Extra-Solar Planets

A couple weeks ago astronomers announced that they had, for the first time in human history, directly observed planets outside our little corner of the Universe, the Solar System. This announcement inspired me to smear some iPhone pixels around and create this image.

All previously known extra-solar planets have been deduced by gravitational fluctuations or by minute diminituions of the parent star, but "Fomalhaut B" was spotted in images taken by our old friend, Hubble. It's somewhere between half and twice the size of Jupiter, and orbits nearly three times farther from Fomalhaut than Neptune orbits Sol. Photographing it was like photographing a single grain of sand on Baker Beach in San Francisco while standing on the moon.

We live science fiction every day.



-- Message posted from my iPhone








-- Post From My iPhone

Come Together

There was a nation-wide protest against Prop 8 Saturday It impressed me that people came together in cities all across America to protest the initiative that takes away the right of same-sex couples to marry. I went to San Francisco's rally.



Signs were waved, speeches were spoken, chants were chanted and an unauthorized march wound it's way throughout the city. I didn't participate in the march, having gotten the spontaneous marching thing last week, but I wish I had. The march last week was from City Hall to the Castro - friendly territory:



The march Saturday hit the less gay areas of the City. Reports from folks who did go marching say it went along Market toward the Castro, but was unexplainedly turned around before getting there. A smaller group had left the rally earlier, and it seems that the SFPD tried to marshal the two groups into one. I'm told the two groups wound up coming together in Union Square, from which they marched through Chinatown, to Fisherman's Wharf (those tourists will have some awesome San Francisco photo-memories!), along the piers, to the Embarcadero, and back along Market. Everyone I've talked to left the march then, around 7 hours after the rally began, but I've read reports saying it went on for quite a while longer.

Aside from one accidental honking on the head of a bystander with a sign, I've heard of no scuffles or issues related to the march. It was a peaceful expression of solidarity and outrage, and definitely shows that this fight is far from over.

A last image from the rally that really made me happy:





-- Post From My iPhone

Early Morning, November 5

I did this iPhone painting today while footage was digitizing. It's
not an actual self portrait, but it captures how I felty at about 4:30
this morning when the Prop 8 numbers just weren't changing.

Ah, the therapeutic nature of art. To focus on creating an image helps
me calm myself....

Let's Talk About Education

So, this map shows the counties in California that went "no" on 8 in robin's-egg blue, and "yes" on 8 in baby-diarrhea brown. (No editorial comment intended by the selection of color, let me assure you.)



The biggest surprise here for me was that LA fell for the hate-filled lies of the yes on 8 campaign. It was close in LA, like most counties that went "yes." Well, most counties except Riverside, San Bernardino, and Kern. They're the "Inland Empire" counties west and north of LA, and they account for more than the 400,000 votes that make up the difference between "no" and "yes."

Let's overlay a filter on the map:



This filter darkens any county whose population has less than 15% with Bachelor's Degrees. The darkened counties above are 85% or greater non-college educated. If we only counted the votes of the counties with 15% or more College Graduates, Prop 8 would have burned. By a significant margin.

Now, as Humboldt, Mendocino, and Monterey prove, a less than 15% college degree rate does not mean you have to be a right-wing, homophobe-filled region, much as San Diego, Orange, and Sacto prove that education does not necessarily lead to an idyllic paradise of loving diversity.

What these data do suggest to me is that education leads to open minds. I think that's really what education is supposed to be about. So, if we want to help bring the world forward to a more accepting, embracing place, we should support higher education.

The data represented here came from the Los Angeles Times and the US Census Bureau.

Ever upward.

-- Post From My iPhone

Lunchtime Politics

They've done a great job with the Visinility Events in San Francisco.




Pretty much any street corner has a similar scene. Gives me hope.

-- Post From My iPhone

Pic says it all

Did you?

-- Post From My iPhone

Voting!

I've voted before work on election day in most of the elections that have occurred in San Francisco since I moved here in 2001. This is the first time there's been a line of more than three people when I arrived at the polling place, 10 minutes before they open.



And this is less than half of the people in line. The queue goes up Castro Street and is starting to turn the corner onto State Street.

Yay for civic responsibility!

-- Post From My iPhone

Please Vote No on Prop 8

Hi, everyone --

One final posting before Election Day. This video is one of the last ads produced by the No on Prop 8 committee, and it does a great job of explaining why it's so important to defeat this proposition.

I spent many hours this weekend (some during torrential downpours) handing out information, answering questions and waving signs to help get the message out, along with dozens of other volunteers at my location, plus who knows how many other volunteers throughout the state. But it's not enough if we don't actually get out and vote.

On the off chance that you haven't heard, Proposition 8 seeks to eliminate rights that currently exist in California. It is written such that if it passes, discrimination will be enshrined in the most significant governing document in California. If it passes, I'm not sure what will become of my marriage; the State Attorney General has issued an opinion that he thinks marriages performed will still be valid, but until the inevitable lawsuits wend their way through the courts, nobody will know for sure.

I know that many of you don't live in California, and you can't vote here. But if you know anyone who does live here, please remind them to vote tomorrow, and to vote "No" on Proposition 8.

For those of you who do live in California, if you value equality for everyone, if you don't want to see discrimination become law of the land, please vote "NO" on Proposition 8.

Thanks, and good luck to us all.

Dex

A Saner Shade of Crazy

You may remember that Halloween in the Castro had become too crazy to be fun, and in fact had become dangerous, what with that shooting and subsequent stampede two years ago. So, last year, city officials, lead by our district's Supervisor, Bevan Dufty, shut the Castro down for Halloween. It was a controversial approach, to be sure, but tonight has shown that it was a wise approach.



It was hard to get good photos since I'd only brought my iPhone, and it doesn't have a flash. I hope these pictures give a sense of the evening.

Yes, the Castro was crowded, but not nearly so crowded as it has been in years past. In fact, there were baricades in the hood, but they were set up to keep people on the sidewalk, not to keep traffic off the streets. While there were places of pedestrian congestion, it wasn't bad. Most interesting to me is the fact that people who were milling around really seemed to be there to have a good time. So, even though there was some crowding, particularly in front of bars, people maintained a good attitude.



Costumes were clever, and there were a number of Sarah Palins, as one might expect at a celebration of all things horrifying. There was a group of Mormon Missionaries, who were favorite picture subjects of many of the revelers. I was asked by a number of people to pose with the missionaries, no doubt because I was dressed as what could probably best be described as Satan's pimp.



Politically-themed costumes were de rigeur, with the afire mentioned Palinplex, marriage sets and this elaborate vehicular "tribute" to Senator McCain and his Kibrickian sensibilities:



And, of course, what would a street party in the Castro be without some man-flesh?



The guy on the right's t-shirt says it all.

Even though I'm a nervous wreck about whether Prop 8 will pass or fail, my town has brought back something I fell in love with when I first moved here. Let's hope it can stay small, local, and fun for years to come.

-- Post From My iPhone