From an e mail my mom forwarded me:

Subject: LEAD: Scientific claims about gravity still up in the air

Hello,

My client, Michael Jones is appalled that despite over three hundred
years of claims, scientists are unable to prove that gravity is due to
objects pulling on one another. In fact, this Tacoma author is offering
a $15,000 reward in a contest to prove his point.

Please let me know if you'd like more information or if you'd like to
set up an interview.

--

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tacoma man offers $15,000 to person who can prove Newton's Gravity
Theory
Gravitational Challenge strikes new debate in classrooms

TACOMA, Wash. - Are science books leading children astray? Tacoma author
and life-long student of the universe, Michael Jones says the textbooks
are wrong when it comes to claims about gravity. Jones once thought that
scientists knew everything there was to know about the universe, but the
more he researched, the more he realized the large amounts of incorrect
data that is taught in the classroom.

Jones is the author of Logical Universe: A Layman's Reality and says
K-12 science books make an ungrounded assumption behind the real cause
of gravity. Isaac Newton claimed gravity occurs as a result objects
pulling on one another over three hundred years ago and it has been
portrayed as fact ever since. This unsupported theory is in direct
opposition to Albert Einstein's assertion that gravity occurs as a
result of a change in the fabric of the universe around massive objects.

What does it matter whether gravity is due to a push or a pull?
Understanding the universe involves more than just mathematical models;
it involves understanding the reasons why things happen. Jones says a
complete understanding of gravity might allow us to develop artificial
gravitational fields that can be used to propel vehicles through space
at extreme velocities, allow us to build space tugs that can divert
comets or asteroids that are on a collision course with Earth, and it
could make travel to every planet in our Solar System an everyday
reality.

Jones is offering a $15,000 reward to the person who can prove that
gravity is a result of objects pulling on one another by citing an
experiment or observation that supports this claim in the "Logical
Universe Gravitational Challenge".

"If this evidence cannot be provided by American academia, then in the
interest of promoting scientific literacy and accuracy, all statements
that suggest that objects pull upon one another should be removed from
American curricula, " Jones says.

He says if we are to improve scientific literacy among the nation's
youth, we must make clear distinctions between what is known and what is
simply assumed and believed.

Michael Jones resides in Tacoma, Washington with his wife and two sons.
While continuing his study of the universe, Jones owns and manages a
painting company. He is interested in the development of controlled
field propulsion and enjoys sea kayaking. For more information or to
enter the "Logical Universe Gravitational Challenge", visit
www.logicaluniverse.com.

###

As a source, Michael Jones can discuss topics such as:
- Continuing education over the summer: Hands on things to do with your
kids to teach science
- Why the science textbooks are wrong & why educators need to
re-evaluate curricula, esp. in regards to gravity
- Practical ways to proactively pursue new developments in science
- Reasons why we do not yet understand our universe & what further
understanding could mean for the future

In Sight

In Sight
Originally uploaded by Rachel Ariel.

Attitudes about standardized testing aside, I can actually see the purpose of the LSAT. It reasonably measures the things that a law student ought to have before emabrking on an intensive course of legal study.

Despite an OVERWHELMING urge, I am NOT allowing myself to study this morning. I just have to trust that in my studies, at various points, I have done very well on each of the sections, and I can do that during the timed event. (icanicanicanicanicanicanican).

Things that I am looking forward to doing tonight:

A)Drinking a couple of beers and getting silly in the head

and

B) (one or more of these) Finding friends to get silly in the head with/ watching a million hours of tv without feeling guilty /reading a couple of books without feeling guilty

Thursday: Ladies Night at the Grizzly Rose ("the rose" as leia calls it) this is free drinks for ladies. no strings attached. no needing to "look like a slut" (thanks elise), no needing to actually talk to guys (thanks lynn). Just pure, unadulterated, hopefully drinking *just short* of the "i think sleeping on the bathroom floor is actually a really good idea" point.


Things I am looking forward to doing over the next couple of days/ weeks:

A) Cleaning my apartment
B) Getting rid of a couple of boxes worth of shit
C) Spending some time with my Nikon
D) Some long- ass bike rides (with camera? Yessssss)
E) Hiking
F) Backpacking
G) Camping
H) Cathartic fire
I) Going out on dates? (Is anyone asking? If you do, I will be fun, a wonderful person with whom to spend some hours. And who knows... dates sometimes end with.... other stuff?)

Anyone interested in any of these activities... you know where to find me!

Eep. Dodger seems to be trying to eat Scout must away.

I <3 buereaucracy

With respect to Neil Gaiman from whom I took the following as a direct quotation:

"According to the Bureau of Homeland Security, New York Has No National Landmarks That Might Interest Terrorists. "That was a key factor used to determine that New York City should have its anti-terror funds slashed by 40 percent--from $207.5 million in 2005 to $124.4 million in 2006." The official list omits..."The Empire State Building, The United Nations, The Statue of Liberty and others found on several terror target hit lists. It also left off notable landmarks, such as the New York Public Library, Times Square, City Hall and at least three of the nation's most renowned museums: The Guggenheim, The Metropolitan and The Museum of Natural History."

I keep finding myself wondering whether there's a little footnote in the report somewhere explaining that New York did once have a National Landmark, but some people flew a couple of planes into it."

Also, the Museum of Modern Art, home to "Starry Night" in addition to numerous other pieces considered part of the artistic canon.

Listening to: Morning Edition

but when we're together, we're too good for this world

i am feeling filled with absurd contradictions. i feel too old and too young, too jaded and too naive. how can i feel so strong, and be so easily hurt? how is it that i can expect the best of people and settle for the worst? what is this life that so utterly baffles me on a regular basis, that leaves me a quivering mess, that tires my soul and exhausts my heart?

i was on the airplane yesterday, in the very last row with a family of four, a mother, father, and two small girls. the father was a petulant turd, he was childish and obnoxious. he spent the entire flight complaining about the seats that wouldn't recline, about the flight attendant asking him to put on his seatbelt when we hit turbulence, about not being able to get up when the seatbelt light was on. at the end of the flight he made some quip about trying to do something "out of sight of the Nazis". it was the last straw. in my head, i unleashed on him.

"could you please, if not for me, than for your daughters who seem to be sweet and wonderful girls and who look to you as an example, could you please manage not to be a jackass for the three and a half hours we are all on this plane together? could you please be cautious of your language? could you please not minimize the murder of millions of people by comparing the perpetrators of war crimes with flight attendants who are trying to abide by federal safety regualtions? could you please just be conscious of the fact that no one is impressed by your quippiness and sarcasm, that your wife does not think that's cute, but who goes along with it because it's easier than picking a fight with you in public? please, stop being a bully and just grow up"

maybe it was because at the very moment he made the comment about the nazis that i was reading about Jan Karski, the righteous gentile who smuggled out reams of evidence about the Final Solution to a resounding lack of response by the Allied governments and the leaders of Jewish communities in both the United States and Great Britain. He wore a star on his clothes and went into the ghetto.

i have a sense of humor. i am not an ultra- sensitive bleeding heart. most of the time i can maintain a certain degree of distance between myself and the atrocities of the world. jesus, if i couldn't i would likely have killed myself long before today. but sometimes, some days it's just too much.

the fact that people kill each other is a reality. genocide is not a new idea. it's not a product of industrialized society, no matter what Hannah Arendt proposed. The United States government enacted a policy of genocide, sometimes willfull and sometimes through pure and utter apathy, towards the Native Americans for the entire span of its existence. And don't think for a moment that much has changed. We, the victors, have done a damn fine job of sterilizing our history.

How dare I claim to have some sort of right to work for international human rights? and what is that idea anyway? we have no rights. we live in anarchism, pure and simple. our so called civility caves when it is challenged, why even bother trying to hold anyone to some sort of "higher standard". higehr than what?

fuck this noise.