Chaos Ain't Just a Theory

Current Reading: Marching As To War, by Pierre Burton

Inspirational Quote: "Discontent is the first necessity of progress." -- Thomas A. Edison

Things that have been on my mind:

I'm 5 days behind on my writing. I'm not concerned, just chagrined.

Reading about the stupidity that permeated Canada's involvement in the First World War has convinced me that, when we look back on the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, historians will realize that we have learned nothing in eighty years.

Miss California may soon lose her title because she appeared without clothing in a few pictures. Beauty pageants, as I understand them, are all about selecting a winner based on physical attractiveness. I find it absurd that she can appear with her full attractiveness concealed in evening gowns and bikinis, but not with said charms fully visible. This is because beauty pageants now present contestants as paragons of intelligence and virtue instead of just eye-candy. This is also absurd. Her views on same-sex marriage compound that absurdity to the point where I can only shake my head and pray we Canadians never come to take such things seriously.

Elizabeth Edwards, husband of one-time Presidential hopeful John Edwards, has penned a tell-all book, "Resilience." In this book, she candidly discusses discovering her husband's affair with a video producer while he was campaigning for the Democratic nomination. I'm conflicted on how to feel about this. On the one hand, I figure a writer's life is fair game for their work. I have read that Mrs. Edwards wrote the book herself, without benefit of a ghost writer, and if this is true, then she qualifies as a writer and therefore is allowed to recycle her personal garbage in literature. However, I question the purpose and value of a work that airs dirty personal laundry in public.

In related news: apparently the National Enquirer was the first to break the story of the affair. That says something about the state of modern journalism. I'm really not sure what conclusion one can come to on the basis of this evidence, but it can't be good.

The new Star Trek film is a lot of fun. Before seeing it, I spent some time wondering if there was any way they could integrate the "canon" of a forty-year-old failed television show (it was canceled twice) with a story that would appeal to a modern audience. I think they did a good job. This prequel is neither Enterprise, nor The Phantom Menace. It starts with a bang (several dozen, actually), has lots of good character moments and humor. It's a story which calls back to episodes of both the original show, the Next Generation, and the movies, but takes a logical twist which makes it clear that this ain't the same Star Trek that's been re-run for the better part of half a century.

Children. Quantum theory and Schrodinger's work indicate that for each and every probable event, a universe exists in which that probability manifested. Thus there is a universe in which Ulysses knows exactly how to raise children in such a way that they grow up happy and healthy. He does not guess. He does not fudge. He does not agonize over the road not taken or the road that should be taken. I hate the bastard.