Category — General

investing on fear:
A serious item to ponder is the acceptable radius for ground transportation. In the NorthEast Corridor, many of us find Amtrak a viable alternative to the airlines. It wouldn’t take much to create attractive bus service – examples exist. My guess is that ground alternatives to flying are viable for trips up to 300 miles.
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if this happens, i suspect we will see the rapid expansion of airline-clubs… that is a new broker in the airline industry that provides private jet type service to clientelle who buy the jet and hire a pilot. so… instead of paying delta to fly you to europe, you would join a club, the club would ‘vet’ you and you would pay your ownership costs and fuel costs and fly to europe without being hasseled.

First They Came For the Nail Clippers….:
So can someone tell me where the madness is going to end? My back of the envelope says about as many people die in the US every month in highway accidents than have died in all our domestic terrorist incidents in the last 50 years. Untold numbers of people in the US are eating themselves to death and dying of heart disease, diabetes, etc. — I think that number is something like 750,000 people a year? Even with all the terrorist bombings of planes over the years, it is still safer to travel by plane than it is to drive to the airport, and it is even safer to fly than to walk!
At some point, we’re going to have to accept that there is a difference between real security and Potemkin security (or Security Theater as Bruce Schneier likes to call it), and a difference between realistic threats and uninteresting threats. I’m happy that the police caught these folks even if their plot seems very sketchy, but could we please have some sense of proportion?

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yes, when are they going to realize that ’security’ isn’t about the masses, and their need to feel comfortable with the appearance of security, nor is it an after-the-fact reaction to security. security is knowing that if one of the .00000001% of the people who have something in mind that will harm many people, they will be interdicted.

Dehydration a worry for some travelers – Yahoo! News:
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration is allowing passengers to carry on essential nonprescription medicines, such as insulin, as well as baby formula and breast milk for infants. But Ensure is not permitted, said Christopher White, a

TSA spokesman.
“While we understand these restrictions may cause inconveniences for some passengers, it is important to aviation security that we limit the exceptions,” he said.

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let me be very clear…. these restrictions are complete and utter bullshit. they are reactionary and have no real basis to add to the security of a flight. if there is concern that a few people were going to mix liquids to make an explosive or other device, and you arrested those people, then restricting people after the fact, will not make things more secure. the capacity for a person bent on creating an explosion in an airplane is diminished slightly, true, but it is not alleviated through this measure. in the end, the tsa is just being silly if they think this does anything other than inconvenience and endanger passenger far beyond the initial threat, especially from a utilitarian perspective.

“Nancy Drew addicts don’t get sent to rehab”:
Good quote of the day from CNet, about the contention that young people become video game “addicts.” [Link]

“If a little girl spent hours reading Nancy Drew books, no one would send her to a book addiction clinic, because people perceive books as nutritional,” said Jason Della Rocca, executive director of the International Game Developers Association.
Full story here.
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gamers do get sent to rehab…..

Welcome to Pottersville: Enough is Enough:
Yeah, I’m talking to you, the one shaking half-naked by the phone that you can barely see through the 8-ball hemorrhages in both eyes, fearfully debating whether to call that rape crisis hot line or battered womens’ shelter or whatever balm that could be provided courtesy of your damned liberal democrat lawmakers.

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this is an essay paralleling the treatment of an american ideal with a battered wife. It is a bit tough, but an interesting parallel. The question that this brings to my mind…. is the typical one ‘Just how does the current administration convince the population that what they are doing are actually good for the population?’ It has a good deal to do with the modern reaganite mythology of america. But it is a myth, ’small government’, ‘free enterprise’, ‘christian nation’, ‘evil world’, ‘nebulous and hidden enemies’…. they are all fictions that cover disturbing truths about what the real policies are.

Governors bristle at Bush Guard proposal – Yahoo! News:
The nation’s governors are closing ranks in opposition to a proposal in Congress that would let the president take control of the National Guard in emergencies without consent of governors.

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the guard are part of the first amendment… citizens bearing arms, or… citizen-soldiers. if we believe that the u.s. is a federal system then bush’s proposal is way out of wack.

tonight i went scouting for a cellar replacement. I may have found one, we’ll see, but they have no food, so bleh. First i walked down broadway scouting things for a bit. then, i decided let’s try closest to home in astoria and hit the NUA club/bar at the base of my street. It was interesting. i busted my finger on the seat, but past that they had a good international beer selection, no great beers thought. They are seemingly a punk bar, that’s the music and hair styles, and have some pool tables and other entertainments… It was all good, but not really my friday relaxifying mode. The i went to doyles corner pub which was more of the relaxifying mode, but it was purely irish, i heard many a brogue, none seemingly affected, so that is a plus, but they don’t have a broad beer selection and had a share of power drinkers, though it is a cool joint, and it might be great for watching the odd football game. They ordered out for fries and chicken from the chinese place across the street as a snack for the crowd. All in all the second was more of my bar type experience, but not… quite for me all the time.

My office won’t be ready until around the 1st ;0 and my dsl is off at home, so I’m currently using my phone for email and my office for the web…… such is life. My neighborhood is really nice in astoria ny, best buy and home depot are within walking distance, but broadway has everything one might need. I’m not done unpacking, though, i’m probably not going to finish unpacking my books for a long time, i think i brought to many for this apartment, we’ll see.

I received my first fresh-direct order yesterday and made a nice shrimp stir-fry last night. Not much new there, it is nice to get groceries delivered though, as there are a ton of organic and fresh choices, though… I have to admit that the plums aren’t as ripe as I’d like… oh well, at least the shrimp were.

so the move went well, I’ll have the pictures of the new place when i get things sorted. It is pretty nice and my landlord was extremely helpful in getting things done yesterday. It took about an hour to unpack the truck with some help from the Pratt metal shop. We unpacked on the hottest day of the year, drank quite a bit of water. Now I just have to unbox my stuff and get my office and bedroom setup. Then i have to get some groceries… My dsl isn’t up yet, so i’ll be offline most of the time. It comes on tomorrow night supposedly. (yeah right). Other than that, things are going pretty well, I’m going to swing by the office in a bit and take care of some business and after that I’ll wait for my landlord to call and say everything is finished at my place then i’ll head back home and work on the apt. some more.