42 I am sorry if this offends, but....

2007-09-15T13:43:00.001-05:00

As I read the news today, it became very evident that people have
become too concerned with what offends others. Southwest airline
employees required someone to modify an outfit out of fear it was too
skimpy and might offend other passengers. A comedian makes off color
comments about Jesus and the network censors it out of fear people may
be offended. Media outlets refuse to publish or air certain things
because it might offend muslims.

It occurs to me that maybe we should spend less energy trying to stifle
everything in an ill fated attempt to prevent anyone from being
offended, and concentrate our efforts on making people learn to deal
with being offended, and to react with some sense of perspective. For
example, I think what the comedian said was tasteless. I now have an
unfavorable opinion of her. I guess maybe I don't need to react with
"outrage" anymore and demand her head on a platter. I will just choose
not to listen to her anymore; Kind of a "change the channel"
mentality. If you are offended, it is your job to deal with it, not my
job to make sure I sterilize my speech and conduct to ensure I never
hurt your feelings. Suck it up and move on. If you choose not to be
around me, so be it. If that really bothers me, I can adjust my conduct
accordingly. In any event, the change should be by my choice, not by
the imposition of law or due to threats and coercion.

--kdsefton
Www.suigeneris42.blogspot.com

The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door...

2007-07-08T08:22:00.001-05:00

This was billed as the shortest sci-fi story written. I was reading some comments on this story in the Sunday, July 8th edition of the Pioneer Press. Some of the commentators seemed to believe that the word "alone" in the story was superfluous. One commentator stated "The editor in me says that the word 'alone' is unnecessary, because we have already been told this man is the last person on Earth." Another
commentator professing to be a recovering English teacher also felt the word 'alone' to be unnecessary. I disagree.

First, we have not been told he is the only "person" on Earth. This is a somewhat sexist leap to make. Not all persons are men. This is a point not missed by other commentators who point out that it is the last woman on Earth knocking at the door. (I believe that is what happens in the story from which this smaller story is taken.) Also, the use of the word indicates he has no pets with him at that moment in time. Though he is the last man, we have no knowledge of other animal life on Earth.

Even if we assume he is also the last human on Earth, and all other animal life is dead, to regard the word "alone" as unnecessary also makes the assumption that we are alone in the universe. This is hardly a reasonable assumption to make in the genre of science fiction.

By telling us the last man on Earth is alone, maybe the author is letting us in to the character's mind. The Character is obviously not the last being, or there would be no subsequent knock at the door. It is the last man's belief in his aloneness and feeling of aloneness that will affect his reaction to the knock. Does he regard it with fear? Curiosity? Hope?

The Current (Mn public radio)

2007-06-20T21:37:00.001-05:00

I used to listen to 105.7 (Drive 105). They played all of the good
alternative stuff. Unfortunately, I was rudely greeted by Patsy Kline
one morning. I have nothing against Patsy Kline, but it was kind of
like taking a swig of orange juice when you expect to be drinking
milk....BLECH! Unfortunately, Drive 105 became Love 105. Not my cup of
tea. I wandered aimlessly through the dial looking for a new station
that played the music I liked, but couldn't find anything.

I then remembered that The Current advertised at the Mn Rollergirls
bouts. I tuned in and have been rather pleased. It isn't what I was
accustomed to, but I have been exposed to some artists I really enjoy
and hadn't heard of before. For example, today I heard Willy Mason.
Great stuff! If you are stuck in Radio Limbo since the Drive 105
betrayal, give the current a shot.

Critical Mass

2007-06-12T11:56:00.000-05:00

While going to lunch with a friend today, I noticed something. Obnoxious seems to have a critical mass. Two seemingly normal people stepped into line just ahead of us, and the obnoxious just seemed to explode! They were just plain stupid. First, they completely blocked the entrance into the cafeteria. Next, their vapid conversation had to be so loud that those of us around them could not have a conversation because we couldn't hear each other. My friend's order almost got messed up because the person taking it couldn't hear us. In addition, they felt the need to try and order their meal in Spanish because the persons working behind the counter were darker complected and spoke with an accent. This turned into a quiz session: "How do you say broccoli in Spanish?" "How do you say garlic in Spanish? El Garlico?" They laughed loudly at their own "jokes" and went in different directions. As they separated, I happened to follow one of them. (She was going in the same direction I was) The obnoxious demeanor completely evaporated. She was quiet, normal, and no longer acted as if she were drunk at a teenage party.

What the hell happened? My conclusion is that we need to be able to quantify obnoxiousness, figure out at what collective quantity obnoxiousness erupts as in my aforementioned example, and then make people wear their quotients on a badge so that we can quickly do the mental math and evacuate an area if we so choose when it appears an obnoxious critical mass is about to be achieved.

Daisy's war on terror

2006-06-04T21:44:00.000-05:00

I haven't had time to blog in quite a while. Lets see if I can get back into the groove of things and be a little more regular about it. To do so, I may need to blog for the sake of blogging from time to time just for the sake of getting into a routine habit. This is one of those times. I went to the Ike Reilly concert at Station 4 last night, and thought about blogging on that experience, but my buddy handled that one. Any attempt on my part would come of as a cheap immitation at this point.

Instead, I will recount the small war on terror that has become a part of my home life. Daisy, my Beagle mix, has declared war on our grill. This morning, while leashed out front, she managed to tangle her leash about the wheel of the grill. Subsequently, while engaged in who knows what chicanery, she caused the grill to shift, which caused the lid to fall off of the grill and on to the pavement with a cacophanous clang that she apparently took as a personal assault.

We knew something was up when Daisy started her "howling" bark. This is a special bark reserved for when she is feeling threatened or very nervous. A neighbor was kind enough to have come over and was already unwrapping her leash from the wheel of the grill. I took daisy inside and thought that would be the end of of it. Alas, I was sorely mistaken! Now, every time we let the dog out, she is drawn right to the grill. Like Don Quixote jousting his windmills, Daisy takes the offensive and stares down the charcoal menace that is our grill, and of course, starts barking and howling. I hope this ends soon, our the neighborhood will be on our doorstep with pitchforks and torches.

As Daisy attempts to protect herself and our family from the Weber war machine, one might think it gratifying to know we have such a fierce and protective defender of home and hearth... Unfortunately, when it is humans that are involved, rather than take an offensive stance, the tactic she seems to adopt is the old "cower and empty my bladder" strategy. Well, we love her anyway.

Kilts

2005-12-22T13:43:00.000-06:00

I read yet another news article today about a high school student being turned away from a school dance for attempting to wear a kilt. In the cases I have dug into, these young men were wearing the kilt as part of a traditional outfit in order to celebrate their Scottish heritage. Do these ignorant school administrators have any concept of the First Amendment in their little Napoleonic universes? Granted, when it comes to clothing in school, the First Amendment is pretty dilute. All the administrator typically needs to do is recite some mantra concerning "disturbance of the educational process". However, I find it hard to see how allowing someone to celebrate their heritage at a function outside of class can even remotely harm the educational process. Sounds more like a very narrow minded abuse of authority by a very little man with real issues he needs to work out. Maybe he is not secure enough in himself to wear a kilt, but that should not allow him to stop others from doing so. I hope this one goes to federal court soon.

Contingency fees for doctors?

2005-12-18T19:57:00.000-06:00

When I was an attorney in private practice, we were expected to take many cases on a contingency fee basis. This means that if we did not win the case, or make some sort of recovery, we did not get paid. When we did collect a judgement or a settlement for our client, we would get a percentage.

Recently, I went to the doctor and something a little abnormal appeared in a routine test result. The doctor insisted that several more tests needed to be run in order to determine what was causing the test to come back outside of normal parameters. End result? The doctor couldn't find anything and it was chalked up to my body just being "a little different". Soon after, I received a bill. Ouch!

Here is the question posed: Should society start insisting that if doctors want to run all sorts of tests to figure something out, before they bill us for their time going over these tests and making an assessment of the tests they recommended, should they agree not to accept a fee if it turns out that, in fact, nothing is really wrong? Should a doctor's fee be contingent upon the actual necessity of the tests the doctor recommends?