A New Hope

For the first time in a long while, I saw something today that gave me a spark of hope for humanity.

As I ran into The Food Point (on the corner of Broad and Castle in Philly. Go there if you can, Nick and Andy are awesome people) for my morning coffee, I passed a copy of the New York Times. I didn't recognize the paper right away, and at first, I thought it was a science magazine. I instantly recognized the so-called "baby picture of the universe." On the front page. Of the New York Times. I didn't have time to pause and read the article, as I was hauling ass to make it to work as close to on time as possible, but being an admitted nerd, I'm familiar with the general idea. It turns out, through the wonders of scientific discovery, that the universe is a full hundred-million years older than we originally thought. That's a one followed by a shitload of zeroes (yes, "shitload" is the accepted scientific term).

This is not the actual thing that gives me hope, as awe-inspiring and thought-provoking as it is.

The thing that gives me hope is that in a world besieged by celebrities behaving badly, having babies, tripping over things, making social faux pas, and wearing clashing clothes - where gossip is the new news - the NYT took time out of their busy schedule, shoved a dozen paparazzi aside, and reported something ground breaking... something that matters.

The fact that science has trumped the latest celebrity fuck up, gives me hope.

The fact that a major media outlet has focused on a major scientific discovery that actually matters, instead of the sex of princess what's-her-name's baby, gives me hope.

Seeing something beautiful, and positive, and fascinating in the news, instead of the same old body count and gossip mixed with reports on the addled brains of our politicians, gives me hope.

Happy Friday, folks.

Make it fucking count.