Watching Scaled Components’ SpaceShipOne earn the Ansari X-Prize made me remember the first commercial space venture that beat it into space by 25 years.

Occasionally, I’ll wander by a late-evening TV show that just happens to be on in the house. Usually it’s a crime drama of some sort, with violence (implicit, of not shown) and other twisted behavior being depicted. I wind up having to leave the room because the world on the screen greatly disturbs me. A viewer could watch that and easily begin believing that’s the world they live in. Murderers and sickos on every streetcorner. Don’t go out unless you’re packing heat.

A study was just released which confirms my suspicions. The Ohio State study showed that crime dramas increase viewers fear of crime, with viewers often ranking it the top issue in the country. It seems that somewhere in their minds, the viewers forgot that what they were watching was fiction.

Television is a powerful medium. It speaks to many corners of your mind at once. While your logical side might be repeating “this is only a drama,” your emotional side is screaming “head for the hills!”

Part of the problem arises from television’s dual role in providing news and entertainment. It’s gotten too difficult to tell them apart. Crimes may get mentioned in newscasts, but rarely are they depicted, as they are in dramas. Which are you more likely to remember, what someone told you, or what you saw “for your own eyes?” Movies don’t have this problem because no one gets their news from the theatre anymore (unless they’re watching a Michael Moore movie, God help them).

But Michael Moore did have one thing right, at least in his movie Bowling for Columbine. He asked “why does America have all this violence?” He highlighted to all the guns, which raised the hackles of gun rights advocates, but then deflated this argument by showing how calm, peaceful Canada is more armed than we are.

So its not the guns. Its the fear. Tell someone that murders and rapes and robberies could happen to her and eventually she’ll start believing it. It doesn’t matter that the odds are incredibly small. Your beliefs color your world. A safe world will appear dangerous if you believe it to be.

The next time you sit down to watch a crime drama, ask yourself: is this the kind of world I live in?

History was made this morning as SpaceShipOne unofficially completed the requirements of the X Prize today, becoming the first private spacecraft to go to space twice within two weeks. Pilot (er, Astronaut) Brian Binnie took the spacecraft up to an altitude of 368,000 feet (112 km) and enjoyed the dazzling view of Earth from space for a few minutes before gliding his way down to the Mojave airport.

Truly amazing to watch. Space travel for the masses is on its way.

I spent most of today working on the attic flooring project. Got materials, cut a few boards, but not much to show for today.

Had a fun walk and time in the park with my family. That was the highlight of my day. This afternoon, we got invited over to our neighbors house for a cookout. Hallie and I went over while Kelly took a break. It was great meeting our neighbors. Seems this neighborhood is coming together, after all.

On my way to a very last minute trip to Lowes, I walked in the almost-locked door just as my former boss at a former job was walking out of it. Though I was angry for a long time at his “letting me go,” I was actually friendly to him, being the first to put my hand out to shake.

Afterward, it really surprised me how easily I’d put the whole thing behind me. At the start of the weekend, I removed that job from my resume. At the end of the weekend, I discovered I’ve removed it from my emotional resume, too.

In the last 24 hours, Kelly and I have:

Cooked a nice hamburger dinner.
Emptied two bookcases.
Moved one bookcase downstairs and one upstairs.
Placed close to a dozen boxes of books on our new shelves.
Moved those boxes to the garage.
Slept late.
Cooked a big breakfast.
Filled an empty bookcase with lots of pictures!
Set up the bassinet in our sitting room.
Installed the infant car seat in the car.
Danced with Hallie to Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tamborine Man.”
Moved the sprinklers around the yard.
Unsuccessfully attempted to fix our leaky hose spool.
Burned three CDROMs of Fedora Core 2.
Wired up a new telephone line to our office.
Took out all the recycling.
Watched the N.C. State game.
Went shopping for holiday decorations.
Decorated the front porch for Halloween.
Cleaned a grease spot out of the carpet.
Vacuumed the house.
Cleaned the cat box.
Assembled a portable USB drive.
Crawled from one end of the attic to the other to fix ventilation.
Mapped out trusses to support flooring in the attic.

I’m sure I’m leaving something significant out, but that is a decent recap. Not a bad 24 hours, eh? Tomorrow, I finish the attic flooring job, upgrade Maestro, my server, and take a swing at some weekend work for a client.

It’s been fun getting these things checked off our list. Still got a bunch more to do before The Kid arrives.

So, I’m wondering what everyone thought of last night’s presidential debate. Who did better? Who did worse? Which candidate was more effective at making his point?

Let’s hear from the peanut gallery.

Lately I’ve been waking up thinking the morning sky is full of clouds. Then I realize the sun is just taking way longer to rise.

October is here. Changing seasons rule!

I’ve been seemingly flooded with interest in my skills and abilities, with some very flattering proposals sent my way. With the clock ticking to get things settled, I’ve got some interesting choices to make.

And that’s always been my dilemma: so many fanastic choices to make, and I can only make one. I can’t go wrong either way, but I’m the kind of guy who always wonders where the other paths led.

Its a good problem to have. I’m jazzed about my future. Now its time to go out and kick some butt.

Earlier this week, the State Bar gave the prosecutors in the Alan Gell case a slap on the wrist for nearly putting an innocent man to death. Gell served nine years in prison for a crime he did not commit. He would have been a free man had the prosecution not withheld evidence that proved his innocence. Statements from witnesses proving Gell’s alibi were deliberately withheld, as was a statement from the prosecution’s star witness saying she “made up a story” for the police.

So Gell gets sentenced to death and goes to prison for nine years. His case gets reviewed automatically and then the charade of justice that was his prosecution gets revealed. When Gell easily won his retrial, he didn’t get so much as an apology from Hoke or Graves.

This week, the State Bar held a hearing on Hoke and Graves behavior. They ruled that while Hoke and Graves did withhold evidence, they really didn’t mean to. Hoke called it “an honest mistake.” The State Bar chuckled and agreed, slapping them on the wrist and telling them not to do it again.

What a load of crock! Hoke almost put an innocent man to death and has the nerve to call it an “honest mistake?” And the two of them are still practicing law? What the hell planet do I live on where this passes for justice?

I support law enforcement. I believe in justice, quaint as it may be. When crooked lawyers cavalierly tilt the balance of justice unlawfully in their favor, I believe they deserve a little punishment for their act, too.

It disgusts me that an innocent man nearly lost his life due to dishonesty and the perpertrators – prosecutors working in the name of our state government – will walk.

Shame on Hoke and Graves. Shame on the State Bar. I honestly wonder how any of them can sleep at night.