Happy Fourth

At the risk of sounding unpatriotic, or attracting unwanted attention from the NSA agents who are undoubtedly monitoring this blog, I must admit that the Fourth of July has never meant all that much to me.  As a lifelong academic, for whom summers have largely been "work optional," I don't even necessarily get the standard excitement one would associate with an extra day off.  Still, I suppose I should take a moment to express some gratitude for the fact that I live in a free country with a functioning, democratically elected government, and where said government doesn't arbitrarily monitor or detain its citizens.

Well, close enough.