And my faith in humanity is still intact.

The most prominent American with a last name remotely like mine, Studs Terkel, died today. Very sad.

Everyone’s favorite conservative British periodical endorsed Barack Obama today:

Mr Obama … is a gamble. But the same goes for Mr McCain on at least as many counts, not least the possibility of President Palin. And this cannot be another election where the choice is based merely on fear. In terms of painting a brighter future for America and the world, Mr Obama has produced the more compelling and detailed portrait. He has campaigned with more style, intelligence and discipline than his opponent. Whether he can fulfil his immense potential remains to be seen. But Mr Obama deserves the presidency.

Why the original Sesame Street isn’t suitable for children:

The masonry on the dingy brownstone at 123 Sesame Street, where the closeted Ernie and Bert shared a dismal basement apartment, was deteriorating. Cookie Monster was on a fast track to diabetes. Oscar’s depression was untreated. Prozacky Elmo didn’t exist.

In response to Connecticut’s legalization of gay marriage Seth says:

I feel as though [“legalizing gay marriage”] might be a bit strong. Haven’t they simply “illegalized” the state’s failure to allow gay marriage?

I’m going to focus on this little bit of pedantry because it’s the sort of useless crap that amuses me. Take note that I am not a lawer so all of the following is useless hand waving.

“Legalize” in this context is not too strong a word. Here we have two “sets” of law, constitutional (what the government can do) and civil/criminal (what people can do). Note that these are rough definitions. This is useful for me because it helps me separate the different parts of the decision.

In most places in the States gay marriage is a-legal. I.e. it is neither explicitly allowed nor explicitly forbidden. This is the state Connecticut was in before it passed its civil union legislation. Once civil unions are in place (presumably, I haven’t read the particular law) gay marriage becomes explicitly illegal.

The decision by the Connecticut Supreme Court does two things:

1. it directly abolishes the law allowing for civil unions because it is unconstitutional (something the government isn’t allowed to do) because it violates equal protection statutes.
2. it indirectly, explicitly legalizes gay marriage. If equal protection prohibits civil unions and prohibits the illegalization of gay marriage outright then gay marriage is legal.

This little bit of hand wringing over the word “legal” may seem silly, but it’s important. There are a lot of people who want to demean decisions made by courts as not reflecting the wills of the voters as well as legislation does. This is a flawed point of view – the decisions of our (higher) courts are based on the (state or Federal) Constitution – it’s their job to determine whether laws are allowed or not and sometimes, if a law is overturned, decisions may force other actions. But these actions are impelled by the Constitution, not the wills of the men and women who sit on the bench, and calling them anything other than “legal” cheapens them.

Since we have a daughter the family bought us a fancy new video camera. It arrived yesterday. Of course I just had to try it out:

In case you have not yet heard, Amelie Noelle Terk was born on the morning of Sunday, September 7.

Winter

I’m planning on riding the DR over the winter… to that end here are some links/resources that may help with that.

• ADVRider winter riding thread.
• ‘Rounders
• Foggy face mask review.

This only solidifies Fleet Foxes as my current favorite band.

Hippies were cool, but cocaine destroyed them.

-Robert Pecknold, lead singer of Fleet Foxes, to The Stranger.

My brother Adam graduated from Syracuse this year and he’s been wandering aimlessly around Vermont, New York and the rest of the northeast since then. In September he leaves for what he hopes will be a year long sojourn through Asia. If you’re interested in this sort of thing Adam will be updating his blog, Pan-Asian Gallivanting, with stories and photos from the trip.