A Couple of Quickies
Hey, kids, you know we’re not at all out of the woods yet. Even if Texas et al‘s frivolous lawsuit before the Supreme Court fails (itself not guaranteed, BTW) the new Congress in January will vote on certification of the Electoral College result. I have a feeling that’s gonna be a hell of an alley fight.
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Here’s some free (and unsolicited) advice for Kamala Harris or whomever runs for president under the Democratic Party banner in 2024.
The Loved One and I have taken dozens of Sunday drives throughout southern Indiana since the 2020 presidential campaign began. We’ve both been struck by the overwhelming number of Trump yard signs, banners, flags, and house drapings. Yeah, house drapings — these Trumpists are really into their boy.
Her Face On Every Garage And Barn?
Sometime in the summer I’d read that the Trump campaign was running short of cash, primarily because it had given away all those Trump things for free. Generally, you have to contribute at least the cost of the sign before a campaign gives you one. The idea in the story I’d read was the campaign was wacky for that kind of spending.
I’m here to tell you it was a hell of a smart strategy. Everybody in cow and corn land thought their guy was going to win in a landslide. The proliferation of the signs surely influenced a lot of voters who may have been iffy on four more years. Everybody wants to be on the side of a winner.
That said, I urge the putative Harris campaign to do the same thing. Flood the cities with Harris yard signs. Inundate the countryside with Harris flags. Anybody who wants to emblazon the name Harris anywhere on their property or body can on her dime.
It’ll seem like a grass-roots uprising. And it just might make farm and small town folk feel less sure that they can only be Republican.
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Baby Steps
Ready for a healthy helping of optimistic news? Not all young people are stupid, annoying, and/or vapid. To wit: this brilliant human being, Maryam Tsegave, 17, of Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, has created this wonderful video explainer about one of the pillars of our physical existence:
This is one of the basic tenets of quantum electrodynamics. Now, the parent of that arcane, inscrutable discipline, Richard Feynman, famously has said anyone who tells you they understand quantum physics doesn’t, period. Maryam, though, has come up with a metaphorical model of how quantum tunneling works. Quantum tunneling is at absolute odds with our everyday understanding of how tangible things work. The idea being on the sub-sub-sub-sub-atomic level particles can go through walls. We’ll never be able to truly understand how and why that is so. But Maryam’s tutorial allows us in a fresh, exciting way to gain a teensy tiny grasp on the phenomenon.
Just watching this thing makes me feel a bit better about humanity this morning. Just look at her eyes, the joy and energy in them, as she talks to us.
Hat tip to Maria Hamilton Abegunde for pointing this out.
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