The crew of STS-114 arrived safely at Edwards AFB in Mojave aboard an intact shuttle Discovery shortly after 5 am PDT.

I was awake, of course, watching it on TV and with the NASA feed on the computer. If you were asleep or otherwise engaged, the NASA video is here.

I didn't need to be. The sonic boom was all the news I needed.... Here in Pasadena it was like a long boom of rolling thunder, which of course reminded me of summer nights in Carolina.... Almost like a welcome home to me too!

After the last two and a half years, this was the best picture of the day:

(photos courtesy of NASA)
The post-landing crew press conference can be found here

Job well done, folks. Now let's hope that we'll see Atlantis fly again in November.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 01:48 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Two straight men are pushing the limits of Canada's same-sex marriage act. According to this Toronto Sun article:

Bill Dalrymple, 56, and best friend Bryan Pinn, 65, have decided to take the plunge and try out the new same-sex marriage legislation with a twist -- they're straight men.

"I think it's a hoot," Pinn said.

The proposal came last Monday on the patio of a Toronto bar amid shock and laughter from their friends. But the two -- both of whom were previously married and both of whom are still looking for a good woman to love -- insist that after the humour subsided, a real issue lies at the heart of it all.

"There are significant tax implications that we don't think the government has thought through," Pinn said.

Dalrymple has been to see a lawyer already and there are no laws in marriage that define sexual preference.

Ever since this debate started several years ago, this exact situation has been the pink elephant in the room. Will legislators seek to ban "marriages" that have nothing to do with sex or sexual orientation, but that simply seek the various tax and legal advantages that the estate of matrimony provides? How could these opportunistic unions be fairly blocked?

I can just see the Gay Elite blowing a gasket over this one, can't you? Same-sex marriage is an advantage for the gay community, after all. An equality step, if you will. And the "Breeders" are taking advantage of it. "That's not fair!" some will whine. I hate to say it, but you all set up this mess. It's your catch-22. Unless you let the government into people's bedrooms there's no way to tell if Bryan and Bill are lovers or just friends. Hell, I'd suspect that a lot of marriages, gay and straight would look more like friends than lovers in the bedroom...

You can't say that a same-sex marriage is null if one of the parties was previously married, a lot of gay folks have been married because of societal pressure. You can't say that if someone has parented a child the marriage is null, either, because gays of both genders participate genetically in the conception of their children.

I don't think there's a way to allow same-sex marriage without allowing Bryan and Bill to wed too.

A personal example: I have two good friends that I will refer to as A and B. A and B are the best of friends and were roomies all through college and through much of graduate school. During the 6 or so years that they shared accomodations, they acquired a number of joint things, including Costco cards and a shared phone plan. But I digress. It was a frequent joke that their families thought they were "together" since neither had much luck with guys at the time and well, they were pretty inseperable. How hard would it have been for A and B to get some nice tax breaks during the years they shared an address and a phone number but not a bed?

Although I suppose there might have been a fair bit of paperwork to deal with when one of them got married last spring.....

The reaction has already started. The article also quotes a gay activist who says:

"Generally speaking, marriage should be for love," he said. "People who don't marry for love will find themselves in trouble."

Straight people don't even get married for love all the time. What makes this guy think that same-sex marriage should be held to a higher standard????

So, what's your take? Do you think that a significant number of people are going to take advantage of this "loophole" in Canada's law? What about here in the US, where registered domestic partners have certain rights in some states?

Oh, and BTW, I'm all for same-sex marriage. I just don't like what I expect will be the hypocritical response of the gay movement to this....

(h/t Kate posting at OTB)

Posted by: caltechgirl at 06:52 PM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
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1 Extend marriage to same-sex straight couples??? Hell, it needn't stop there: perhaps the Berlin Wall also qualifies for all the benefits of marriage. :-)

Posted by: Paul Burgess at August 06, 2005 07:59 PM (7EVyU)

2 this seems like a new spin on an old story... i remember back in the day gay guys marrying straight female friends to make a point. and we've all heard of marriages of convinence - the one's where people stay married or get married for much the same reason. the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Posted by: KG at August 06, 2005 08:10 PM (s8D3V)

3 These two guys want to get married for the tax advantage. To my mind this is indicative of the callousness with which straights have traditionally viewed marriage. Let's not forget that some fifty percent of straight marriages end in divorce -- the rate is higher in the red states. And, whose fault is that? Please bear in mind that this is a sham wedding between two heterosexuals. No gay person is getting married here. The homophobes need to grow up and take responsibility for their own marriage woes. Stop blaming everybody else for your adultery and divorce rates. The lack of sanctity in your own marriages has nothing whatsoever to do with gays. In fact I'll bet you anything that gays will make a better go of marriage than your lot has.

Posted by: Noah at August 07, 2005 06:26 PM (TOeri)

4 Ain't no way on this little blue planet I'll take Noah's bet (and I say this as a gay male). Me personally, I've been rather amused at the whole situation. Just goes to show that where there's a law, there's an exploitable loophole. The joys of the human condition...

Posted by: Doug McKay at August 07, 2005 10:42 PM (KEkhY)

5 ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

Posted by: bob at August 08, 2005 10:28 AM (0ZQYM)

6 You've included some very good points. Well done. Even still, the biggest issue for me is the family. All the stats show the families with a man-woman team leading perform better than the rest. It's what is best for the children (our future) that matters most. That, and the whole "God said we should" thing.

Posted by: Paladin at August 08, 2005 01:11 PM (UYKlh)

7 They are exploiting a loophole in marriage laws, not gay-marriage laws. I don't say this to condemn anybody. I wish it were true that all marriages were conceived in love, with the result of building a family, HYDI (however you define it). What house were you in? I haven't come across many Techers in the blogosphere (euphemism, meaning none). Ruddock here. Nice blog.

Posted by: AbbaGav at August 11, 2005 04:39 AM (D6RFs)

8 Marriage is - as always - a legal arrangement. These guys are just making the point for everyone (whether intended or not) that there are potential legal niceties if you are married. So, buyer beware, good luck guys. The gay activist quote seems a little out of context. He didn't say " marriage should be for love" or " People who don't..." In fact the article goes on to say "Walker isn't personally insulted by the planned Pinn-Dalrymple union because he believes in personal freedoms and rights." I guess these guys got their 15 minutes of fame. SG

Posted by: Super G at August 12, 2005 03:36 PM (EeQUM)

9 That should of read he didn't say "Gay marriage should be for love" or "Gay people who don't..."

Posted by: Super G at August 12, 2005 03:37 PM (EeQUM)

10 The Gay "Moral Majority"? Preaching that gay marriage should be for love, only? ::: removes rose-colored glasses ::: ::: blinks ::: Wow. Impressive. I do believe I've seen everything.

Posted by: Margi at August 16, 2005 02:57 AM (nwEQH)

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Never let it be said that the Barenaked Ladies are anything other than lyrical geniuses. Also, perhaps Canada's best export after Hockey.

Their song, Never is Enough fits me to a tee these days. Especially the end of verse 4:

You get your ph.d.
How happy you will be
When you get a job at WendyÂ’s
And are honored with employee of the month

Anybody know anyone who wants to hire a freshly minted PhD with some actual skills?

Posted by: caltechgirl at 03:54 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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You Are Boy Shorts! You're stylish, trendy, but not over the top. You know how to look good - without looking like you're trying too hard. Men think that you're cute, friendly, and approachable. And you've got a spunky, fiesty side that comes out after a while! What Kind of Panties Are You? Take This Quiz :-)

(h/t TNT aka Mrs. Harvey)

Posted by: caltechgirl at 03:09 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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This is why I will never be convinced that homeschooling is any better than public school for most kids.

(h/t Leopold "Butters" Stotch)

Posted by: caltechgirl at 10:45 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Take the Star Trek Quiz

(h/t: Mikey and Ith)

Posted by: caltechgirl at 07:07 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Go here to help our friends at Babalu strengthen the Cuban people to make a change in their leadership!

To the folks on the island, I want you to say these three simple words: repeat them, believe them. Don't just say them. All of you on the island have to understand that despite the CDRs, despite the lack of electricity, despite the lack of fresh milk for your babies, despite the all of these things, you are still human beings, you have dignity and worth, you are God’s children like the rest of us. And when the frustration is too much, you have to rise up and yell, ¡Ya no mas! -- "I've had enough!"

Everything around us, that is created by man, was once just a thought. The power of the mind to create reality is beyond dispute. These words can empower the people of Cuba with the spirit of liberty. Despite all that the government can do to them, they can still say them and they can still think them. I hope they pass the meme along, paint the words on buildings, write them on the sidewalk, write them in their ration books. All they have to do is to believe them.

“I’ve had enough.”

Ya no mas.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 01:23 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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but Communism is no picnic.

This:

"Cuba is not a bad place. You Right Wing "Christians" think that everyone should have a "Father Knows Best" lifestyle and live the "American Dream". Communism when governed properly helps keep people from doing what Enron did. Without Capitalism, Bush would not be killing innocent people in Iraq. There would have been no slavery in America. There would be no sweatshops. There would be no more street gangs. The Mafia would not exist. Capitalism results in greedy people killing and enslaving people and polluting the environment."

was posted here earlier today. Anyone else want to explain exactly what is so great about cagastro's Cuba that people are willing to risk their lives every day to literally swim 90 miles to come to the US?

Not to mention that this is a circular argument. Communism by definition doesn't need to be governed. If everyone is equal, no one is more equal than anyone else, right?

Ok, so I am Right Wing. And I am a Christian. So what? Does that make me any better or worse than you? I don't think so. But don't pigeonhole me. As for what I think about lifestyles see here.

As for Iraq, when did Bush take a gun over there and kill people? Maybe that fake turkey gave some people food poisoning, but let's call a spade a spade shall we? The majority of innocent people dying in Iraq right now are young American men and women who are trying to rebuild what 30+ years of despotism has ruined. The majority of deaths that have occurred in the months that we've been in Iraq have been caused by non-Iraqi terrorists, people who are trying to disrupt the peace that the Coalition is trying to provide for the people of Iraq.

Now, as to your misguided theories on Capitalism. First of all, the Mafia existed long before Adam Smith, and it has nothing to do with money and everything to do with Power. Street Gangs aren't about money, they're about protection and power. Iraq isn't about money. If it was, gas prices would be at an all time low.

See, your problem really isn't with President Bush, or Enron, or the Mafia. It's with what you view as the inequitable distribution of power in the world, and I hate to say it, but money and power go together see, they're a matched set. And frankly as long as money and power exist, they will be distributed inequitably simply because there will always be someone who is dissatisfied with their share. That's sometimes called greed, but it's also called ambition.

Which brings me to the American Dream. The American Dream is simply an ambition to enjoy the better things that more education and more money can give you. I don't have a problem with that. Either you do, or you have a serious lack of ambition.

Finally, you're right you know. Cuba isn't a bad place. It's a beautiful place with extraordinarily loving and giving people with a rich heritage and ambition for themselves and their children. Cuba is great, castro and his regime are bad.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 12:11 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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My life is rated R.
What is your life rated?

(h/t Jay Solo)

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