Subfusc Image
andy| May 22, 2008 3:23 pmThis photo totally scared me
Other posts related to weird
Sounds Fustian?
andy| May 5, 2008 9:43 amWhat is up with politicians anyway?
Clinton wants to be more conservative than conservatives, so she wants to remove gas tax. Well, beside the fact that this would increase profits of oil companies. There is actually not many people who think this is a good idea. Including economists. However, Clinton wants to follow footsteps of her predecessor, President Mountain Biker (sorry mountain bikers) and do things that don’t make any sense. Why don’t people instead think a little bit before taking that next car drive?
That said, there are bright people on both sides. Bachman is an interesting character. She wants to save the environment by proposing similar idea with no rational support. She is pro-life, but she also wants to be pro-choice. That is pro-choice to use polluting light bulbs or not. Her “argument” is that mercury in CFL light bulbs is toxic (which is true) and that it will take over the world and enslave all the people. That said, the fact that coal power plants put so much mercury in the air is ok.
Instead of all this mess, why don’t people switch to sun-light and LED light powered by solar energy? Here in California most days there is enough sun outside that every office space would be illuminated by properly channeled sun-light.
Finally, what is up with statements that there was no terrorist attacks on the US soil since 9/11? Politicians are using this as an excuse for taking away civil liberties, torturing people, sending more money to their companies. But as far as I remember, there were several terrorist attacks in the last couple of years. The last one happened in San Diego. Also, here you can see several terrorist attacks against abortion clinics in years 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004. And there is an unsuccessful suicide attack in 2006. So, why don’t these terrorist attacks count?
Fortunately, there are alternatives to these “smart” politicians. I just wish people would vote based on the actual issues and not based on some sad popularity attributes.
I Must be Purblind
andy| October 15, 2007 3:20 pmThis is super weird… I just found an ad on the banana. This reminds me to the ads on the toilet paper in Germany. Don’t you want to be the person in the store who gets a piece of toilet paper with coupon for 50 cents of the can of beans?
My Life Is Moribund
andy| February 11, 2007 12:21 pmWhy do I get so much spam? And I am not talking only about spam e-mail. I mean everybody gets it. But I am talking about a large amount of paper we get every day and we have to shred it.
Well, let’s start with the two that got me all rioted lately. First one is some letter from this crazy church. Let see, if I would want to go to that church, I would probably find it without them sending me spam. Second, shouldn’t church be against polluting the environment with, well, dead tree advertisements. Finally, aren’t churches typically so poor they have to ask people for money? I don’t see NPR or PBS stations sending me weekly reminders that they exist and I should tune into them.
So, this churches sending people over and sending food to my shredder, are annoying. Why send so many of them? Well, whatever…
The second spam mail is one that I just got recently. It was a letter from AARP telling me that now is the best time for me to join. Though I am getting pretty old, my twenties were finally over, but I thought they are pushing the retirement age further and further into the future. Looking at the trend, I think I will probably never retire.
But, apparently AARP with all its financial problems is now asking relatively young people to join. Well, maybe I am not that young after all. Perhaps I am just a moribund young looking man.
Pejorated Society
andy| October 4, 2005 1:40 amThere are several day to day things that just throw me off. Interesting example of is the traffic laws in this country. I guess it is not much better somewhere else. Maybe some countries have more elaborate laws or higher punishments, but overall this are extremely funny. So, I could be writing about how in Italy a man can be arrested for wearing a skirt, or that it is illegal to kiss on the French railway, but hey, I am here, so I will write about this place.
Turns out there is a great number of people that die in car accidents every year. And for some reason the major causes of this, according to the message the media and government is sending, are speed and not wearing the seat belt. Ok, I can imagine a scenario where speed will cause an accident. For example let say I am driving really fast, and I cannot make a turn, or I cannot stop in time, or something similar. Ok, I buy that, but seat belt? Now, don’t get me wrong, I use it every time, but what is the worst thing that will happen if I don’t? I guess I can die, but I think if this is my decision to die, people should respect that and let me. I guess I can imagine a scenario where not wearing a seat belt will make accident bad. Let say the driver is launched through the window and he hits somebody.
So, what is this rant all about? Well, my question is why is there not more emphasis on the more obvious causes of accidents. For example, how about driving through red light, or passing over solid line, or, and this one may strike close to home, not use the signal. It turns out that there is no real emphasis on that. I see people at least once a week driving through a red light, or pass over the solid line. I would say about 30% of people do not use their signals at all.
I guess the priorities are important. Everybody will drive 55 miles an hour on the straight four lanes highway for hundreds of miles, wearing seat belt, but when you come to suburbia, all bets are off. People will disregard the signs, ignore the laws, and so on. And you wonder why most people die close to home. Well, nobody lives on the highway these days.
Another interesting one is the one about very obvious signs (black on white, about the size of notepad), such as “Slower Traffic Move Right” and “Do Not Drive On Shoulder”. The image on the right was taken today on the local road. As you can see, there is actually not only state law, but also an actual sign that people should not drive on the shoulder. But here you see at least three if not more cars doing just that. And all this just to save ten seconds wait. Now add to this the fact that our lovely suburbia with on average 1.5 acre per lot does not have enough space to put a decent bike path or sidewalk anywhere. That means that all pedestrians and cyclists have to share the road with people like the guy in the dark Buick.
I guess overall the problem with the society is that it is getting pejorated enough to just want to solve complex problems using simple solutions. It is easy to blame all the accidents to a simple problem like speeding. But at least in my reality, it is never that simple. Speeding can make accident worse, and not wearing seat belt will make your chance of survival smaller. That said probability of causing an accident by driving fast or by not wearing seat belt seems much, much, smaller than by driving through a red light or outside the specified lane (passing or driving on shoulder).
