Over the last few years things have been revealed to the American people which have resulted in shock and/or awe.

We learned that real people, including the president (Clinton, in this case) REALLY did things which most of us had previously assumed to be safely confined to the letters section of Penthouse. We learned that you can never underestimate the depths of public taste in television entertainment (witness the "reality show" craze). Same thing for news (witness Fox). We learned (some of us knew this all along) that our vote for president really doesn't matter when it comes right down to brass tacks. We learned that there were LOTS of people around the world who thought we (or our government, at least) needed a whuppin. We learned that there were people who were quite capable of providing a whuppin, and they didn't need fancy futuristic weapons to do it. We learned that there were quite a few corrupt businesspersons afoot (again, some of us knew this all along).

I learned that I didn't want to be a professor quite as much as I had thought. I learned that Apple computers are way cool (and that PCs are not so cool).

We learned that Afghanistan exists (again, some of us . . .), although we are in the process, I think, of forgetting it again. We learned who Osama Bin Laden is (and are fogetting). We learned that Saddam Hussein was the greatest threat to humanity since the rise (and fall) of the Independence Day aliens. We also learned that he ain't no such thing. We also learned that Michael Jackson is incontravertably insane (not just quirky).

These things have hit some people right in the gut. Some discoveries hurt -- knowledge may be power, but it is sometimes like the power that surges through you when you stick your finger in a light socket. How will the American people (or that tiny slice of the American people looking at this) react, I wonder, when they learn this:

The Grand Canyon is right around 1/4 as grand as a canyon not so far from it. It is, in a sense, Grand in the same way that the AmSouth building in downtown Birmingham is the tallest building in the world (despite being similarly small in comparison to the Petronas towers). America, Welcome to the Copper Canyon!

Birgit and I (with companions) journeyed there over the (long) weekend. All the info you need about our trip is in the link, except we didn't see very many of the things one can see (grandness, you know: 64,000 square kilometers of it), and had a total ball. You should go there. NOW!

Well, maybe wait until fall. It is supposed to be even more grand then.

Our weekend was long, by the way, because we got playtime for Mayday, as did many other people in most civilized countries. If you didn't get (at least the option of) playtime for Mayday, it is because you have a shitty job or live in a country with shitty holiday priorities. Or both.

I hear "Scarecrow" by Siouxsie and the Banshees followed by "Little Island" by Elton John.