Berkowitz, Ted Bundy, and Squeaky Fromm.
Dorthea Peunte, Jaun Corona
and John Wayne Gasy,
men and boys.
How do I know?
Timothy McViegh, Derrick Kelbold
and Eric Harris, sawed off shotgun.
Zodiac killer, made the cut,
the Hillside Strangler and Manson.
Cary Stayner and Scott Patterson.
Thank you TV.
OWL
Dec. 20, 2011
PS Leslie Van Houton.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Thursday, December 15, 2011
I don't get it
I saw this on facebook and it is true.
Warning: Flu Shots Are Coming to Your Church
Really to your church, flu shots, those shots the doctor gives you to keep you from getting sick. Right through the front door, up the aisle and onto the dais. Or maybe, even more frighteningly, they'll sneak 'em the back door and down to the basement to hide among the stacks of hymnals, and old creches, ready to jump out at you on your way to the little girls room, or to the little boys room if you are a man of god. It seems that, according to the linked article, the federal government is conspiring with faith based organizations to immunize living breathing human beings, United States citizens, against a disease!
There must be something terribly wrong here. Religious groups usually recommend prayer for protection from illness, and the government just mandates that you buy insurance. Same thing really. Prayer is cheaper, only ten percent of your income. So what is wrong, why do we need be alarmed about this new, "Lets work together to bring affordable preventive medicine to the populace", policy? The article doesn't really make that clear. Other than citing another internet article that does interesting things with statistics trying to demonstrate the ineffectiveness of the vaccine and the pushing of its own brand of health care, it gives no reason to worry about what goes on in your local prayer circle.
All I can say is: Thank you. Everyone needs to know this. Influenza is a serious disease! Projectile vomit, diarrhea and the attendant danger of dehydration and opportunistic infection, especially pneumonia, make it a major killer of the old, the very young, the infirm and those with weakened immune systems. The last time I had the flu I could not keep water down and I was a healthy forty year old. One of the factors which limit your chances of getting the flu is the fact that many others get immunized. The article referenced does exactly what it accuses the CDC of, it lies with statistics. It implies, quite falsely that out of 100 people who take the vaccine 98.5 get the flu. Then it states, with a strange way of using numbers that a flu shot prevents 1.5 in 100 people from getting the flu. Lets assume for a moment, because they make a lot of assumptions, that this is correct. Most of the others don't get sick for other reasons, like the fact that their neighbors were vaccinated thus they were not exposed. Even so it means 1 million shots prevent 15,000 cases of flu. 15,000 less people in schools and hospitals spreading a deadly disease. And if each of these people gave it to two other people, etc. we would soon have an epidemic. The 10th level is 15,000,000 cases. If they each gave it to three, quite easy with such a communicable disease among an non-immunized population, the 10th level is three quarters of a billion!
The article goes on the show a video about a woman who had a severe reaction to a flu vaccination. It does not show video of the millions in the past century and hundreds each year who have had a severe reaction to the virus itself. They wound up in hospitals with all the symptoms of having died!
The under-advantaged now have a chance to get the vaccine if they desire it. No one is forcing anyone to take it. Making it unavailable to some, as the article seems to encourage, forces them NOT to take it.
Warning: Flu Shots Are Coming to Your Church
OWL
December 15, 2011
in His name
The following letter was written in 2002 during the run up to the invasion of Iraq. Some people disagreed then and still do. I stand by what I wrote.
The current debate over weather or not to invade Iraq seems silly to me. The facts are clear, what we have to do is obvious. First of all this man commands a large and well equipped army. The largest stockpile of chemical warfare agents in the world is under his control. The CIA believes he has access to nuclear weapons. He has weapons of "mass destruction". He has invaded a foreign country in the past. He has been heard to threaten the eminent invasion of yet another country. Agents under his control are actively studying biological warfare, in fact one of these agents is a prime suspect in the anthrax attacks/murders of last year. Few people realize his father was the head of a large and highly secretive organization whose avowed purpose was to spy on other countries.
Every word of this is TRUE. He is a mad man and must be stopped. His name is Bush.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Tykes behind bars
Reading news on the web I was shocked once again by the harsh treatment of women in Muslim countries. This time a woman in Afghanistan who claimed to have been raped by her cousin's husband was sentenced to two years in prison for adultery. When she appealed the appellate court refused to believe she had been raped. They told her a woman cannot get pregnant as a result of her first sexual encounter, therefore she must have had a consensual relationship with the man. (She has a daughter, the result of the encounter.) Even if she was willing, being sentenced to two years in an Afghani prison for consensual sex is rather harsh.
Then came a startling statistic, in Afghanistan there are approximately 600 adult women in prison. Many of them for "moral crimes". The number seemed "odd". I began to do some research. The population of Afghanistan is approximately 34 million, assuming half are female leaves 17,000,000. Doing a quick calculation I learned that 0.00003 percent of the women in Afghanistan are in prison. That is 1 out of 28000.
By contrast California, one of our more progressive states, has about 37 million inhabitants. Of the 18,500,000 women in my home state 11,000 of them are incarcerated in state prison, 0.005 percent. One out of 1600. So if you are a woman in California you are almost twenty times more likely to be in prison than a woman in Afghanistan!
One fifth of these women, and half of the new arrivals have been sentenced for drug crimes. Only one third are there for violent offenses, of those the majority have used illicit drugs. Nearly half, 48%, report being the victims having been the victims of rape and/or sexual molestation. If you think some of these women may be lying in order to get better treatment then you have no understanding of how female victims of sexual abuse and assault are treated in this country. You might be more comfortable reading the Inquirer.
Add to that the great number of women in jail, on probation or out on parole have you have a sizable portion of the female population in the criminal justice system. Many of the women locked up for property crimes committed fraud or stole in order to obtain drugs. 80% of then are mothers, of those more than half are single mothers who get little or no support from the child's father. Statics from other states are similar.
What it all adds up to is a vast number of women in the United States who are under lock and key because of personal problems which lead to drug use and crime. Very often those problems stem from childhood sexual/physical abuse or neglect. Instead of offering a support system for these women, and help when needed, they are given a cell. The United States has a higher percentage of it population, including women, in prison than any other country in the world.
I do believe that women in this country are given more opportunities and have more freedom than those in many parts of the world. But that does not mean we can smugly point our fingers and say "They mistreat their women."
http://www.boalt.org/PAC/stats/women-prison-fact-sheet.html
Bonus rant:
Several years ago the Chief Medical Officer at Valley State Prison in Chowchilla Ca. was removed from his position because every woman who came into the infirmary, for any reason, was given a cervical exam or PAP smear. To be clear this was often in spite of the fact she might have been in recently for another problem and had the exam then. When questioned about this policy by correspondents from ABC's Nightline, Dr. Anthony Domenico, said "This is a group of women that are isolated. And I've heard women tell me that they would deliberately like to get examined - it's the only male contact they get." This is just one example of the sexual abuse these women continue to experience at one prison. Many more instances can be found. Oh, guess what happened to the Dr., did he lose his license or was he "reassigned"?
http://revcom.us/a/v22/1090-99/1090/california_prisons.htm
OWL
Dec. 13, 2011
Then came a startling statistic, in Afghanistan there are approximately 600 adult women in prison. Many of them for "moral crimes". The number seemed "odd". I began to do some research. The population of Afghanistan is approximately 34 million, assuming half are female leaves 17,000,000. Doing a quick calculation I learned that 0.00003 percent of the women in Afghanistan are in prison. That is 1 out of 28000.
By contrast California, one of our more progressive states, has about 37 million inhabitants. Of the 18,500,000 women in my home state 11,000 of them are incarcerated in state prison, 0.005 percent. One out of 1600. So if you are a woman in California you are almost twenty times more likely to be in prison than a woman in Afghanistan!
One fifth of these women, and half of the new arrivals have been sentenced for drug crimes. Only one third are there for violent offenses, of those the majority have used illicit drugs. Nearly half, 48%, report being the victims having been the victims of rape and/or sexual molestation. If you think some of these women may be lying in order to get better treatment then you have no understanding of how female victims of sexual abuse and assault are treated in this country. You might be more comfortable reading the Inquirer.
Add to that the great number of women in jail, on probation or out on parole have you have a sizable portion of the female population in the criminal justice system. Many of the women locked up for property crimes committed fraud or stole in order to obtain drugs. 80% of then are mothers, of those more than half are single mothers who get little or no support from the child's father. Statics from other states are similar.
What it all adds up to is a vast number of women in the United States who are under lock and key because of personal problems which lead to drug use and crime. Very often those problems stem from childhood sexual/physical abuse or neglect. Instead of offering a support system for these women, and help when needed, they are given a cell. The United States has a higher percentage of it population, including women, in prison than any other country in the world.
I do believe that women in this country are given more opportunities and have more freedom than those in many parts of the world. But that does not mean we can smugly point our fingers and say "They mistreat their women."
http://www.boalt.org/PAC/stats/women-prison-fact-sheet.html
Bonus rant:
Several years ago the Chief Medical Officer at Valley State Prison in Chowchilla Ca. was removed from his position because every woman who came into the infirmary, for any reason, was given a cervical exam or PAP smear. To be clear this was often in spite of the fact she might have been in recently for another problem and had the exam then. When questioned about this policy by correspondents from ABC's Nightline, Dr. Anthony Domenico, said "This is a group of women that are isolated. And I've heard women tell me that they would deliberately like to get examined - it's the only male contact they get." This is just one example of the sexual abuse these women continue to experience at one prison. Many more instances can be found. Oh, guess what happened to the Dr., did he lose his license or was he "reassigned"?
http://revcom.us/a/v22/1090-99/1090/california_prisons.htm
OWL
Dec. 13, 2011
Saturday, December 10, 2011
coffee
I do not usually write about commercial products. They can hire there own hacks. But this is special. The Tassimo brand coffee maker. It reads bar codes!! It looks like an ordinary counter top appliance, a little small, but still it has all the features of a regular brewer. Place to put water, warming plate, and buttons. It does what a normal coffee creating device does, it brews coffee. But in an extraordinary way. You see it READS BAR CODES. Yes it has a bar code reader and a little tiny brain. You put these little prepackaged "T-disc" of coffee, they look like a little flat plastic bowl, in it and it reads the bar code marked clearly on the outside and brews the prefect cup of coffee. Every time. How cool is that? It saves you all the trouble of measuring out coffee and pressing a couple extra buttons! And when it is done just toss out the little plastic cup with the grounds.
It just brews one cup at a time so everyone gets to line up and brew their own special premixed blend.
Tassimo, I don't mind the idea of needing a coffee maker with its own logic chip and holographic optical device. What is bizarre is the price of the little plastic disposable dish for every individual cup of coffee.
OWL
Dec. 18, 2011
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Sensuality
When I was twelve we lived in a big 'ol two story, five bedroom house. The only heat was a floor furnace. Money for gas was scarce. There were eight kids in the family, money for everything was scarce. One nice sunny day I was out in the front yard playing and having a good time. My step-mother came out on the steps and told me to come in to the house. "It is to cold out there." She was very insistent, I came in. It was freezing in the house!
I wonder how she came to the conclusion it was to cold for me to play outside. Maybe she assumed that since there was a furnace in the house it must be warmer inside. Or maybe she was just being a bitch and didn't like seeing me have fun. Either way I learned a very valuable lesson. You don't know what someone else's perception is. You are not in there body. There is no way to tell if someone is hot or cold, hungry or full, unless you ask them.
Likewise, you are not inside their head. you don't know what their experience is. I try not dismiss out of hand those who tell me they saw, or felt, or heard or feel things that I have not. "I saw a ghost", "God told me", "It was in another life". Who am I to say no that is not possible. Just because it hasn't happened to me doesn't mean it can't happen. And more importantly I have no idea what their experience has been. I may have been there with them, but I was not in their head.
My ex-wife told me once, at least once, when I had asked what she had said, "You heard me, I said it loud enough."
Yeah, well she was mumbling.
OWL
Nov. 19, 2011
I wonder how she came to the conclusion it was to cold for me to play outside. Maybe she assumed that since there was a furnace in the house it must be warmer inside. Or maybe she was just being a bitch and didn't like seeing me have fun. Either way I learned a very valuable lesson. You don't know what someone else's perception is. You are not in there body. There is no way to tell if someone is hot or cold, hungry or full, unless you ask them.
Likewise, you are not inside their head. you don't know what their experience is. I try not dismiss out of hand those who tell me they saw, or felt, or heard or feel things that I have not. "I saw a ghost", "God told me", "It was in another life". Who am I to say no that is not possible. Just because it hasn't happened to me doesn't mean it can't happen. And more importantly I have no idea what their experience has been. I may have been there with them, but I was not in their head.
My ex-wife told me once, at least once, when I had asked what she had said, "You heard me, I said it loud enough."
Yeah, well she was mumbling.
OWL
Nov. 19, 2011
Friday, November 4, 2011
Lead posioning
Matt Dillon wore a cowboy hat and killed people. It seemed like every week the protagonist of the popular television series Gunsmoke shot somebody. Dead. Some weeks he had more than one victim, if victim is the right word. The killing was always justifiable. Usually it was in a gunfight and the other guy always drew first.
Miss Kitty had red hair and ran the saloon. She never showed her titties. Nor did her saloon girls. That is the way it was in those days. Not the 1870's, I mean the nineteen sixties and seventies. You could show violence on TV but not the human body. Matt beat people up, got into fights on a regular basis, and he had real good reasons to get angry. His clothes and his mouth were always clean. Nothing anyone did would make him swear. Oddly enough the bad guys who killed in cold blood didn't cuss either.
Seeing someone naked or hearing them use the Lord's name in vain was considered to be harmful, especially to children. It still is considered harmful by many people. So much so that such things are still restricted on public airways. But graphic depictions or murder, rape, assault, and mental cruelty were and are completely acceptable. The CBS network got fined $500,000 for allowing Janet Jackson's nipple to show for a few seconds during a Superbowl broadcast. Rather stiff considering the offending part could barely be seen.
Although the rules are not as strict as they once were the broadcast airwaves are still for the most part free of bad language and sex organs, but full of violence and mayhem. Carnage is pervasive, carnality is prohibited.
I have never understood this but I have learned that people are often unwilling to talk about subjects that bring up feelings of guilt and shame. It troubles me to think that those institutions who claim to be this country's moral compass are more offended by the occasional image of an areola than by nightly depictions of the death of one person at the hands of another.
OWL
Nov. 25, 2011
Miss Kitty had red hair and ran the saloon. She never showed her titties. Nor did her saloon girls. That is the way it was in those days. Not the 1870's, I mean the nineteen sixties and seventies. You could show violence on TV but not the human body. Matt beat people up, got into fights on a regular basis, and he had real good reasons to get angry. His clothes and his mouth were always clean. Nothing anyone did would make him swear. Oddly enough the bad guys who killed in cold blood didn't cuss either.
Seeing someone naked or hearing them use the Lord's name in vain was considered to be harmful, especially to children. It still is considered harmful by many people. So much so that such things are still restricted on public airways. But graphic depictions or murder, rape, assault, and mental cruelty were and are completely acceptable. The CBS network got fined $500,000 for allowing Janet Jackson's nipple to show for a few seconds during a Superbowl broadcast. Rather stiff considering the offending part could barely be seen.
Although the rules are not as strict as they once were the broadcast airwaves are still for the most part free of bad language and sex organs, but full of violence and mayhem. Carnage is pervasive, carnality is prohibited.
I have never understood this but I have learned that people are often unwilling to talk about subjects that bring up feelings of guilt and shame. It troubles me to think that those institutions who claim to be this country's moral compass are more offended by the occasional image of an areola than by nightly depictions of the death of one person at the hands of another.
OWL
Nov. 25, 2011
Friday, February 12, 2010
One bag at a time
My sister is saving the planet. She grows her own food, buys organic and recycles/composts any thing she can. And when she goes to the grocery store she makes the bagger pack her stuff in as few bags as possible. Thus she saves about two bags per visit. Two visits per week and 52 weeks in a year. That's 208 bags a year or 15768 bags over an average life time. That's quite a stack of bags (paper or plastic).
Of course she has now gone to reusable bags so now she has the potential of saving 31536 bags. So you see the little things that people do to help the environment can really add up.
Recycle, reuse, etc. Put fluorescent lights in your house and turn the TV down to save electricity. Drive an economy car to save gas a turn the heat down to save energy.
And if you are really serious about saving the planet try no-cycling. When ever possible if you don't need it don't buy it. Don't use it and don't reuse it. Don't recycle. That takes way more energy than No-cycle.
Try to get by with less. Save it for the other guy. It is important that you do not waste what you have and if it is not really necessary then don't have it in the first place. Then I'll know you are really trying to save mother earth from yourself.
OWL
Feb. 12, 2010
Of course she has now gone to reusable bags so now she has the potential of saving 31536 bags. So you see the little things that people do to help the environment can really add up.
Recycle, reuse, etc. Put fluorescent lights in your house and turn the TV down to save electricity. Drive an economy car to save gas a turn the heat down to save energy.
And if you are really serious about saving the planet try no-cycling. When ever possible if you don't need it don't buy it. Don't use it and don't reuse it. Don't recycle. That takes way more energy than No-cycle.
Try to get by with less. Save it for the other guy. It is important that you do not waste what you have and if it is not really necessary then don't have it in the first place. Then I'll know you are really trying to save mother earth from yourself.
OWL
Feb. 12, 2010
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Ex Librus
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
The book. A set of pages, with printing on them, bound together. A container of information or imagination. Its basic design, appearance, and purpose have remained unchanged for a thousand years. Simple to make and easy to care for. Durable. But bulky and expensive to print.
Modern media has a great many advantages. Fantastic amounts of information can be stored in very small spaces. Vast amounts of information can be filed, sorted, manipulated, sent, received and recalled in very little time. The price per word or picture stored is negligible compared to the printed page. And it does audio!
But books have one distinct advantage over newer media. Books do not require an interface. Most other methods of information storage and communication necessitate a computer, DVD or cd player, TV, telephone, radio, or mp3 player to retrieve the information inside.
A book requires a reader.
The necessity of an interface device would not be so worrisome if not for the fact the complicated devices are always changing. Rapidly. As soon all the data is transferred to the "new media" it is time to adapt to the new "new media".Libraries are increasingly repositories of the new media and a hub for Internet access. And they are increasingly being pushed out of government budgets. But libraries have an advantage over the competition, they contain books. As more and more books are being digitized having a repository of printed matter is essential. Keeping our libraries vital will help keep a vast realm of knowledge safe.
OWL
Nov. 4, 2009
The book. A set of pages, with printing on them, bound together. A container of information or imagination. Its basic design, appearance, and purpose have remained unchanged for a thousand years. Simple to make and easy to care for. Durable. But bulky and expensive to print.
Modern media has a great many advantages. Fantastic amounts of information can be stored in very small spaces. Vast amounts of information can be filed, sorted, manipulated, sent, received and recalled in very little time. The price per word or picture stored is negligible compared to the printed page. And it does audio!
But books have one distinct advantage over newer media. Books do not require an interface. Most other methods of information storage and communication necessitate a computer, DVD or cd player, TV, telephone, radio, or mp3 player to retrieve the information inside.
A book requires a reader.
The necessity of an interface device would not be so worrisome if not for the fact the complicated devices are always changing. Rapidly. As soon all the data is transferred to the "new media" it is time to adapt to the new "new media".Libraries are increasingly repositories of the new media and a hub for Internet access. And they are increasingly being pushed out of government budgets. But libraries have an advantage over the competition, they contain books. As more and more books are being digitized having a repository of printed matter is essential. Keeping our libraries vital will help keep a vast realm of knowledge safe.
OWL
Nov. 4, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
Yeah, I got a license
Ah summertime. Fresh fruit, warm evenings, tourist and fishermen. Lining the shores of our lakes and rivers are men and women, armed with rod and reel, angling for that trophy trout. And each proudly displays, hanging from their hat or dangling from a strap around the neck, a valid fishing license issued by the California Department of Fish and Game. That’s the law! This is good. Fishing without a license can be hazardous. Somebody could get a hook in the little finger. Or if you mixed up your bait box with your lunch bag you might end up eating a worm. So before I put a little wire hook on a piece of monofilament and toss it into the water I better be sure I have the appropriate document pinned to my chest. The game warden can tell at a glance if I am legally qualified to engage in such a dangerous activity.
But I can get into a two-ton hunk of steel and glass and charge down the road at sixty-five miles per hour straight toward some other idiot in a two-ton hunk of steel and glass without offering anyone any proof of anything. Oh, the car has to show valid registration, which just proves you paid your $138 at the DMV. It doesn’t even indicate the car has passed a safety test and has brakes. The CHP is not allowed to stop a driver until there is an obvious infraction.
When is the last time you heard of a dangerous felon, wanted for armed robbery and assault with a fly rod, being apprehended after a routine stop for fishing without a license?
But I can get into a two-ton hunk of steel and glass and charge down the road at sixty-five miles per hour straight toward some other idiot in a two-ton hunk of steel and glass without offering anyone any proof of anything. Oh, the car has to show valid registration, which just proves you paid your $138 at the DMV. It doesn’t even indicate the car has passed a safety test and has brakes. The CHP is not allowed to stop a driver until there is an obvious infraction.
When is the last time you heard of a dangerous felon, wanted for armed robbery and assault with a fly rod, being apprehended after a routine stop for fishing without a license?
Hodge-podge
During this election season much has been written and said about same-sex marriage. There has been no discussion of a more serious issue. One which threatens to destroy our two party system. Mixed marriage. When republicans marry democrats. It is a disturbing trend that has fueled our growing divorce rate. The real tragedy is the children. With no clear political identity the offspring of these unnatural unions grow up confused and misguided. Some of the statements uttered by these people show how truly muddled their thinking is. "Nixon was a crook with a great foreign policy." "I am deeply religious but I don't believe disgruntled employees should have easy access to assault weapons."These young people grow up exposed to various points of view and are rendered totally incapable of seeing the world in black and white. They go through life in a gray fog. Unlike normal people they are unable to judge a candidate based solely on a single letter after his name. ie, J. Smith (D). They are forced to consider facts when deciding how to vote. No wonder so many do not register. Many suffer a worse fate, they become the "undecideds". Blasted on all sides by pundits, spin doctors, and attack ads. Their fragile psyches fractured by so-called facts, innuendos, misinformation and down right lies. By election day they are mere quivering masses of flesh barely able to muster the strength to use a touch-screen voting machine.I must confess, I to am the result of a mixed marriage. Mom was from Oklahoma, dad was Californian. Sometimes, late at night, when no one is watching I put sushi on my cornbread.
OWL
Oct. 30, 2009
OWL
Oct. 30, 2009
I know what they think.
"That will embolden the terrorist." "It will give hope to the evil doers." From the President on down to “letters” we are told how something done by American politicians or uttered by a plain citizen in Des Monies is going to make the bad guys jump for joy. We were told that if the Democrats won the November election the leaders of Al Queda would declare victory and institute a national holiday. It didn't happen. Anyone who would strap seventeen pounds of dynamite to their chest, walk into a crowded market place and press the button is irrational. Or so it would seem. Trying to apply logic to their ideology is a fool’s errand.
From John Robinson's letter (April 18th Union Democrat), concerning the actions of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, "Their continued forays into foreign policy decision making serve only to fuel the Islamic Extremists." This may be true, I don't know. But where did he get this information? Like all the statements of the kind it is proffered without a hint of proof. There are writings by radical Islamic groups all over the net, spouting their rhetoric and inciting their followers to violence. I have not seen these sources quoted or referenced in any statement where someone pretends to know how these people think. My search of Islamic web sites found no reference to Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid
Americans must do what is best for Americans. That includes encouraging rational public discourse. It does not mean using terrorism as a boogey man to scare others into sharing your point of view based upon what you imagine would motivate a suicide bomber.
OWL
Oct. 30, 2009
From John Robinson's letter (April 18th Union Democrat), concerning the actions of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, "Their continued forays into foreign policy decision making serve only to fuel the Islamic Extremists." This may be true, I don't know. But where did he get this information? Like all the statements of the kind it is proffered without a hint of proof. There are writings by radical Islamic groups all over the net, spouting their rhetoric and inciting their followers to violence. I have not seen these sources quoted or referenced in any statement where someone pretends to know how these people think. My search of Islamic web sites found no reference to Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid
Americans must do what is best for Americans. That includes encouraging rational public discourse. It does not mean using terrorism as a boogey man to scare others into sharing your point of view based upon what you imagine would motivate a suicide bomber.
OWL
Oct. 30, 2009
EXTRA! EXTRA!
Someone is cutting down trees on their own property! Call a reporter! Make those nasty people stop! I live near the property where 50 oak trees are being cut down. (Union Democrat, Feb. 8). The clearing of this property has been going on for several months and I am glad it is being done. It sits in the middle of a densely populated area and is overgrown with oak, pine, willow, blackberry, poison oak, brush and dry grass. Some may describe it as "pristine". I prefer the term "fire hazard". There are some fine old oaks there but you have to look hard to see them from the road. So it does need cleaning up. Should I tell the owner how I want that done? If it is not done to my liking should I get the county involved? Should I make a new law so I can tell you what to do or not do with your trees? Maybe. Or maybe if I wanted to save these trees I could just buy the property in question. I live in a house where oak trees once stood. The property I manage was parkland years ago. The store where I buy my groceries stands on what was once a meadow. Etc. So if I really wanted to save the trees in Tuolumne County maybe I could just move somewhere else. Let a newcomer from Oxnard have my house, and office. I've enjoyed the foothills long enough, time to give some one else a chance. Or I can shut the gate at Jamestown and tell the rest of the world, "I got mine. Go away!"
OWL
Oct. 30, 2009
OWL
Oct. 30, 2009
heart by-pass
Bypasses on the road of life
Driving down the bypass the other day it hit me. I’ve been here to long. Nothing looks familiar anymore. Who remembers when J. C. Penny’s was downtown next to the only stop light? Vic’s at the north end of Washington was one of half a dozen gas stations in town. Across from the Red Church the “ 76” station closed down and the lot became the locus of a bitter custody battle between the Southland Corp. and the Tuolumne County Hysterical Society. Southland prevailed and Seven/Eleven moved in. Now they too have moved on. Greenley and Sanguinetti Roads were once quaint shortcuts. Now they have stoplights of their own. The Plaza and Junction Shopping centers stand on plots where the grass was once green late into the summer. The old movie theater played its last feature, and even the new cinema has given way to the Signature Ten. A new hospital has replaced the old and in Tuolumne a casino looms large on the horizon.
And now this ugly scar, the result of the emergency East Sonora gastric-triple-by-pass surgery. An operation which promises to relieve severe congestion and prevent bloating of the county coffers for years to come. Straight and level it runs. Looking as if it were carved by a race of space aliens, with no feeling for earthly aesthetics, for landing their intergalactic transport vessels. Are they coming to take me away?
Seventy million dollars to transform the beauty of our county into this? Maybe if they hadn’t moved quite so much dirt the new HI-WAY would not have cost so much
and could have fit a little better into the landscape.
OWL
Oct. 30, 2009
Driving down the bypass the other day it hit me. I’ve been here to long. Nothing looks familiar anymore. Who remembers when J. C. Penny’s was downtown next to the only stop light? Vic’s at the north end of Washington was one of half a dozen gas stations in town. Across from the Red Church the “ 76” station closed down and the lot became the locus of a bitter custody battle between the Southland Corp. and the Tuolumne County Hysterical Society. Southland prevailed and Seven/Eleven moved in. Now they too have moved on. Greenley and Sanguinetti Roads were once quaint shortcuts. Now they have stoplights of their own. The Plaza and Junction Shopping centers stand on plots where the grass was once green late into the summer. The old movie theater played its last feature, and even the new cinema has given way to the Signature Ten. A new hospital has replaced the old and in Tuolumne a casino looms large on the horizon.
And now this ugly scar, the result of the emergency East Sonora gastric-triple-by-pass surgery. An operation which promises to relieve severe congestion and prevent bloating of the county coffers for years to come. Straight and level it runs. Looking as if it were carved by a race of space aliens, with no feeling for earthly aesthetics, for landing their intergalactic transport vessels. Are they coming to take me away?
Seventy million dollars to transform the beauty of our county into this? Maybe if they hadn’t moved quite so much dirt the new HI-WAY would not have cost so much
and could have fit a little better into the landscape.
OWL
Oct. 30, 2009
wooden nickles
In the article headlined "Lowe's is a go", Union Democrat, Dec. 6, 2007, quoting city administrator Greg Applegate, "We are losing half a million dollars a year." The article goes on, sales tax alone is a $414,000 a year loss, he claims. Is this a new level of governmental incompetence? We are losing almost a half million dollars a year of sales tax that hasn't been collected on items that haven't been sold at a store that has not been built? And the amount we're losing is know so accurately?
I'm not really in favor or opposed to Lowe's. I'm opposed to public officials forgetting that they are not in business to make a profit, not putting the people first and mostly using language like "losing" to sway public opinion. Whatever their title, city administrator, tax collector, treasurer, chief petty parking enforcement dude or purveyor of the public trust, these people seem to think they have a right to our money. If there is a way to get more of it and they are not doing so, well then, "we are losing money". We are also losing money by not operating toll roads or taking a share from the gambling rooms and public houses on South Washington, which I understand were once quite numerous and a major contributor to the city coffers. I wish Greg would look into his crystal ball and tell me how much I am "losing" by not playing the lottery.
I really didn't understand what they meant by "losing" till I looked up "lose" in the dictionary: to fail take advantage of.
OWL
Oct. 30, 2009
I'm not really in favor or opposed to Lowe's. I'm opposed to public officials forgetting that they are not in business to make a profit, not putting the people first and mostly using language like "losing" to sway public opinion. Whatever their title, city administrator, tax collector, treasurer, chief petty parking enforcement dude or purveyor of the public trust, these people seem to think they have a right to our money. If there is a way to get more of it and they are not doing so, well then, "we are losing money". We are also losing money by not operating toll roads or taking a share from the gambling rooms and public houses on South Washington, which I understand were once quite numerous and a major contributor to the city coffers. I wish Greg would look into his crystal ball and tell me how much I am "losing" by not playing the lottery.
I really didn't understand what they meant by "losing" till I looked up "lose" in the dictionary: to fail take advantage of.
OWL
Oct. 30, 2009
Revoked
The Merits of A Drinking License
We have been attacking the problems of Drunk Driving from the wrong
perspective. Since a Motor Vehicle License becomes a de facto " drinking
license" at the age of twenty-one (eighteen in some states) this needs to
be clarified and strengthened by the institution of a " revocation of
drinking license" sentence. When a drinking person is convicted of
driving while under the influence, especially if they have an otherwise
clean driving record, it makes no sense to revoke or suspend their
driving license, driving isn't their problem. Their problem is alcohol
related and taking away the privilege of buying and consuming alcohol
would be a more logical solution. Simply stamp or imprint "May not
purchase alcohol" on their driving license.
Since not everyone is affected in a negative manner by the
consumption of alcohol, prohibition on a grand scale does not work.
However, the revocation of their "drinking license" would keep those
unable to control their use of this drug from becoming a threat to
society. This punishment would be in addition to fines, jail, probation,
and/or suspension of driving privileges.
This law would require the checking of ID for ALL sales of alcohol,
no matter the age or appearance of the consumer. Anyone allowing an
unlicensed person to buy or consume alcohol could be held legally and
financially responsible for the person's subsequent behavior. This
should not be construed as relieving the alcohol consumer of their
responsibility for their own behavior. By admitting that we are selling
a dangerous and potentially deadly substance and requiring a checking of
each "drinking license" we could attack the cause of the drunk driving
without destroying the person's ability to support himself and his
family.
Thank you for your consideration of this matter, I am certain that
the technology is available to make this a more workable solution than the
present "non-solution."
OWL
Oct. 30 2009
We have been attacking the problems of Drunk Driving from the wrong
perspective. Since a Motor Vehicle License becomes a de facto " drinking
license" at the age of twenty-one (eighteen in some states) this needs to
be clarified and strengthened by the institution of a " revocation of
drinking license" sentence. When a drinking person is convicted of
driving while under the influence, especially if they have an otherwise
clean driving record, it makes no sense to revoke or suspend their
driving license, driving isn't their problem. Their problem is alcohol
related and taking away the privilege of buying and consuming alcohol
would be a more logical solution. Simply stamp or imprint "May not
purchase alcohol" on their driving license.
Since not everyone is affected in a negative manner by the
consumption of alcohol, prohibition on a grand scale does not work.
However, the revocation of their "drinking license" would keep those
unable to control their use of this drug from becoming a threat to
society. This punishment would be in addition to fines, jail, probation,
and/or suspension of driving privileges.
This law would require the checking of ID for ALL sales of alcohol,
no matter the age or appearance of the consumer. Anyone allowing an
unlicensed person to buy or consume alcohol could be held legally and
financially responsible for the person's subsequent behavior. This
should not be construed as relieving the alcohol consumer of their
responsibility for their own behavior. By admitting that we are selling
a dangerous and potentially deadly substance and requiring a checking of
each "drinking license" we could attack the cause of the drunk driving
without destroying the person's ability to support himself and his
family.
Thank you for your consideration of this matter, I am certain that
the technology is available to make this a more workable solution than the
present "non-solution."
OWL
Oct. 30 2009
STP
I have heard many people here in the foothills express a desire to save our old growth forest, protect the environment, prevent the damming of free flowing rivers and tear down existing dams. Although these goals may be difficult they can be achieved if we reduce the demand for water and electricity in California. Here are ten simple steps you may take to help. 1. Don’t buy fresh fruits and vegetables. Most of the fresh produce sold in California is grown on land irrigated with water that was once stored behind dams. 2. Don’t drink wine. It takes thousands of gallons of water to make one gallon of wine. 3. Don’t flush! Go out into the forest that you love so much and bring a shovel. But don’t let the environmentalist see you. 4. Don’t do or say anything to get your name in the newspaper. Paper is made from trees. 5. Don’t ask the government to study anything. Government studies require tons of paper. 6. Stop communicating. Phones and computers use electricity. 7. Give up your car. Take public transportation, walk or ride a bike. This may not save water but no one is going to believe that you are serious about conservation when they see you idling at a stoplight, alone. 8. Get out of California. Less people, less demand for limited resources. 9. Leave the country. Move to a poor village in South America where there is no electricity or running water. Tell them how terrible it is to dam the rivers. 10. And the most helpful thing you can do to save the environment. Stop emitting hot air!
OWL
Oct. 30, 2009
OWL
Oct. 30, 2009
just a little ring
I have a telephone answering machine. This is a handy little device that allows friends, family and clients to leave messages for me when I am unable to come to the phone. Unfortunately it has only a limited memory and can take only a finite amount of messages. Now just imagine what is going to happen if every political party, self interest group and dime bag politician running for office leaves a message on my machine. It will become useless for its intended purpose and I will be forced disconnect it and throw it away. Recently two messages have been left on my machine in support of the current governor of Kalifornia which makes me want to wrap it up, drive down to Sacramento and put it some place warm and dark. Sideways. However this plan is not practical because Arnold is much larger than I am. And he has bodyguards. I digress. The practice of using peoples answering machines for advertising purposes, political or otherwise, must be discouraged. The fact that nether of the actual organizations involved, the California Republican Party or the California Chamber of Commerce, left a phone number, physical or email address to reply to was insulting. They invade our space with television and radio advertising, campaign signs and endless piles of junk mail. Then the message they leave on your phone seems to imply “Don’t call us, we’ll call you”.
OWL
Oct. 30, 2009
OWL
Oct. 30, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Ex Librus
The book. A set of pages, with printing on them, bound together. A container of information or imagination. Its basic design, appearance, and purpose have remained unchanged for a thousand years. Simple to make and easy to care for. Durable. But bulky and expensive to print.
Modern media has a great many advantages. Fantastic amounts of information can be stored in very small spaces. Vast amounts of information can be filed, sorted, manipulated, sent, received and recalled in very little time. The price per word or picture stored is negligible compared to the printed page. And it does audio!
But books have one distinct advantage over newer media. Books do not require an interface. Most other methods of information storage and communication neccessitate a computer, dvd or cd player, tv, telephone, radio, or mp3 player to retrieve the information inside.
A book requires a reader.
The necessity of an interface device would not be so worrisome if not for the fact the complicated devices are always changing. Rapidly. As soon all the data is transferred to the "new media" it is time to adapt to the new "new media".
Libraries are increasingly repositories of the new media and a hub for Internet access. And they are increasingly being pushed out of government budgets. But libraries have an advantage over the competition, they contain books. As more and more books are being digitized having a repository of printed matter is essential. Keeping our libraries vital will help keep a vast realm of knowledge safe.
OWL
Sept. 23 2009
Modern media has a great many advantages. Fantastic amounts of information can be stored in very small spaces. Vast amounts of information can be filed, sorted, manipulated, sent, received and recalled in very little time. The price per word or picture stored is negligible compared to the printed page. And it does audio!
But books have one distinct advantage over newer media. Books do not require an interface. Most other methods of information storage and communication neccessitate a computer, dvd or cd player, tv, telephone, radio, or mp3 player to retrieve the information inside.
A book requires a reader.
The necessity of an interface device would not be so worrisome if not for the fact the complicated devices are always changing. Rapidly. As soon all the data is transferred to the "new media" it is time to adapt to the new "new media".
Libraries are increasingly repositories of the new media and a hub for Internet access. And they are increasingly being pushed out of government budgets. But libraries have an advantage over the competition, they contain books. As more and more books are being digitized having a repository of printed matter is essential. Keeping our libraries vital will help keep a vast realm of knowledge safe.
OWL
Sept. 23 2009
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