As soon as I saw that this local law had passed, I immediately placed bets on which of my friends would receive tickets first. Washington state is the first state to make texting while driving illegal. That’s right, the act of text messaging.

Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire yesterday signed this country’s first law putting the kibosh on the dangerous practice of text messaging while behind the wheel of a moving automobile. … Bully for her.

Lawmakers in the other Washington should take note and follow suit, but in the meantime several other states, including New Jersey, are considering similar legislation.

Sometimes the law is an ass. Sometimes it just takes awhile to wake up.

A major weakness in the Washington law is that it allows for enforcement of the no-texting-while-driving provision only when the driver has already committed another traffic offense. Moreover, the paltry fine of $101 will mean little to the Crackberry-obsessed businesspeople who consider their need to communicate while cruising the fast lane more important than the safety of those around them.

So let’s all be honest. Who out there is guilty of text messaging while driving? I don’t care if it’s texting while sitting at a stop light or texting with one hand while driving down the freeway. Actually, what I should be asking if who hasn’t sent messages while driving?

Whoops! Wonder if that was a conscious slip? For the record the word should be “Blair”

Read More

This just puts a smile on my face. Wonder if the bongo’s brought back memories of college?

This had to be one of the funniest exchanges I have seen in a long time. Not the best way to launch a campaign.

Syl is going to get on my case nagging me with the "I told you" because the Washington Post published an article which confirms many peoples thoughts concerning the recent Virginia Tech killing spree.

Despite all the searching-for-an-answer hand-wringing we have been subjected to this last week, the most obvious ounce of prevention would be to stop allowing the likes of Cho to play the media like a piano. As it is, we gave him everything he would have wished for. In so doing, journalists who claim only to be helping us to “understand,” the better to prevent future rampages, are hypocritical. Ask any Skinnerian psychologist: Reward behavior, and it rises.

As a novelist, I covet that “understanding.” As a citizen, I resist it. Pity for Cho’s purportedly tormented childhood and fascination with his psychotic, solipsistic universe only entice other disturbed characters to make a bid for the same sympathy.

What are your thoughts concerning the way mass media handled the ordeal, or any violent incident in the past? Furthermore, does coverage of such events motivate more violence?

Notice of class action settlements for anyone who purchased DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory during the period beginning April 1, 1999 and continuing through June 30, 2002.

If you area Class Member, your rights will be affected by four separate proposed settlements with Defendants: 1) Elpida Memory, Inc and Elpida Memory (USA) Inc. (collectively, “Elipda”), 2) NEC Electronics America, INc (“NEC”), 3) Winbond Electronics Corporation and Winbond Electronics Corporation America (collectively, “Winbond”), and 4) Micron Technology, Inc.; Micron Semiconductor Products, INc. through its Crucial Technology division (collectively, “Micron”) (the “Proposed Settlements”).

Notice some of those names? The Class Action alleges that during the period of April 1, 1999 through June 30, 2002:

[...] Defendants engaged in an unlawful conspiracy to fix, raise, maintain or stabilize the prices of DRAM in the United States and/or allocate among themselves, major customers and accounts in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act, Title 15 U.S.C. § 1. Plaintiffs allege that, as a result of the unlawful consipracy, they and other members of the Class paid more for DRAM than they would have paid absent of the alleged conspiracy.

Now, this may all be old news to some, but entirely new news for myself. Such a lawsuit would explain / confirm my reasoning for RAM prices being so difficult to accept.

The defendants deny all of Plaintiffs’ allegations and have asserted numerous affirmative defenses. Defendants Infineon Technologies AG, Samsung Electronics Company, Ltd., Hynix Semiconductors, Inc., Elpida and certain of their employees have pleaded guilty to criminal violations of the federal antitrust laws.

For additional information and a summary of the proposed settlements, visit http://dramantitrustsettlement.com. If you purchased during the period outlined above, “You should retain all documents that substantiate your purchases of DRAM during the Class Period from each of the Defendants”.

Thoughts on the matter? Where you aware of the lawsuit? Do you still think RAM prices are high? I sure do, I would love to be able to bump the RAM in my Mac Pro without needed to spend the equivalent of a new Mac Mini.

Nothing more is needed in celebration of the War in Iraq:

This week, we celebrate the fourth anniversary of the war in Iraq. I still remember the start very well. Time for a calculation.

1. The newspaper today states one minute of war in Iraq costs US$380,000. A calculation made by Joseph Stiglitz, a US Nobelprize winning economist. That is almost double the cost of the war in Vietnam.

2. According to WFP, the UN’s food aid organisation, it costs US$0.19 to feed a child for a day. Nineteen cents. 20,000 children die of hunger every day. The time it took you to read this post, already 15 died.

3. Taking those two figures together, one minute of war in Iraq would feed 2,000,000 children for a day. One day of war in Iraq would feed 20,000,000 children for a year.

Thanks to The Road to the Horizon for breaking down the amount of time and money spent in Iraq into more tangible examples.

Something is wrong with America when injured troops – with ailments and problems that could be further worsened with additional military activity – are being sent back to Iraq for service.

“This is not right,” said Master Sgt. Ronald Jenkins, who has been ordered to Iraq even though he has a spine problem that doctors say would be damaged further by heavy Army protective gear. “This whole thing is about taking care of soldiers,” he said angrily. “If you are fit to fight you are fit to fight. If you are not fit to fight, then you are not fit to fight.”

As the military scrambles to pour more soldiers into Iraq, a unit of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Benning, Ga., is deploying troops with serious injuries and other medical problems, including GIs who doctors have said are medically unfit for battle. Some are too injured to wear their body armor, according to medical records.

If true, I dare anyone to justify sending troops with serious injuries from war back into the firefight. Anyone?

Governors confront President Bush and General Pace inquiring about any back-up plans for movement in Iraq. What they discovered may not be all too comforting to digest. In a nutshell, I think the attitude of "there is no 2nd place, just first-place losers" is not too far off from the reality that was discovered during the meeting.

During a White House meeting last week, a group of governors asked President Bush and Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, about their backup plan for Iraq. What would the administration do if its new strategy didn’t work? The conclusion they took away, the governors later said, was that there is no Plan B. “I’m a Marine,” Pace told them, “and Marines don’t talk about failure. They talk about victory.”

That’s admirable to have that can-do attitude about no failure, only victory. Unfortunately, the reality of this world requies for certain assumptions or unforeseen events that need to be taken into account – does it not?

Defense of Marriage Alliance announced an interesting proposed initiative to make procreation a requirement.

The Washington Defense of Marriage Alliance (WA-DOMA) announced on Thursday that their proposed initiative to make procreation a requirement for legal marriage has been accepted by the Secretary of State and assigned the serial number 957. The initiative has been in the planning stages since the Washington Supreme Court ruled last July that the state’s Defense of Marriage Act was constitutional.

“For many years, social conservatives have claimed that marriage exists solely for the purpose of procreation,” said WA-DOMA organizer Gregory Gadow in a printed statement. “The Washington Supreme Court echoed that claim in their lead ruling on Andersen v. King County. The time has come for these conservatives to be dosed with their own medicine. If same-sex couples should be barred from marriage because they can not have children together, it follows that all couples who can not or will not have children together should equally be barred from marriage. And this is what the Defense of Marriage Initiative will do.”

Who wants to be the first time chime in with their thoughts concerning the proposal? The initiative is the first of three including one that would prohibit divorce when married couples have children and to make having children the same as marriage.