Vicky and I sat in traffic, stood in lines, rode the metro, hopped off the metro for a desperation pee-break (for me), stood in more lines, rode more metro, shuffled forward for hours in massive crowds, and mostly missed all but bits and pieces of Jon Stewarts closing speech for the Rally to Restore Sanity, but the point wasn’t to be entertained, the point was to be represented. With best estimates of 215,000 attendees, we were adding ourselves to a show of support for reasonable discourse in American politics.

Rally Stage

This was a rally with strong roots in geek culture, from the initial petition calling for a rally to take place on 10/10/2010 (Powers of 10 Day) to raising half a million dollars for DonorsChoose in support of classroom projects, there was a heavy geek vibe to this movement.

Happy Super-Duper-Mega-Maxi-Utra-Omni-Uber Awesome Powers of Ten Day!!!

10/10/10 is not only an entire power of ten more awesome than the other 99 years’ worth of 10/10 days in this century, 101010 is also the meaning of life in binary! Take a moment of silent reflection at 1010 AM, for yet even two more powers of awesomeness (within your timezone)!

The History of Exploring Powers of 10

Begin with the 1957 book Cosmic View, The Universe in 40 Jumps by Dutch educator Kees Boeke, which used illustrations and text to zoom out from a girl holding a cat, inexplicably sitting next to a blue whale. The linked website has all the illustrations and text for exploration.

Cosmic View