Random silliness and other updates

My lappy died last week. It's still under warranty for a few more months, but blah blah words, I'm replacing it. We'll ship it in & see if they can fix it, & if so, then Ben has a lappy too. Yay! The sad part is that despite my vehement exhortations that I would never buy another Windows box, I can't afford right now to (a) buy a Mac and (b) buy Mac versions of the software I need for school. So I'm trapped in Windows land again. This makes me grrr. But so what? How does this affect you, the reader? I'll have limited access to the Internets until my new lappy arrives, and so will not post as often. The result is that you will need to find another way to spend your hard-earned Internets time.

Random fun notes:
An issue of the Minnesota Daily last week included a story about a first-year student (18 or 19 yrs old) who last spring (1) went to a party, (2) was served alcohol by a 20-year-old student, (3) become very intoxicated (0.31% blood-alcohol level), (4) left the party, and (5) fell to his death from a parking structure. All tragic & shit, but my favorite part is the end of the story, where the UMPD's chief is quoted as saying, "A death like this can have life-changing effects."

In today's Daily, a front page story about sports injuries includes this gem from Jennifer Kearns, associate director of NCAA public relations: "It could be a temporary condition or it could be, in some cases, a permanent condition." Really. It could be either one of those. So, y'know.

Climate change

I know that it's happening, but some of these manifestations are odd, to say the least. Thursday's Strib offered this forecast for the morning: "53° Light jackets, a few clouds."

Only slightly more useful than a minor in Basketweaving

I saw in today's Minnesota Daily that we have a Center for Interdisciplinary Applications in Magnetic Resonance.

Anti-gay Republican something something

Seriously? Another one? (Adult language warning). Vocally anti-gay Republican senator Larry Craig of Idaho was arrested in the Minneapolis airport back in June for - you guessed it - soliciting sex in the men's room.

** UPDATE **
I'm bringing this one back to the top of the queue after reading a couple of great posts that need to be shared.

They found what now?

I've had MPR on the radio most of the day, and they keep mentioning that divers have found more remains at the site of last week's bridge collapse. And every time they start saying it, I start to think, "Wait, is this more bodies, or the same ones they talked about an hour ago?" I imagine that watching Headline News would generate that same feeling, but on a much shorter cycle.... like, 10 minutes or so.

What's in it for ME?

They're talking to the mayor of St. Paul on MPR about this whole bridge thing, and one big issue is how infrastructure is/shouldbe funded. At least two non-metro residents called in and asked questions like, "Why should our tax money be used to keep the Twin Cities running? We have problems here too."

All I could think was, "If that's the way you'd like it, let's set things up for you. We'll eliminate all state-level funding, and each county or municipality will have to look out for itself. You guys handle your own schools, and roads, and everything, and we'll take care of ours. Good luck!"

EDIT (8/13): I've since found out that the specific topic of conversation for that hour was the St. Paul budget; the bridge collapse entered the discussion by way of the "money for infrastructure" angle.

In the news

I went to the City Pages web site to search for an article about the Heritage Park housing project northwest of downtown Minneapolis. On their front page, I saw that yesterday's Morning Communiqué notes "a recent study links diet soft drinks with obesity." We learn that researchers were surprised at the "unexpected" finding that drinkers of diet soda have health risks similar to those of their sugar-guzzling compatriots. (I thought scientists were supposed be smart. I guess this is where we differentiate between "book larnin' and "common sense." Maybe they just lack imagination?)

The results may simply signal that the diet-soda drinkers in the study were less healthy to start with [Really? You mean diet soda doesn't instantly cure what ails ya? But I've been chugging "Uncle Coke's Diet Tonic and Elixir" for years! Rats!], and they had turned to sugar-free beverages to help with weight loss or because they had diabetes. The study investigators, who oversee the respected Framingham Heart Study in Massachusetts, noted also that the type of person who drinks diet soda may be more likely to eat less-healthful foods [DUH, anyone?]. But they also cited research suggesting that artificially sweetened beverages may affect a person's satiety or cravings for sweets.

The other neat thing I found was "Playing the popular Chinese tile game mahjong can lead to seizures, Hong Kong researchers say, calling the phenomenon 'mahjong epilepsy.'" Video gamers are vindicated!

Then there's: "Judy Hagan caused a stir among plot owners in the Uniontown (IN) City Cemetery when she put up a tombstone for her and her departed rat terrier, Shithead."

And, finally: "A man named Johnson underoges a vasectomy in exchange for getting permission from his wife to purchase an iPhone."

The poll is dead! Long live the poll!

Previous poll results:

Q: Did a god or gods save some people from the I-35W bridge collapse? Why or why not?
A:
....Yes, because he/she/they care(s) about those people more than the ones injured or killed: 0/20 (0%)
....Yes, because he/she/they work(s) in "mysterious ways" or is/are "testing our faith": 1/20 (5%)
....No, because the bridge was not intelligently designed: 2/20 (10%)
....No, because he/she/they is/are (a) bastard(s): 1/20 (5%)
....No, because he/she/they does/do not take part in worldly events: 9/20 (45%)
....No, because he/she/they does/do not exist: 7/20 (35%)

Totals: 20/20 (100%)

Don't fail to vote in the new poll!

Infrastructure costs money

This comic says it better than I could.

I think the fundamental question raised by this issue is, "What is the role of government?" Implicit in that is the more specific "What should the government do with our tax money?"

I'm working on a paper right now about the rise of suburban sprawl, and the most fascinating part, to me, is the fact that in the 1920s-1940s, the federal government established the following housing policy:

The federal government will subsidize private developers. These developers can build vast tracts of single-family housing with little to no attention to creating good communities, then take their profit, and, when the septic tanks they installed (cuz they were cheaper) fail, we'll jump in with federal money to install a sewage system. In addition, public housing ("a breeding ground for communists," according to Joseph McCarthy) will be provided only grudgingly, and built poorly.

Apparently, the federal government is supposed to ensure massive profits for a few people with the power to buy -- I'm sorry, influence -- policymakers. Making sure that every citizen has a decent place to live is not the government's role, I guess. (Same goes for adequate healthcare and education, it would seem.)

Speculative journalism

I think I need to turn off the TV now. We've entered the phase where the reporters and newscasters are rampantly speculating about the cause of the bridge collapse and stuff. They've gone past reporting of facts and moved smoothly into speculation about the causes. Was it terrorists? Was it weaknesses indicated in a 2006 report on the structure? Let's talk to a structural safety engineer and say, "I know you don't know anything about this particular case, but what might have happened?"

Morons.

Spare me the value judgments and give me the facts

There talking about this bridge collapse thing on the telly, and they keep saying things like, "This is a catastrophic event." Really? I don't need to hear your opinion about character of the event. You're (allegedly) a journalist. Do your job: report the facts of the event.

First!

Just after 6:00 this evening (about 35 minutes ago) the I-35W bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis collapsed.