Secede! Succeed! Secede!

Do you have conversation nuggets? You know, little tidbits of information that you think are freakin' fascinating which you can insert into conversations when they are dying or when you want to really impress a girl? Well, I've moved on from "Gravity Train" (what's a gravity train, you ask?! It's fascinating...) to "Vermont Secession."

"Vermont Secession?" you say.
"Yes," I say. "There are folks in Vermont who want to secede."
"How many people, about?"
"Oh, at least thirty, I think."

The whole thing is interesting because 1) Vermont was actually an independent country for 14 years, until it joined the United States in 1791; 2) secession might actually be legal, according to the Constitution (or, more specifically, according to what the Constitution leaves out). The realists point out that it'll never work (for a number of reasons), but it sure is interesting to think about. Salon published a good article about it here. Anyhoo, if I see you anytime soon, and the conversation hits a lull, don't be surprised if I whip this nugget out.

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One of the reasons Vermont probably can't secede, people say, is economic. Some states, like the awesome California — actually, probably only the awesome California — could manage quite easily on its own, money-wise, but Vermont is itty-bitty! Well, there are plenty of countries much smaller than Vermont. Vermont, in fact, should it secede tomorrow, would have the 81st largest GDP in the world. Not huge, but I think it's quite respectable.

I got that number from this sweet-ass map of the United States, which replaces each state name with that of a country with a similar GDP, and which was posted on this sweet-ass blog website, http://strangemaps.wordpress.com. Chiggity-check it out, motherhumpers!

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Postscript: I believe that this is my first blog post without a title in French. That's because this post is the first to have nothing to do with my trip to Paris last month. Don't worry, I've still got Europe tales to tell, and I will be publishing them here soon, but I also want to transition this space into a regular, boring, day-to-day blog. I'll probably keep the blog title, "Je m'amuse," because it is accurate and it is appropriately pretentious.

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P-p-p-postscript number two: This blog post needs some color. Shazam!

This kid is my nephew, Kaz Despres (by Eli Despres, out of Kim Roberts). As you can see, he is fairly adorable, and he is growing up fast. I don't get to see him as much as my parents or my sister, and he is much more comfortable around them. It is really frustrating. He's got a nickname for my sister Elizabeth — he calls her "Eeebee" — and last weekend (at our family reunion up in Anacortes, WA), he just kept asking "Where's Eeebee? Where's Eeebee?" He knows I'm "Uncle Chris", but he doesn't like me. Kim swears that's not true, and I know she's right, but it's tough. So, anyways, I was joking around and being self-deprecating, and called myself "Uncle Jerk" in front of Kaz. Well, one thing that this kid is really good at right now is repeating things. So he starts calling me "Uncle Jerk." We'll see if it sticks. I can't decide whether or not I want a nickname enough to be happy about that. What do you think? Is it an endearing nickname?