Conscience

I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year’s fashions.

– Lillian Hellman (1905 – 1984), letter to Committee on Un-American Activities
of the House of Representatives, May 19, 1952

Blinded by the light

In new studies with light, “photonics crystal pioneer John Joannopoulos and his group at MIT” have found a way to change the frequency of light at will. While their thoughts on the potential uses involve “turning heat into light, for example, or prized terahertz rays,” I really have only one question: What does this mean for Pink Floyd Laser Light Shows?

Poop

Missed my ferry home tonight. By one minute. I didn’t want to wait the hour until the next boat, so I hopped across Market Street to catch the BART back home. The ride was a bit warm, you know the temperature when the AC is performing the A but not the C. Got to my destination station and sure enough the ticket is 30 cents short and I don’t have change. But wait, I’ve got another 60 cent ticket and with a little negotiating the BART gate agent lets me slide through. A short walk home and the evening can begin.

Sniff…sniff…Crap. That’s right. There was an inordinate amount of crap on the walk home. I was obviously on the dog crap path, a secretly marked route where it is allowed, hell, encouraged to let your dog’s business become every other pedestrian’s business.

Now I walk these sidewalks maybe once a month, just often enough to know it’s not the best part of town but that I will make it home safely if I don’t have a ride. Yet, never can I recall seeing any dog doo anywhere on the way home. Maybe it is just a newly instituted policy that I would know about if I had a dog. I don’t feel left out, more bewildered that suddenly (as far as I know) this is the place for the poop to pile up.

And piled it was, ending the work part of my day with a fragrant reminder of all the little things that didn’t quite fit together throughout the day. I’ll probably take the ferry next time.