Devoured by locusts; Beagle Inspectors; High Speed Rail!

View 697 Tuesday, October 18, 2011

The morning was devoured by locusts. The locust attack started Friday when we noticed Time Warner Cable trucks outside. Later that afternoon we noticed that some of our TV channels were no longer available, and the whole service was degenerating. We called Time Warner and after perhaps ten minutes got Mellissa, who did something to try to reset the box. The result was that our cable box no longer knew what time it was, the menu section didn’t know the names of the channels, and the system didn’t know what was showing or what was going to be shown: all that was To Be Announced. Waiting didn’t help. Using the Power button on the box to reset the system didn’t help. The DVR wasn’t’ available. The only way to know what was on was to go to the channel or, with hope, look in the newspaper. Just like the very old days of TV: watch one thing at a time, and when it shows. No halting and fast forward.

Time Warner scheduled a visit by a technician for Tuesday, and over the weekend we got a number of calls finally settling on Noon to Two on Tuesday. By that time I was thoroughly dismayed; I am astonished at how darned dependent I have become on having the TV work properly including being able to record something to watch later. I also discovered just how bad the newspaper coverage of TV has become, but I suppose I shouldn’t be astonished by any of that.

At 1330 the technician arrived. English was not his first language, but that’s true of half of Los Angeles. English was clearly his second language and he spoke it pretty well, so we managed. He looked at the TV and it didn’t take long before he announced that he had to go outside to the junction on the pole outside. I said I’d try to see if the TV worked all right at one of the other outlets – there’s an outlet in an upstairs room although the TV in there is a bottle and we haven’t had it on in years – but he said not to bother. It would all work when he got down off the pole. He sounded confident.

He came back carrying an in-line cylinder about three inches long and a bit less than an inch in diameter. “Someone accidentally installed a filter on your line.” That seemed unlikely and I said “How can you accidentally install that?” He repeated that someone had accidentally installed it. He said if several times always using the word accidentally: that was clearly a script.

Meanwhile the TV was working. It knew what time it was, and the Menu knew the name of the station it was looking at even if the name of the program was “To Be Announced.” As I watched a couple of items went from “To Be Announced” to a program name. I tested the DVR. I could record and play back and fast forward. Everything worked. Two hours later most of the programs after about 1900 are “To Be Announced” – it seems to be taking a long time to reset, but I make no doubt that it will.

When the technician left – I would have liked to have had him give me a few lessons on operating the system, but that’s where the language barrier began to count – I had to go out and run some errands I couldn’t do

PETA Calls For Federal Investigation Into Conrad Murray Propofol Study On Beagle Dogs

http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2011/10/conrad-murray-propofol-testing-beagles-peta-wants-federal-investigation

I am not a big fan of PETA but I can understand their outrage. My first instinct is to send them a donation. Conrad Murray is the attending physician who says he administered Propofol to Michael Jackson not long before Jackson died; the trial is going on in Los Angeles. His defense team seems to have used Propofol to kill young beagles as part of establishing the lethal dosage.

Actually I am not sending a donation to PETA and I do not believe it is the business of the general government in Washington to look into the antics of a defense law team in California. If there’s a Federal Law against administering an anesthetic to beagles then the law ought to be repealed, and we don’t need to add Beagle Inspectors to the Federal Bunny Inspectors. I am not even sure this is a matter for the State of California. Perhaps Los Angeles County, or the State Bar Association. Reading further I find:

“PETA asserts that if attorneys from Flanagan, Unger, Grover & McCool did commission the tests for the drug Propofol – the toxic effects of which have been extensively studied in dogs and humans – those tests were likely conducted in violation of the federal Animal Welfare Act’s prohibition against tests on animals that duplicate previous experiments. PETA has filed a complaint with the State Bar of California as well."

The Bar Association complaint seems reasonable. And we need to look into repealing the Animal Welfare Act, which is, I suspect, the basis for the Bunny Inspectors as well as the Beagle Protection. Leave the protection of bunnies and beagles to the states, or the counties. But of course the likelihood is more Animal Rights Inspectors to be given lifetime jobs and pensions. And a call for increased federal revenue.

It is that time of the year: KUSC is having its pledge drive. I time mine to coincide with theirs, so be prepared to be bombarded for a week with exhortations. I operate this place on the Public Radio Model – it is free, but if not enough donate, it will go away. So far it is healthy. It needs subscriptions and renewals to keep it that way.

SUBSCRIBE NOW! RENEW NOW! Thanks!

The California transportation people managed to get some bond money for a scheme to have high speed rail from San Francisco to Los Angeles. There weren’t enough bonds to pay for it, or for anything like it, so they’re talking about building a segment of it from Corcoran to Borden – from a prison to a ghost town. That was laughed down, and there’s a new proposal, to build it from somewhere to Bakersfield. That won’t get any more traffic. And of course it’s all on flat land.

There won’t be any customers for this, and the commissioners will be dead before there is anything operating, but the money is to be spent, quickly, so that it can be said that “Well, we spent the money, and now we need to complete the project.” For $50 billion or so, across and along the San Andreas Fault.

If there were no possibility of luring Federal dollars into this mess the California voters would probably give and write off what has been spent as a bad job; but so long as there’s a chance of getting the Feds to pay, the ruling class will keep trying. California government is what the rest of the country will get if things go on as they have. Hurrah.

Leaving matters to the states won’t insure that everything will be well done, but it does mean that those responsible for the messes they make will be more likely to be the ones paying for them. That’s what self government means. And I do like living in Studio City which is a village: so long as Proposition 13 remains so that my home taxes stay somewhere near their present level I can afford to live here. Frugally, but at my age it’s easy to be frugal. The Opera is really our only extravagance. I like it here, but I sure feel sorry for those who have to find work. Uh – have I mentioned that this would be a great time to renew your subscription?

Herman Cain wants to “relaunch our space program”

October 18, 2011 at 8:29 am · Filed under Campaign ’12

In recent weeks Herman Cain has shot upwards from relative obscurity to the top tier of Republican presidential candidates, earning him increased attention in the media.

The interview is worth reading. Cain understands the importance of space. He also understands the need for free enterprise, and he seems to have an understanding of the need for X Projects. This is pretty close to Newt’s views.

Now it’s time to go write a scene for Anvil. I know what the scene ought to be.