Big Brother

Baltimore is installing a closed circuit television system in the city to monitor the streets.

Sure, I'll agree of all the places I would not want to be at night, right after Newark, Baltimore is ranked pretty high up there. But a video system that allows police helicopters and patrol cruisers to watch every street block seems a little invasive.

The best part is, its all in the name of terrorism. After all, if terrorists are going to hit a target, its going to be the ghettos of Baltimore.

A major terror strike that wipes out Baltimore is sort of like the use of the atomic bomb in the movie Independence Day: The government nukes Houston in effort to wipe out the aliens. Just like that city, I don't think many people would care if Baltimore was removed from the map.

Intrigue

A store in Ridgewood is offering print on demand for books. Its also one of the cheapest services considering other services that do similar things. It also looks like an interesting Bookstore.

Androgyne

According to the The Gender Genie that Peter found, 6 out of 7 stories I have written are actually written by a woman. I used Jesus, Panama Love and The Women of Jackson Peirce (both by females). But also several partially completed stories (greater than 500 words.) Maybe I should just sit down and try writing some chick lit. At least I would have some ready money.

Appropriate

As plans materialize to drink New York, keep in mind limits.

Millard Fillmore

CNN keeps running pictures of twelve year olds crying their eyes out for Ronnie. Why don't we all mourn Millard Fillmore? He was about as an important a figure as Ronald.

Exactly; he wasn't important.

The man is dead and we should not be distracted at the tasks at hand like reviving the economy or removing Bush. Reagan is like a good number of our presidents: not worth remembering.

Literary Magazines

What seems like quite an extensive collection of links to
Literary Magazines. Some may find this useful or interesting.

Europeans

Why is it that Europeans seemed to be on the right side of most issues?

Student Loans

The federal government is considering ending fixed rate loans for students. At a time when student loans can be gotten for 3%, there is a good chance many students will take out loans that ultimately are erased simply by inflation. Instead, the new Higher Education Act is seeking to make all student loans variable rate interest.

At a time when more students are taking out more debt, why are worrying about fixed rate vs, variable rate? Why not focus on providing grants and lowering costs of college tuition, at least at Public Universities.

At this rate, the Chinese will not only out number us, but out smart us too.

Bye, Bye Ladies

With the state of new Jersey banning ladies' night at bars, there have been many protests from people saying there are bigger issues the state should be dealing with, and many have vowed to fight the ban.

Two points: bars are for drinking first, and for meeting women second. Sure a bar might stand to bring in more poeple by having a ladies night because women will come in for free and the men will follow. but if no bar has ladies nights, the men will still go to the bar and women will follow to meet men. Lets face it, in age of feminism, women are (or at least should be) as willing to pay their share of door charges and are as likely to seek out male partners as are men seeking women. Would a girl on Sex in the City go to bar where there was no prospect of meeting men? or even more relevant, not go to the bar at all? No, of course not.

Point Two: if this is such an absurd issue that the state is wasting its valuable resources on, then why continue to make a big deal about? Accept the decision by the state board of civil liberties and get over yourselves. But obviously it is an important issue, why else has every politician in our state weighed in on the subject?

Fuel Economy

California is looking to reduce CO2; the only real way to do this better fuel economy. The Auto industry representative quoted in the article makes mention of the possibility that with states like California trying to regulate emissions, they could never meet all the standards. He is of course forgetting, that if the auto industry simply met the most stringent standard, they would not have to worry if each state had their own requirements. But this makes too much sense.

I only wish oil wells would dry up sooner so we could stop worrying about automobiles.

Things I Learned, Yesterday

I am Old
I was talking to an intern who was a freshman in college. He has never voted for a governor, nor for a president. He still has a grand notion of the political system

County Clerks Can Be Attractive
One woman in the Bergen County Clerk's office is quite attractive, and I don't just mean realative to the dozens of 300 lb, 50 year old public servants. She also has a bad attitude. So much so, everyone I spoke to asked if I saw the "bitchy hottie".

Political Operatives from District 5 are Premodonnas
This is the second election race in a row where I have met members of the 5 congressional district campaign team. This is the second year in a row where people in the same position are too important to pick up phones and make calls to voters, or any other task that needs doing on election day. Perhaps this is why a Democrat has not held the seat in two decades.

Primary Day

Today is New Jersey's primary. We are too late to influence presidential elections. There is no statewide office candidates. We can expect low turn out.

But there will be a great party afterwards. I plan on skipping it and studying for the GRE's. I have flashcards through the letter "o".

Ronald Redux

"The world is a better place because he was here,' the Rev. Dr. Michael Wenning said."
NYTimes:

And even better now that he is gone.

Foreign Relations

"A Bush administration lawyer had told justices that it would be unprecedented to have U.S. judges resolving lawsuits against foreign countries over expropriated property. The administration argued it would harm America's relations with those countries."
NYTimes

If the Bush administration was so concerned about foreign relations, why was there a unilateral decision to invade iraq?

Starbucks

Starbucks empolyee application test:

A customer who asks for a medium is asking for?
(A) This would never happen
(B) A cup with volume greater than the smallest serving, but smaller than the largest serving.
(C) This question is not relevant

When a customer asks for one tea bag, they mean what?
(A) They want coffee
(B) If they want a Venti Size tea, they really want two bags because that is how many comes with a Venti size tea.
(C) The customer does not know what they are talking about

A customer who asks for Heavy Cream wants what?
(A) whole Milk
(B) Half and Half
(C) Heavy Cream

Ronald

Its about time the body caught up with the brain.

Hair

I went to Hamilton Yesterday to get my hair cut at Big John's Barber or Roy's Barber. Both are great barber shops, and both are a block away from Clayton. So I made a pit stop at the Lamar household. I found Clayton buzzing Faraci's head, and then Clayton offered to do the same to me. As it is, I went to Hamilton to get a hair cut, and I did, for free.