Let’s Go Viral June 16, 2008January 4, 2017 SECOND QUARTERLY ESTIMATED TAX DUE Just a reminder: it must be postmarked by tonight. FIGHT THE SMEARS Whatever your political leaning, I know you to be a person who values the truth. Maybe you preferred Bush v. Gore – but I hope it wasn’t because you thought Gore claimed to have invented the Internet (he didn’t) or did something wrong at ‘the Buddhist temple’ (he didn’t) or any of the rest of it. Maybe you preferred Bush v. Kerry – but I hope it wasn’t because you thought Kerry purposely shot himself in order to get a medal. (Or because, like a majority of Bush voters, you thought Iraq had a hand in attacking us on September 11.) So please bookmark this site: fightthesmears.com . It may prove to be the most important site of the campaign. Let’s not make the mistake again of electing the wrong guy based on misinformation. SO SAYETH THE REPUBLICAN-APPOINTED CHIEF JUSTICE Excerpts: California Chief Justice Ronald George is prepared for the voters’ verdict on his ruling legalizing same-sex marriages – but whatever comes this autumn, he says it won’t be long before most Californians accept equal rights for gays and lesbians as a matter of course. In an interview about the court’s May 15 decision overturning the state’s marriage law, George drew comparisons to another historic 4-3 ruling 60 years earlier that struck down California’s ban on interracial marriage. That ruling is no longer controversial, but it was a different story then. The 1948 court was far ahead of public opinion both nationally and in California, where 16 years later the voters amended their Constitution to authorize racial discrimination in real estate sales. Both the state’s and the nation’s high courts later ruled that initiative unconstitutional. “I suspect it will not take as long for the public to adjust to the idea of gay marriage as it did to racial equality,” George said. One reason, he said, is California’s increasing diversity. “When people count among their friends, as I do, gay individuals, and have friends who have gay children, and mix with a number of ethnic groups, I think it’s much harder to demonize in one’s mind any kind of minority,” he said. . . . TRIPLETS Bob Fyfe: ‘[Per your question last week], the probability of at least three people sharing the same birthday in a room of 23 people is approximately 1.3%. To have greater than 50% probability, you need 88 people in the room.’ ☞ I was all set to write back and ask how Bob did the math, but then I saw that he is with Texas Instruments (maker of those amazing calculators), so I’m just going to take his word for it. (But if you do want the math – trust me, you do not – click here.) TELEPRESENCE Ken Hoerner: ‘I was day dreaming the other day [before reading last week’s clip of two guys talking face to face on a California stage, except one was actually in India] and maybe this is the technology to make it happen. I picture myself at a ‘live performance’ of say Bruce Springsteen at Giants Stadium, but instead of a miniscule figure on a stage with large video screens off to the sides, I see a ‘Telepresence figure’ of Bruce and we could make him 30 or 40 feet tall for all to see.’ ☞ Great idea. And he wouldn’t even have to be there. He could play a year-long world tour all in one night. GO VIRAL So how about sending fightthesmears.com to 10 friends and asking them to do likewise? Who runs the country, and thus, in no insignificant measure, the world, turns out to matter. It would be nice if the electorate made a well-informed decision.