entirely safe and fun

He finds it very, very easy to squeeze juice.

6 Jan ‘09, 9.00pm PST PST: by ccreitz

The world needs more… and stop me if you’ve heard this… lerts!

30 Dec ‘08, 8.56pm PST PST: by ccreitz

I’m taking all these pictures (all these pictures, I mean). Midway through the photo shoot, Dylan concludes that taking pictures of him is all I do, based on his limited experience. “I am sure you also have other, useful skills,” he tries to say. “Perhaps later you can show me these ‘cuddles’ I am hearing so much about in the news.”

28 Dec ‘08, 3.36pm PST PST: by ccreitz

There are a slug of new photos up, still poorly organized. Most of them are of Dante having an excellent Halloween, a fun rainy season, and a pretty nice Christmas. Then, this guy shows up claiming to be his brother, and hijinks ensue. Feel good hit of the season!

This diminutive gentleman — 21 inches, 6 pounds 14 ounces — joined our family on the 22^nd, at 7:53PM. On Christmas, we decided we would give him an epistemological (or maybe even ontological) gift: the name Dylan Darwin Creitz.

These days, we think of two bearers of the name “Dylan”. First, there’s Dylan Thomas, the eminent Welsh poet of the 20^th century, famous for his concise diction and his sense of euphony. Second, there’s Bob Dylan, the bardic name chosen by Robert Zimmerman; like Thomas, he is famous for his economy with words.

Before the work of Charles Darwin, biology was barely a science, just a welter of facts. His special genius was to see the single, simple narrative that underlies all of life, an act of concision that any poet would envy.

13 Dec ‘08, 3.45pm PST PST: by ccreitz

Some ornaments made by Chuck (Christmas bird,tree,banana), Punam
(star, cookie, cupcake), and me (Elder Sign, mushroom, yellow ball,
coffee).

22 Nov ‘08, 9.39pm PST PST: by ccreitz

RAMBUTAN, lesser servitor race.

29 Oct ‘08, 8.01am PDT PST: by ccreitz

My XBox goes RROD the day before On The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 2 drops. It only figures. le sigh

Vote Actual Lamprey — why settle for a metaphor! Image from wp marked PD.

The good news: loathsome pork-barrel parasite Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) was (finally) convicted of making false financial statements. He faces up to 35 years in prison, five years for each of seven counts.

The bad news: he will almost certainly not serve a day. He even gets to keep his pension! We may be quite certain that on the outside chance that he is sentenced to prison, he will not be treated as a member of the general population, searched intimately after each visit from his family, subject to the punishing depersonalization that prisons do and ought to impose on their inmates. Stevens was not completely wrong to believe that his seniority in the Senate — put plainly, his persistent, lamprey-like rasping and sucking grip on taxpayer wallets — would immunize him from the full force of the law. His status as a legislator, even as a convicted felon senator, may be counted on to overawe the human agents of the law.

Topping all previous displays of hubris, Senator Stevens did not make plans to suspend or redirect his re-election campaign in case he was convicted. In fact, he has announced that he will continue to run for the Senate despite the fact that, after his felony conviction, he can no longer vote for himself. Quoth the AP:

Despite being a convicted felon, he is not required to drop out of the race or resign from the Senate. If he wins re-election, he can continue to hold his seat because there is no rule barring felons from serving in Congress. The Senate could vote to expel him on a two-thirds vote.

“Put this down: That will never happen — ever, OK?” Stevens said in the weeks leading up to his trial. “I am not stepping down. I’m going to run through, and I’m going to win this election.”

He is depressingly likely to be right. So remember to do your part and Vote Freshman on 4 November. No matter how much you think you like your incumbents, the consequences of serial incumbency are so dire that you can’t afford to send them back to Washington. It’s best to blindly pull any lever that doesn’t have that fatal “(I)” next to it.

Oh, and when we get around to amending the Constitution to add term limits for Congressional representatives, can we please maybe add something that bars convicted felons from serving, especially if the felony in question is committed in office? It just seems like a good idea. Actually, I thought of an even better reason why convicted felons should be allowed to serve. Never mind.

Update again, 30 October: Turns out Senator Stevens will, by some tortuous legal reasoning, probably be allowed to vote.

18 Oct ‘08, 12.49pm PDT PST: by ccreitz

Half Moon Bay