More legislation in search of a problem

Sally Lieber doesn't have a monopoly on goofball legislation. This guy thinks that people who have just lost a family member in some sort of newsworthy event aren't aware that they can just tell the reporter to go away; he evidently believes that they are under the impression that they are obligated to talk to a reporter just because he or she starts asking questions.

And, in fact, time and again I have witnessed this phenomenon of reporter-as-therapy. People are almost always more than happy to talk to someone about their loved one and any crime or injustice that resulted in their death.

Sergey wants the world to have more reporters

Let's see him put his billions where his mouth is, buy some newspapers (or start some) and pay "professional journalists" what they're worth. Since that's never been done before, it seems an innovator like Brin would be eager to dive right in and try.

More on "pilotless drones"

This from the Freakanomics blog. Interesting theory. Doesn't make the call any less funny.

"Correct me if I'm wrong..."

This is beyond fantastic. It's the funniest thing I've heard since I was reporter and got calls like this on my voice mail. I hope the Chron continues to put these online on a regular basis.

Studio 60

Danny's obsession with Jordan: sweet or spooky? The jury's still out...

24 SPOILER ALERT

In five seasons of 24 we've never heard peep about Jack's family (other than wife and daughter) and now Evil Bluetooth Man is his brother? And Jack used to bang his wife? Um, ok.

As for the previews for next week, why couldn't they get Donald to play Jack's dad??

Pressure -- pushin' down on me, pushin' down on you...

Pressure -- of kids' birthday parties, that is. Kudos to these parents for starting this organization, but it's kind of disturbing that there is a need for it. Parents shouldn't have to be told that they don't have to have a better birthday party than the last one they attended. All that said, the website is kind of entertaining, especially the quiz and the examples of out-of-control parties.

Quite a gaffe, Mr. Morford

Mark Morford is one of the more, um, interesting local newspaper columnists. I subscribe to the email feed of his twice-weekly column. This week there was something more interesting to his writings than the usual references to nipples and bodily fluids. Morford's Wednesday column linked to this press release. At least, the first version, which was emailed to me, did. Since I subscribe, I get it before it even goes on the Web site. I read the column as it appeared on the web site in the morning, when it was called "9 Uncommon Ways to Keep Warm." I also clicked on the link to the press release, but didn't have time to read it until much later in the day. When I read the release, I realized that, instead of being about rangers being gagged on the evolution topic, as I had believed after reading the column, it was about a single book for sale in the visitors' center book store. I went back to the Chronicle web site, hoping to clear this up. That's when I realized the column had been edited on line to eliminate that item and was now called "8 Uncommon Ways to Keep Warm." Apparently someone had finally gotten around to editing the column. I haven't gotten around to searching for the paper version, if the column even ends up in there...

Bush administration hopes all the reporters' hands fall off

And anyone who actually has to work for a living, he doesn't care about them either way.

"David LaGrande, health and safety director for the Communications Workers of America, the Guild's parent union, argues the Bush administration and its congressional allies succeeded in burying the issue by preventing the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) from promulgating ergonomic standards. The precipitous drops in reported MSD injuries in industries such as meat-packing and telecommunications, he says, are evidence only that employers are no longer required to document these kinds of injuries.

Union priorities have shifted, too. LaGrande notes that two of the Guild locals most active on ergonomics, Philadelphia and San Jose, Calif., have been preoccupied more recently with preserving jobs under the old and new owners of their members' biggest newspaper employers."

Marin County-ites show their ignorance

These people have obviously never seen a Habitat for Humanity development, or talked to anyone who owns a Habitat home, and they very likely don't even have a basic knowledge of what Habitat does. They just hear "low-income housing," know they don't want those people in their posh neighborhood, and come up with the traffic excuse to explain their opposition.

Habitat is perhaps the most well-run non-profit I've become acquainted with. The homes are high-quality, the owners are chosen with great care, and safeguards are put in place to make sure the families who live there are stable. Anyone would be lucky to have a Habitat home in their neighborhood.

This is the all-time greatest blog post EVER

A must-read.

If you don't use your turn signal...

you are a selfish jackass. Don't give me your excuses about how you don't need it when "there's nobody around." Just because you don't see me trying to back my car out of my driveway or pedal my bike through an intersection, doesn't mean I'm not there. If you really can't be bothered to spend half a second flicking your wrist to show your fellow travelers where you are going, you are a narcissist and a borderline sociopath, and you shouldn't be allowed to drive.

Snorter In Chief

A diturbing review of Dubya's free ride.

Pro-lifers whif again

When I heard about this on NPR, I thought that maybe, finally, someone in federal government was going to do something practical about the abortion problem. While giving money to pregnant women and people who adopt babies is fine, why don't the right-to-lifers want to try to prevent unplanned pregnancies -- which often result in abortions?

If right-to-lifers really wanted to make a difference, they'd be handing out condoms in high schools and funding ad campaigns telling people how to use birth control. For reasons I can't fathom, they skip over this step in their head.

We somehow managed to convince people that smoking is bad -- even people who won't quit know it's bad for them. Why can't we convince people that having sex without birth control results in pregnancy?

I hate the freaking TSA

Arthur got these fabulous shoes for his birthday. They are so freakin' adorable.
If you're unfamiliar with Robeez, they are soft leather and openings are stretchy and the soles allow for a little bit of traction for those just learning how to stand up. Again, these are totally soft, nothing hard or stiff or metallic or even rubbery in any way involved.

Enter the Transportation Security Administration.

The TSA chuckleheads at all the airports we flew threw last week actually made us take Arthur's shoes off. Yes, the little soft leather Robeez could be the apparel of the world's youngest shoe bombers. As we come out of the assembly line of terrorist victory (aka, airport security at St. Louis) only one shark shoe comes down the conveyor belt. One has apparently been eaten by the x-ray machine. Bastards.

Grandma will be going home through there tomorrow, and she will check the lost and found, but I'm not holding out much hope...

Examiner (in Baltimore) hires disgraced journalist

Shocking!!

(yes, this Examiner is affiliated with the SF version)