Friday we were listening to talk radio on the way home from ice skating. The host played a clip of Obama speaking about something, and it wasn't a prepared speech. After about the fourth sentence my daughter said "He uses a lot of umms, doesn't he?".
*snerk*
So, even though I would vote for a dead guy before I'd vote for Obama, here is my contribution to his election campaign:
GET A SPEAKING COACH!!! Dude, you've got to lay off the umms. You will come across as much brighter if you don't use them every fourth word.
Pauses are quite acceptable.
Pauses are wise and thoughtful.
Umms are not.
Monday, September 08, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Politics
I'll come right out and say that John McCain was not my choice for Republican nominee. I really wanted Fred. But Fred had this bad habit of refusing to make campaign promises that he cwuldn't have been able to keep if elected, and since false, unfulfillable promises are apparently what the American people want, he didn't stand a chance.
*sniff*
But I'm not going to cut off my nose to spite my face and sit out the election.
Obama scares me. He seems to have no grasp of reality. Today he said "Just this past week, we passed out of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, which is my committee,..." inspite of the fact that he is not, nor has ever been, a member of that committee.
So we either have
a) a man who states what he would like to be true as true, and who then believes what he's said to be true simply because he's said it,
or
b) a man who knows that what he says is a lie, but doesn't care, because he either doesn't think he'll get caught or else doesn't think the American people care if it's a lie.
Or perhaps it is some combination of the two.
Of course we say some of the same behaviours in Hillary Clinton, what with her dodging sniper fire and other tales, told simply because if true they would have made her look good.
Do we really want a habitual liar, whether or not he believes these falsehoods, as president?
*sniff*
But I'm not going to cut off my nose to spite my face and sit out the election.
Obama scares me. He seems to have no grasp of reality. Today he said "Just this past week, we passed out of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, which is my committee,..." inspite of the fact that he is not, nor has ever been, a member of that committee.
So we either have
a) a man who states what he would like to be true as true, and who then believes what he's said to be true simply because he's said it,
or
b) a man who knows that what he says is a lie, but doesn't care, because he either doesn't think he'll get caught or else doesn't think the American people care if it's a lie.
Or perhaps it is some combination of the two.
Of course we say some of the same behaviours in Hillary Clinton, what with her dodging sniper fire and other tales, told simply because if true they would have made her look good.
Do we really want a habitual liar, whether or not he believes these falsehoods, as president?
Revival - maybe
Going to try to revive this blog as somewhere I can put my current affairs rants, since if I put them on livejournal, I'll probably piss off various family members, who are staunch Democrats/Obama fans.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Diabetic guinea pigs
That's what I'm dealing with today. We have quite a few of the wee beasties at the moment (11 to be precise), and one of our older residents has been losing weight and drinking copiously the last six months. Other than that he seems to be a perfectly healthy pig.
So after some blood tests, we've got a diagnosis, and now have to decide on medication. There is always the old standby, injected insulin, but I don't look forward to injecting the poor little thing daily. He's going to squirm and he's so frail feeling at the moment I'll be afraid of breaking him trying to get the deed done. Also, it should be easier with a smaller guage needle, but trying to get an 18 guage for fluid sub-cues through a pig's skin is like trying to punch through leather. I'm pretty sure pigs must be related to moles in that regard. (I remember one of our cats lo these many years ago spending the better part of an hour chewing on her catch, and at the end of it all she had to show was a soggy squishy mole, without a single hole in it's hide.) So now I'm off to find dosages for glipizide, with which many guinea pig owners have reported success. Of course their reports don't include this pertinent piece of information.
Either way it will be fun to get more meds from the pharmacy with names like this on the bottle: "Albert Gui. Pig Smith".
So after some blood tests, we've got a diagnosis, and now have to decide on medication. There is always the old standby, injected insulin, but I don't look forward to injecting the poor little thing daily. He's going to squirm and he's so frail feeling at the moment I'll be afraid of breaking him trying to get the deed done. Also, it should be easier with a smaller guage needle, but trying to get an 18 guage for fluid sub-cues through a pig's skin is like trying to punch through leather. I'm pretty sure pigs must be related to moles in that regard. (I remember one of our cats lo these many years ago spending the better part of an hour chewing on her catch, and at the end of it all she had to show was a soggy squishy mole, without a single hole in it's hide.) So now I'm off to find dosages for glipizide, with which many guinea pig owners have reported success. Of course their reports don't include this pertinent piece of information.
Either way it will be fun to get more meds from the pharmacy with names like this on the bottle: "Albert Gui. Pig Smith".
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Does this make sense?
Something's screwy here. It's harder to get online access to school information about my daughter through parentconnect than it is to get to any of my banking stuff. If I forget a password, or the account gets locked, I have to go to the school office to get it sorted out. Of course the whole point of having this service is so that I don't have to go to the office, since I, as do many other parents these days, work full time, including all the hours when the school office is open. So to use the system that will keep me from losing work time by having to go into the school in person, I have to lose work time to go into the office in person. But to get access to all my bank info and send my money anywhere in the world, I can sign up on line, get the password online, and never once have to show a real person that I'm who I say I am. And it's not like this school info gives schedules or anything that would make it easier to stalk or abduct my child than what is already available to the general public on the school web site.
Aargh.
Aargh.
Friday, August 13, 2004
Kerry on the war
One of the things that's bothered me about Kerry is his attituted towards the war, and the military in general. I think it's safe to say that a large portion of the military doesn't think much of him. And then I find this piece:
http://www.redstate.org/story/2004/8/7/123128/4371 . If the author has done his analysis correctly, the conclusion is very worrisome.
There is a lot of feel good stuff there for those who don't like the idea that wars really exist and are sometimes necessary, and a lot of stuff, which if actually put into policy, would make the world a lot more unsafe for everyone, especially Americans, and especially Americans here at home.
http://www.redstate.org/story/2004/8/7/123128/4371 . If the author has done his analysis correctly, the conclusion is very worrisome.
There is a lot of feel good stuff there for those who don't like the idea that wars really exist and are sometimes necessary, and a lot of stuff, which if actually put into policy, would make the world a lot more unsafe for everyone, especially Americans, and especially Americans here at home.
Kerry
I don't think I really suffer from KDS (Kerry derangement syndrome, presumably the counterpart to BDS), but something about the man really irks me.
As I tried to point out to my sister, he's running his entire campaign on VietNam, and while that's all well and good, if he wants me to consider voting for him, he better be out there telling me what he's going to do for the country now. My sister assures me that he has plans, but they all seem to be buried on his website, and as the candidate he should be out there telling me, not making me do all the work to find out what direction he wants the country to go.
I have found some good stuff on his economic plan, though the people who did that apparently had to do a lot of digging themselves.
So go forth and read here: http://techcentralstation.com/081304C.html and then follow the links in that article. I don't think the author is really too biased; he's not in the Bush camp. Someplace else I've read that if Kerry's plans were to go through, over the next four years we'd be looking at an extra $6,000 in taxes per taxpayer. Now that's an average, and if you make at the lower end of the spectrum, your share would presumably be smaller, but still, that's the equivalent of losing two months af my husband's Navy retirement check per year for our family.
As I tried to point out to my sister, he's running his entire campaign on VietNam, and while that's all well and good, if he wants me to consider voting for him, he better be out there telling me what he's going to do for the country now. My sister assures me that he has plans, but they all seem to be buried on his website, and as the candidate he should be out there telling me, not making me do all the work to find out what direction he wants the country to go.
I have found some good stuff on his economic plan, though the people who did that apparently had to do a lot of digging themselves.
So go forth and read here: http://techcentralstation.com/081304C.html and then follow the links in that article. I don't think the author is really too biased; he's not in the Bush camp. Someplace else I've read that if Kerry's plans were to go through, over the next four years we'd be looking at an extra $6,000 in taxes per taxpayer. Now that's an average, and if you make at the lower end of the spectrum, your share would presumably be smaller, but still, that's the equivalent of losing two months af my husband's Navy retirement check per year for our family.
Pointless Political Rant
Trying a different font. Hmm.
Spent half an hour on the phone with my little sister yesterday. She lives out in SF, and is firmly entrenched in Blue State America, both physically and mentally. Not only has she actually said that Bush is Hitler, but she also thinks he is the anti-Christ, that Kerry is going to lower my taxes and the federal deficit, that Bush is going to raise my taxes and the federal deficit, that the only reason the Arabs hate us is that we support Israel (which I doubt is the reason that the Ottoman Empire was waltzing up to the gates of Vienna, or any of the problems during the period between WWI and WWII), and that the reason the Cold War lasted as long as it did is because we were in Cuba.
I understand the Israel thing, even if I think she's wrong. I've certainly heard enough other people spout that line. But where does the Cold War/Cuba thing come from? I have to admit that I don't know much about post WWII world history, but even my Blue State mother thought that was a rather odd comment, and my 20+ year navy vet husband's reaction was pretty close to twirling his finger beside his temple.
Oh, and by the way, we need universal national health care. I attempted to point out to her how much higher her taxes would have to be to pay for this, but all she could do is point me to the wonders of Canada. When I tried to remind her that Canadians die on the waiting lists to get in to see specialists, when here they would get in within a few weeks at most, all she could do was keep repeating that at least Canadians could all get health care. So I suppose the fact that we can all end up on waiting lists and die waiting is better than getting at least most people in soon enough to treat the disease process before it becomes terminal, since the triage for this is partly whether the ill person can afford the treatment. Not that I really know any doctor who will turn away a person who really needs his care. Physicians have no trouble with charity care; they do have a problem with having to basically be employees of a system which doesn't pay them a living wage, and which constantly interferes with their treatment decisions. Which last time I looked was considered practicing medicine without a license. But then I suppose that's OK as long as everyone gets free health care.
Just wait till she actually has a real job and has to pay real taxes. She may change her mind when she is trying to support a family of 4 on 50K a year in a place where rents are over 1K per month, and she is losing close to 25% of her paycheck in income and payroll taxes. That will leave her with barely 2K per month to pay all her utilities, her car payment, her insurance, her food, her clothes, a little bit of entertainment, and maybe actually put something away to pay for her retirement and her kids' college. The last thing I want is the federal government telling me they know how to spend my money better than I do, and not giving me any choice in the matter. Especially since the money they're taking right now for my retirement won't be there when I'm ready to recieve it, or not without some major restructuring, which neither of the main parties seems willing to do.
Spent half an hour on the phone with my little sister yesterday. She lives out in SF, and is firmly entrenched in Blue State America, both physically and mentally. Not only has she actually said that Bush is Hitler, but she also thinks he is the anti-Christ, that Kerry is going to lower my taxes and the federal deficit, that Bush is going to raise my taxes and the federal deficit, that the only reason the Arabs hate us is that we support Israel (which I doubt is the reason that the Ottoman Empire was waltzing up to the gates of Vienna, or any of the problems during the period between WWI and WWII), and that the reason the Cold War lasted as long as it did is because we were in Cuba.
I understand the Israel thing, even if I think she's wrong. I've certainly heard enough other people spout that line. But where does the Cold War/Cuba thing come from? I have to admit that I don't know much about post WWII world history, but even my Blue State mother thought that was a rather odd comment, and my 20+ year navy vet husband's reaction was pretty close to twirling his finger beside his temple.
Oh, and by the way, we need universal national health care. I attempted to point out to her how much higher her taxes would have to be to pay for this, but all she could do is point me to the wonders of Canada. When I tried to remind her that Canadians die on the waiting lists to get in to see specialists, when here they would get in within a few weeks at most, all she could do was keep repeating that at least Canadians could all get health care. So I suppose the fact that we can all end up on waiting lists and die waiting is better than getting at least most people in soon enough to treat the disease process before it becomes terminal, since the triage for this is partly whether the ill person can afford the treatment. Not that I really know any doctor who will turn away a person who really needs his care. Physicians have no trouble with charity care; they do have a problem with having to basically be employees of a system which doesn't pay them a living wage, and which constantly interferes with their treatment decisions. Which last time I looked was considered practicing medicine without a license. But then I suppose that's OK as long as everyone gets free health care.
Just wait till she actually has a real job and has to pay real taxes. She may change her mind when she is trying to support a family of 4 on 50K a year in a place where rents are over 1K per month, and she is losing close to 25% of her paycheck in income and payroll taxes. That will leave her with barely 2K per month to pay all her utilities, her car payment, her insurance, her food, her clothes, a little bit of entertainment, and maybe actually put something away to pay for her retirement and her kids' college. The last thing I want is the federal government telling me they know how to spend my money better than I do, and not giving me any choice in the matter. Especially since the money they're taking right now for my retirement won't be there when I'm ready to recieve it, or not without some major restructuring, which neither of the main parties seems willing to do.
Thursday, September 11, 2003
And you *really* want a British style health system?
If you want to read something rather horrifying go here: 90 week wait for a hearing test
I hate to think what would have happened to my two daughters with their ear infections, and hearing loss due to fluid buildup if we had been stuck with a system like this. The probably results would have been permanent hearing loss for both of them, due to the scarring from numerous ruptured ear drums, considerable pain for many years, and serious educational delays. And my youngest probably would never learn to speak properly (she has a developmental delay in her ability to control some of the muscles of the tongue, and at 5 1/2 (and with 3 years of speech therapy) she is still over a year behind where she ought to be in her ability to make various sounds.
I know that these year-plus delays are for non-urgent cases, but I doubt that it's really that much better for anything except an actual true emergency. Chronic infections will probably get you in to see the doctor faster than a general "dullness" in one ear, but there's still going to be a long wait. I recall reading recently (in Lancet?) about a cardiac catheterization and stenting which, due to a 6 month wait from the original imaging study, resulted in the death of the patient. His other arteries had developed severe blockages in the months between the original angiography and the procedure. If the procedure had been performed within a week or two of the study this would not have occured. Our system has its problems, but delays which kill the patients aren't one of them.
I hate to think what would have happened to my two daughters with their ear infections, and hearing loss due to fluid buildup if we had been stuck with a system like this. The probably results would have been permanent hearing loss for both of them, due to the scarring from numerous ruptured ear drums, considerable pain for many years, and serious educational delays. And my youngest probably would never learn to speak properly (she has a developmental delay in her ability to control some of the muscles of the tongue, and at 5 1/2 (and with 3 years of speech therapy) she is still over a year behind where she ought to be in her ability to make various sounds.
I know that these year-plus delays are for non-urgent cases, but I doubt that it's really that much better for anything except an actual true emergency. Chronic infections will probably get you in to see the doctor faster than a general "dullness" in one ear, but there's still going to be a long wait. I recall reading recently (in Lancet?) about a cardiac catheterization and stenting which, due to a 6 month wait from the original imaging study, resulted in the death of the patient. His other arteries had developed severe blockages in the months between the original angiography and the procedure. If the procedure had been performed within a week or two of the study this would not have occured. Our system has its problems, but delays which kill the patients aren't one of them.
Wednesday, August 06, 2003
Strange place to find Saudi propaganda
Tonight as I was removing the umpteen pounds of spam from my mailbox, I found one of those free gift offers. It was a fairly small item, and something that I might be interested in depending on how much the shipping and handling for the "free" item is. So I went through their several screens of offers, happily checking no on all of them, and then, at the last screen before the "Choose your gift" section I was presented with this:
**************************************************************************************
Welcome! Take advantage of these special offers.1. Select your offer(s), complete all required fields, then click "Submit".2. Otherwise, click "No Thanks".
The Investment U E-Letter: {snip} More Info
Sign up for FoolWatch Weekly, a FREE Investment Newsletter from The Motley Fool. {snip} More Info
Get a Tasty Schwan's Dinner for {snip} More Info
TRY AOL 1,045 HOURS FREE FOR 45 DAYS - {snip} More Info
Get over $30 in organic E-Coupons!{snip} More Info
VeriSign Secure Site Solutions {snip} More Info
PC World’s Daily Computer News {snip} More Info
Lose Weight Now at the WebMD Weight Loss Clinic - {snip} More Info
History Is Fun!Take hold of America's beginnings in two centuries with 1 ticket to Jamestown Settlement & the
Yorktown Victory Center. {snip} More Info
Learn about Saudi Arabia's fight against terrorism.How is Saudi Arabia fighting terrorism? How are they partnering
with The US? Receive FREE email updates that answer these questions and provide other official updates and
public statements from the Saudi Embassy. You can unsubscribe at any time. More Info
Expect the future. Get WIRED: {snip} More Info
Register to Win a One-Week Vacation Rental!{snip} More Info
I agree with the Terms And Conditions
**************************************************************************************
They must be getting pretty worried about their image if they're resorting to this.
**************************************************************************************
Welcome! Take advantage of these special offers.1. Select your offer(s), complete all required fields, then click "Submit".2. Otherwise, click "No Thanks".
The Investment U E-Letter: {snip} More Info
Sign up for FoolWatch Weekly, a FREE Investment Newsletter from The Motley Fool. {snip} More Info
Get a Tasty Schwan's Dinner for {snip} More Info
TRY AOL 1,045 HOURS FREE FOR 45 DAYS - {snip} More Info
Get over $30 in organic E-Coupons!{snip} More Info
VeriSign Secure Site Solutions {snip} More Info
PC World’s Daily Computer News {snip} More Info
Lose Weight Now at the WebMD Weight Loss Clinic - {snip} More Info
History Is Fun!Take hold of America's beginnings in two centuries with 1 ticket to Jamestown Settlement & the
Yorktown Victory Center. {snip} More Info
Learn about Saudi Arabia's fight against terrorism.How is Saudi Arabia fighting terrorism? How are they partnering
with The US? Receive FREE email updates that answer these questions and provide other official updates and
public statements from the Saudi Embassy. You can unsubscribe at any time. More Info
Expect the future. Get WIRED: {snip} More Info
Register to Win a One-Week Vacation Rental!{snip} More Info
I agree with the Terms And Conditions
**************************************************************************************
They must be getting pretty worried about their image if they're resorting to this.
Monday, July 28, 2003
Slow day
Today's been very slow, probably because it's July, and too hot inside given the decrepitude of our A/C. I haven't seen anyone in over 2 hours up here.
I've spent the day doing some ILLs, which allow me to play with my new scanner, and getting up the gumption to do some cataloging.
Cataloging is probably the most universally unliked part of librarianship. I actually think it's fun, but then I've never been normal either. I was one of those who thought the library school fundraiser T-shirt with a "Top-10 reasons to become a librarian" was funny. Especially the "I love to alphabetize" entry.
It's pretty easy most of the time too. Much cataloging has already been done by the Library of Congress or (in my field) the National Library of Medicine, and you can download the stuff straight off the web. But you have to double check all of it, because sometimes what they've done is just .. weird.
One of the current batch of books is on medical statistics. "How to report medical statistics" to be precise. NLM thinks it should go under "History of Medicine", subsection "Medical writing and publishing. Historiography."
?????
I've recataloged it into "Public Health" (not the best place, but closer than history, and the only section with statistics as a subsection), "Statistics and surveys", further breakdown to "Theory or methods of medical statistics". This just seems a more natural place to put a "how-to" book on this subject, not to mention that in my small collection, I want to keep all the stuff on a given subject together. That's how my patrons search for it.
So it's time for my afternoon snack, and to download some more catalog records while checking them for sanity....
I've spent the day doing some ILLs, which allow me to play with my new scanner, and getting up the gumption to do some cataloging.
Cataloging is probably the most universally unliked part of librarianship. I actually think it's fun, but then I've never been normal either. I was one of those who thought the library school fundraiser T-shirt with a "Top-10 reasons to become a librarian" was funny. Especially the "I love to alphabetize" entry.
It's pretty easy most of the time too. Much cataloging has already been done by the Library of Congress or (in my field) the National Library of Medicine, and you can download the stuff straight off the web. But you have to double check all of it, because sometimes what they've done is just .. weird.
One of the current batch of books is on medical statistics. "How to report medical statistics" to be precise. NLM thinks it should go under "History of Medicine", subsection "Medical writing and publishing. Historiography."
?????
I've recataloged it into "Public Health" (not the best place, but closer than history, and the only section with statistics as a subsection), "Statistics and surveys", further breakdown to "Theory or methods of medical statistics". This just seems a more natural place to put a "how-to" book on this subject, not to mention that in my small collection, I want to keep all the stuff on a given subject together. That's how my patrons search for it.
So it's time for my afternoon snack, and to download some more catalog records while checking them for sanity....
Tuesday, July 22, 2003
Thoughts on date rape
Finally got to reading Critical Mass yesterday and saw the post from Friday on date rape Ireland meets campus PC. Back many years ago, I read an historical novel by Dorothy Dunnett, which had portions of the old Irish Brehon law as chapter headings. One of the portions she used dealt with just this subject. If I understood it right, sex at a planned encounter was never rape, because the woman had agreed to it by making the assignation and then showing up. If the encounter is not the result of a previous arrangement then the sex is legal until the woman screams. If she doesn't scream, she can't go back later and say it was rape, just as today, it's not rape (supposedly) until one party says "No". The difference is that with the requirement of a scream, the law is saying that to say "No" one must say it is such a a way that a reasonable third party would agree that it was indeed a "No". Seems pretty simple and elegant to me.
If anyone out there knows more about Brehon law than I do (not that that would be difficult) please let me know if I've got it wrong!
If anyone out there knows more about Brehon law than I do (not that that would be difficult) please let me know if I've got it wrong!
Monday, July 21, 2003
More humor, (sort of legal)
Another cute piece of legalese, though not a legit opinion. Courtesy of Overlawyered:
EULA
Read carefully, and at the end click the "I do not agree" link.
EULA
Read carefully, and at the end click the "I do not agree" link.
Friday, July 18, 2003
Legal humor
For those who need a good chuckle on Friday morning, two legitimate legal opinions.
Hyperphase vs. Microsoft
Bradshaw vs. Unity Marine Corporation, Inc.
I especially would like to meet the judge who wrote the latter opinion. Overlawyered's description of SOP to the contrary, this fellow didn't turn in his sense of humor when he sat his LSAT.
Hyperphase vs. Microsoft
Bradshaw vs. Unity Marine Corporation, Inc.
I especially would like to meet the judge who wrote the latter opinion. Overlawyered's description of SOP to the contrary, this fellow didn't turn in his sense of humor when he sat his LSAT.
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