Random Gnus
Anything in the news
Now relegated to Blogblivion...Monday, September 26, 2005
Rest In Peace Don Adams
I’m sad to see the news that Don Adams has died. I loved Get Smart when I was a kid.
Thursday, September 15, 2005
Google Blog Search Feeling Underfed
When I heard about Google Blog Search, my first thought was to wonder how they would find all the blogs to include.
Sure enough, we are not included.
Looking at their About page, there is a FAQ, and items 5 and 6 address the matter. You have to ping an updating service, which we do, though weblogs.com has been wonky about accepting pings lately, and now blogrolling.com has joined them in that fine endeavor.
You also have to have a working site feed.
Oops.
In Firefox (you are using Firefox, right?), near the lower left there is an orange and white icon if a site has a working feed. For instance, PoliBlog has it. That lets you add a “live bookmark.”
Note the lack of one if you’re on our site.
Oops.
Yeah, so, we’ve been totally ignoring that failure on the part of our blogging software, since we don’t really have much of an understanding of or appreciation for the whole “feeds” thing.
We also have been meaning to update our Expression Engine to a newer release Real Soon Now. So my hope is that said update will make the feeds EE so prominently “includes” (note the links near the top of our right column) as a feature work.
If not? Help me Obi-Readers… you’re my only hope.
Anyone know how to make this fecal cuss work?
Well, this blows.
It’s going to be like an ugly noreaster with gusts to 50-60 mph on the outer Cape and northeast part of Nantucket. The Vineyard and parts of the Canal will see gusts to 40-45 and gusts to 30 mph are possible all the way to Boston. Beach erosion is a given, and coastal flooding is possible. So much for beach weather…
In the storm’s wake, the weekend is wet and cool. I know I promised a sunny one, but that was on Monday (and Tuesday...and OK, Wednesday). We’ve set up a complaint department: send your emails to ophelia @ iskunkedyourweekend.com
Check back for updates through the day.
We are not, of course, where the wind will be bad but it looks like everyone will be getting wet. The one weekend the whole summer it decides to rain and we’re supposed to be moving. Argh.
Oh, well. We certainly need the rain. What ya gonna do?
Sunday, September 11, 2005
September 11, 2001
I’ve decided to paste my post from last year, but before I do, I would like to note the America Attacked site that Ith linked. It’s a memorial of pictures and stories.
This is what I posted before:
I may or may not post any further commentary besides this. I, too, remember it vividly, and was changed forever by it.
Actually, for commentary here’s what I wrote about my 9/11/01 memories last year:
I got up and fired up the computer per usual. I checked e-mail, probably wrote or replied to some. Basically seeing if anything from clients is in and needs to be addressed.
Then I hit the Internet Explorer button, bringing up my home page of MSNBC. There it was, “breaking news,” the picture of the first tower after it had been hit. I didn’t immediately think of terrorism as I should have, but really my first thought after “oh my God!” was “this must be on TV.” I literally ran to the living room and clicked on NBC. As usual, I flicked back and forth between channels, but largely I watched the Today show at first, where Katie was talking and speculating as they aimed the camera at the tower, with not a great view of the damage to the first one. Remember too, initially nobody had video of the first plane hitting, and it was a scramble.
I was glued to the TV. Then I saw the second plane come along and ghost into the other tower live as it happened. That is when I knew it was terrorism. Everyone did.
For me, not having family in the military or in the area, it wasn’t as personal as for some people. But it was still an attack on my country.
I have to say, I couldn’t get enough of seeing the planes crash, of seeing the towers collapse, of seeing the scene on the ground. On some level it’s like the thrill of watching a hurricane in action; sort of a rush. At the same time, I was angry. I was sad. Seeing it over and over, eating up all I could, fed and intensified that feeling, and that was what I wanted to feel. I was very much in “make the Middle East a parking lot” mode. Then of course there was the desire to get every detail of every event and every nuance, as soon after it was available as possible. I think the thing that really got me was the collapse. I was imagining too vividly being stuck in the building when that happened.
In addition to TV, I kept running to the computer, attempting to see what was on the web, but mainly going on a newsgroup or two, refreshing regularly, seeing what was posted by people all over the country. Usenet performed well that day. While I was at it, I kept e-mailing the receptionist at my big client, seeing what was up there, and reporting to her what I saw breaking on TV, such as when the towers each collapsed, keeping her up to date. The rest of the office pretty much ended up huddled around the TV, which was moved from the 2nd floor break room to the large conference room on the 3rd floor where more people could see it. Then most people went home early. I think they officially closed early and even the receptionist went home.
It wasn’t until after noon that I remembered I had a VCR and blank tapes. Duh. Had I been thinking, I’d have been recording from the time I first tuned in. So I recorded more than 8 hours of mostly repetitious footage which, despite not being able to get enough the first day or two, I have never watched again except right after, enough to tell that it recorded okay.
I remember how much pure speculation there was. There were four planes hijacked, no, five. Airforce One was a target. The White House was a target. No they weren’t. It was a mess, in a way, but we needed as much as fast as we could get it, and it got corrected and updated along the way until it was an accurate picture.
I remember being impressed with the fact that every channel was carrying the news, from some affiliate or another. I don’t have cable, but I normally get at least 12 channels watchably. One is always a shopping channel. One is a shopping channel that at night shows movies dubbed in Spanish. Those had news. I could actually watch CNN on broadcast TV; amazing. Even for the most important stuff, there are usually holdouts. This wasn’t merely important; it was world changing. I knew that… probably about the time of the first collapse.
The day wasn’t for me what it was for some people, but I will sure as hell never forget it, starting with seeing that picture on MSNBC and running for the TV. I cried and cried all day. I get very emotional that way, and have too much empathy. Then I would start crying again those first days afterward, every time I saw a flag, and especially masses of flags. Same thing when all the pictures of spontaneous gatherings of mourners paying tribute all over the world appeared.
And I was angry. Out for blood. I still can’t imagine anyone in this country blaming us for the attack, or thinking our response was too strong.
Finally, more pictures:
Hurricane Frequency
In perusing the September archives to see what I posted last year for 9/11, I found this fascinating post by Deb, made all the more intriguing by recent events.
Saturday, September 10, 2005
Weather Nerves and Other Moving Stuff
It seems that most of our moving will take place next weekend, the 17th and 18th. The weather has been mostly fantastic for a while, even running at nice temperatures along with the dry and sunny. I’d been thinking it’d suck if it rained when we wanted to move, even though we could go during the week and/or the following weekend if needed. Our truck is open to the weather, and the 18’ truck with a lift my brother can borrow from work is too.
Then, as it gets closer, I see this:
Doh! Ophelia remnants… rain! And being what it is, could it really last but a day or two?
I just made myself feel better by looking at the 10 day from weather.com and seeing this:
Yay for mostly sunny!
The other annoying thing is the temperatures for Monday and Tuesday keep going up, and it’s a lousy time for us all to need to hang out at the office to stay cool. Indeed. On Monday I have to go to Middleboro, not pass Go, not do anything else first, and order gas and electric service. It can’t be done over the phone and I haven’t made it down there yet. Makes me almost miss the big utilities, but the municipal utilities are cheaper. It needs to change over on (or before) the 15th.
I already ordered the phone service and DSL. Phone turns on the 19th, and off here the same time. DSL could turn on as late as the 29th, which could suck. However, in my experience they set expectations way out there and then it usually happens much faster. Meanwhile, it’ll be dialup and/or the internet at the office. Verizon made me an “Encore” customer, which I hadn’t paid much attention to until I called and got red carpet service. Even better than normal for Verizon, a company with which I have traditionally been quite pleased. There is a call center dedicated to Encore customers, and the service rep doesn’t just put in the order, but follows it and makes sure it happens successfully.
While I was on the phone with her, I got info on their satellite dish bundle. We can have a dish at the new place if we want. Basic service, 140 channels, is $35.99 a month. Scads more stuff is $39.99, with the first few months on sale at $33.99 if ordered by November 5th. We’re waiting to decide, but Deb looked up the basic service online and it was impressive. Tons of stuff for the kidlet, which is the main reason we’re even considering it.
Anyway, enough rambling. I have to go drive all over creation and go do some work waiting at the office too. Maybe later or tomorrow you’ll get a packing-inspired post about 8-track tapes…
Friday, September 09, 2005
Katrina
When we went to the midwife appointment on the 6th, I was reminded that one of our favorite nurses in the office is named Katrina. She filled in last year for one of the non-stress tests, and with the midwives one time we were there. Normally she worked for the OB we never dealt with or even met… until he was the one on call who ended up delivering Sadie, of course.
She was all excited to learn we were expecting again, and to meet Sadie. This was the first time most of the people in there got to meet her.
I said “you must be getting a lot of ribbing.”
“Wha- Oh, yeah, let’s not even go there! It hasn’t stopped.”
Poor Katrina. Can you just imagine?
Saturday, September 03, 2005
Rest In Peace Your Honor
Via Aziz Poonawalla at Dean’s, Chief Justice Rehnquist has died.
Life gets more interesting by the day.
Best Quote From A Blog Post Ever
Also possibly the best post on Katrina ever.
Thursday, September 01, 2005
New Apartment
So. More about the apartment...
Last night we did the paperwork and put down the deposit for the new apartment. About the only thing we hadn’t known so far was the availability date. It’s ours as of the 15th. I have to call the current landlord today and give them notice. We’ll have some overlap, which is useful for winnowing out stuff we shouldn’t keep and haul to a new place.
It would have been nice to have lower rent. We pay $1050 now, including the $50 extra for water usage for the washing machine. The new place is $1050, but it’s so much bigger and nicer.
It’s a second floor of three. The first floor people have been there 28 years. The third floor people have been there a few. There are a couple of satellite dishes sitting on the roof of our bay window in the living room, which told us we could have Dish Network if we wanted. The highest speed DSL is available.
At least two of the five rooms are bigger than our biggest room. The kitchen is big, so we will be able to have a table there now. Gas stove, dishwasher, decent looking refrigerator; all seemingly newer and nicer than what we have here. There’s a bit more counter and cabinet space. The bathroom is close to double the size; plenty of potty chair space. The tub takes a curtain rather than door, which makes for easier cleaning and kid baths. Last night I told Sadie she can have baths in the big tub when we move. She’s getting kind of big for the baby tub. In fact, the overall apartment seems to be nearly double the size. The two small bedrooms are around the size of the bedroom the three of us use now. The master bedroom has a walk-in closet. There are lots of windows. It’s bright and airy. There are ceiling fans in three rooms.
The living room and master bedroom have hardwood floors. The other two bedrooms are carpeted. The kitchen and bathroom are tile. The whole place is wallpapered. There’s plenty of room for books, including many of them where Sadie won’t be able to abuse them so readily. There are laundry hookups in the cellar, and minimal storage space. We officially have two parking spots, but the landlord thought we might be able to squeeze another car in if needed. Interestingly, it’s a long driveway and the spots are along the right side, in order by floor. First floor is right by the road, then us, then third. In theory, that divides the snow shoveling in three.
Middleboro has municipal gas and electric, so that should be cheaper than in other towns. Being on the second floor and apparently better sealed, heat would probably cost less even without that.
We fell in love with the place immediately, and pursued it aggressively to cut out any competition. We saw it Monday, hand delivered the application and credit check info Tuesday, got accepted Wednesday, and signed the lease Wednesday night.
The fun continues. I have to call the landlord and formalize our notice and all. We are paid through the 13th. We have to give 30 days notice. I am assuming I can pay them the 17 days and be done end of month. If they really wanted to be difficult, which isn’t like them in such things, they’s make us pay through a full additional month, to October 13. We have to arrange for the utilities at the new place, and to end them at this place. We have to pack. Despite having literally dozens of boxes already packed, we’ve only just begun. We have to get rid of stuff.
Between this and work, blogging may continue to be light.
One amusing thing about the new apartment is that it is “around the corner,” really almost literally across the street, from my brother’s ex and his five kids. It’ll presumably mean I see much more of them, but their mother probably won’t appreciate it. Oh well. We weren’t looking to be so close; it just turned out that way. On the other hand, part of the reason for focusing on Middleboro was to be closer to my nephew and his wife.
We’ll be closer to Super Wal-Mart. We’ll miss being near Roche Brothers. There are other conveniences. It’s 17 miles from the office, about a 17 minute drive, rather than about 8 miles and a 10 minute or so drive. It’s all very fitting, as I was born in Middleboro, but never lived there. My first doctor was in Middleboro. He’s the one who saved my life by sending me to Boston when I had meningitis. The landlord’s wife was delivered by the same doctor and he was her doctor when she was young. That’s so cool. But I digress. I think Sadie helped us get the place by charming her. Heh.
Yay for a better apartment!
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
NOW can we all agree that this guy is an asshole?
Turns out there’s more to the rude doctor story I mentioned here. John Cole has the update:
The state is investigating a doctor accused of telling a patient she was so obese she might only be attractive to black men and advising another to shoot herself following brain surgery.
“Let’s face it, if your husband were to die tomorrow, who would want you?� the state Board of Medicine says Dr. Terry Bennett told the overweight patient in June 2004.
“Well, men might want you, but not the types you want to want you. Might even be a black guy,� it quoted him as saying, based on the woman’s complaint.
[snip]
In a telephone interview Tuesday from Rochester, Bennett denied any wrongdoing and defended his message to her, saying he has read polls that say black men prefer overweight women.
That would explain the medical board folks’ interest.
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Social Engineering: Your Mileage May Vary
Glenn caught up with us on the whole SUV issue. Even if you saw his original post, it’s worth returning as he has added massive amounts of links and reader e-mails, focused largely on the safety constraints issue we keep bringing up whenever the “why should anyone need an SUV or minivan” crowd rears its ignorant head.
We’re getting along with the Sentra for now. However, to go to Plymouth last week, we put the stroller in the trunk, and that’s become its new home. It lived in the van, but since that was supposed to be hauled away for possible repair…
The stroller takes the entire trunk. All of it. Barely fits. I had to spend several minutes completely rearranging the tools and such (Deb observed “you’d be a great person to get stranded with."), and had to remove a little of it. The trunk as it was would hold several bags of groceries, or something like a jumbo box of diapers and a few bags.
So. No more trunk.
The car seat takes up almost half of the back seat, in the middle, which is both easier and safer than to one side. If I am alone, there’s plenty of room for stuff, though enough of it and I’m still working around the presence of the car seat. If we are all in the car, we have the space on either side of the car seat, and maybe a little room at Deb’s feet. We’ve had Sadie pretty well surrounded by stuff a couple times.
Now add another kid.
No more room in the back seat. Maybe a diaper bag or two on the floor, but that’s it. They are required to be in car seats or boosters until an absurd age or size, which takes that much more room.
Granted, the specific item taking up the trunk now needn’t remain there, but space there remains limited for stuff that isn’t people. In the longer run, it only barely computes for two small kids. Never mind if there are twins lurking in there, or if there’s a third later. Heck, I’ve seen what it looks like when my sister, brother-in-law, two kids, and all their stuff for traveling are in a minivan. It’s full.
We’re not in the days of the baby riding on mom’s lap in the front seat anymore. All the more so with those dangerous airbags saving us from ourselves. We’re not in the days of the kids tumbling around the back seat any which way. We survived it when we were kids. Ditto for riding in the backs of pickups, as we did many times. That was even kind of a treat. Was it safe? Probably not. Should we encourage people to try to be safer? Sure, no harm in that. Should there be massive regulations propping up the car seat and SUV industries? Not on my planet; maybe on yours.
On my planet, there’s the market and the minds people were born with to weigh costs monetary and otherwise.
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Google Talk
I meant to point out, seen via Rob Sama late last night, that Google has indeed gotten into instant messaging (and voice) as has been speculated it would. Intriguing.
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
You’ll never get a date looking like that!
I’m not sure what’s more absurd in this story: that a doctor would consider it motivational to talk to someone that way or that the target of said lecture actually filed a complaint against him with the state board.
If you hate your doctor that much, don’t report him...find a new doctor. I would, if mine talked to me that way.
As for the doc, I’d love to know whether he actually gets results with that lecture. Seems unlikely to me, but I’m an obese female, so what the hell do I know?
Bizarre all the way around, in any case.
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
First Sign of Fall
The supermarket has chrysanthemums out for sale.
You Thought The Kelo Outcome Couldn’t Be Worse?
Via Charles, New London has taken theft to a new low in the aftermath of the absurd Kelo case outcome.
What a disincentive to fight a taking, if this stands! You can fight it and take them to court, but if you do, the value you get is frozen as of the date they originally tried to steal your property, and you owe them rent. When it falls out in their favor, they get the property for even more below the market value, and subtract rent at market value.
Not acceptable. I hope they go to court all over again with this bit of idiocy. The possibility that a taking will be contested and the market value of the property will increase during that time is the price the private developer government pays for our freedom to contest their right to do the particular taking, or to do it for the particular price.
Read the whole article. It’s most enlightening, in a disheartening sort of way.
Kelo-related posts:
Will The Supremes And Bad Lawyering Perpetrate A Constitutional Travesty?
United States Constitution, 1788 - 2005: Promise Unkept
Bad Precedent
Additional Kelo Fallout Thoughts
Will the Money Be Followed?
Kelo and Raich: The Root of the Supreme Court Problem?
Olek V. New London Case
Kelo and "Fair" Value
Boycotting Can Be Hard
Becker and Posner on Kelo and Eminent Domain
Kelo, IOLTA and Drugs - Oh My
Sama on Kelo, Disney, and Boston's West End Tragedy
Was Kelo The Lost Battle That Won The War?
You Thought The Kelo Outcome Couldn't Be Worse?
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
What he said.
Discovery made it back safe and sound. Good. Now, let’s mothball the shuttle and get on with better things.
We are capable of more than that.
I’m damned glad they got Discovery down, and I hope to hell it never goes up again. The shuttle program should have gone the way of the dodo years ago. It’s long past time to start spending all that money on a version of the space program that might get us somewhere someday--literally.
Monday, August 08, 2005
Autism As Extreme Male Brain
Via Ann Althouse, guesting at Instapundit, there is a superb NY Times piece on the possible cause of autism.
It reminded me of this article, The Geek Syndrome, that I linked long ago, and that piqued my interest in Asperger’s Syndrome and the autism spectrum. The two articles and points fit together neatly. The “male” or type S brain is more geekly, and so two particularly geeky parents implies two type S parents, leading to a greater chance of autism in offspring. Autism becomes defined as extreme male type brain.
What’s intriguing is that there’s been some research to back up the conjecture, as you’ll see on the second page of the NY Times article. As Simon Baron-Cohen says:
One needs to be extremely careful in advancing a cause for autism, because this field is rife with theories that have collapsed under empirical scrutiny. Nonetheless, my hypothesis is that autism is the genetic result of “assortative mating” between parents who are both strong systemizers. Assortative mating is the term we use when like is attracted to like, and there are four significant reasons to believe it is happening here.
FIRST, both mothers and fathers of children with autism complete the embedded figures test faster than men and women in the general population.
Second, both mothers and fathers of children with autism are more likely to have fathers who are talented systemizers (engineers, for example).
Third, when we look at brain activity with magnetic resonance imaging, males and females on average show different patterns while performing empathizing or systemizing tasks. But both mothers and fathers of children with autism show strong male patterns of brain activity.
Fourth, both mothers and fathers of children with autism score above average on a questionnaire that measures how many autistic traits an individual has. These results suggest a genetic cause of autism, with both parents contributing genes that ultimately relate to a similar kind of mind: one with an affinity for thinking systematically.
Fascinating stuff.
Sunday, August 07, 2005
Rest In Peace Peter Jennings
We happened to catch a snippet of retrospective on TV a short time ago, then confirmed he had indeed died as expected. Not much to say here apart from linking the story. He was an institution, and it’s sad for anyone to die that way.
Sunday, July 31, 2005
Housing: Small Is Beautiful
Via Peter Davidson, who has some interesting thoughts on them, and whose blog you should be reading regularly anyway, a company named Tumbleweed Houses that makes tiny yet functional houses. Which, predictably, are low in cost.
When I was single, I was thinking I’d eventually get around to buying a hunk of land somewhere, probably up north, at least as a getaway spot I could camp on and maybe put a shack on. One of the Tumbleweeds would be handy for that kind of thing. Ditto if I were single and wanted to live simply and not spend 400k for a house. As their info page says, they are also used as backyard guest or in-law houses.
This relates neatly to a post that’s been in my head for weeks, but I’ll put that up separately. I have to go back to the office today, as e-mail still isn’t working normally. I sent a description to a mailing list I am on, where many of the people know Exchange well, but most of them read their e-mail at work and won’t see it until Monday. Thus there’s been nothing yet. Best I could come up with after another round is to remove and reinstall the internet mail connector portion of Exchange, then reapply the service pack. Meanwhile, we found one workstation that had 290 virus infected files on it. I was only able to clean it partially, so that needs attention. Doh.
On another note, many people live in campers year round, and that’s something I considered trying more than one. Probably would have, but at the times I was most tempted, I couldn’t have swung the price of a camper. I see the tiny houses as a similar compromise.
Monday, July 25, 2005
I must have angered the gods, somehow.
They’re resurfacing the road that runs behind our house. This not only awakened the baby before her time, but is producing an odor that is bringing the morning sickness that was nearly gone right back. Ah, the joy! Ah, the fun!
It’s Monday, isn’t it? Sheesh.
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Playgrounds are Not for Playing
Sometimes I really, really hate what this country seems to be in the process of becoming.
This is sad on so many levels, not the lowest of which is that this is taking place in the midst of a moral panic over childhood obesity:
Andrea Levin is grateful that Broward County schools care about her daughter’s safety. But this year when they posted a sign that demanded “no running” on the playground, it seemed like overkill.
“I realize we want to keep kids from cracking their heads open,” said Levin, whose daughter is a Gator Run Elementary fifth grader in Weston. “But there has to be a place where they can get out and run.”
Broward’s “Rules of the Playground” signs, bought from an equipment catalogue and displayed at all 137 elementary schools in the district, are just one of several steps taken to cut down on injuries and the lawsuits they inspire.
“It’s too tight around the equipment to be running,” said Safety Director Jerry Graziose, the Broward County official who ordered the signs. “Our job was to try to control it.”
Also out of favor are swings, merry-go-rounds, teeter-totters, and sandboxes.
Via Overlawyered who picked up the story from Abstract Appeal.
Monday, July 18, 2005
Now that’s humid!
According to weather.com, right now in our location the dewpoint is 77 degrees, making the relative humidity 85 percent.
Of course, I knew this already, since I took a shower a short while ago. Had to get yet another fresh towel because the one I used yesterday was still too wet to use again.
On the plus side, my skin looks awesome.
Friday, July 15, 2005
More on mandatory health insurance
Thre’s a good back-and forth developing in the comments on this post about forcing people to buy health insurance. Steve has also posted a follow-up expanding his argument a bit. He seems convinced that since some of us disagree with him, we must not have understood his post. Or perhaps I’m not understanding this one?
In any case, the elaboration is helpful. And believe it or not, I read the whole entire thing!
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Damned stupid, irresponsible, non-rich people!
Looks like Steve Verdon and Mitt Romney think alike. All those damned irresponsible people who don’t buy health insurance need to be dealt with:
Believe it or not there are people out there who don’t buy health insurance on purpose. I think we should basically make such behavior punishable (yes, as in, “I’m sorry, you are just too stupid on this decision so the act of making a decision has been taken away. Now, pick your health insurance or we’ll get really nasty.")
After this baby comes, our health insurance bill every month will be more than our rent. And we don’t exactly live somewhere cheap. (N.B.--That’s without prescription coverage.) A couple grand a year that we likely won’t even qualify for isn’t going to help. Jay recently figured that our total healthcare expenses for the year will run over $11,000. You’ve got to make a hell of a lot of money before that becomes manageable. It’s insane to tell people that a significant percentage of their income just went “poof!” because you deem their choice of how to spend it *stupid*.
And you know, I object philosophically to the gubmint setting people’s spending priorities for them. To some extent they already do, since you have to pay your taxes before anything else or you can wind up in a pretty unpleasant situation. But the solution to the failure of one government program is rarely to institute another one, and that’s what this crazy-ass scheme does.
I also really hate to see anything that discourages self-employment and business creation, and you bet your sweet ass if it becomes a criminal matter not to carry insurance, and individual coverage continues to cost what it does, people like us are going to have to shut down the shop and go to work for the man. Going out on your own will be far too risky if another 10 or 15 percent or more of your income is dedicated to what the government says you must spend it on. That money might be the difference between getting off the ground or not, and it is not *stupid* to take the risk of getting sick in that time and use the money elsewhere. If you’re terrified that someone else might wind up paying, then make it impossible not to pay medical bills the way it’s impossible not to pay your tax bill or your student loans. But leave people the choice.
You know, I’m going to stop, because I could go on about this all fucking day. It’s wrong on a lot of levels, but I take it really personally because I live down here in the part of reality where living without insurance is an option that has to be considered. When it’s that or giving up a business that you’ve poured years of your life into, it doesn’t seem that bad. When it’s that or not paying the heating bill, it seems even better. And you’d better bet that if it ever gets between food and my babies’ mouths, I’ll tell anybody who tells me that I have a moral obligation to society to pay my health insurance bill first to go do something anatomically impossible with themselves.
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Safety Madness Strikes Again
Maybe this is nothing more than a sign that my cynicism is reaching unhealthy levels, but nothing about this surprised me one bit:
Even a quick look at the FARS data reveals a striking result: among children 2 and older, the death rate is no lower for those traveling in any kind of car seat than for those wearing seat belts. There are many reasons, of course, that this raw data might be misleading. Perhaps kids in car seats are, on average, in worse wrecks. Or maybe their parents drive smaller cars, which might provide less protection.
But no matter what you control for in the FARS data, the results don’t change. In recent crashes and old ones, in big vehicles and small, in one-car crashes and multiple-vehicle crashes, there is no evidence that car seats do a better job than seat belts in saving the lives of children older than 2. (In certain kinds of crashes—rear-enders, for instance—car seats actually perform worse.) The real answer to why child auto fatalities have been falling seems to be that more and more children are restrained in some way. Many of them happen to be restrained in car seats, since that is what the government mandates, but if the government instead mandated proper seat-belt use for children, they would likely do just as well / without the layers of expense, regulation and anxiety associated with car seats.
Now I’m not about to start a crusade to end car-seat use, but we have got to get a grip on ourselves. Really. Because the booster seat thing has gotten right out of control. Here’s a map showing the current laws. In Wyoming you have to be nine years old and weigh eighty pounds before you can legally ride in a car without a booster seat. That’s just nuts. It imposes a huge cost for a marginal--or nonexistent--increase in safety.
And hey, don’t forget...if you’re under twelve, you can’t ride in the front seat because another government mandated safety device might kill you.
Being a kid just isn’t what it used to be.
I still hate Matchbox 20.
But I suddenly like Rob Thomas a whole lot better. Heh.
Was Kelo The Lost Battle That Won The War?
I haven’t posted about Kelo lately, but the matter is far from over. You might even say that the political process and the various balances of power are working as they should. Which is not to say it should have required a landmark case and near universal outrage for action to flow in the direction of property rights.
Via Alphecca, via Nashville Files, SCOTUSblog reports on the continuing fallout from Kelo.
The powers that be in Connecticut have placed all local eminent domain plans on hold pending possible changes to the law. This is great:
Rell was harsh in her criticism of the Supreme Court. “This issue,” she said in a statement Monday, “is the 21st Century equivalent of the Boston Tea Party: the government taking away the rights and liberties of property owners without giving them a voice. But this time it is not a monarch wearing robes in England we are fighting—it is five robed justices at the Supreme Court in Washington.”
Referring to the Court’s ruling in the New London case, state Rep. Michael P. Lawlor, a Democrat, told reporters in Hartford: “The legal case is over, but towns in our state exist by virtue of state law...theoretically, we could tell them to stop if that’s what we wanted to do.” In an account of his remarks, the New London newspaper, The Day, quoted Lawlor as saying: “I think we all agree that we want to draw a line to make it impossible to seize private homes simply to benefit a private developer. We want to prohibit it.”
Heh.
Perhap Susette Kelo lost the battle, but in doing so has won the war, benefitting us all.
Kelo-related posts:
Will The Supremes And Bad Lawyering Perpetrate A Constitutional Travesty?
United States Constitution, 1788 - 2005: Promise Unkept
Bad Precedent
Additional Kelo Fallout Thoughts
Will the Money Be Followed?
Kelo and Raich: The Root of the Supreme Court Problem?
Olek V. New London Case
Kelo and "Fair" Value
Boycotting Can Be Hard
Becker and Posner on Kelo and Eminent Domain
Kelo, IOLTA and Drugs - Oh My
Sama on Kelo, Disney, and Boston's West End Tragedy
Was Kelo The Lost Battle That Won The War?
You Thought The Kelo Outcome Couldn't Be Worse?
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Now that’s more like it!
I know, I know, my whining about the weather is getting boring. But the average high temp for July here is 81 degrees. We don’t have air conditioning. Ninety-something so much of the time sucks, especially with the whole morning sickness thing going on. So pray or send vibes or whatever it is you do to affect the weather, ‘cause there’s a chance that it might actually be nice for a week or so. See:
Monday, July 11, 2005
Awwwwwwww.
Isn’t this just the cutest little nine-week-ultrasound baby pic you’ve ever seen? Ever?
I’m so glad that all is well. And a big WOO-HOO! to that change in due date, girl! 