Critical Exponent

This Independence Day, let’s raise a glass to the patriots who are fighting in ways large and small to defend our much-lauded ideals of democracy and liberty from all-too-human dogma, oligarchy, and conformity. Here’s to the lawyers, to the librarians, to the bloggers, to the chroniclers, to the marchers, to the activists, to the voters, to the people who still believe in the dream.

Nicole Kidman is the latest poster child for gay marriage.

She just got married in the Catholic Church without getting an annulment, even though she was previously wed to Tom Cruise. How is this possible? The Catholic Church refuses to recognize the previous marriage because it was performed in the Church of Scientology. As the BBC notes, “[t]he divorce granted to the couple in 2001 was a legal rather than religious procedure for Kidman.”

You see the connection?

Even though the couple were legally wed under secular law, no church was forced to accept a marriage it didn’t want to. In other words, the Church was perfectly happy to make the distinction between civil marriage and religious marriage for Kidman. We have heard no cry from the Vatican as to how allowing Scientology marriages undermines the sanctity of Catholic marriages or forces the church to recognize them— because it doesn’t.

So why, then, can’t the Vatican refuse to recognize gay marriages if it wishes, but stay out of the civil marriage debate?

“Render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar’s…”

I’ve just come back from Seattle, where most of the city is Wi-Fi enabled. While some residences are on secured networks, most cafés and libraries are open and free.

Why can’t Boston do the same?

It’s astounding that a city boasting world-class universities and high-tech business is lagging so far behind. There is an initiative to bring free public WiFi to Boston, first announced in February, but when will it happen? Wil it be enough? Dishearteningly, some of the institutions that do provide WiFi block many non-web and non-mail ports. This is true of the Brookline library, and, reportedly, of the BPL.

Here’s one list of WiFi hot spots and here’s another for the Newbury Street area.

C’mon, business owners, it makes good sense to provide free unrestricte WiFi: people will linger more, create more community by being out of their homes and offices, and shop more as they surf.

During the recent trip to Vancouver, Knox and I came across Momentum, a store specializing in grooming products for men. The clientele is obviously largely gay men. The owner was very helpful in explaining the various products and how they could help us, too, look our best.

While we dropped a nice wad of guppie change there, the verdict is out on the products. Knox’s bubble bath did not bubble with as little bath liquid as was promised. My badger-hair shaving brush (from badgers in China, which are not protected nad form part of the diet there, apparently) and the pink water-activated shaving foam I’m not convinced give me a closer shave than the nylon-bristled shaving brush from Brooklyn and the $2 shaving soap from CVS.

That said, the Brave Soldier Shower Up (for those of us who shower multiple times a day) felt awfully luxurius, and the Anthony Logistics for Men mask sample felt effective (and looked hilarious!).

You know fish is generally good for you, but which fish are not? And which fish are not ocean-friendly?

Here’s a guide from seafoodwatch.org at the Monterey Aquarium and another one from Oceans Alive, together with the latter’s table of toxic fish.

As reflective individuals are wont to do, I often find myself reassessing the values and goals that shape my life. It’s a way of keeping myself on track, and of making subtle course corrections as my vision changes (which is not to imply my vision always feels at all clear).

It was in this mindset that I stumbled upon Judith Wright’s book, The One Decision, at the local independent bookstore. The book seems to belong to the genre of soft, neatly packaged self-help late-night infomercials; a subsequent glance at her website, with Judith seminars, forum boards, and companion books only confirmed this impression. While I’m sure many pople find these books helpful, this style of self-help media I find off-putting. Nonetheless, the point of her book, as I gather from reading the dustflap, is important: we should find the “one decision” that endows our life with a purpose and theme meaningful to us. This is not a novel idea, but it is something we tend to forget in the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

Then today, in the aftermath of recent studies about how Americans have fewer intimate ties than in the past, The Washington Post ran a story on happiness. Happiness, it seems, consists of one’s happiness set-point, one’s conditions, and one’s voluntary activities. It is the third of these that we have the most immediate control over, and it covers such activities as socialization, time alone, or anything else that engages us in “flow.” The article even cites the gross national happines index of Bhutan.

What is your purpose? What makes you happy?

Since Knox’s laptop (Windows, poor soul) is getting repaired from its deathbed, I wanted to let him use mine without logging out of my terminal session. I just could not find the user-switch option or applet which I was sure I’d seen in FC4. After Googling for a while, it turns out that the fast [console] user switch is still there but turned off in the menu by default. To turn it on, just right click on the menus and choose “Edit Menus,” then select “New login.” I learned of this here

Installing the extra laptop memory I ordered went off without a hitch. I just followed the instructions in the S580 User’s Manual.

Globe editorial on gay marriage:

Gay marriage isn’t a real threat. In Massachusetts, married gay couples are not masterminding terrorist bombings. They are not refining weapons-grade uranium nor are they running up federal budget deficits. Married gay couples are not monitoring their fellow Americans’ phone calls and e-mails. They haven’t cut Medicaid. And they didn’t put that doughnut hole in the middle of Medicare’s new prescription drug program.

The President of the United States is not a uniter, he is a panderer.

In his weekly radio address this weekend, he reiterated his support for the Federal [Anti-]Marriage Amendment. This man, and many in Congress, clearly feels that not giving legal protection to couples who are committed to each other is much more important than stopping the killings in Iraq, the crisis in Darfur, the inexorable degradation of the environment, the rise in anti-intellectualism, the lack of ethics in government, health care for all Americans, and a living wage for all workers.

What can you do? Get active! Write your officials! Pull out your wallet!

Become a member of the Human Rights Campaign . Have a postcard sent to Congress on your behalf. Check where your Senators stand, and write to them expressing your views!