La Familia Brophy

Spring is on it’s way. It’s hard to believe in Boston, since there was snow on the ground this morning. But this weekend the first flowers bloomed in our garden.

Check out this article from Saturday’s NY Times. It’s a little disturbing, I’ll warn you. The reporter interviews some soldiers about killing civilians. The interview can almost be summarized with these two quotes:

“We dropped a few civilians,” Sergeant Schrumpf said, “but what do you do?”
“I’m sorry,” the sergeant said. “But the chick was in the way.”

Sergeant Schrumpf and the rest of the troops shouldn’t be there. Are these soldiers going to be able to cope when the war is done? After fighting like this does the US still think the Iraqis are going to celebrate their liberation? There was an Onion headline last week “Dead Iraqi Would Have Loved Freedom” that was too accurate too be funny.

[via becky]

We attended the antiwar rally on the Boston Common. I was impressed at how many people were there (view image). The speeches I heard were by high school students and hip hop artists. I didn’t hear many speeches because we were a ways from the stage, and the wind distorted the sound. I was impressed by the broad demographics of the crowd, representing all ages and races. Here’s a photo of Lisa, Nathan, Andrea and I at the rally.

Well today Nathan had a check up with Dr Moses. He weighs 16 pounds and is 26.25 inches long. He weighs twice as much as he did when we met him in Cali!

Even more exciting is all of the new things he does. The most impressive is how if he drops a toy he turns and looks for it. It used to be out of sight out of mind. He is also beginning to push up on all fours. Before we know it he will be tearing around the house getting into all kinds of things!

This morning we pulled out the magic pajamas. Take a look at the difference:

I have been listening to a couple of songs by DJ Spooky lately. My favorite protest song is right now is Not In My Name a DJ Spooky remix of an oration/poem by Saul Williams. I believe it is licensed for free redistribution so feel free to down load and email to your friends.

Speaking of freely copying data, I just finished Free as in freedom : Richard Stallman’s crusade for free software by Sam Williams. Richard Stallman started the Free Software movement, and a lot of his work was fundamental in the creation of Linux. He is a long haired unix extremist, a real live old school hacker. There are lots of old school hackers left at MIT, though i think they may be endangered species outside of this microclimate.

In the evenings Lisa and I have been watching the first season of Six Feet Under. I went to college with Michael Hall, and it’s weird to watch him on TV (this doesn’t qualify as another bout of name dropping, because I never spoke to him in college, and would have forgotten all about him is he hadn’t popped up on TV). Great show, I love the trend of putting TV shows on DVD.

Becky’s site has a link to the ‘Military Operation Name Generating Device’ which spews out randomly generated operation names for you. I got ‘Operation Ireful Teacher’ which i think I’m actually a veteran of. OK, time to get working.

We just got home with the new car. It’s so exciting to have a new car that I feel a little sick to my stomach. I don’t have a photo of our own yet but you can see the dealers photo and description. I was sad to watch the old golf leave, it was the car that got me to college and back after all. It served us well. I can’t wait to take a trip in the new car.

I’m freaked out from the war coverage. I am looking forward to the academy awards (for the political acceptance speeches, the food (calzones, root beer floats), and the arguments over who will win and how much they didn’t deserve it). Nathan enthusiastically consumed a little bowl of oatmeal and pears. We bought a new car yesterday, a slightly used 2003 VW Passat Wagon (silver, turbo 1.8, tiptronic transmission). I can’t wait to drive that car again. I’ll surely post a photo. Nathan calls.

I stopped in at MIT’s protest against the war with Iraq today. I wish I could have stayed longer and joined the march downtown. I saw my Mom and her friend Wayne there, and they were hanging with Noam Chomsky. My mom re-introduced me (I was 12 last time I talked to him). We all talked about the relations between the Turkish Kurds, the Iraqi Kurds, Turkey, the Turkish minority in Northern Iraq, the Iraqi regime, and the US government. Actually, Noam did most of the talking. For a few minutes the geopolitical forces effecting Northern Iraq were crystal clear in my head. I never had it all pieced together for me, and now I think I get it.

There is a peace rally on the Boston Common on March 29th at Noon. I’m trying to organize a posse to meet up there. It seems more fun to go to a protest if you know people there. I don’t think there is anything wrong or politically incorrect about having fun at a protest, btw. Want to come? Let me know.

I got a cell phone yesterday. I got it partly so we can leave Nathan with a baby sitter without (Lisa) worrying so much. Also, I am often a little behind schedule and now I can call ahead and say I’m on my way. And Tim’s is so cool I needed to have one, too. Indeed, I got the exact same one, the Sony Ericsson T68i. It can synch address books and calendars with my computer wirelessly - very cool. It can also to text messaging, check my email and surf the web. When we watch DVDs on the computer, I can use the cell phone as a remote control. I haven’t figured out how to do most of that yet, but I anticipate it. I’m going to be such an annoying cell phone user. I love being able to make phone calls while I’m waiting or the bus. I was on the phone with Tim, when famed photographer Graham Ramsay walks by talking on his cell phone. Graham and I stood about ten feet apart until we were both done, and then spoke in person. All this stuff is still new to me. Fun fun fun.