Guardian of the Non Sequitur

WordPress Upgrade (with Stats)

I upgraded to the WordPress 2.5 - and got the stats package. After installing, it told me where to check on the stats, only to give me some friendly gibing…

I think I’ll have a sarsaparilla.

April 3rd, 2008 Posted by bshirley | administrative, web | 2 comments

Government Should Serve Citizens

Houston has been promoting the draconian measure of red light cameras in the city “to increase safety”.

While many of us may be annoyed at that last person squeezing through a red light at 20 miles per hour during rush hour, there have not been any rashes of deadly accidents caused by red light runners.

There are lots of accidents in the city every day. But in a world where we allow people to take a test once at 15 years of age, and to drive with cell phones, hamburgers, make-up, and video displays (not to mentioned unmuzzled children) we are to expect some distracted and incapable drivers.

There was a recent study showing a slight rise in accidents due to red-light running, with a shift from side-on to rear-end.

Also, extending the yellow light duration has a much greater safety effect.

Now, the National Motorist Association (via sivacracy.net) shows that in 6 cities (two in Texas), the yellow light duration was shorter than the minimum suggested by state traffic safety organizations. Not really surprising. The only goal of red-light cameras is revenue generation.

Municipalities are given a hard sell by the companies who make them (and administer, for a cut of the profit) shaming or forcing our pliable “leaders” to decide to buy them “for the safety of the people”. Houston has even talked about expanding it to people “rolling the red light to turn right”. This is not a major problem!

Traffic lights, signals, and signs have 2 goals: to facilitate traffic flow, and to do so safely. They are not there to punish us, they are not installed to provide revenue. Any camera to surveil the populace is one too many!

April 2nd, 2008 Posted by bshirley | corporations, government, inthenews | 5 comments

There Be Dragons Here

Beware the Internet, for April Fools Day it be.

If you’re going to be reading the Internet, remember it’s a day to make a fool out of you for forwarding that amazing, unbelievable, and outrageous story.

Slate is here to help with a defense kit.

April 1st, 2008 Posted by bshirley | inthenews, web | one comment

CNN Politics Podcast - Fix It!

I’ve been watching the daily politics podcast from CNN for a while. I loved CNN in the 80’s but their worthiness has been drifting for over a decade. I tend to vary my sources of news just to know what they’re all saying.

But something about this podcast, which is easily solvable has been annoying me for quite some time. So, I chased the links till I found a page to send feedback. I’m not sure if it will get to those it needs to, but I sure hope so. An easy fix to an annoying situation.

(Wolf Blitzer’s annoying, but they’re not going to solve that.)

CNN,

The only podcast I watch regularly is the CNN Politics podcast, a video daily release.

You really, really, really really need to mention WHAT DAY it is at the beginning of each podcast. On either the audio portion or displayed on the video, preferably both!

Otherwise enjoying it, thanks.

-bill shirley, houston

The trick is, these things download daily to my iPod/iTunes and if I haven’t watched them in a while, there’s a bunch of them. There is NO way to tell if it’s the most recent one when you’re watching. And, of course, the introductions are all identical.

Note: I should have said, it’s the only video podcast I watch regularly from CNN.

April 1st, 2008 Posted by bshirley | corporations, media, politics | 2 comments