and every time he did the right thing. Although he was opposed to political parties, members of both the Federalist and Republican parties begged him to lead the country – he was the only person alive that everyone trusted to do the job.

Although he spoke infrequently, his speeches brought tears to revolutionary soldiers and politicians alike. Everyone knew that he believed in what he was saying, and that he would be the first to lead by example.

He also had quite a temper, but worked hard to control it, and in the rare occasion that it got the better of him he was quick to apologize. Although he had very little formal education, he was interested in political philosophy and had compiled a significant library on diverse subject matters including theatre, “commerce”, and history.

One controversial topic regarding Washington was his ownership of slaves. He struggled with the issue himself, and put a great deal of thought into reconciliation. He even devised a plan to give up his beloved Mount Vernon in order to free the slaves there and provide jobs for them. At the time of his death there were over 300 slaves at Mount Vernon, although most were inherited and owned by his wife Martha. Although in private letters Washington expressed disgust at the practice of slavery, historians believe he was reluctant to do or say anything about it because it was already such a heated issue in the young and unstable nation.

The importance Washington placed on slavery can be found in his will, as the slaves are addressed second only to his wife Martha. During his lifetime Washington refused to sell slaves or split families, and in his will he went even further. He ensured that all slaves would be freed upon Martha’s death, and that they would all be cared for by his estate. It wasn’t until 34 years after his death that this practice finally ended.

It is really amazing what Washington and the other founding fathers accomplished. Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and the rest of the crew were also extremely important, but no one else’s influence or strength of character came close to matching that of George Washington.

Seriously?

The Pope has ordered his bishops to set up exorcism squads to tackle the rise of Satanism.

And,

“Too many bishops are not taking this seriously and are not delegating their priests in the fight against the Devil. You have to hunt high and low for a properly trained exorcist.”

“Thankfully, Benedict XVI believes in the existence and danger of evil – going back to the time he was in charge of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.”

And,

The Vatican is particularly concerned that young people are being exposed to the influence of Satanic sects through rock music and the Internet.

Kinda reminds you of that other big religion that is concerned about the corrupting influence of rock music and the Internet.

Gotta love the big hat though.

Next Monday I’ll be flying home for Christmas on Continental Airlines, so I think I’ll try out their new electronic check-in option, which is being tested at Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport.

Finally, an electronic boarding pass that isn’t paper.

From Wired: How Super-Precise Atomic Clocks Will Change the World in a Decade

At that level, clocks will be precise enough that they’ll have to correct for the relativistic effects of the shape of the earth, which changes every day in reaction to environmental factors. (Some of the research clocks already need to account for changes in the NIST building’s size on a hot day.) That’s where the work at the Time and Frequency Division begins to overlap with cosmology, astrophysics and space-time.

And

That means passing a precise clock over different landscapes yields different gravity offsets, which could be used to map the presence of oil, liquid magma or water underground. NIST, in short, is building the first dowsing rod that works.

On a moving ship, such a clock would change rate with the shape of the ocean floor, and even the density of the earth beneath. On a volcano, it would change with the moving and vibrating of magma within. Scientists using maps of these variations could differentiate salt and freshwater, and perhaps eventually predict eruptions, earthquakes or other natural events from the variations in gravity under the surface of the planet.

This year I will be driving to New Orleans again for Thanksgiving, like I did last year. Last year I made the drive in 4.5 hours and it was pretty smooth sailing. Unfortunately, it looks like this year is going to be different:

A 55 mile-stretch of a major interstate corridor from Houston to New Orleans will remain closed until at least Dec. 4 — forcing vehicles onto alternate routes during the year’s busiest holiday traffic season — because of a burning natural gas well.

Wonderful. Of course, this is the kind of thing that could only happen in Louisiana.

Is marriage a dumb move?.

The decision to wed or not, of course, is between you, your intended and your conscience. But you should realize that from a coldhearted financial perspective, the U.S. tax code and Social Security rules don’t necessarily come down in favor of marriage for people with a substantial amount of assets.

Its well known that I enjoy taunting my married friends about being married, although not often for financial reasons.

I just read an interview with Merle Haggard in Time magazine that I thought was really good. While I haven’t decided on a candidate yet (not much to chose from), Merle says some things that I think a lot of people have been thinking:

“The folks don’t have a say-so anymore. They’re being force-fed–music, yeah, but every other darn thing too. I supported George W. I’m not exactly a liberal. But I know how that Texas thing works, who those oil folks are and what they wanted in Iraq … I’m a born-again Christian too, but the longer I live, the more afraid I get of some of these religious groups that have so much influence on the Republicans and want to tell us how to live our lives.”

and

“The thing that gets under my skin most about George W. is his intention to install fear in people,” he said, after walking me down a hallway lined with gold and platinum records. “This is America. We’re proud. We’re not afraid of a bunch of terrorists. But this government is all about terror alerts and scaring us at airports. We’re changing the Constitution out of fear. We spend all our time looking up each other’s dresses. Fear’s the only issue the Republican Party has. Vote for them, or the terrorists will win. That’s not what Reagan was about. I hate to think about our soldiers over in Iraq fighting for a country that’s slipping away.”

You go, Merle.