Author Archives: 20lbcat

Auto HUD

I had an idea. I was driving around downtown San Diego the other night. Peds everywhere, it was dark, I was looking for street parking and getting frustrated. It wasn’t easy to keep track of what was around me, particularly in my blind spots. Here’s my idea. Put proximity sensors around your car, perhaps one [...]

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The Most Dangerous Thing in the World

When people think of things from which they need protection, there’s nature and there’s other people. Nature is easy enough to deal with, mentally: have shelter available, leave the snakes alone, don’t live in the path of annual hurricanes. Through division of labor, we’ve managed to thwart much of what nature throws at us. But [...]

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Find the Victim

Pa. woman charged with offering sex for WS tickets Investigators say Finkelstein posted an ad on the Web site Craigslist that stated she was a die-hard Phillies fan and buxom blonde in desperate need of two World Series tickets. Police say her posting went on to say the price was negotiable and that “I’m the [...]

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Hate Is Not a Crime

John Boehner opposes imminent hate crime definition expansion. So do I. “All violent crimes should be prosecuted vigorously, no matter what the circumstance,” he said. “The Democrats’ ‘thought crimes’ legislation, however, places a higher value on some lives than others. Republicans believe that all lives are created equal, and should be defended with equal vigilance.” [...]

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Types of Crime

NYT on the arrest of suspect in Annie Le’s killing: Chief Lewis would not provide a motive beyond saying: “It is important to note that this is not about urban crime, university crime, domestic crime but an issue of workplace violence, which is becoming a growing concern around the country.” Why is it so important [...]

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Obama’s Speech

Remember back in grade school when the teacher would address the entire class as one and say you need to work harder, you didn’t do well on a test, you did wonderfully on a test, you make him/her proud, you’re a disappointment? It’s a challenge to effectively work with a group of students, each of [...]

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SDSU Budget Cuts Protest

Looks like I just missed a big rally against the SDSU budget cuts yesterday. I might not have fit in, protesting against all the funding they still get. From a student: “The human carnage from this fiscal train wreck will be felt in this state for a generation.” Human carnage? Dear. Sounds awful. “Higher education, [...]

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Michael Moore Is Not Talking About Capitalism

Here’s a trailer for Michael Moore’s new movie, Capitalism: A Love Story. This guy’s occasionally pissed about the same things that I’m pissed about. This one looks like it might actually be good, save one small but critical error: he’s not talking about capitalism. The premise of the movie (call it a documentary if you [...]

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The Fallacy of Intellectual Property

I just read a great article by Daniel Krawisz, making a case against intellectual property. Read the whole thing here. Intellectual property has always given me a weird feeling. It seemed to me that something was wrong there, but I could never figure it out. This article got me to look at it from a [...]

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Miss Information

An entertaining NYT op-ed on health care published a few weeks ago. My favorite line: [I]f you currently have decent health insurance, thank the government. Thanks, government! More accurately, if your coverage and care are shitty or don’t exist, thank your fellow citizens (the government) for enforcing monopolies, regulating the competition into bankruptcy, and screwing [...]

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