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Archive for March, 2005

The amazing and the ridiculous

March 22, 2005 1 comment

Whew!  After the Terri Schiavo post I need something ridiculous to get past that “serious” feeling and here it is:

Man dies stealing copper wire at substation
It might seem ghoulish to get such a laugh out of someone dying but you just have to marvel at how stupid people can be sometimes.  And here’s a couple more!  Over at that EmCee of Electricity, Mostly Cajun: Here’s some other times it happened.  These are real candidates for the Darwin Award.

And here’s an awesome, amazing, beautiful video: Delivery, by Till Nowak.  What an incredible bit of storytelling without a single word.(from SEB)  (Runs on Quicktime)

Categories: Humor

Terri Schiavo updated post

March 20, 2005 3 comments

I’ve been ignoring the Terri Schiavo case for a while now, but since the feeding tube was removed on Friday, it has come to a head.  Congress is holding a special session today – well, the Right wing of congress, anyway – to consider her case and try to get the feeding tube inserted. 

What is it about her that tugs at their heartstrings so?  Or is that what’s happening?  After all, Texas has a law, passed by gov. George Bush, that says if you can’t pay, and Medicare won’t pay, no feeding tube for you.  Not to mention… the “presumption of favor” for life doesn’t seem to extend to possibly innocent death-row inmates.  What’s going on?

Well first of all, let’s be honest about this:  Terri (who, like the rest of us, consists of her cerebral cortex – the center of conscious thought) is already gone.  She’s an organ-bank in a bed, so that’s not what they’re fighting about.  There’s no chance she’ll recover and everyone except her poor, distraught, exploited parents knows it.

No, it isn’t Terri, so something else is going on.  And that something is precedent law.  By exploiting her case, the NeoCons hope to set a precedent that human tissue can have protection of law with or without the hope of consciousness.  It’s all part of a long-term strategy against abortion. 

I’m not keen on second-guessing other people’s motives but in this case it’s so transparent that it’s just unavoidable.  It is not about Terri because there’s no one by that name living there anymore.

There are two terrifying aspects of this case:

- Federal intervention in state issues
- Federal intervention in personal issues

NeoCons like to complain that governments over-regulate big business, and they’re mostly right about that.  But they want to have that cake and eat it too, where it means over-regulating individuals.  No one’s asking, Who the hell asked them to step in my most personal decisions?!!

Imagine: from conception to grave, decisions about your very existence will be made by remote interests in Washington.  No matter what your religious convictions, that should at least give you a cold shudder in the night.  Brr!

I know many people who live in fear of being “hooked up to machines” and Terri’s situation is the reason why.  One guy had “Do Not Resuscitate” tatooed on his chest, and who can blame him?  How many different ways do we need to say; “I would rather die than live like that!”  Do we have to put it in smaller words?

Notes:
Image swiped from Pharyngula kind of says it all. 

Go read PZ Meyers’ analysis there if you want to know what the image means to someone who knows a lot about brains.

Majikthise: Lies Terri Schiavo’s parents told me

Dispatches: on Terri Schiavo

Reason and Liberty: Schiavo and the meaning of a government of laws

I was hoping ***Dave would weigh in on this and he did not disappoint, making the best comment so far:

…if I were to lapse into a Persistent Vegetative State, I would trust my wife ā€” hell, I would trust my previous wife ā€” to choose the best course for me, both per se and far, far, far more than Iā€™d trust Bill Frist or Tom Delay or George Bush (or anyone of either party living part-time in Washington)…

Update on Tuesday: Congress passed a law that proclaims “We are all politically spineless jerks who couldn’t give a damn about separation of powers, and president Bush signed it.”  So far it looks like federal judges are refusing to overturn Florida’s ruling, however.  More details as they come in.

Wednesday:  it looks like despite Congress’ illegal $35m session and Frist’s & Bush’s grandstanding, that the federal courts are refusing to reverse the decision of the Florida courts.  This is as it should be. 

Hopefully it will be over soon.  Rest in peace, Terri. 

Categories: Issues, News

What kind of sprinkler?

March 19, 2005 2 comments

Maybe I’m being overly literal but this one always cracks me up.  Hey!  It’s a wet sprinkler system!  Those are unusual!

Categories: Humor

Lawsuit idiocy

March 17, 2005 Comments off

Did we need more proof that the entire world has gone insane?  We do?  OK: Bad haircut costs Oregon school district $10,000

Yep, you guessed it: they cut a kid’s hair and his mother sued.  The school settled because of “the inordinate cost of defending” and now the mother worries that the incident will cause animosity.

Bad haircut costs Oregon school district $10,000
The Associated Press / Seattle Times 17 March 05

WILSONVILLE, Ore. ā€” Sally Miller says she might have been grateful if a school employee had given her son a good haircut. Miller, however, threatened to sue when her son returned home with “next to nothing” on his head.

The West Linn-Wilsonville School District recently agreed to pay Miller $10,000 because the employee cut the 8-year-old boy’s hair without permission.

The boy, who is in the district’s special education program at Cederoak Park Primary School, got the haircut Oct. 11. The case was settled last month, but its documents were not released until The Oregonian filed a public records request.

“First I was shocked,” Miller told the newspaper. “Then I was embarrassed that I didn’t have the money to get him a haircut. And then I was mad…I thought, ‘What nerve. How invasive.’ “

The single mother said she tried to keep her son’s hair looking neat.

“There was one stinking day, and I’m not lying, that I didn’t brush his hair,” Miller said.

Superintendent Roger Woehl said Wednesday the employee was wrong to play barber.

“If someone needs a haircut, we’d be more than happy to go into our wallets to give them 20 bucks.”

The district’s insurance company paid the $10,000 settlement. Peter Mersereau, the district’s attorney, said the district does not admit any liability for the hairdo.

“We settled this case primarily because of the inordinate cost of defending,” he said.

Miller said the episode has strained her relationship with her son’s teacher and instructional assistant. She said her son has received an excellent education at the school and hopes it continues.

“There’s still a lot of animosity,” Miller said. “I don’t want any more hurt feelings.”

Did you notice?  She would have been grateful if the haircut had been good.  But they cut the kid’s hair too short for her liking, so she sued.

If you watch the FOX animated series, King of the Hill,, you know the character Bill Dauterive’s motto:  “It will grow back.”  Bill’s a fictional Army barber.  Unfortunately the lady in Oregon who sued for her son’s haircut is real.  Let’s see: ten grand is a teacher’s assistant, or janitor, or safety guard for four months.  It’s ten computers.  It’s probably all the periodicals the school library receives in five years. 

Categories: News

No wonder they lost the Cold War

March 17, 2005 2 comments

I collect slide rules, and last week did some horse-trading for something uncommon – an East German artillery rule.  It is about 40 years old and was used by fire control officers to calculate firing coordinates. 

This thing is a delight to behold – the frame is cast aluminum and the scales are on aluminum disks with clear plastic cursors.  This would be the equivalent of a straight slide rule 28 inches long, which should deliver easy 3-place accuracy and pretty good 4-place eyeball calculations (or one part in ten thousand).  Those commies really went all out to make a nifty, indestructable computing device.  They tried so hard, except -

It isn’t accurate.  It’s off by nearly one part in three hundred…

…and what’s worse, that error varies along the scales.  Some areas are more accurate than others, depending on the exact combination of scales you’d use for that particular problem.

If you’re a foot-soldier and your artillery is firing (hopefully) over your head, that knowledge may not be a comfort.  But maybe the degree markings on the cannon itself are just as bad and they’ll cancel each other out – heh.  “Incoming!!!”

Can’t you just imagine someone in a meeting at the state-owned company that made it, thinking: “This thing is not accurate.  But I’d better not say anything.  The manager is a party official!”

True, the US military has its share of technology projects that don’t work (V22 Osprey comes to mind) but those are pretty cutting-edge stuff.  Slide rules have been around in one form or another since the 1600’s.  None of the other rules in my collection – not even the cheap ones – have accuracy problems.

Commie-era Soviet-block technology is often shoddy, with rare exceptions.  Ditto for most of the stuff I have seen from pre-capitalist China.  (Yes I know, they’re a communist country.  They are gradually morphing into a capitalistic country.  No need to fire a shot – the almighty buck will accomplish what guns could not.)

Communism threatens its citizens with a pretty big stick, but where’s the carrot?  No matter how hard you work, it doesn’t matter.  Under capitalism, the “stick” amounts to bankruptcy and lawsuits, but the carrot… nobody beats capitalist carrots.  Our carrots are sweeter and crunchier than anyone’s.

This rule’s getting its own display frame!  I enjoy the sense of smug superiority I feel when I see it.

Notes:

I got the rule from Walter Shawlee at Slide Rule Universe, which is a feature of his company, Sphere Research.  There’s lots of fascinating reading and information on slide rules there, and slide rules for sale too.  Regarding this slide rule, Walter says:

my confidence in soviet block technology has never been high, this item is no exception.  notice how tough it is to turn!  I can just see some artillery corporal out in the field banging on this thing in frustration and cursing, as he struggles to get it to calculate something.

Here’s another good slide rule page: Eric’s Introduction to the Slide Rule.

Categories: Geeky, observations

Damn it

March 16, 2005 5 comments

I’ve been a pretty fanatical biker since, oh, 1971 when I got my first 3-speed Schwinn.  Gears changed everything.  Sure, I like to drive cars (especially old VW’s) but a bicycle seemed like my ultimate urban assault vehicle.

That changed last August when I had an accident.  I remember toolin’ along on a sunny day, feelin’ fine, and then waking up in an emergency room, annoyed because it was going to ruin my whole afternoon.

Then I moved, maybe a centimeter, and realized it was going to ruin a whole lot of afternoons.  But hey, my head would stop bleeding, my shoulder would heal, and I’d be back on wheels in no time, right?

Not so fast.  With help from a physical therapist at Carle, I’m trying to retrain my balance (which was simply excellent before the accident.)  Today, I went into Tom’s Sporting Goods to look at helmets.

Now the fact is, helmets are not as clearly a Good Thing as people think they are.  Sure, it seems simple, but if you look at data from Australia and England (where bike helmets are mandatory) there are some puzzles.  Briefly, I am concerned that a helmet might mean trading a head injury for a neck injury.

My doctor (and nearly everyone else) just brushes off that concern: “Not true.”  But he’s the same guy who prescribed Phen-Phen for me a few years ago and whose medical judgement has been pretty flaky in a couple other cases as well.  He goes for the official, pamphlet-approved answer.  Sometimes I feel like I could just skip visiting him and take pamphlets off spinning racks in the lobby.

But OK – FINE – after multiple concussions in life, I guess I have to play the odds differently now.  Too much scar tissue in that grey blob already.  My short-term memory is a stack of index cards in my shirt pocket as it is.  And I really, REALLY want to get back on my bike.

But my balance isn’t good enough to stand there looking at a display of helmets.  I realize I’m swaying significantly.

Damn. 

I walk out of the store.

“Did you find what your were looking for, sir?”

I’m not planning on giving up or anything, but it’s very, very, very annoying.  That’s three “very”s.

Categories: Personal

Self-help from Scientific American

March 15, 2005 2 comments

The April SciAm reports that two researchers have found out why people procrastinate: “…they idealize the future, expecting they will be less busy then.”

Translated into language I would understand, it means: “Do it now.  Tomorrow will suck just as bad as today does.”  I’ll be just as busy, just as tired, just as uninclined to do paperwork as I am right now.  Well that makes sense.

And you thought self-help advice only came from those obnoxious “7 Habits” people.

Ignoring the adage “Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today” is all to easy.  Gal Zauberman of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and John G. Lynch, Jr., of Duke University may have found out why:  people idealize the future, expecting they will be less busy then.  In surveys of 900 volunteers, they found that respondents could not guage their future supply and demand of time as well as they could of money.  If they lack knowledge of upcoming tasks, people ask as if new demands will not inevitably arise that are as pressing as those that currently exist.  When tomorrow changes into today, people discover they are too busy to do everything they promised.  The findings were finished in time for the February Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.
- Charles Q. Choi, pg. 32 of April 2005 Scientific American

Question:  which self-help gurus do you find most annoying?  I think the “Chicken Soup” series is the one I hate the most, though “7 Habits” would be a close contender.  Anyone have other nominees?

How about self-help gurus you DO like?  Despair, for example.

Categories: Humor

Not getting ANYTHING done this vacation

March 15, 2005 Comments off

I’m taking a week off to rest, and planning not to get anything useful done.  I just got a copy of Paul Graham’s Hackers and Painters, plus a copy of Knoppix Hacks, plus a new Science News, a new Scientific American, I’m halfway through this month’s MIT Technology Review,  then New Scientist arrived, and today I just bought The Incredibles on the 2 DVD set.  Heh heh!

Yep.  Gonna be a great vacation.

Categories: Personal

Sam Harris

March 15, 2005 4 comments

…Moderates in every faith are obliged to loosely interpret (or simply ignore) much of their canons in the interests of living in the modern world. No doubt an obscure truth of economics is at work here: societies appear to become considerably less productive whenever large numbers of people stop making widgets and begin killing their customers and creditors for heresy…
Read more from Sam Harris’ “End Of Faith”

I may have to get this book,  if only to see if he really does understand the faithful.  I suspect he does not.

Via RA

Categories: Reviews

The really bad news at McDonald’s…

March 14, 2005 5 comments

You’ve heard that McDonalds is planning to outsource their drive-through-window communications to a call-center in North Dakota, but have you thought about the terrible news behind that item?

Call center professionals with “very strong communication skills” could help boost order accuracy and ultimately speed up the time it takes customers to get in and out of the drive-thrus, the company said.

“You have a professional order taker with strong communications skills whose job is to do nothing but take down orders,” said Matthew Paull, McDonald’s chief financial officer.

Let me see if I understand this correctly. McDonald’s employees’ communication skills are so poor they’re experimenting with a call-center to handle lunch orders?

Ouch.  McDonald’s should sue our public school system.

Here are the numbers:  about five percent of orders have errors, and it’s seriously cutting into their business as customers are understandably upset.  The call-center charges the franchise 28 cents for – and shaves about five seconds from – each transaction.

Categories: business, News, observations