Confession Tuesday: We are all responsible for the Arizona shootings

or weren’t we supposed to be the most politically mature country in the world?

Dear V.




I imagine that you already heard the news about the Arizona shootings. You had followed perhaps the discussion surrounding the shooters profiling and about who is to blame for it. And I know that it is even more confusing for you who are listening all this disputes there, back home…


So let me tell you what I think – we shall not blame Sarah Palin, nor Glenn Beck. Not even Jesse Kelly and his M16 shooting campaign event should get  blamed for this. As for the shooter, who knows what went through his mind?He is mentally unstable. but somehow he did wait for the 2010 election campaign to be over in order to act…   I do not want to imply that they are all legally responsible, but they should feel morally responsible. And to that extent  we are all responsible. There wouldn’t be a Sarah Palin, Beck and all those who are spewing political vitriol without us, the millions of Americans who are funding their campaigns and raising the ratings of their shows. It was John Dickerson who noted, I think, that the best videos of the 2010 campaign were the “viral” ones. You may recall that I wrote you about, now senator Joe Manchin III and the video that helped him win the elections – the one where he shot the Cap and Trade bill. It is sad I think that he needed to express his position in such an extreme form in order to win the dispute. And whilst the position on Cap and Trade is his to hold, the demand for thus form of expression is ours …


Do you recall how, in the years of our youth, we praised the political maturity of the American voter. And how we did wish that our country will, once more, overcome its dark age and experience democracy and grow into the same political maturity. How we re-read Tocqueville again and again. And now… Today I wonder where is this political maturity gone. And how much more perilous our bias had become without it. I wonder if we shouldn't better stop pointing fingers and look to ourselves first ...


Oh I know, there is an explanation in the ways our media platforms are changing and the Internet and all that, but…


I have to return to work now,


I hope to be able to call soon and that Maja feels much better nowadays


As always


Yuri

Confession Tuesday: The confessions of a bus rider (3)

...and a train rider, I may add.

After reading the new TSA related stories , Mona wondered if those voices opposing a universal health care plan (with or without a government option) arguing that it opens the door for the government into our private health care issues will also oppose the government’s interference of the with peoples most intimate body parts.


Yuri:

These are the people who inferred (and believed) that the government will control treatment options and medication choices in a larger measure than health insurance providers do now – that is for any other reasons than cost related ones. Not impossible

-  slightly possible, adds Nim. So they will start suggesting alternatives – like the railroads they refuse to rebuild and support…

Slightly possible alternatives, noted Annamari with her usual lack of  tact. This is no longer the country where everything is possible, but the country where the least possible is most likely to become reality.

Eco-Friday: The Red Deadly Spill

We haven’t even closed the covers on the eco-disaster that was BP’s Gulf Oil Spill that another toxic spill spread death over the Hungarian plain.

A (perhaps) poorly built dam overfilled with alumina residuum from a plant in Ajka cracked and crumbled on Monday. Hence, almost 35 mil cubic feet of toxic red sludge covered the nearby town of Kolontar and its surroundings. Mass media reports on the spill’s victims and ecological impact reached the top searches on Google news by Wednesday. The spill made 7 human victims, hurt another hundred and killed countless animals as well as all life in the Marcal River one of Danube’s tributary rivers. The media frenzy reached its climax as it became clearer that the Danube’s unique ecosystems were threaten beyond the Hungarian border ( a potential regional conflict maybe?).

Fortunately the efforts of the Hungarian emergency services and locals were able to stop most of the toxic sludge from reaching the Danube. Whilst there were official reports of dead fish on the Hungarian territory, no other country downstream did report any toxic dangers – a sign that the rich flow of the river diluted the toxic sludge spilling in quite fast.

Of course the Hungarian Aluminum Production and Trade Company or MAL, which owns the reservoir, denied any wrongdoing and invested a ‘generous’ $150,000 in cleaning.



Yet, there is one notable aspect of the toxic red sludge spill that struck me. The impact on the social media when compared to the Oil Spill’s impact. I can recall the countless tweets and blog posts and poems wrote after the Oils Spill. Is the impact of millions of cubic feet of toxic alumina residuum less dangerous for our eco-system than the millions of cubic feet of crude spilled in the Gulf. I dare to say: “No, it is not”.

Even if the spill has not affected the Danube to the extent that we had feared. It affected a large area, two cities, farms, crops… It destroyed a river’s ecosystem. Human lives are lost. Human livelihoods are lost. People will not be able to return to their houses and crops that are now red toxic mud for a long, long time. And the cleanup will cost millions.

Even though once the dam broke and the spill occurred, the dam may no longer be a source for other spills. But there are other dams …much more than deep water oil rigs. In fact, as Diamond notes in “Collapse” – pollution from metal mining and manufacturing  refining residues is more common than the pollution resulted from coal mining and crude extraction. He also noted that we are less aware of the effects when metal mining and manufacturing are involved. But why?


Why did the red spill have less impact on social media. Too little time passed since it occurred? Is it the area of impact? No big tourism, no ‘mediatized suffering’ Louisiana…Is it about the people- more private small city, central Europeans perhaps? Is it that MAL is not big oil BP …?

  In my opinion it is a little bit from each of the above, but I would really like to hear your thoughts in the matter … (well, to be more precise , I would like to read them, so please do post comments).

Sources:

BBC-

10/8/2010- Hungary calms Danube sludge fears at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11498884

Deutsche Welle
10/7/2010 -Dead fish found in Hungary's Danube after toxic spill at http://bit.ly/afddjv
 Authors Darren Mara, Gabriel Borrud (Reuters/AFP/dpa). Editor : Nancy Isenson.

10/6/2010 -Eyewitness: Hungary's toxic spill at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11483414

Your right to freedom and the pursuit of Happiness

"You  may think, said Mona the day the Supreme Court was hearing the Snyder v. Phelps arguments, that freedom and free are the same thing.
But they are not, freedom is just your right to chose the price you pay for your actions and words. In this case the most obvious  price  that was paid is decency. To expose hatred like that is pornographic and to expose it at a  soldier's funeral  it is an indecent perversion."

Public Transit IV: PAT

Six years ago when PAT faced a similar issue, my attitude was different - I did wrote a public comment but it was quite simpleminded and other than that I continued bickering about it as most Pittsburgh bus riders did. In all honesty, six years ago I had no MBA degree and I did not know much about America and Americans. I was fresh Pittsburgh resident who came from Europe , where public transit not only works differently but is also viewed quite differently –even when at its worse.




This year, I decided for a different attitude. I decided to do some research and use my MBA trained brain to come up with some suggestions for PAT.



But let’s start from the beginning:




Pittsburgh, PA, USA



Country GDP @purchasing power parity $14.26 trillion (2009 est.)/ per capita $46,400 (2009 est.) (http://www.indexmundi.com/ )

Pittsburgh Urban Area: 852 sq mi Population: 1, 753,000 (http://www.demographia.com/db-worldua.pdf ) [1]

Public Transit : Port Authority of Allegheny County (PAT)
website: http://www.portauthority.org/paac/default.aspx

Covers: a 775 square-mile area that includes Pittsburgh and its suburbs throughout Allegheny County
Serves: on average 228,719 riders per weekday

Among the urban areas covered by my first post on the topic –Public Transit I- two areas bear at least a geographic resemblance with Pittsburgh Urban Area: the city of Budapest and Regio-Verkehrsbund Freiburg(RVF). However if we also consider demographics ( purchase power, lifestyle etc. ) , the public transit service which PAT may consider for benchmarking remains RVF.

Now, the steps that PAT is taking, as we speak, are meant to improve  the quality of Public Transit offers as well as traffic flow, by using strategies which are somewhat similar with the ones used by RVF . For example they are introducing magnetic cards as a form of payment to ease the current system that requires most riders to carry small currency in order to purchase a transfer (yes I know, how obsolete...).

However, as they say it in my old country, one cannot bring spring with only one flower. PAT working towards improving their marketing and operations is a good start, but just a start.And PAT alone cannot change the pitiful condition of Public Transit in the Allegheny County. PAT alone cannot implement a transit system that is comparable with RVF.

Another difference , and a major issue for the US transit : Public Policies.


It is interesting to note that in Germany as in U.S, the crisis of public transit started soon after WWII following an increase in motorization and suburbanization. However, Public Transit in Germany took a very different path from the one in US, especially following the 1970s energy crisis.

An excellent article on the topic is Buehler's (2009)  comparison of passengers and policies in Germany and the U.S.
Ridership: Like in the US, the demand for public transit is higher in urban areas. However , Germans living in suburban and rural areas are more likely to use public transits than Americans in urban areas. Also, Germans living within 1km (0.62 miles) from  a bus stop are more likely to use public transit than Americans living within 400 meters (0.25 miles)  from a bus stop. American bus riders are poorer than German bus riders. And while the rate of increase in car ownership since 1976 is comparable for both Germany and America  , the share of all trips  by public transportation  remains constant in Germany but decreased from 2.6% to 1.6% in U.S . Another  German study , including a larger percentage of homemakers, shows a decrease in the share of all trips by public transportation from 12% to 8%[2] (Buehler, 2009).

Why the difference?

Different attitudes

For example, the fact that American riders are poorer indicates that in U.S. public transportation services are focused on people that are unable to drive a car -because they cannot afford one or because they are too young or too poor. Now, if we eliminate the riders under 18, and we consider the  the other market segments -the poor and the disabled - in correlation with American culture , the conclusion is striking. In the U.S. public transit is considered by the public as well as their representatives as an alternative for the society's destitute no different than public assistance services such as welfare and food stamps. Therefore, the public attitude towards public transportation is also different as many potential riders may consider riding a bus something that is not dignifying. Unlike their American counterparts, Germans are more likely to use public transit indifferent of income or car ownership and, to a much larger extent, as a viable alternative for commuters. The way that politicians and their constituents regard public transportation is also different. At the local level, it is an alternative which lowers congestion in urban area and the  pollution damage to historical buildings. At the state and federal level it is a green, sustainable alternative. And for riders it is, beyond being the  only option for the poor and disabled, a comfortable alternative to spending empty hours commuting by car [3].

 Different public policies.
For example, in Germany subsidies for operation costs are negotiated only with the local governments. A strategy which holds several advantages.
First, subsidies are comparable to demand and thus face less opposition from constituents with low access (to no access ) to public transit.[4]
Second, local communities are more involved in the success of public transportation projects. Therefore the success of integrating public transportation services at a local and regional level (Buehler, 2009). Among the consequences of  successful integration of transit services , financing and schedule are  :

1. A better, more effective  distribution of subsidies resulting in lower subsides per rider than in U.S.
2. Service dependability and convenience - Basically anyone living 20 miles away from an urban center is able to use the same monthly pass to take a regional train into town and commute from the railway center to his workplace by taking advantage of coordination between timetable, fares and routes.
3. Better coordination with walking and bike riding - with special lanes for bikes and sidewalks, marked streetcrossing points and priority for pedestrians. [5]

     Germany does not subsidize personal vehicle transportation. In fact, their policies are quite restrictive when in comes to urban centers as heavy traffic does not lead only to congestion but also to pollution and damage to historical buildings. This policy encourage the use of public transportation for daily, routine commutes that do not justify the use of a personal vehicle. Especially since the time spent in traffic is not lost -one can use it to read, work, communicate with peers.Plus, the design of public transportation vehicles accommodates: wheelchairs and strollers on a lower platform in the middle of the bus and  access through all doors, reducing the time for getting passengers on and off .[6]

Land Use/Development Policies:

Another major difference between Germany and the U.S. is with respect to land use and development strategies.Ryan and Throgmorton (2003) compare the land development strategies in Freiburg, Germany and Chula Vista , California. New Developments in Germany are so designed that they are coordinated with public transportation development projects. In the Freiburg region , access to public transportation is seen as the main solution to traffic congestion. In Chula Vista , however, the strategy for new developments is to broaden the area and increase distances. The article's conclusion is somewhat surprising for a 2010 reader: both land development strategies are considered sustainable from a local point of view. However, as gas prices went up... Compared to 2006 in  2007 the Chula Vista region registered a 159.5% increase in foreclosures[7].

Now, there is still a lot for PAT to learn from RVF through benchmarking. But it is also a lot that PAT cannot do because it cannot change public policies by itself -it cannot pave sidewalks, it cannot change land use policies or decide where its subsidies come from - though it can lobby for it. This is were we, the public, can help by contacting our local and state Representatives. Or...

you may feel free to comment with other ideas, suggestions. Unless you only want to bicker about subsidies:  don't bother, you know my answer- I do resent to pay taxes too, especially if it is so you can get gas at subsidized prices or bail out GM so you can still buy your made in America car.

Special thanks to:
@bus15237 @shadow @TransitGuru @PGHtransit
Sources:
Buehler R.(2009) -Promoting Public Transportation: A Comparison of Passengers and Policies in Germany and the U.S. Transportation Research Record: Journal of Transportation Research Board, No.2110, 2009, pp.60-68
Ryan, S.  Throgmorton, J. (2003) - Sustainable Transportation and Land Development on the Periphery: A Case Study of Freiburg, Germany and Chula Vista, California. Urban & Regional Planning Publications. University of Iowa retrieved from : http://ir.uiowa.edu/urban.pubs/6


Footnotes:


[1]Pittsburgh Urban includes the city (population about 316,000, area about 58.3 sq mi) as well as the surrounding administrative units with an overall density of at least 500 people per square mile –the Allegheny County and parts of Butler, Beaver, Westmoreland and Washington counties as well.
[2] the different results of the two surveys may indicate that public transit is widely used by people,  belonging  to the middle class & employed,  to  commute to and from work.
[3] Germany offers "higher levels and better quality of  public transportation supply", notes Buehler (2009, p.2). In plain English, public transportation vehicles are better maintained & equipped and services are reliable, accessible and dependable.
[4]That means no more opposition from middle PA. Constituents in those areas argue , and do it rightly that as they have to drive miles to work and even shopping it will be unfair for them to pay extra taxes on fuel to subsidize a service they cannot use. On the other side it is also unfair for urban dwellers to pay subsidies in order to keep car transportation at lower costs.
[5] accessibility is not reduced to distance. On a personal note, my question about a potential paved sidewalk from the end of my street to the bus stop on an area that is already covered by something one can hardly call "gravel" received a "will let you know" with no follow-up message from my borough. I suppose they hope I'll forget about it.
[6] If anyone is interested to find out more about the way rapid turnover can reduce costs I suggest this book :The Southwest Airlines Way
[7] on average. (http://legacy.signonsandiego.com/news/business/images/080122foreclosure_stats.pdf)

Confession Tuesday: Name. Identity. Culture.

Reading “Anil’s Ghost” for the South Asian Reading Challenge* I had an eerie feeling . There were no details from Anil’s past or present to help me identify her in terms of her Sri Lankan past beyond what she seemed willing to reveal. And that was very little…


The name, especially the name. Her given name –a boy’s name she had chosen for herself and bought from her brother. Her surname that tells the reader no more than Portuguese roots may suggest that her family was neither part of the Sinhala majority or the Tamil minority but … When I tried to trace a Tissera family and their relations I was attempting to materialize Anil's ghost (one of her ghosts to be more precise). But I was not able to find many clues. Not because the European surname but because Ondaatje chose on purpose a name that will be hard to attach to a specific family. Had he chosen a name such as Fonseca,De Saram or Da Silva it would have been much easier for me to incorporate the imaginary character within the histories of a real family, ethnic group etc. **



Why my obsession with the name? After all ,
“what's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."
Shakespeare, as usual. Take it out of the context and you may wonder as I do – when did we came to act so casual towards names?

Names used to be magic. You recall the way Adam participated to the act of Creation by naming animals and plants.

It was customary to baptize again a child considered sickly or unlucky because it was believed that the bearer of a new name is going to be a new person as well.

Emigrants to the new world would often change their names in order to become members of a new nation, new culture and often, a new language.

In South Asia surnames often indicate one’s caste or social status.

In many European countries people took the name of the trades they were passing down from generation to generation to define their family trees.

But how often do you think about your name as it were no different than what you are. The culture. The self. The person. How often do you wonder, what's in my name?

I had done it quite often recently, because I am like Anil. I am occupying a “dis-located” position in terms of

my nationality: no longer Romanian but white or South Asian or Hispanic or… (depending on the eye of the beholder)

my family: each time I try to pull it around me and wear it as a proud denomination it keeps on crumbling, fragmented, spread all over the world.

my name: Ana is nowadays such a common name – it could be Hispanic, Italian, or add an "n" and it is British, Scandinavian, Hungarian...
 or Romanian. And, in Romanian, Ana turned to be gender neutral as it turned into a gender exclusive name living no option for the possible male offspring but to be born female.( It used to be anna, annas).

As for my surname: well I had to Google that too, because I am still (and in spite of it all I read) a classic when it comes my obsession for the notions of self and identity. But the results were not defined by one language – it seems that the same three phonemes were chained one to another by different tongues and different cultures to call

actions, weapons, brewery tools,
volume units for liquid, time.
Malaysian princes , a Swedish Model, a British sculptor.
Some of my own ancestors among whom one is the mayor of a village, lost now but
 once the nest of a blooming Neolithic civilization.
An ill reputed Chinese writer
– ill reputed from my point of view because he was a member of the Communist party,
fortunately this is only one and the least usual transcription of his name-
and , why not?
 part of the valley of the Thousand Buddha Caves and singing sands.

Such an ubiquitous name. Perhaps the reason why I had to reinvent myself ,and since:I am the brood

of mixed blood, the offspring of contingency call me Ana, Anaïs, Ieronim
or ,if you wish, you could call me

A lány neve Annamari.

I live in a foreign

language.

Notes:

* Book review coming soon.

** More details on the  name-identity-culture in Ondaatje's "Anil's Ghost" in  this paper about transnational identity I discovered grace to Sakura from Chasing Bawa.

Eco-Friday: Energy alternatives (repetitive)

As Yuri browsed the web for news on the BP oil effects on energy reform (his business made some bets on alternative energy) his jaw dropped as he read the second comment to an article about the ways the spill could actually hurt the chances for reform.

“This Cristoph guy, he’d note later, blames it all on environmental activists. As if, using faulty , untested equipment in deep water drilling was not something that BP could avoid. I wonder if a thorough investigation, if one will take place, is not going to bring up some risk analysis papers that show that the cost of the spill is less than the costs of a few more years of testing and research to reduce the consequences of such accidents. But, no, it is those darn environmentalists who sent poor BP digging…mhhm… drilling for money in deep waters .”


“To me it looks that the conservatives themselves are potential sources of alternative energy” shrugged Annamari.


“How comes?”


“With so many interpretative twists and turns on the facts the conservatives seem like a pretty good source of vibrations to me”

Note: the articles mentioned above:

Why the Oil Spill Could Hurt the Chances for Energy Reform and

How Everyday Behaviors Can Produce Clean Energy

Scrabble(2)

this is the result of a new game of Scrabble I played on Facebook.
I still wonder why the other player did forfeit as I was only leading by 40 or 50 points (and you can make those up) plus for me there is more fun in playing than winning:

When I outscore you-
(and such a plain word:
vid)-you quit.
Forfeit the game.
Must you feel piqued?

The combination vid/piqued scored 46 points and gave me the lead.

Wallpaper (Nana)

My Nana was not fearless

at all. The way this story goes

when she was young was asked

to chaperon her brother and his fiancée

she refused to climb in the boat.

She feared she might drown:

“my brother, she said, has no idea

how to row or handle a boat”. True,

but this was the lake in the public garden.

The water so deep, it won’t pass over

the hips of a ten year old.



But she must fear God more

than she fears people. On beggars she

taught me: ”poor souls”.(She knew misery

in the world war.)She handed small coins as

she cut noodles or baked holy bread for service

My Nana, I need an answer glued

Wallpaper, picturepaper in my old album

"would she fear?" like I do

now that I faced the one

fake beggar , most pitiful robber

Since I had this unpleasant experience with a local panhandler which made me reconsider giving change to them. The problem I have now: this form of human compassion was part of my core…And of course there is organized giving. But this takes away this genuine spontaneous gesture you can make when feeling blessed and wishing to make others feel just the same way….

Note: my Nana was my great aunt . And, if you red this and are unfamiliar with the Byzantin rite, I shall point that to bake holy bread one has to be a virgin.

diconnected

Human

I suppose that you are familiar with the comments made by Rush Limbaugh and Pat Robertson. If you do not know whom am I talking about , look, I am not going to link to Limbaugh, it way too cynical and spiteful ...but here is a little more on Pat Robertson's Haitian "pact with the devil".*




I finished reading recently two books -one prose, one of poems -that I would describe mainly as "human". I will return soon with more details on these books, but this will be in another post. I recently wrote to a friend about one other books, and the about it being so human and he replied with a song:

Funeral-Band of Horses



So, what's the link between this song and Paterson's comment? Well, the band's leader mentioned

in a recent interview that the song was inspired by his frustration over Holydays and Birthdays and Anniversaries, where we make so much buzz over impressing the other persons involved...You know, organizing the right kind of party, finding the right kind of present...

Hmm, still no apparent connection with the comment.

Well the song goes:" And to know you is hard ; we wonder/ To know you all wrong (we were)."

So maybe I got him all wrong? After all he is involved in the rescue and help efforts in Haiti...



And so I started to wonder why did Mr. Paterson invited us to support his charity work to Haiti, if they were rightfully punished by God for being the grand-grand-children of the Devil's pact?

First, how did Mr. Paterson knew with so much certainty about the pact -was he there? Must the slaves make a pact with the Devil in order to successfully overturn their masters - does this imply that the slavery was right by God or that those inferior beings would have failed by human means only? Or is it somehow related with the pagan voodoo rites mixed within their Christian beliefs?**

Well, let's say he knew it.***Than if he is correct in his assumption why did he invited us to help the Haitians? Why shall I oppose God's will, doesn't he know about "Thy will be done" part of the Bible? Is he not aware of what happened to poor Lucifer for attempting to be more strong willed than God himself? Do I really want to fall out from God's grace by opposing His righteous decisions?

And the song goes:

"I'm coming up only to hold you under


I'm coming up only to show you wrong"

..and there it is. My little "a-ha" moment, so we are to give just to show our righteousness and superiority. We only give because we are better than you...Forget compassion, or "love thy neighbor" , or Jesus washing his disciple's (servants) feet...So, Jesus, is as the evangelist in the Sea of Poppies stated "free trade". Therefore, as a good Christian I always have to show how the right path comes from my competitive advantage :"I have therefore I give , it's just an investment for me since I know I will receive multitudes for showing such a good humanitarian, heart".

Now I get it : "given and you will be given " ...

Why I shall not read Steven Landsburg

I had to read, recently for school a fragment of Steven Landsburg's "Why I am not an environmentalist" (The Armchair Economist, chapter 24).(note 1). I realized that the article is widely used for educational purposes and I am wondering now :why?
For me the lecture was annoying at best, for the tone and argumentation made more sense in a paper article than a serious economics book that should be used for teaching purposes at this level. Now, I had not read the whole book, but the article in question, as quoted by my textbook, irritates me enough to set my interest level below zero.

Let's take this passage, from page 225:
"The hallmark of science is a commitment to follow arguments to sheer logical conclusions. [...]I am sure that if we found a way to recycle, the population of cattle would go down, not up. If you want ranches to keep the cattle, you should eat a lot of beef. Recycling paper eliminates the incentive for paper companies to plant more trees and cause forests to shriek".

My problem is that he first states that science should be based sound arguments, and than he supports his point with an argument that is more doubtful than the environmentalist interpretation of statistical results.

Landsburg's argument has the following structure:
"We need cattle because we eat beef, therefore we grow cattle.
If we did not need cattle for beef, we wouldn't grew cattle."
or using symbols:

A because B, therefore C.(B implies A, A implies C)[1]
If non-B than non-A, therefore non-C (non-B implies non-A, non-A implies non-C)[2]

For an argument to be sound when it holds this logical structure , one cannot have B with an 0 value (false) and C with a 1 value.

He applies the same structure to the recycling issue:
"We need trees to make paper, thus we plant trees.
If we did not need trees for paper, we wouldn't plant trees."

He also goes further to make a parallel between the two arguments: The “tree” argument stands because the” beef” argument is true. His premise that we do plant more trees because we use them to make paper is grounded in the soundness of the “beef” argument.

The problem is that I can point out a situation for his “beef” argument in which C is true but B is false, i.e. Indian Hindu States where people grow cattle but do not eat beef. Thus, the “beef” argument does not stand. Because the way he built his own argument, since I proved the “beef” argument is unsound I can raise enough doubt about the soundness of his “tree” argument to be able to question it without having to prove it unsound.

And here is where I got lost: if Landsburg did expect me to take him seriously and consider his argument to be sound, he did assume that I lack the logical competence to asses it and I do not read an author that does not respect his readers. If he meant to mock the environmentalist approach to argumentation, than the textbook selection does not get that message through ( note 2 ), and I do have to little time at my disposition to waste it trying to find out by reading the whole book.


And, if I were not interested by the environmentalist point of view until now, I'd start showing interest as soon as I finished this lecture. If this the best anti-environmentalist argument someone was able to come with, this is for stupid people and I do not consider myself that stupid. This is why I do not see why would the text make it in this form as an argument against environmentalism.

(note 1) Landsburg, S. (1995) The Armchair Economist: Economics and Everyday Life ,Free Press
(note 2) Which will not surprise me , these are the same authors who discussed Kant's categorical imperatives (with a stress on the plural).

6/24

On Wednesday June 10 a friend, a blogger asked his readers " What do you want to be when you grow up?"

Julie had her answer in her pocket, even though she was not aware of the question.

Unfortunately, she was not the only one with an answer. This person  wanted to go out with a bang - as he thought of himself to be the one in charge of the "real american values" , but all he had in the end was his hate... There is another one who thinks  that he is the guardian of real Islamic and Iranian values, and I'm afraid he was allowed to have his own country and there is no way to tell how many more lives will be lost or whom will be able to stop him now...

 

On the brighter side, four people wanted to age free and they were able to achieve a little bit more than what they dreamt for. I hope they will be able to hold to it...

Today I stolled through the Pittsburgh Pride  and in my walk I had been surrounded by all kind of people-with their children, with rainbow faces and village people type outfits, young kids with jeans and cool ripped t-shirts, middle aged couples with polo shirts and dress pants - we only had one thing in common I think, we all wanted to be accepted as diverse as we were. And thinking over this week's events I realized that what I want to be when I grow up is to be human. 

I feel liberated

Monday morning. Work.

Some guy calls in about fifteen minutes before his scheduled appointment. I am available to talk to him (about his finances and possible assistance), so the call gets transferred to me. I told him to hold a sec until I get his file up. He must have believed that he is “on hold” and I cannot hear him, so he talks with some other guy:
“This one does not even speak English, I think they got one of those c**** (1) people”

Too bad I heard him.
“I overheard what you have said and I cannot go further with this appointment”
“What? What have you just said?” (2)
“I overheard what you have said and I have to end this discussion here. I suggest that you call back to request somebody that speaks English”

He hung up. I asked one of my co-workers to call him and when she called she was told that she went hunting and will be out for a while. (3) I am afraid that he will need some comprehensive anger management therapy now.

But I... I feel liberated. (4)

Notes:
(1) I cannot figure out why but people that just hear me on the phone assume that I am:
1. South Asian (mainly Indian), 2. East Asian (mainly Chinese), 3. Hispanic.
This guy might have said “ Chinese” and not “chink” but his opinion about my (lack off) competence was obvious.
(2) I think he had a shock when I told him that I could tell him off for his bigotry. Can you believe the guts of this Indian/Chinese/ Hispanic lady?
(3) Maybe he went to join Sarah Palin on an Alaskan hunting trip. (I surely hope they contain themselves to hunt wild beasts).
(4) It felt so darn good. I do not know how other people might think, but I got my (East) European ego and it needs to express itself sometimes…

Me too, I want a stimulus like that

I read it here.

Now , you'd wonder why is that relevant : well since Mrs. Palin(1) is supposed to be like the average yous out there -how many of you do afford to spend 150k in clothing in less than 2 months? Now look her in the eyes through your TV set and tell me, can you see it , the hypocrisy?

Me, and I am your average Jill income wise, I cannot (afford this).
But to be honest, if I would get that money to spend on clothing only, I am afraid the American economy would be only partially stimulated -for I would definitely replenish my classy wardrobe in Europe. (2)
So...I guess... better give it to her...

Notes.
(1) I misspelled the name, first I wrote Plain. You could call it a Freudian slip -for I was thinking that with that money she could of been a lot better dressed (of course, she would miss there the point of looking like Jill the housewife).
(2) (But I have to tell you that when it comes to jeans and comfortable shoes America rocks).

From PGH to PHX:open letter to anon#758634295

I got this bad habit of doing a lot of Internet browsing while at work. Mainly because my day job consists on dealing with idiots that can not be called as such without taking the chance to get fired. In all honesty not all the people I deal with are idiots, just enough. So I count on all those smart quirky posts from, let’s say, “best of Craigslist”, for a breath of fresh air.

To bad when posts such this one get voted to the best list: http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/phx/758634295.html


This guy swears that if he wasn't sexually attracted to girls that he'd be gay. Really?
I swear that if I were not attracted to man I’d be gay too, but ya’ gotta know that being gay means exactly that: being sexually attracted by people of the same gender as yours. Now you gotta’ feel for this poor guy ‘cause he’d make a good couple with one of his beer buddies (or at least he thinks he would).
But, unfortunately his beer buddies are not coupling to the idea, so he’s single. He’s so sad and mad, look at the post title: “Girls Piss Me Off ! ! !” Poor fella ‘, he does not understand why women do complicate the world.
Well, let me tell you the truth, dear Craigslist fella:
Most guys piss me off! ‘Cause their dumb. That’s why they don’t usually understand.
And what saddens me most is that the guys that are not dumb are:

o Already married, not likely to get a divorce soon. I swear if I were their wife I would not let them go.
o Ugly. They make great friends but I just can’t pass over that threshold and date them. (Trust me the threshold is not that high, but there is one).
o Gay. And to be honest if you’d be gay I’d be totally fine with that. But some of this guys are hot and smart. And we’re even getting them to listen to us - I imagine that’s partly because they’re not to busy to stare at our boobs and they can keep their neurons in that head people usually need for a decent conversation.
As for your issue:” YES IM STILL SINGLE “. Thanks God you are (still single). Or I would really have to pity that poor gal that dates you.

Bad bus day (rant)

I am trying to pay my debt and it had become increasingly difficult (not that I am the only one in this situation). When they asked me to work some overtime, I volunteered even some more hours in…I think I had not felt so much excitement for this job in more than a year (I have it (the job) for two). SO, today I was supposed to be in at 9am (instead of 12pm).

But as it was said, Tuesday there must be three bad hours.

The first bad hour :It started yesterday evening when I realized I must have caught a cold or something. I decided to go early to bed and take some acetaminophen based cold pills. It worked last night, I got in that drowsy state and felt great, but unfortunately the drowsy effect did not vanish in eight hours as supposed, but lingered with me in bed . I got up for a late start and dilly-dallied in the shower and left my house so late that:

The second bad hour: I missed my bus. I called in and told my boss I’ll be half an hour late counting toward the overtime I volunteered. Got in the next bus and made it just in time for my connection. For a minute or so I thought my luck had changed. But it did not:

The third bad hour: One passenger in a wheelchair. The driver gets the platform out- you know, the one that is supposed to raise him at the floor level, and it gets stuck. Yes, the poor guy was stuck right in the middle, at the second step level. He could not get out and he could not get in…
I did felt bad for that man and his wheelchair. But I felt even worse for me, I was 45 minutes late to work –and that was half the time I volunteered to work over my schedule. Do you think they’ll ask me again? I am afraid they won’t.

The others. (On foreign accents. A rant)

But, there is this discussion I had yesterday :

Man (strong accent) “Do you offer services in Spanish”
Me (not so strong accent).”I am sorry sir; we are not accredited to provide this service in Spanish. I could…”
Man: I gut this guy and he speaks Spanish, no English. So we like to get this (service) in Spanish.
Me: Unfortunately, we cannot provide this service in Spanish.
Man (irate): You speak Spanish. Why tell me that you do not offer any service in Spanish.
Me (perplexed): I do not speak Spanish, I am sorry but…
Man (angry, crescendo). You speak bad English. Why do you say you speak no Spanish?
Me (insulted): I think my English is quite good actually. And I do not speak Spanish.
(I take some pride in my spoken English. It might not be “good” in the literary sense, but I learned to use local idioms and slang and I can make myself understood.)
Man (inquisitive, strong) : What language do you speak?
Me (crossed): Not Spanish.( thinking ”none of your business”)
Man: ( yelling) You have to speak Spanish.
Me(not understanding why I have to speak Spanish): Sir, if you want a reference for an agency that provides the same service in Spanish…
Man: (hangs up phone)