i need a catchy title

I wrote my congressman today.

Dear Congressman Thompson,

The philosopher and poet George Santayana once wrote: “Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

I write you today as an amateur historian and former history student at UC Davis to ask you to consider joining your colleague Congressman Waxman in co-sponsoring HR 1255, the Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2007. It is imperative for the sake of history that the records and papers of any and all presidents, not just this one, are safely preserved for posterity. It took an act of Congress in 1974 to protect the presidential records of Richard Nixon, and it appears history is already repeating itself. Steve Hensen, President of the Society of American Archivists wrote in 2001:

“Free and open access to information is the cornerstone to modern democratic societies around the world. For such access to be curtailed or abrogated by an executive process not subject to public or legislative review or scrutiny would violate the principles upon which our nation was founded—all the more troubling at a time when we should be holding the beacon of freedom higher than ever.”

I would also like to take the time to mention I have been duly impressed by the work you have been doing lately in Congress, and am very proud to have supported you in every election since I moved to your district almost a decade ago. Keep up the good work.

Your constituent,

Dan Fisher

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Agree? Disagree? Write your congressman too, or write a comment below.

Background: Nancy’s Blog - What started it all - So what, you ask? - More from the Wiki - Text of legislation - Current Cosponsors

Up to now (it’s only been a week so that’s not too bad), the title of this blog has been “I need a catchy title,” because, well, I need a catchy title. So, I’ve decided to try out the title “The Pleasure of Finding Things Out” in my head which pays tribute to Richard P. Feynman. Feynman’s love of life, science, and learning has been an inspiration for me sinceI first read his books. However, I think it’s kind of a long title… so what do you think?

Feynman quote of the day:

I have a friend who’s an artist and he’s some times taken a view which I don’t agree with very well. He’ll hold up a flower and say, “look how beautiful it is,” and I’ll agree, I think. And he says, “you see, I as an artist can see how beautiful this is, but you as a scientist, oh, take this all apart and it becomes a dull thing.” And I think he’s kind of nutty.

First of all, the beauty that he sees is available to other people and to me, too, I believe, although I might not be quite as refined aesthetically as he is. But I can appreciate the beauty of a flower.

At the same time, I see much more about the flower that he sees. I could imagine the cells in there, the complicated actions inside which also have a beauty. I mean, it’s not just beauty at this dimension of one centimeter: there is also beauty at a smaller dimension, the inner structure…also the processes.

The fact that the colors in the flower are evolved in order to attract insects to pollinate it is interesting – it means that insects can see the color.

It adds a question – does this aesthetic sense also exist in the lower forms that are…why is it aesthetic, all kinds of interesting questions which a science knowledge only adds to the excitement and mystery and the awe of a flower.

It only adds. I don’t understand how it subtracts.

– R. P. Feyman

Every time I needed to find out traffic conditions, I would have to go use Yahoo Maps. No more! Google Maps now includes traffic for major cities! All green in Sacramento this afternoon, but check out New York at rush hour - ouch!!

Now if they just release an updated API that lets us definte driving directions based on estimated trip time per route!

The one thing that is still missing that Yahoo provides is traffic event descriptions, such as construction, accidents, CHP codes, etc. You can find that in a neat GMaps mash-up by Greg Sadetsky.

When I was a kid, I had a book called “Science Made Stupid,” which described eclipses thusly: An eclipse of the moon is when the earth passes between the sun and the moon. An eclipse of the sun is when the moon passes between the sun and the earth. And an eclipse of the earth is when you put your hand over your eyes.

According to NASA’s Eclipse website, there will be a total lunar eclipse this Saturday March 3rd at 23:20:56 UT, or 6:20pm EST, 3:20pm PST. Lucky you if you happen to be in Africa.

Eclipses are cool. My brother’s father in-law has been an “eclipse hunter” for years, and I was fortunate to join his family and my parents on a trip to Turkey a year ago to view the total solar elipse there. It was incredible- I highly reccomend the experience to anyone and everyone. The photo here was taken by my dad at 2:00pm on a bright sunny day during totality. For only a few minutes, the sky darkened and the horizon became this incredible 360 degree sunset. The temperature dropped maybe 15 degrees, and the birds stopped chirping- other than “ooh’s” and “aahs”, it was silent. Truly an incredible experience.

So when’s the next one? Lunar eclipses happen frequently, so check with NASA. The next solar eclipses are nicely documented here on a site with some integrated Google Maps.

Jesse just created a new blog, Foodaism: It’s not just a way of life, it’s a religion. I helped him get setup with Wordpress, my blog management system of choice. Should be a fun site when it gets rolling.

Several months ago while googling around looking for cheap ways to make international calls, I stumbled upon a strange service called Futurephone. You called this number in Iowa, and then dialed your international code and phone number, and boom, you’re talking for free (assuming you have free long distance).

Well my girlfriend is abroad again and I went to Futurephone’s website, and a huge red banner slaps me in the face: “THIS SERVICE IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE.” Ah, crap. No such thing as a free lunch. A little googling and it turns out Futurephone, and other phone companies base these types of services out of Iowa due to the low population and some phone tax loopholes described here.

I guess it’s back to Skype.