Big Brother’s new toy
thebramble.blogspot.com
“Video cameras will be monitoring the public at various places throughout Sacramento as part of a pilot project to be launched Tuesday by the Sacramento Police Department.” …
The young man who read “1984” in high school tells me I should oppose this project on civil liberty grounds alone, but the older, less idealistic me is dubious. I worked five years as a security guard (don’t act surprised; I know you’ve suspected as much all along), so I am all too aware that closed-circuit television (CCTV) is already pervasive in Sacramento. … Will it really make any difference if the cops are watching, too?
Some will argue that it is this very encroachment of our privacy in public spaces that should compel us to oppose government efforts to monitor sidewalks and roadways. Soon there will be virtually no place outside one’s private residence that is not being watched.
Unfortunately, I see this as the inevitable future for all metropolitan areas in the age of terrorism. … However, the police in Sacramento want to use the cameras as a sort of electronic beat cop. We should be very skeptical of claims that the cameras will deter run-of-the-mill crime or help prosecute it. What is the evidence for these claims? …
My fear is that the Sacramento Police Department is jumping on a bandwagon. It is in the private security industry’s interest to get as many cities as possible wired for CCTV. I’m sure it has representatives who sell the system to police departments who, in turn, lean on city councils to pony up the cash for it. …
Christmas wish
jestertunes.com
I want to be a kid again. I don’t want to worry about shopping. I don’t want to fight crowds at the mall. I don’t want to find myself getting annoyed by hearing “Jingle Bell Rock” five hundred times a day.
I want to wake up on Christmas morning and stumble bleary-eyed to the living room, smell the fresh pine tree, and stare at the pile of gifts waiting to be unwrapped. I want to travel to my grandmother’s house and play with my cousins, and eat home-made turkey and noodles and fresh pumpkin pie.
I want to run off and play with my toys with my friends instead of cleaning up all the wrapping paper and doing dishes and worrying if that gift I thought was perfect for my mother went over well.
If someone can work this out for me, I’d be grateful. I might even let you play with my toys.
’Tis the season to fall to your death
floatingfoam.com
The other night I was helping a friend put up some Christmas lights on his house. By helping, I mean that I had a beer in one hand, a slice of pizza in the other, and one foot mildly holding the ladder he was on. In my defense, I offered to be the one to climb up, install the hooks and hang the lights, but my friend said he didn’t want the neighbors to think less of him than they already do.
“My wife mows my lawn,” he said, subtly pointing to his neighbors who were raking leaves. “I can’t afford to let another man hang my lights.” …
We got into a conversation about the possible and very likely death that could result from hanging Christmas lights at night in a mild rain from a somewhat questionable ladder. I felt that falling to your death while hanging Christmas lights would guarantee that everyone at your funeral, immediate family excluded, would be snickering and shaking their head. …
After opening another beer, I wondered aloud just how many people meet such a demise every year. Turns out, the data is not easy to come by, even with the power of the Internet.
I couldn’t find any statistics per se, but I did find a story about one man who fell to his death that included some national figures. According to the article:
“Nationally, 417 people died from falls on or from ladders or scaffolding in 2003, the latest year for which data is available, according to the National Safety Council. And each year, hospital emergency rooms treat about 12,800 people for falls and other injuries from incidents involving holiday lights, Christmas trees and other decorations, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.” …
But what do you do if you’re afraid to put up your Christmas lights? Convert to Judaism? No need! You can hire a professional Christmas Lights Hanger.
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