Primitive withdrawal and Flotsam

I've always loved the response an infant has to too much chaos in their environment. She will simply fall asleep. Primitive withdrawal.

My son and I were watching one of the episodes of Carl Sagan's Cosmos series last night, and in particular, we were watching Episode 8: Travels in Space and Time. My mind was nice and open , too, due to the glass and a half of wine I had whilst playing board games with my daughter earlier. I've lost count of the number of times I've tried to really understand Einstein's theory of relativity - I mean not just repeat the words and know the equations but *grasp* it, see it and know it; but it increased by one last night. And as I tried to bend my mind around the ideas and Carl Sagan began discussing the physics (questionable) and philosophy of moving backward in time, describing the multiple threads of existance that must exist in parallel - indeed, there must be an infinity of these threads...I simply fell asleep. Apparently, my mind is not fated to grasp these ideas by the roots, but simply by the shells. The fun is in the trying.

Happy Independence Day to the US of America. These wishes go out to the infant and child America - the one with the integrity and dreams - the one that valued individuals and true freedom. The adult America of today has not earned my respect. But I'm not ready to give up completely just yet. There's always Barack Obama waiting in the wings.

We're having my locally famous ribs at our neighborhood barbeque tonight (and please note that 'locally' refers to the lowest level of local). Pork loin back ribs, dry rub of Emeril's seasoning, lots of mopping with red wine vinegar, and our faithful electric smoker/steamer. Simple. Fattening. Succulent.