Vacationing

So. I’m on vacation. Visiting the folks in the Sunshine State usually entails catching up on the world of cable television and raiding the fridge as often as possible, and this visit has been no exception. I’ve also been reading a bit, although I’ve deliberately stayed away from what you might loosely call “literature related reading.” I couldn’t stay away from rereading Reena Spaulings, however, a novel by The Bernadette Corporation, which is described as an entity comprised of roughly 150 authors. Stylistically speaking, the novel’s interesting, in that it’s got more moves than John Travolta. Highly recommended. I’ve spent the majority of my time watching FuelTV and drinking coffee, as well as reading about quantum linguistics, the rise of the corporate military, and the hostilities between Israel and Lebanon. I’ve also been writing, too. The serious work has come in the form of editing a short book of prose poems. I’m headed back to Albany soon, and I probably won’t have the chance to blog again until next week, so I’ll leave y’all with some random thoughts...

1. Just before the McCarthy hearings, Senator Estes Kefauver launched an investigation into the comic book industry, which resulted in the “Comics Code,” a seal of approval subsequently being necessary for the publication of all comic books. Apparently, comics were corrupting American youth (gasp!) and to get the seal of approval for publication, all books had to depict a respect for authority figures and institutions. Truth, justice, and the American way? Sure.

2. According to quantum field theory, there’s no such thing as “nothing.” Even in a vacuum, virtual particles (matter) are always being created and destroyed. Sorry Samuel, those texts weren’t for nothing.

3. “I must have killed more men than Cecil B. Demille.”

4. Bush and Blair both knew that the mic was on.

5. Can one of you science people please explain to me how conjugate variables, e.g., energy and time, don’t imply a third variable, viz. mass? Doesn’t energy always equal mass? Can’t one speculate that a particle can have an infinite mass and, thus, infinite energy, which would, in turn, suggest infinite velocity? What I’m getting at here is why a virtual particle can’t wink into existence, with an infinite mass at a velocity close to the speed of light, and instantaneously wink out of existence. Why is this impossible?

6. Josh Beckett. Three year deal. Thank you, gods of baseball.

7. To paraphrase: Damn your taste. I want to sharpen your perceptions, and after that your taste can take care of itself. Ah, Ezra...

8. Not to fall into the absolutist trap, but isn’t every act an act? Whoops, just fell into the semantic trap. Through the stage floor. Nyuck nyuck.

9. Someday I’ve gotta meet Mageina Tovah. Wow. I mean, Wow.

Adieu.