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To say “In God We Trust” is to say that there is a “we” of unified belief in a deity. This is not true.

If I were to put a poster of a swimsuit model up in my office, this would be deemed harassment. I would have created a hostile work environment for my coworkers without saying a word.

Perhaps not the best metaphor, but the same goes for putting “In God We Trust” on our money, having our schoolchildren declare their allegiance daily to a nation under God, and having prayer open Senate sessions. By doing these things, we are saying “not welcome” to people who do not believe in the monotheist’s god. It is exclusive, divisive, and contrary to the spirit of our nation.

My opinion that “In God We Trust” should not be on our money is not founded in ungodliness, atheism, or any anti-religious sentiment. All people most certainly have the right to relate to the divine in any way they choose. It is for precisely that reason that our government’s actions should not put one belief before another. You don’t have to believe in the Judeo-Christian god to be an American. Thus the “We” is a misnomer, and makes people feel as if this country does not want or respect them.

The issue of what the founding fathers wanted is one of fervent debate. I posit that it doesn’t really matter one way or the other. These are people who decided to keep slavery legal and that women shouldn’t vote — their opinions on social matters don’t carry as much weight as they used to. If the whole lot of them had signed a document that clearly said “we’re a Christian nation”, I would say that we should throw that doctrine away.

A relative of Her Worshipfulness’s says I look like Ben. I took me several iterations of this to realize she meant not some relative or friend, but rather Ben Affleck. Now, the veracity of this observation aside, it brings to light a social development which I simply do not understand: reference to celebrities by first names only.

How do you know which Jen is “Jen”? How does one receive this Kane-like honorific-free honor? Who decides? Does it change? Was it Jennifer Garner at one point? I was just at Dash’s and the latest rag declared the nuptials of two people I’ve never even seen before, but who are listed by first names only.

He casually scratched at his beer gut, eyes surveying the green plane of lawn he had just finished mowing. His pre-faded baseball cap basked where he had tossed it, and the sight of it warmed his heart a little for a reason he could not — or perhaps did not want to — quite grasp.

It was then that he knew his journey down the path towards utter domesticity was farther along than he had realized.

I’ve started a new blog project: Steampowered World. A frequently-updated compendium of notes on my travels through steampunk and Victorianism. if that’s your kind of thing, stop on by.

Dear Nintendo –

It’s me, Alex. Congratulations on the release of the Nintendo DSi. I have been enjoying the product thoroughly, and am excited about the future of DSiWare, the downloadable applications.

If I may, please allow me to suggest an application — DSNotes. A simple DSiWare app which allows the user to write text documents and save them to the SD card. These could then be transferred to the user’s main computer for use in other applications.

I carry the DSi with me most places, and I also carry a pocket-sized notebook. DSNotes would allow me to ditch the paper and move another need to the DSi.

Yours, as always,
Alex

Still nomadic at work, borrowing offices where and when I can. The varying decor of people’s workspaces continues to intrigue me. Take, for example, this high-tech piece of equipment.

Classic. My favorite part is this:
Was this really an issue at some point?

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Bubbles — my first foray into custom vinyl toys.

Isn’t he a handsome devil?

Oh, don’t roll your eyes. You saw Harry Potter.

Greg sent me the story he submitted to Blizzard’s creative writing contest. It A) was awesome and B) got me to thinking. What is it about wizards? Why do the children of the Geek Nation love them so? I have a theory, and it starts with a little boy named Alex.

Everyone is stimulated by intellectual activity. Everyone is stimulated by physical activity. But, when one falls to atrophy, the other increases.

As a kid, I never got into sports. I assume this is a learned trait, as I am the progeny of geeks. I spent my time doing geeky things. Video games. Computers. Reading. All this time spent in abstractions naturally led to me being pretty decent at my classes (with the glaring exceptions of phys ed and penmanship), which in turn made me the target of your standard schoolyard bullying.

Thus, physical people are bad, intellectual people are good, and there’s no such thing as being both — so said young Alex’s mind. Anyone who played a sport was separate from my kind, and they certainly didn’t want me around.

It took me a very long time to get past this mental division. “People can be smart AND jocks? Nonsense. One camp or the other.”

So, when narrative comes into play, who is an incurable young geek going to tend towards? Rough-and-tumble heroes who punch they’re way through problems (which are inevitably caused by evil geniuses)? Uh, no. Have you seen the way those guys treat the bookworms (who are only brought along to crack some code, anyway)?

Enter the wizards. People who possess the ability to interact with the physical world directly through their minds. A few mumbled phonemes from a dusty tome and BOOM — problem solved. Ancient languages. Books. Knitted brows. These are the things I could get behind.

All of a sudden mental skills outweigh physical ones. Abused kid kept under the stairs? No longer. Now he’s a wizard so powerful no one makes fun of his glasses.

But then there’s the problem of Hermione Granger. So much of an egghead that other wizards make fun of her. You don’t want to be like that, do you? Best get yourself on the quidditch green. Some air would do you good.

I’m temporarily nomadic at work. A new office is being cobbled together for me, so I’m camping out at a retiree’s former workspace.

She likes cats. A lot. How much, you ask?

Enough to tape a picture of a cat to the paperclip holder.

Garv and Lisa bought a house. Jess and I trundled over there to see what we could do to help during this, the first weekend of their ownership. In order to be prepared, I stuck a bunch of tools in my man-purse. Can you tell which one is mine?

Let me make it easy for you — mine’s the one with the sonic screwdriver.

P.S. Took this picture with the DSi, and I’m pretty satisfied with it.