suspended animation

This morning, I awoke to find that I was completely submerged in a mysterious body of murky, inkish liquid, which I presumed to be water, but which, in retrospect, could have been anything from oil to diluted pudding. Upon taking stock of my surroundings, I determined that I'd lost all sense of direction; up, down, left, right... these words no longer held any meaning. In addition, I found my field of vision limited to just a few inches of the nebulous liquid in which I was suspended.

It quickly became apparent that this viscous elixir had claimed me for its own, had performed a hostile takeover of my person, had executed a coup d'etat which effectively dethroned me and reduced me from acting dictator to bystanding observer. I was now a wholly-owned subsidiary, and thus had lost control of my fate. Panic set in at this point, and I tried to scream, but the ever-present liquid interpreted my silent scream as an invitation, a flashing neon vacancy sign, and moved right into the vacuum of my lungs to set up shop. To my utter astonishment, my new tenant proved to be a warm and convivial host. She was enriched with oxygen that permitted me to breath uninhibited; she held me close to maintain my body temperature; she even cradled me in a seductive manner. My panic evaporated, and I was left with a sense of infinite and resounding peace.

As I became accustomed to breathing in this environment, I found that I could also hear things, distant, indiscernible things. As I listened, I soon recognized the vibrations as the crashing of distant thunder, and through the depths of my briny cage, my eyes soon began to make out the accompanying flashes of lightning. Eureka! I thought. Where there is thunder, where there is lightning, there must also be an atmosphere. If there's an atmosphere, I reasoned, there must be a way out of this primordial soup in which I was encased. With only this thought to encourage me, I began to execute a series of slow but deliberate movements designed to propel me in the direction of the thunder. Approaching what I perceived to be the surface of this enveloping fluid, the lightning flashes became brighter and more lucid, the crash of thunder more distinct.

A sudden wave of doubt engulfed me as I thought of giving up this gift, of letting go of my newly found comfort, of relinquishing this wondrous experience to investigate what lay beyond the surface. This fear, however, quickly gave way to a sense of adventure, a lust for the chaotic, the same urges that have driven explorers for thousands of years to trade in their secure and familiar ideas for an astrolabe, a sextant, and a compass. I broke through the surface wearing nothing but a smile, ready to greet whatever mysteries lay beyond.

My eyes opened and I found myself alone in my bed. I'd left the bedroom window open the night before. The sun had not yet risen, and an atmospheric tantrum was raging outside. My face was wet with raindrops that had splashed against the windowsill. The elements of the storm, the thunder, lightning, and wind, seemed in competition with one another to determine which could create the most turmoil. This display was truly inspiring. As I lay in bed, wondering at the subtle flux of ambient light upon my surroundings, I lit a cigarette and inhaled the mixture of smoke and ozone, of fire and electricity. I love that smell.

manifesto

Another one got caught today, it's all over the papers. "Teenager Arrested in Computer Crime Scandal", "Hacker Arrested after Bank Tampering". Damn kids. They're all alike.

But did you, in your three-piece psychology and 1950's technobrain, ever take a look behind the eyes of the hacker? Did you ever wonder what made him tick, what forces shaped him, what may have molded him? I am a hacker, enter my world. Mine is a world that begins with school. I'm smarter than most of the other kids, this crap they teach us bores me. Damn underachiever. They're all alike.

I'm in junior high or high school. I've listened to teachers explain for the fifteenth time how to reduce a fraction. I understand it. "No, Ms. Smith, I didn't show my work. I did it in my head." Damn kid. Probably copied it. They're all alike.

I made a discovery today. I found a computer. Wait a second, this is cool. It does what I want it to. If it makes a mistake, it's because I screwed it up. Not because it doesn't like me. Or feels threatened by me. Or thinks I'm a smart ass. Or doesn't like teaching and shouldn't be here. Damn kid. All he does is play games. They're all alike.

And then it happened, a door opened to a world, rushing through the phone line like heroin through an addict's veins, an electronic pulse is sent out, a refuge from the day-to-day incompetencies is sought, a board is found. "This is it, this is where I belong." I know everyone here, even if I've never met them, never talked to them, may never hear from them again. I know you all. Damn kid. Tying up the phone line again. They're all alike.

You bet your ass we're all alike. We've been spoon-fed baby food at school when we hungered for steak, the bits of meat that you did let slip through were pre-chewed and tasteless. We've been dominated by sadists, or ignored by the apathetic. The few that had something to teach found us willing pupils, but those few are like drops of water in the desert.

This is our world now, the world of the electron and the switch, the beauty of the baud. We make use of a service already existing without paying for what could be dirt-cheap if it wasn't run by profiteering gluttons, and you call us criminals. We explore, and you call us criminals. We seek after knowledge, and you call us criminals. We exist without skin color, without nationality, without religious bias, and you call us criminals. You build atomic bombs, you wage wars, you murder, cheat, and lie to us and try to make us believe it's for our own good, yet we're the criminals.

Yes, I am a criminal. My crime is that of curiosity. My crime is that of judging people by what they say and think, not what they look like. My crime is that of outsmarting you, something that you will never forgive me for.

I am a hacker, and this is my manifesto. You may stop this individual, but you can't stop us all... after all, we're all alike.

- The Mentor, January 8, 1986

clever cat

Sally, having swallowed cheese,
Directs down holes the scented breeze,
Enticing thus with baited breath
Nice mice to an untimely death.

- Geoffrey Taylor

singular

Love is an easy thing to doubt. One has only to glance over the current divorce statistics to see evidence of that, but I prefer to think of love differently. I don’t believe that love is a self-fulfilling prophecy, but a rare opportunity afforded to a person only once or twice in a lifetime, something to be treasured, and something for which one must work to keep. But when hard work pays off in the form of those little moments we share with another, those little moments of vulnerability that expose our throats to our lovers, and our lovers choose to kiss rather than bite, they are our reward for a job well done.

Love could also be viewed as something that is entirely within ourselves, singular and independent, something that we choose to share with others simply for the sheer joy of it, without expectation or need. If viewed in that light, it becomes easy to see that the lover doesn’t matter, that the name attached to the love becomes less significant, you know? Now I’m not suggesting that people should go out and sleep with others willy-nilly (no pun intended), just that the act of loving, in and of itself, is a kind of reward, regardless of whether or not that love is ever returned.

I’ve found in the past that some friendships and relationships, even those which I thought were bulletproof, disintegrated easily once the driving motive was removed from the equation. In other words, relationships based on dependence or need rarely survive the test of time. But I must consider myself lucky that life has yet to rob me of my ability to love. It may succeed in time, and I may become bitter and lifeless, just going through the motions of existence for lack of a better alternative, but for now, in this moment, I still have that magic, that spark, that good shit that keeps me smiling even while buildings are falling down, and people are dying in the Middle East, and families are disintegrating, and our country is run by Pinocchio, the almost, yet not quite, real live boy.

"All of a sudden, I found myself in love with the world, so there was only one thing that I could do, was ding-a-ding-dang my dang-a-long ling-long." - Al Jourgensen

radical

POINT

Nobody has the right to worship on this planet any other God than Jehovah. And therefore the state does not have the responsibility to defend anybody's pseudo-right to worship an idol.
~ Rev. Joseph Morecraft, Chalcedon Presbyterian Church

We are to make Bible-obeying disciples of anybody that gets in our way.
~ Jay Grimstead, founder and president of Coalition on Revival

This is God's world, not Satan's. Christians are the lawful heirs, not non-Christians.
~ Gary North, author of Political Polytheism: The Myth of Pluralism

When I, or people like me, are running the country, you'd better flee, because we will find you, we will try you, and we'll execute you. I mean every word of it. I will make it part of my mission to see to it that they are tried and executed.
~ Randall Terry, founder of Christian Prolife organization Operation Rescue

I don't know that atheists should be considered citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God.
~ Vice PResident George Bush Sr., press conference in Chicago on August 27, 1987

A struggle for the soul of America is under way, a struggle to determine whose views, values, beliefs and standards will serve as the basis of law.
~ Pat Buchanan, U.S. Senator and one-time presidential candidate

The 'Owner's Manual' for the Constitution is the Bible.
~ Tony Nassif, National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools

While it is true that the United States of America was founded on the sacred principle of religious freedom for all, that liberty was never intended to exalt other religions to the level that Christianity holds in our country's heritage. Our Founders expected that Christianity -- and no other religion -- would receive support from the government as long as that support did not violate peoples' consciences and their right to worship. They would have found utterly incredible the idea that all religions, including paganism, be treated with equal deference. As for our Hindu priest friend, the United States is a nation that has historically honored the one true God. Woe be to us on that day when we relegate him to being merely one among countless other deities in the pantheon of theologies.
~ Family Research Council, Culture Facts newsletter 9/21/2000, commenting on a Hindu priest giving the opening prayer in the House of Representatives

The Christian West, because of the superiority of its values and the civilization those values produced, has an inherent right to rule over other peoples.
~ Pat Buchanan, U.S. Senator and one-time presidential candidate

The god of Judaism is the devil. The Jew will not be recognized by God as one of His chosen people until he abandons his demonic religion and returns to the faith of his fathers--the faith which embraces Jesus Christ and His Gospel.
~ David Chilton, author of The Days of Vengeance: An Exposition of the Book of Revelations

The Church has through the centuries, understood that ideas are really more dangerous than other weapons. Their use should be restricted.
~ Francis J. Lally, U.S. Roman Catholic Monsignor, 1958

What this is coming down to is who runs the country. It's us against them. It's the good guys versus the bad guys. It's the God-fearing people against the pagans, and some of the pagans are going to church.
~ Randall Terry, founder of Christian Prolife organization Operation Rescue

If you're not a born-again Christian, you're a failure as a human being.
~ Jerry Falwell, founder of the Moral Majority

---

COUNTERPOINT

Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law.
~ Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, February 10, 1814

As I understand the Christian religion, it was, and is, a revelation. But how has it happened that millions of fables, tales, legends, have been blended with both Jewish and Christian revelation that have made them the most bloody religion that ever existed?
~ John Adams, in a letter to F.A. Van der Kamp, December 27, 1816

Where the preamble declares, that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment was proposed by inserting "Jesus Christ," so that it would read "A departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion;" the insertion was rejected by the great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mohammedan, the Hindoo and Infidel of every denomination.
~ Thomas Jefferson, Autobiography, in reference to the Virginia Act for Religious Freedom

As the government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Musselmen [Muslims] ... it is declared ... that no pretext arising from religious opinion shall ever product an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.... The United States is not a Christian nation any more than it is a Jewish or a Mohammedan nation.
~ Treaty of Tripoli (1797), carried unanimously by the Senate and signed into law by John Adams (the original language is by Joel Barlow, U.S. Consul)

I've been in politics long enough to expect criticism and hostility. But I was unprepared for the hatred I get from Christians. Why do Christians hate so much?
~ Bill Clinton quoted in Washington Times, August 23, 1997

I and the public know
What all school children learn
Those to whom evil is done
Do evil in return
~ W.H. Auden

---

EPILOGUE

Some of the first colonists of the United States of America were seeking to escape religious persecution. The constitutions of several of the early U.S. states prohibited public support of religion (though some explicitly supported or demanded adherence to Christianity). Above all, the many varying sects of Christianity in America required that to be fair to all, there could be preference to none. It would have been disgraceful for anyone to wish to leave the newly-founded United States because of religious persecution. So the authors of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights decided it best to keep the government out of religion. In the years between 1776 and 1833, every single one of the original thirteen states followed suit, revising their own state constitutions to include clauses for religious freedom.

No religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.
~ U.S. Constitution, Article VI

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
~ U.S. Constitution, Amendment 1 (which, in my opion, should be the final word on the subject)

dirty word

During the course of the last few months, I've heard many people, from commoners like me to the alleged best and brightest our nation has to offer, express disdain and distrust for so-called 'socialist' policies enacted by our new administration. These comments range from the uninformed to the just-plain stupid. When powerful politicians make such public statements, like John McCain's recent accusation that the Obama administration doesn't have the courage to let banks fail, I'm forced to wonder how such ignorance is possible.

Ours is not the first generation to fall on hard financial times, nor is it the first to see banks go belly-up. In 1933, during the FDR administration, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was created to respond to the thousands of bank that failed during the Great Depression. The FDIC is an agency of the federal government which insures deposits against bank failure. The FDIC is managed by a five-person board of directors, all of whom are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.

For the last 75 years, when a bank has failed:

• The FDIC swoops in to take over the bank.
• The FDIC then checks the balance sheets to ensure that the checking/savings/etc of the customers are covered.
• The bank leadership is fired, the shareholders' values are liquidated, and bank assets are sold off to cover liabilities.
• The bank is then put up for sale, and the new ownership can either reopen it the way it was or let it die.

Under the current administration, when a bank fails:

• The FDIC swoops in to take over the bank.
• The FDIC then checks the balance sheets to ensure that the checking/savings/etc of the customers are covered.
• The bank leadership is fired, the shareholders' values are liquidated, and bank assets are sold off to cover liabilities.
• The bank is then put up for sale, and the new ownership can either reopen it the way it was or let it die.

Why, then, is the idea of "letting the banks fail" considered noble and courageous, while the idea of nationalization is considered some big, scary evil? I've got news for you, folks. In addition to democratic policies, most major world governments, including our own, have employed socialist practices for years.

I'm of the opinion that a governing body should research a problem and then use whichever solution most effectively addresses the issue. Just because a particular method, such as capitalism, has historically been the best answer for our country does not necessarily mean that it cannot be improved upon. Perhaps the trouble here is not socialism, but the inflexible adherence to dogmatic ideas.

All of my life, I've been told that I'm fortunate enough to have been born in the greatest country in the world, the most powerful country in the world, the only free country in the world (all propagandized matters of opinion, by the way). What I've never heard anyone say is that I live in the most intelligent country in the world. Isn't it about time to change that?

ex(e/o)rcise

If you've ever done any computer programming, then you've had extensive experience with the following subject. Even high-level programming touches on these concepts, although high-level languages shield us from the nuts and bolts of number systems as much as possible. If you're curious about alternative number systems as they apply to computer programming, read on. If you would rather be doing something else, this is your chance. Go!

Now that we've cleared out the disinterested, let's get on with it. The history of numbering systems is a long one. From the ancient Babylonians (who used a Base-60 numbering system written in cuneiform) to modern computing (programming, encoding, and encryption), numbering systems have been the basis, the backbone of technology. From the lowest-level bit to 64-bit values and beyond, these numbering systems are vital to the way humanity experiences the world. Even the pixel patterns that make up the words you're reading are dependent on whether or not a bit is equal to one or zero. With that in mind, let's get started.

In terms of programming, alternative number systems were originally used, and indeed they are still used, to conserve valuable memory space and to reduce lengthy clock cycles. In the following table, BIN represents the BINARY or BASE 2 number system, HEX represents the HEXADECIMAL or BASE 16 number system, and DEC represents the DECIMAL or BASE 10.

 BIN    DEC    HEX  |   BIN    DEC    HEX
--------------------|--------------------
0000 =    0 =    0  |  1000 =    8 =    8
0001 =    1 =    1  |  1001 =    9 =    9
0010 =    2 =    2  |  1010 =   10 =    A
0011 =    3 =    3  |  1011 =   11 =    B
0100 =    4 =    4  |  1100 =   12 =    C
0101 =    5 =    5  |  1101 =   13 =    D
0110 =    6 =    6  |  1110 =   14 =    E
0111 =    7 =    7  |  1111 =   15 =    F

After viewing this table, the advantages of the hexadecimal numbering system become clear. Sixteen different values may be represented by a single digit.

In the BINARY or BASE 2 number system, each added digit can represent an exponentially larger possibility of values. This means that for every digit used in binary, the possible decimal values represented increases by a factor of 2. Just one binary digit, or BIT, can represent two decimal values, 0 or 1. Add another binary digit, and the number can represent four decimal values, from 0 to 3. Add another binary digit, and the number can represent eight decimal values, from 0 to 7.

In the HEXADECIMAL or BASE 16 number system, each additional digit increases the possible values represented by a factor of sixteen. A single hexadecimal digit can represent sixteen decimal values, from 0 to 15. Adding another hex digit increases the number of possible represented values by a factor of 16, so that the possible values now range from 0 to 255. You get the idea.

This translates into an exponential increase in storage capacity and an exponential decrease in processing time. Are you beginning to see the value of these alternative number systems (pun intended)? Now that we've answered the WHY, let's move on to the HOW.

The BIT
A bit is the smallest piece of data that exists. A bit is one-eigth of a byte (see below), and can equal either a one (1) or a zero (0). If you're wondering how ones and zeros apply to computing, think of each one and each zero as a digital instruction where one equals ON and zero equals OFF. In the programming world, a bit is said to be on or off depending on whether it equals one or zero. These ones and zeros make up the BINARY or BASE 2 number system. For example:

0000 =  0   0100 =  4   1000 =  8   1100 = 12
0001 =  1   0101 =  5   1001 =  9   1101 = 13
0010 =  2   0110 =  6   1010 = 10   1110 = 14
0011 =  3   0111 =  7   1011 = 11   1111 = 15

The NIBBLE
A nibble is made up of four bits, and is one-half of a byte (see below). A nibble has a minimum value of 0000 and a maximum value of 1111 (min 0 and max 15 in the decimal number system). The astute among you will have noticed that a nibble can contain 16 different values (0 to 15), which happen to be the basis for our next number system, the HEXADECIMAL or BASE 16 number system. Hexadecimal numbers are created using the following digits:

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F

The BYTE
A byte is (most commonly, and for the purposes of this blog) made up of eight bits, or two nibbles. The byte is the basic unit of information storage in computer science. A byte can store 256 different values, from a minimum of 00000000 (DEC 0 or HEX 00) to a maximum of 11111111 (DEC 255 or HEX FF). This will be important in a moment.

Okay, let's put it all together in familiar computer terms. You've probably noticed that numbers are thrown around a lot when discussing a computer's capabilities. For example, you may hear that a particular computer has a certain number of megabytes of random access memory (RAM), or you might hear that the same computer has a hard drive capable of storing a certain number of gigabytes of information. All of these numbers you hear are based on the byte, and all are multiples of 8. Now, I know what you're thinking, what about kilobytes and megabytes? Those aren't multiples of 8, right? In the computer world, they are.

In mathematics, the prefixes kilo, mega, giga, tera, and so on, represent exponentally increasing values, but these prefixes are traditionally based on the decimal or base 10 system, so that kilo means thousand, mega means million, giga means billion, tera means trillion, etc. But in the computer world, numbers are based on the binary or base 2 system, so when you hear the terms kilobyte (KB), megabyte (MB), gigabyte (TB), and terabyte (TB), they do not translate exactly. A kilobyte is not equal to 1000 bytes because 1000 is an exponent of 10, or 10³. A kilobyte is an exponent of 2, and is therefore equal to decimal 1024, or 2¹⁰. So a kilobyte is equal to 1024 bytes, not 1000 bytes.

Now that we (hopefully) understand these alternative numbering systems, let's talk about how they are used in computing. Imagine that I've asked you to use four adjectives to describe someone you know. For the purposes of this demonstration, let's limit the adjectives to: funny, hairy, jolly, and witty. (On a tangent, if you're wondering what Freud would say about my choice of adjectives, you're reading the wrong blog.)

Now, you could use any combination of those four adjectives to describe this person. Now, imagine that you had to use these four adjectives to describe not just this person, but everyone you know and everyone you don't know. Let's further imagine that you are not looking forward to this task, and you're desperately trying to think of some way to shorten the amount of work this is going to take. So you create a checklist with four boxes.

o funny
o hairy
o jolly
o witty

Then you copy this checklist one time for each person in the world. Now, instead of keeping track of a set of descriptions for each and every person, you merely have to keep track of each person's checklist. If a person, let's call him Hilarius Hairybottomus, is funny and hairy but not jolly or witty, his checklist would look like this:

• funny
• hairy
o jolly
o witty

Okay, this is easier, but the system can still be improved. If we used a digit to represent each adjective in order, then we could further simplify this task. We would need four digits, one for each word, and we could arrange them in the same order as the adjectives to avoid confusion. So the first digit would represent funny, the second would represent hairy, and so on. Using this system, the following series of four digits could be used to represent the characteristics of Hilarius Hairybottomus:

1100

If, on the other hand, our friend Mr. Hairybottomus paid for electrolysis and at the same time read a few books to increase his wit, we could easily change this four digit number to effectively represent his new characteristics:

1001

I bet you're wondering how this applies to computer science, eh? Imagine that instead of a person, Mr. Hairybottomus is a piece of computer data. He's sitting right there next to all the other thousands of data on your hard drive. This data has certain attributes that indicate how it should be treated by the computer's software, attributes like Readonly, Hidden, System, Volume, Directory, File, Archive, and Encrypted. Rather than storing these attributes for each and every single piece of data, why not store a number that represents all of them? This is where binary numbers come in. Each digit, or bit, in the following number is used to indicate whether or not the data has a specific attribute. In this example, a one means that the attribute applies to the data, and a zero means that the attribute does not apply:

Bits:  7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0  Attribute
----------------------------------
       . . . . . . . 1  Readonly
       . . . . . . 1 .  Hidden
       . . . . . 0 . .  System
       . . . . 0 . . .  Volume
       . . . 0 . . . .  Directory
       . . 1 . . . . .  File
       . 1 . . . . . .  Archive
       1 . . . . . . .  Encrypted

As in the table above, instead of storing lengthy descriptions of data, we can simply represent the presence or absence of each attribute with a single byte:

11100011 (Hilarius Hairybottomus data attributes)

If we want to further simplify this, we can substitute the binary representation for the hexadecimal representation. Instead of the eight digit binary number, we need only a two digit hexadecimal number:

E3 (Hilarius Hairybottomus data attributes)

This is just one example of the many ways that the complexities of alternative number systems are used to simplify the computing world. Don't you just love the smell of irony in the morning?

finally

After eight long years, I am once again proud to be an American.

carnies

I must consider myself a fortunate man. Not only did the 2008 New Year's Eve (my birthday) fall on my favorite day of the week (Woden's Day, or 'hump day'), but I was lucky enough to spend the evening with some of the most talented and ingenious people I've ever known. I'm lookin' at you, Kristen and Mel. I'm also lookin' at you, Jackie. Chris, you're my muthafucka!

Mel, thank you for coming through with free Celebration Le Cirque tickets for everyone, them shits was incredible! Seriously, that made the night. Dear readers, if you've never had the opportunity, I highly recommend seeing this show. It is absolutely the most fun a person can have outside of Memphis, unless of course you have a shotgun AND a midget, but that's a different story.

Kristen, thank you for the birthday gift that I inadvertantly left in the trunk of Mel's caddy. Whatever it is, I'm sure I'll love it. Also, thanks to you and Mel for your stirring rendition of "Little Drummer Boy" as performed by Creed. "A-fuckin-rump-pa-pum-PUM!"

Jackie, thank you for an evening filled with laughter and good cheer, you kept me smiling all night. I know I tease you a lot for being a dirty whore and letting all those foreigners touch your jubblies, but you are truly one of the most interesting and witty people I know. Given the stiff competition you have in Kristen, Mel, and Chris, I hope you realize that for the compliment that it is.

Chris, I'm glad you're back from Florida, life in Texas just wasn't the same without you.

Mike, we just met, but you seem like a cool dude, and your card tricks are astounding. Thanks for hangin' out!

In addition to spending the evening with the entire cast of Celebration Le Cirque (which is filled with talented musicians, acrobats, physical comics, and magicians, from all over the world), I was also treated to a rare evening with friends and family. Thank you all for making this another great birthday! Happy New Year =]

Love,
t.i.m.p.

P.S. My sister, Amanda, couldn't make it to the Celebration Le Cirque show because she's afraid of clowns. Everyone, please besmirch her profile with photos of clowns. May I suggest this photo to get you started? Seriously, Amanda, I'm sorry we missed each other. I hope you had a great night in spite of everything.

powers of ten

In the summer of 2003, I went to Alpine, Texas with my then girlfriend to visit some mutual friends, Zack and Tricia Border. While in Alpine, we were fortunate enough to attend a Star Party at McDonald Observatory in Fort Davis. For those that don't know, McDonald Observatory is located at an elevation of about 6800 feet atop Mount Locke in the Davis Mountains of West Texas. These sparsely inhabited mountains offer some of the darkest night skies in the continental U.S., perfect for stargazing. The observatory staff hold bi-weekly events, called Star Parties, at which visitors are treated to amazing views of deep space vistas through several huge telescopes. Visitors are also encouraged to tour the astronomy museum, and watch several short documentaries throughout the evening. It is one of these documentaries that I'd like to discuss.

Powers of Ten is a film made by Charles and Ray Eames in 1977. The film takes the viewer from the core of an atom to the edge of the universe, moving ten times further every ten seconds. It's only nine minutes long, and probably more interesting than any other nine-minute activity in which a person could engage. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!