Author: paul

is the word “Kafka-esque” over-used yet?

When they got to the TSA checkpoint, the government stole their children’s food, saying that if they wanted to bring that much food past the checkpoint, they’d need a letter from a doctor.

…He said he pointed out that he and his wife were doctors, and then offered to get a pediatrician colleague on the phone…

I would like to see the TSA regs that specify the permitted quantities of baby food:

Two doctors — a married couple — were flying with their kids from Chicago to Manchest NH. Given the record delays, snows, etc, they brought along a bunch of extra baby-food. When they got to the TSA checkpoint, the government stole their children’s food, saying that if they wanted to bring that much food past the checkpoint, they’d need a letter from a doctor. So — being doctors — they offered to write the letter. No, the TSA said, you need a letter from a different doctor.

According to Dr. Soni, the T.S.A. officers said they would need a “doctor’s note” to bring on all of the food. He said he pointed out that he and his wife were doctors, and then offered to get a pediatrician colleague on the phone…

The T.S.A. officers confiscated some of the food. “They divided it up. They took a jar of prunes and one of bananas, and I think a bottle of formula,” he said.

Link (via Consumerist)

[From TSA steals food from doctors’ infant children]

quote of the day

[T]he wingnut anti-woman/anti-abortion movement has almost zero to do with protecting life and almost everything to do with ensuring that women don’t have control over their reproductive lives.

…I’d amend that to remove the word “reproductive.”

[T]he wingnut anti-woman/anti-abortion movement has almost zero to do with protecting life and almost everything to do with ensuring that women don’t have control over their reproductive lives. [From Um, No.]

I’d amend that to remove the word “reproductive.”

links for 2008-02-20

links for 2008-02-19

but isn’t that stealing?

At my birthday or Christmas, I request as my only present that my kids, nieces and nephews burn me a disc of their favorite music in the last year, or so.

…When I am traveling overseas I ask students who befriend me to burn me a CD of their favorite local tunes, and boy does this beckon forth some great unknown stuff.

Here’s what works for me. At my birthday or Christmas, I request as my only present that my kids, nieces and nephews burn me a disc of their favorite music in the last year, or so. It is an easy gift for them to make, and a great learning experience for me. The few tracks I can’t stand, I just delete. The stuff I love I seek out on iTunes to purchase more of. From this I get the fashionable tunes.

This trick actually works even better with kids not your own. When I am traveling overseas I ask students who befriend me to burn me a CD of their favorite local tunes, and boy does this beckon forth some great unknown stuff. [From Radio David Byrne]

Oh, but wait. He uses these tracks as a way to find and buy these artists’ other work. Huh. No one could have predicted that this would happen.

BeOS lives?

Perhaps they should have called it the Phoenix OS?

Perhaps they should have called it the Phoenix OS?

I’m building out a PC to donate to my kids’ school for the PTA and parents to use for various projects, and I am using FreeBSD 7 as the OS. It will be replacing a 233MHz screamer with Windows 98: anything is an improvement šŸ˜‰

GNOME will look enough like Windows for most people, I expect. But if Haiku was further long and it had support for what people expect (ie, equivalents to the office apps people are used to) I would have been sorely tempted.

links for 2008-02-17