Dispatches from the front line - 27 September 2007

[silveradept]

As silly as it sounds, I was very happy that I got my official name tag and lanyard today. No longer am I just “Staff”, but a named and titled person with that credential hanging off my neck. It’s silly, but it’s another mark that I actually belong where I am, and it’s not as likely that I’m going to be replaced by someone else in a sudden and abrupt management gesture. Passing the performance review at six months will really help that out. But, yay! I got my name badge today. And I sat it on the baby explorers program, and it was adorably cute, and not just because of the babies. Although that certainly helped. And there was chocolate today. So it was definitely a good day today.

Going from my day to the day of people in the world, the unintentional swastika on a naval base will be camouflaged and re-landscaped to hide the emblem, to the cost of about $600,000 USD. It’s still rather interesting that the predominant association is not the one that’s been around for many hundreds of years in a peaceful manner but the one that was brutish, violent, and short-lived. I’m not saying we don’t need to remember the lessons of that time, but um, could we make them a footnote when dealing with the symbol, rather than making all the other stuff the footnote?

New recall for the week is frozen hamburger with E.coli in it. Has this always been like this, and now we’re finally getting to the point where we can learn about it as fast as it happens?

Turning slantways into tech stuff, adding two more sensors to a CD/DVD drive turns it into an effective medical scanner, according to some medical hackers in Spain. While the precision’s not superfine, it is good enough for most work, they say. With the correct software, and putting a sample, or several thousand, on a CD, that could be a breakthrough for a cheap medical scanner. Still some refinements to the procedure needed, though. If it’s good, though, the next generation of players could correspond to an increase in the sensitivity and capacity of the instrument. Another potential use for a DVD laser diode is transforming a MiniMag from flashlight to laser emitter, by removing the bulbs and putting in the diode.

Department of Homeland Security demonstrates that electrical power systems can be disrupted through remote access, but assures us that the risk is very low. From the way the description is, it would take someone with at least some specialized knowledge to hit the right control system, overcome the security protocols, and then set things as to cause damage and blackouts. They are working to correct the problem, of course. That this was previously classified material seems to indicate to me that they feel far enough ahead of the curve to safely say that it’s not really likely to happen. Which either indicates that DHS takes the idea of transparency in government seriously, or that they’re trying to add fuel to a fire of improbable events that might happen. Maybe a little of both.

This much we do know - the DHS and the military-industrial complex have become so popular and so profitable that a Maryland high school offers a curriculum in "Homeland Security Science" or other related instruction. Jesus’ General would like to know what Homeland Security Science is, and whether it might include some of the things that Homeland Security has already authorized.

Hooray? Portland federal judge finds FISA as modified by the Patriot Act violates the Fourth Amendment. Not the SCOTUS, but might be an in to them, where we could hope that the SCOTUS agrees and requires the Administration to cease with the warrantless wiretapping and actually get probable cause before searching.

Around the world, Mr. Gorbachev wants Russia to remember its history and avoid returning to Stalinism. Popular opinion seems to be against him, with many young Russians thinking that Stalin’s age was an age of greatness. Sounds more like the matter of “Well, the current era sucks, and we’re poor. It looks like, while it was politically frigid, oppressive, and lots of people died, Stalin’s era at least had people able to eat and live decently. Maybe there was something in that system after all.” Here in the United States, though, I think the majority of the people distressed with the way things are moving forward are the generations just beyond “the young”. They’re still there, and they have some political clout, but at some point, unless they can transmit their desire on to the younger generation, they’ll pass into history. Young people, however, tend to be able to spark revolutions, and so they could very well achieve their ends, if there was enough determination.

In Burma/Myanmar, security forces have opened fire upon Buddhist monks and other protesters, escalating the incident further and drawing even more attention and negativity from the international community. The possibility of things exploding completely out of control (over a fuel price hike, no less) is now significantly more likely to occur. Even more so if monks are harmed or killed in the process. This is what happens when the people get momentum on a cause they can get behind. There are plenty of people who would like to see America doing something like it - not violence, but a protest to bring back the rule of law and government. Failing that, or the ability to make critical mass, many will give advice on how to fight the system/government/power structure by oneself. Possibly even if the police, like in New Zealand, open up a wiki to ask the world community to comment on proposed legislation.

Iran’s president told the United Nations that the matter is closed on its nuclear programme, and that it will have nuclear capabilities. Iran says that their ability is to be peaceful in nature, the United States thinks they will build weapon capabilities out of enriched uranium. Time will likely be the only thing that tells us if either or both of those positions is correct.

Bridging technology and nature, check out Inhabitat's Treehouse gallery. There are houses to be built in trees, houses made out of trees, and all sorts of creative talent applied to the idea that arboreal living might be a sustainable idea. If they can link up with the people making solar-powered homes, which are still going strong in a slumping housing market, then it could be a wave of the future to live in the woods. I wonder about the commute to work, though, if there is one.

The Dumb Criminals file has this gem - two people who tried to convince a store clerk that they could make his money multiply through the use of a "special potion". The clerk knew that there was no such thing as free money, and especially not with something like that. The criminals would probably do okay in a stage show, but now they’ll have to practice their sleights in prison.

Regarding rights for all persons, I’m not sure I trust the source on this, but supposedly the House's Democratic leaders may be thinking of dropping transgender protections from an upcoming Employment Non-Discrimination Act. This could cause schisms in activist groups on deciding whether some protections are better than none, or whether an all-or-nothing idea is proper. Something I note in there is that there are still provisions in the bill to exempt certain religious groups from the requirements of this bill. Yet, I suspect, those groups will probably have federal or state monies allocated to them to assist in social purposes. I’d like to believe that in our society, by accepting the funding from the governmental apparatuses, the religious organizations also accept the rules by which the governmental apparatuses operate, which include such things as nondiscrimination clauses. Even if only for those functions by which the religious group accepts the federal funding. Yes, I realize that if that were to be enforced, I’d probably kill much of the social assistance network that’s currently in place in the United States. Or create a sort of dual-network system, with one part being the government’s network and another being the religious ones. But that’s me, y’know. Knowing that the current administration has an entire office of faith-based initiatives that are giving programs saturated with Christian worship and promotion of faith-based material as the best, I think those exceptions are probably politically necessary for a shot, if the bill actually manages to get to Mr. Bush’s desk.

Of course, that wouldn’t necessarily stop private companies from doing thigns, either. Verizon Wireless first appeared to block, and then backpedaled strongly on the blocking of, pro-choice text messages being sent by NARAL. People who are worried about the neutrality and free-flow of information on the Internet, as well as pro-choice advocates, should be worried when communications companies start making decisions about what is and isn’t permitted on their networks. This has been classified as an isolated incident by the company, with many assurances that the censoring decision was incorrect. Time will tell whether this was deliberate or incidental.

The Happiness Project has something useful to all of our working days - some quick tips on how to boost one's alertness and energy levels, and all but one of them don’t involve chemical stimulants. Some of those techniques I’ve used myself to make sure that I don’t lull out. Occasionally, though, it takes a lunchtime nap to make things work again. (And when your’e on lunch, that power nap is okay.)

So, yeah, that’s the usual disjointed sequence of stuff, without rhyme, reason, or even much for transitions. It’s about par for me. So the last thing for tonight is using the CCTV camera system as a way of creating free cinema. Which is neat - capture the feed, utilizing the cameras already there, and make a movie. Although, that makes me wonder just how secure a CCTV feed actually is, if you can tap into it to create your own movies.

Comments

[rowenablue.livejournal.com]

I was gearing up to write my protest letter to Verizon, but before I had the time to, they'd already reversed the apology.

[silveradept]

It did move very quickly. I guess I wonder how they knew in the first place, and how long it took for Verizon to go from "Rar! No pro-choice on our networks!" to "We're sorry! Didn't know that we had so many of you murderers pro-choice people on our network!"

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

yay nametag! does this mean you have keys and stuff too?


I don't understand why removing the transgendered part will help get the bill passed. Transgendered are people too!

[silveradept]

Keys came before nametag. I've had those for a while.

I can guess that they'd take out the transgendered part because they can probably sell the public, or at least the Congress, on supporting nondiscrimination for people who don't actually look any different. If you include the transgender people, then you have to not discriminate against a group of people who clearly are different than the rest of us. Considering how long it took to not discriminate based on race, you can see where it might be a sticking point. That, or they think a lot of people are still squicked about the idea of changing one's gender, for whatever reason.

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

Most people who are transgendered look like whatever their chosen gender to identify look-wise with is. I mean, it's not like they've got purple skin and green hair.

So what? if this bill passes without the TG part on it, a company can decide against hiring someone named James because they find out that James is really an FtM named Jaime, and Jaime can't do anything about it? but if Jamie identified as a lesbian woman, she'd be able to complain? That's bull!

[silveradept]

Sure, it's not like they're different, but they're different, and that makes people hesitate. After all, if you were a powerful corporate manager and wanted to abuse your power of paycheck, wouldn't you want to be sure that the girl you were hitting on was always a girl, and wasn't a man just a few years ago? Or if you believe that everyone should stick with the gender they're given, wouldn't you want to not hire anyone who commits the sacrilege of changing their gender to something else? The gays and the lesbians, you don't like them either, but you know you're going to lose that fight, because they're vocal. The transgender types, though, maybe you can stop them from seeping in, because they look different, y'know. Like those black folk. Or those Asian folk.

It's stupid to go in piecemeal and think that they'll be able to get the rest later, but for some, some protections are better than none. Once the window's open and you're inside, you can open up windows and doors to let everyone else in. I'd say if you're going to go for it, do it right and go for all of it. If it fails out, you've got even more ammunition to use in saying that the government doesn't believe in its founding principles, and you can keep putting more pressure on them to do what's right.

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

And that's why so many Transgendered persons become hookers/escorts/call girls/whatever. It's because they wind up feeling as though that's "all they are good for", and then they get abused by their "clients" and sometimes even raped.

Who cares if someone used to be a boy and is now a girl? I'd still think it would be discrimination to deliberately not hire someone because on the application under "other names you have gone by" they write a name of the opposite gender.

I just think that the bill will be an epic FAIL if they take off the transgendered portion, because how is that fair to not treat them the same way? And what if you're a lesbian transgendered person? will you be allowed to use the law and say you were discriminated against for being a lesbian, or will you be SOL because you also happen to be transgendered?

Why does the law even have to be written specifically to say GLBT? why can't it just be "No discrimination under any circumstances. EVER". We've got all sorts of laws about discrimination and affirmative action, and really, if people would just STOP looking at people based solely on their outwards appearance or habits, we'd be a lot better off.

[silveradept]

It shoule be a discrimination, because what gender you are, for close to all positions, has no effect on whether you'll be able to perform the job funcions properly. The "other names" part is more so that they can have a complete background check on you, in case you changed your name, like when you get married. To refuse to hire someone based on their gender status is as bad as refusing to hire someone based on their sexual orientation.

The reason our law doesn't say "No discrimination, excepting in cases where only men or women are suitable for the job" (such as, say, surrogate motherhood and/or exotic dancing troupes) is because we've been living quite a while in our history where putting your tribe's interests above someone else's has been a smart strategy for survival. Now that we have abundance (for the most part), we're slowly starting to share it with other tribes, but there's still an atavistic fear that if we share too much, we'll either die out or that other tribe will conquer us and make us their subjects. If we can step past things like national origin, or gender, or race, and start really envisioning Humes and Humes, regardless of what they look like, then I think that anti-discrimination legislation will pass easily, and eventually the people will internalize that idea until it is natural. We may have to do something like it all over again if/when we meet an intelligent extraterrestrial race or when Humes finally have settlements on other worlds, but hopefully it will take less time the second go around.

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

so you're saying that it's the heterosexual tribe who's afraid of the homosexual, bisexual, and transgendered tribes?

No one can TURN someone GLBT. It's a personal descision, and some believe you're born already knowing what you are.

I know they use the former names for background checking, but it also would be a way of having to admit to formerly being the opposite sex because you'd have to write down your former name.

[silveradept]

Not "afraid", really, excepting in the sense that the homosexuals and transgendered individuals are strongly unlikely to produce children and further the tribe's survival. If one were concerned about survival and birth rates, then one would be worried that the "virus" (if, indeed, it is biological) of homosexuality would spread to other people and kill off the tribes. Which is why for a while, people thought (some may still) that HIV is a way of correcting such a tribe-harming behavior.

Yes, it might mean having to reveal that one has had a name change and a gender change, but unless you're running from the law or other such things, it really shouldn't matter. I don't know whether "other names" data sent to an employer involves gender. Might just be "Name X has Y things on file" be they warrants or other such things. If pressed and uncomfortable, one can always claim that one's parents had an evil sense of humor or something.

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

I do'nt know if it would return a gender or not. I suppose you could say your parents are just weird, but they'd have to be really weird to name a boy say, my name.

right. because there's no such thing as artificial insemination for people wo want to have kids.

[silveradept]

You could say that your parents just liked the name. There are far weirder things in the world than parents who name their boy children "Jane" or their girl children "John".

[silveradept]

Oh, and up until very recently in human history, artificial insemination was not an option. And it still doesn't help two men who would like a child. They still have to adopt or have surrogate motherhood working for them. That starts screwing up other things, like property inheritances and the like.

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

Oh, like that one case of the lesbian woman who was suing for part of an estate because the woman had "adopted" her legally and stuff?

[silveradept]

Yep. While a testament may designate survivors and heirs, I'm just waiting for the case where the person who birthed the couple's child sues to get part of the estate when both fathers die, or to make both men pay her some sort of child support, because she's technically the "mother" of the child and entitled to it, even if she's not actually raising the kid. This is why having at the very least, government-sanctioned joining contracts for all people is a necessity - keeps the lawyers at bay by ensuring that there is a clear line of succession, rather than the spouse having to fight the family for assets, funeral arrangements, and the like. (If the family didn't approve of the joining, anyway.) Same for adoption contracts. If some part of the populace is left out in the cold because the law doesn't acknolwedge them, fur, fists, and lawyers are launched at amazing speeds when things go strange.

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

I never thought of it that way. But really, wouldn't the mother only be able to claim rights if she was left raising the child? I mean, even in divorce, if you aren't the one actually taking care of the child, you can't get support payments.

[silveradept]

That's true. Now think about what happens, though, if the mother wants to raise "her" child even with a surviving domestic partner should the father die. Who gets the kid? The one who birthed him or the one who's been raising the kid since birth? According to the law as I understand it, without any sort of document that officially adopts the child as the child of both men/women or joins the two men in a legally binding marriage-like contract, the only person who's claim would be valid would be the birth mother's. And thus, the kid could be told by law that she has to go live with her mother, rather than with the people who have raised her. Again, as I understand it, which is unlikely to be versed in the various nuances of law and child custody courts.

And then see what happens if she wants to keep the child, but doesn't want the surviving partner to see him, but also wants the partner to pay her child support to raise the kid with. See the clusterfrak going on?

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

no, you're perfectly right. Birth-right is the only thing that matters in cases like that. If there are no legal papers that gave BOTH men guardianship over the child, and the one who did have guardianship passes away, the child would go into child services, be put in a foster home, or, if the birth mother wanted the child with them, sent to live with the birth mother.

I'm not sure the surviving partner would have to pay support if they weren't the guardian of the child, HOWEVER, the mother would be eligible for the SSI benefits that are given to children with one deceased parent.

[thalass.livejournal.com]

That could be the hindu barracks! :P

[silveradept]

Yeah, could be. Except "Everyone knows" that there aren't any people who aren't good strongly conservative Christians in the military, and if there are, they'll either keep quiet about it, convert, or be fragged.

[loni-san.livejournal.com]

Front page Friday of Port Huron's newspaper (http://www.thetimesherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070928/NEWS01/709280314)

D: Just... D:
Our paper's known for very opinionated and exaggerated articles, but this one didn't seem too bad. It's all we talked about today in gov't class.

[silveradept]

Always nice to know that the governmental parties can't even manage to agree on what to spend and how much. If they can't figure that out, why do we expect them to be good at other things again?

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

And you know what most people are going to complain about the most if the state does shut down?

Liquor distribution also could stop.

The Detroit casinos must have gaming inspectors on the premises during operation. Without inspectors, the casinos would have to close, which would close the doors on a giant revenue maker for Detroit and the state.

those two points. Gotta have your booze and your gambling.

When PA shut down for the day, I believe that was what people were complaining about the most around here - no off track wagering places were open, and the state stores were closed. the turnpike was closed, which...yeah, so not a good thing.

You'd think after six months, they'd have come to a descision on something though!

[silveradept]

Booze and gambling. Yeah, that's probably going to be big complainers. The DMV/SoS shutting down, though, means no registrations, renewals, or driver's licenses being issued, and in a state like Michigan, that's going to cause a few complaints by itself. Eventually, the rot spreads, but I suspect that if they let it go that far, then there's something really entrenched and the people should get used to the government not being open for a while.

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

And of course, police will still be running, so if you're driving with expired tags or an expired license, you'll probably STILL get a ticket.

If they do that 30 day thing, does that mean that the government will shut down for 30 days?

Suddenly, I'm glad I don't live there....

[silveradept]

No, they'll pass legislation that keeps the current budget in effect for thirty more days, to keep services running while they hammer out a new budget that will actually work. Without such legislation, at the beginning of the new fiscal year, if there's no budget, the government shuts down for as long as it takes for them to find a budget or to decide to keep using the last one for some amount of time.

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

So, basicaly, they have two days to either PASS the new budget, or say "30 more days of the old budget"? I'd think they'd just go ahead and do the 30 day thing then, less stress on them, right?

[silveradept]

Pass the budget, decide to extend the current budget for a definite amount of time, or let the government lapse into nonwork.

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

WHY would they just let things lapse though? Wouldn't that also affect their own salaries and things like that?

[silveradept]

Yeah, might affect their salaries, but once the budget is in, they'll just vote themselves the money they woud have been paid anyway. So it really doesn't affect them unless they don't have enough personal reserves to live off of for a month or two.

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

So instead of doing the extension to keep thins going, they may just say "to hell with it" and let things stop running?

Wow.

But then, shouldn't some of them be worried about their own elections soon?

[silveradept]

If they can't compromise, they'll let it go and blame the other party for being so stubborn and not letting them have their way. And until whatever block it is gets resolved in a way both sides like, or one side can force through, things just stop.

Regarding elections, though, most of those are still fourteen months off, which is about twelve months longer than the average voter's political attention span. In Octogre of next year, unless someone brings it up, nobody's going to remember the government shutdown except those strongly affected by it.

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

I see. And so then the running mate would be the one to dig up all the dirt and say "but don't you remember??" and it would all just be mudslinging and not actually the people remembering what happened.

Wow. People are dumb.

[silveradept]

You've hit upon one of the fundamental insights of politics. An individual is smart, often blindingly so. People are stupid, often dazzlingly so.

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

So am I ready to run for office?



(I'm kidding.)