Tomorrow I get on an airplane and fly to Texas.

I really hate flying. Really, *really* hate flying. But fly I shall.

Part of my deal is that I have to hold a bunch of dialogues in my head. I have to rehearse stuff, beforehand, that I might encounter. As in, I have to walk through it and actually say, aloud, stuff I might have to end up saying to someone in a stressful situation. I can’t simply imagine contingencies, I basically have to become a screenwriter for the movie that will be my flight. And then I have to produce that movie, complete with rehearsals and walk-throughs.

This isn’t just for flying; this is for most of life that involves other people. It’s a lot of stress.

But going to the airport and doing the airlines check-in and the standing in line and being around people and with flourescent lights and noisy announcements and those electric cars whizzing by… It’s extra stress, and I anticipate it’ll take me a day in TX to recover enough to act like one of you Earth humans.

So right now it’s ten-til-eleven PM, and I have to get up at about 3 AM so my housemate can take me and also get to work. The flight leaves at 6:30. I doubt I’ll sleep.

The other flight I could have gotten left at something like 8pm and got in at 1am. I doubt my parents would be happy with coming to get me then.

Olbermann still rockin’ in the free world!

I’m glad to see some news people figuring out that they can draw viewers by rising above. It used to be that I’d only ever get cable TV to watch The Daily Show, but now add MSNBC to that list, with Olbermann.

James says in comments: “I’ve written you a reality check. I hope it doesn’t bounce. People have as much power as others allow them. It has nothing whatever to do with laws.”

This is true as stated. No bounce. But it leaves something out:

Power is an interesting thing. Power is something you claim, and you can claim it in addition to, or despite your humanity. You can claim it in addition to, or despite your civility. You can claim it in addition to, or despite your sense of fair play. And you can claim it in addition to, or despite your humility.

Power has to be claimed. It can’t be given. Others can allow power, but that power isn’t really power until it is claimed. The act of claiming power defines you. The power you claim defines you in relation to those things listed above and more… Humanity, civility, fair play, humility. And plenty else.

Humanity and humility in particular are examples of things which might limit one’s desire to claim power. There are plenty of philosophers (and crackpots) who argue that such things are meaningless in the face of power. That is, that one must abandon humanity and/or humility in order to take one’s place of power. They have a point; some leadership decisions require that people die, or that nations crumble, and it can be more difficult to see these things clearly if you actually care. But, as I say: One can claim power not only despite these things, but also *in addition to them.*

And the displayed ability to juggle such things, to retain one’s humanity in the face of unimaginably daunting decisions, is the ultimate test of character and spiritual development.

Power is a test of spiritual development.

Right now in Washington, DC, we have an administration who believes that they must take more and more power, and not just any old power but the power to *torture* and *wage war,* in order to fulfill their responsibility. They have lost their humanity, and must be stopped by people of conscience.

The people of conscience are also undergoing a similar and parallel test of their character and spiritual development. Will they succeed?

Alexander Hamilton: Shrill lefty ‘blogger.

I meant to post this a while back:

My van has been there and back. More than a few times.

The ghost was in my old van, then the Honda, and now the ‘new’ van. The cowboy was under the back seat of the ‘new’ van when I got it.

I mentioned LoadingReadyRun.com, and I’ve been watching some of their work, and having seen their Quantum Documentary, I have to say that I am now officially utterly and completely on their side.

The rejected Get A Mac ads are pretty funny, too.

September 19th is Talk Like A Pirate Day.

Here to help us better understand proper communication within the pirate idiom are the friendly folks at loadingreadyrun.com.

I’m enjoying this history of the shrill. (via The Editors)

I think I might have found another place to live. I don’t think I can spend another winter in this house. So it turns out there’s a high-quality house share just up the hill from the Ballard locks, and that makes me happy. Not far from downtown Ballard, not far from Rain City Video, and not far from…

…the Haus of Shui.

Now if I can just overcome my inertia.

(Or, alternately… If someone wants to hand me seven-hundred-thousand dollars, I’d love to buy the Sunset Hill Craftsman with a view, recently updated with converted basement. Any billionaires reading? It’s a good cause. Really.)

I’m a big fan of The Confluence Project. It’s an attempt to take pictures and write stuff about every point where integer latitude and longitude lines meet.

Turn on the Google Earth Community layer, and you’ll see the points.

You’ll also see someone’s carefully-collected set of bigfoot sightings, labeled by date. Fly to Index, WA, and then look at the ‘i’ just to the east.

And, while I’m documenting things I’m finding on Google Earth, I might as well point out EarthDial, which is a bunch of sundials on Earth with web cams, which you can compare to webcam-equipped sundials ON MARS. Here’s Bill Nye’s contribution.

I found it because there’s a Google Earth marker in the Greenwood neighborhood of Seattle, labeled ‘Bill Nye, The Science Guy.’ Maybe I should go show up at his house and thank him for being a hero-nerd.

See also TurnHere, and their bit on Ballard. Thing is: the clicky icon on Google Earth is in Greenlake! Har!