09:48 – Barbara’s dad is doing much better, and may go home from the hospital today. Apparently, he had both pneumonia and a UTI, both of which have been knocked down by antibiotics. Barbara says her dad is insistent that he wants to leave Thursday for the family reunion in Pennsylvania, but it still worries me. A 90-year-old man recovering from pneumonia should be taking it easy, not taking an 8 or 9 hour car trip. But, as Barbara says, her dad is stubborn. And Marines are nothing if not tough. At least he won’t be driving.
Today we sold our first science kit to a customer in Winston-Salem. I’m not sure why I was surprised when I saw the address. There are a lot of homeschoolers in North Carolina.
Today I need to make up a batch of 30 shipping boxes for chemistry kits. We actually have 60 chemistry kits in progress, but we do kits in batches of 30 because we simply don’t have room in the assembly area to do 60 at a time. At the moment, I’m burning DVDs for the new batch of 30 biology kits, which is the last item we need to complete the kits. We’ll get those boxed up and stacked, which’ll free up a lot of space. After we get those boxed and stacked, we’ll box and stack the 30 chemistry kits, and then start on 30 forensic science kits.
Good to hear that your FIL is doing better. Pneumonia sucks (been there a few times) and UTI really sucks (haven’t had that particular pleasure yet). Marines are tough and smart. I hope that he decides to take it easy for a while. Unfortunately most Marines are hyperactive also and prone to “why not”.
We went to go see the Marine son off to Iraq back in 2006? and were hanging around his base for a couple of days beforehand. I saw a group of Marines gathered around, looking at the ground and gesturing. I moseyed over to take a look and discovered that they were using a government can of OFF to flame thrower an ant hill. The holder of the can was the platoon gunnery sergeant!
I have long maintained that I am no anarchist when it comes to government, but I am definitely an anarchist when it comes to private business. There is far, far too much protection for business in the US, including patents and copyrights.
If the lay of the land changes so money can no longer be made from buggy whips, then so be it. Regardless of whether it is due to piracy or just bad business practices (the latter, IMO) a social, business, and economic change has occurred with regard to music. People will no longer pay anywhere near the freight for music that they once would—thanks to the one single thing Steve Jobs did right in life.
Now comes the story from Sweden (via Jeff Duntemann’s site) of a political party made up of younger people (the Pirate Party), who were threatened with shutdown and eviction at a recent festival, for giving away free waffles.
http://torrentfreak.com/young-pirates-evicted-from-festival-for-giving-out-free-waffles-120722/
(The headline is incorrect—they were not evicted, only threatened with eviction.)
I have long maintained that whatever is legal on the streets of a location, should be legal anywhere within the confines of so-called ‘private property’. Starting a business on property—regardless who the property owner is—should not allow a change to the rules of freedom, and grant the property owner the right to limit freedoms.
In the story above, private security guards were called by businesses selling waffles, and the guards ordered the political movement to leave. The people manning that tent, called police, and they told the security guards to get lost. Free waffles were once again distributed to whoever wanted one.
It is really a sorry state that big business in the US has managed to corrupt both the legislative and judicial branch to carry out their draconian tactics to keep the buggy whip alive.
Jeff also pointed to Wi-Fi police at the Olympics,
http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/02/olympic-wifi-snatcher/
whose job it is to stop the use of devices that share Wi-Fi for free from providers outside the official Olympic providers. To me, this is exactly akin to the cinema in Aurora, Colorado, prohibiting firearms in the theater, even though they are legal with a permit on the streets of that location. My only hope is that the Colorado massacre will involve such costly litigation for the theater, that they will withdraw such freedom-limiting rules. Or the courts will declare such revocation of rights to be contrary to our form of government—which it should be. If Wi-Fi providers cannot compete with free, then close their buggy whip shops. But do not prohibit in venues what is perfectly legal on the street.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-08/matthias-steiner-is-struck-by-his-falling-weight/4184750
Ouch Ouch Ouch
Another source of discrimination is the lack of “top freedom” in may places. If a guy can go topless somewhere then a sheila should be able to too.
Problem in the US, is that even in places where the courts have declared topless for women to be perfectly okay, police will still jail women who do it. Spend a night in jail and pay for a lawyer to remind the judge that she should not have been held in the first place—what a country!
Sporting events are terrible for freedom, and the Olympics may be the worst of all. The Olympics insisted on all sorts of special *legislation* in London, to make perfectly legal things illegal during the Olympics. The WiFi is just the tip of the iceberg. However, you see the same things here with the European Football (soccer) Championships, and I am quite sure in the US with the Superbowl. The sponsors want exclusive rights to every-bloody-thing during their event.
When Switzerland helped host the European Football Championships, a bakery was hit with legal threats for selling football-shaped bread. Of course, the case would have been laughed out of court, but what bakery wants to have to hire a lawyer…so they gave in. Insane, and one wishes the legal system would nail the bastards, but it’s all about who has the money…
The Pirate Party is making good progress in Germany and Switzerland. While the name is a bit of a turn-off for many people, the goals of the party are clear: Society needs to adapt to modern technology, not only in the area of intellectual property, but also in the areas of privacy rights, international commerce, and elsewhere. If things continue as they have, I expect the Pirate Party to become a real force in European politics in the next 10 years or so.
I have been very close to the legal system since returning, due to my video work. It is pretty sickening to see the clear injustices that go on. A case may bring up very valid points, both logically and with legal precedence, but judges quite often do what Joe Paterno did—ignore them altogether, as if they were not even in the briefs—and rule any old way they want.
We know how the money changes hands with legislators, but how judges are influenced to do this kind of crap, I have not yet got a clue.
Chuck wrote:
“Problem in the US, is that even in places where the courts have declared topless for women to be perfectly okay, police will still jail women who do it. Spend a night in jail and pay for a lawyer to remind the judge that she should not have been held in the first place—what a country!”
So, there are no sanctions against cops who repeatedly arrest and book people for non-breaches of the law? Can’t they be sued for wrongful arrest/imprisonment? What would happen if a cop with poor taste in music arrested me for playing Mandy on the stereo? Surely I could sue their arses.
So far as I have seen, problem cops who repeatedly make bad arrests and cops involved in shootings, beatings, etc., are routinely investigated, if at all, by their own departments or agencies and then they are found A-OK and no problemo, senor. Exceptions are rare.
And if you play “Mandy” on your stereo and I hear about it I will contact the local Oz authorities and have you arrested immediately, sir.