Archive for January, 2006

2006.01.21

Universal Health Care in San Francisco?

Somehow this slipped past my radar and I’m surprised I haven’t heard more about it in the various media… Supervisor Tom Ammiano has proposed a measure that would require any business or non-profit of more than 20 people to pay health insurance. Read more about the details on SFGate.com.

What a patently stupid idea. The idea is OK; get more people insured in an age when too many people have no coverage at all. The execution borders on the insane. SF has an economy that is shaky enough as it is. Too many of the businesses make borderline profits as it is, if they make any profit. These businesses would not be in business if they had to pony up an extra $400 or more per employee. Too many of the employees don’t even live in the city as it is.

This isn’t a bright idea. It will make SF even more expensive to live in, to do business in, and I will oppose this proposal. Supervisor Ammiano is an idiot if he thinks this will help the city. This is hanging a dead albatross on the bow of a listing ship.

2006.01.21

“Something In My Nose”

Yesterday NHK had an encounter with an unfortunate woman standing in front of a church. She was obviously not in a good way. I don’t know if she was homeless or a drug addict or both, but she was blowing her nose on the sleeve of her jacket. It was obvious looking at the material on the sleeve she’d been at it for a while.

“There’s something stuck in my sinus passage,” she said as she tried to get it out on her sleeve yet again.

I don’t know what was up there but I hope for her sake and the sake of her jacket that she got it out.

2006.01.18

People Pearls in the News

I just knew there had to be something to my idea of selling people pearls. Apparently William Shatner feels the same way:

Star Trek actor William Shatner has sold his kidney stone for $25,000 (£14,000) to an online casino, to raise money for a housing charity.

OK, so who wants to start an online business selling people pearls with me? (And thanks for the tip, Stinky Pork Chop!)

2006.01.18

The Sadness Vampire

The sadness vampire lived a long time ago. Unlike other vampires who survive on blood he lived by sucking the sadness out of others. He did not like what he had become but hoped to become human again. He found the most depressing city he could find and fed well.

But the sadness vampire wasn’t immune to the depression of others. He sympathized with the depression of the humans he supped upon. He grew morose. He stopped feeding on the sadness of others and was very near death.

One day a very unhappy woman found him. He had been trying to hide in an abandoned building and she had gone there to kill herself. The instinct to survive took him and he fed and fed upon her sadness. She fainted and he fell asleep.

The next day the woman woke up in a curious state. She couldn’t explain how it happened, but she was happy. She smiled at the sadness vampire and he returned he smile. He had become human again by sucking all the sadness from the woman, and together they were happy.

2006.01.17

Riblet

I was at a restaurant the other week and on the menu was riblets. OK, I’m no connoisseur but I’ve never heard of these things. Therefore I came up with my idea of what they could be and decided riblets, to accompany the craze for frog legs, were frog ribs.

riblet riblet!

2006.01.17

Ursurpation of the Executive

Any who act as if freedom’s defenses are to be found in suppression and suspicion and fear confess a doctrine that is alien to America.A group called the Liberty Coalition sponsored a speech by Al Gore. I heard this on the news and didn’t give it much thought because Al Gore is one of the most boring speakers I’ve ever had to endure. Not his fault as it’s probably my aversion to Vice Presidents. However, his boring speeches tend to be great essays and I was not wrong.

One of the other ways the Administration has tried to control the flow of information is by consistently resorting to the language and politics of fear in order to short-circuit the debate and drive its agenda forward without regard to the evidence or the public interest. As President Eisenhower said, “Any who act as if freedom’s defenses are to be found in suppression and suspicion and fear confess a doctrine that is alien to America.”

Fear drives out reason. Fear suppresses the politics of discourse and opens the door to the politics of destruction. Justice Brandeis once wrote: “Men feared witches and burnt women.”

The founders of our country faced dire threats. If they failed in their endeavors, they would have been hung as traitors. The very existence of our country was at risk.

Yet, in the teeth of those dangers, they insisted on establishing the Bill of Rights.

Is our Congress today in more danger than were their predecessors when the British army was marching on the Capitol? Is the world more dangerous than when we faced an ideological enemy with tens of thousands of missiles poised to be launched against us and annihilate our country at a moment’s notice? Is America in more danger now than when we faced worldwide fascism on the march—when our fathers fought and won two World Wars simultaneously?

It is simply an insult to those who came before us and sacrificed so much on our behalf to imply that we have more to be fearful of than they. Yet they faithfully protected our freedoms and now it is up to us to do the same.

You can read the entire thing here. I know certain conservatives will complain about it (or dismiss it out of hand), but any true Republican has got to be worried about the continued usurpation of power by the executive branch by both parties.

2006.01.16

Cartography on the Blog!

Thanks to the very able Yongfook and one of his plugins, I’ve added a Google Map to this site. As entries that talk about specific places are added they will start showing up on the map. Very cool!

You can check out the current map by going to the new Cartography page.

2006.01.16

The Albatross Pub

If you’re ever in Berkeley you might want to go check out The Albatross. Billed as the oldest pub in Berkeley, they certainly feel it. What I like, though, is that they encourage you to play a variety of board games while you are there (or darts), have a non-stop popcorn machine that they encourage you to donate 25 cents towards when you grab a bowl, and that they serve excellently strong drinks. You can sit by the fireplace to warm up or in any of the old fashioned tables. I’ve been to the Albatross a number of times and never had a bad time!

2006.01.15

Question Big Brother

It might seem like I’m about to write a political post but really I’m going to sit back and admire the Czechs for making fun of what really deserves to be made fun of: reality television.

“It’s part satire, part education,” said Miroslav Bobek, the creator of the show, which put 16 cameras in a Prague zoo pavilion and let nature take its course over the last three months.

“The Czech spirit has always questioned authority. The authority in this case is the huge popularity of ‘Big Brother’ and other reality shows. Why are people sitting in front of their TVs watching these shows? I think people with limited intelligence watch them to fill their emptiness.”

I like how they take a piss* on fans of reality television, too. The irony of it is to do this they had to make a successful reality television show. At least the money will go towards an African nature preserve.

I miss Prague!

“Take a piss” is a variation the British “take the piss”. It means to make fun of or take advantage of someone. Go here, scroll down and read about it.

2006.01.13

MacBook Pro

I like the machine, but whoever came up with that name needs to be spanked. I have the feeling that if I ever get one I’ll still call it a PowerBook. At least they didn’t change the name of the iMac to something stupid like iMac Pro or iMacScreen or iComputer. Am I alone in thinking the name MacBook Pro is just stupid?