Today’s Google homepage wishes a very happy (yet maybe ironic) 123rd birthday to Yosemite National Park. Too bad that it, like all of our national parks, are shut down because of the current impasse in Congress.
Le sigh.
Those of you asking what the geek connection is here? Well, first, it’s Google. Second, some of us geeks do ocassionally go outdoors. And Yosemite is one of those great places to do that, even if it’s just on a short break from your conquests in Azeroth or Hyrule or GTA V.
And who could forget Captain Kirk free climbing El Capitan in Star Trek V? “Because it’s there.” And the campfire singalong with Kirk, Spock, and McCoy? (Ok, a lot of us, since any sane person has surpressed most of the memory of that film) Regardless, it’s clear that even in a future of starships and transporters and free, universal health care that Yosemite remains an important, iconic place, unspoiled because some of us brightly decided to put it off limits to development so that everyone could enjoy.
And, who can forget one of the most epic rants in the history of television, which gives the answer that maybe the only thing that makes America the greatest country in the world is Yosemite?
And because one good Newsroom clip deserves another, here’s one of Sloan Sabbith reminding us that she makes nerds gooooood.
Ok, I’m sorry, I was momentarily distracted by Sloan Sabbith.
Yosemite? Back to Yosemite.
It’s amazing. As is Zions. Yellowstone. Big Bend. Canyonlands. Arches. Glacier. Denali. Shenandoah. Grand Tetons.
And The Smithsonian.
And NASA.
All shut down today. Happy birthday, Yosemite. We’ll see you again when we finally get our act together as a country.