In a great editorial from Sunday, Dan Savage nails the fallacy in the recent marriage rulings in New York and Washington:
Without the promise of gift registries and rehearsal dinners, it seems, many more newborns in New York would be found in trash cans.
Not only is that sarcasm correct, I wish I’d written that line.
This story is a few months old, but since I visited Blacksburg last week, I learned about it now. The facts:
The New River Valley will soon be more connected than ever as Blacksburg Transit goes wireless with a pilot program offering Internet service aboard select buses.
The new service, created as the result of a partnership between Citizens Telephone Cooperative, based in Floyd, and Blacksburg Transit, has already begun wireless Internet service aboard a single bus, but plans are in the works to add six more by the end of May. “We’re still testing, but we should have them all done by the end of the month,” said Tim Witten, manager of BT Access.
“We’re doing it as a pilot program. We’re deploying this to see how it works, and hope it would be a really attractive part of our service, and serve as an example to the rest of Virginia,” Witten said.
That’s fancy enough, but I don’t imagine students clamored for this service. Although my experience is eight-plus years old, I’m confident that local travel patterns among Virginia Tech students haven’t changed that much. Most users aren’t on the bus long enough to scan for the wireless network and connect, much less to check the status of their fantasy football. Those students who are on the bus long enough and want to download the latest Paris Hilton song should pay for it themselves.
The program is being paid for by a series of grants from the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation and the federal government, thus restricting the number of buses that will receive wireless service.
Because it’s some tech nerd’s vision of cool does not mean it’s a public good. Should I also point out that Blacksburg Transit does not intend to test the program on specific routes? That the routes could change daily? I’m sure that will inspire riders to bring their laptops on a regular basis. Hopefully this flawed premise will help the program fail. As long as it’s in place, when the Hokies take the field and the leaves change colors this fall, you should stop by Blacksburg and surf the free wireless you’re providing.
………….
(General hat tip to Kip for the basic structure of this post.)
Shouldn’t researchers ask you and me what we think?
Most senior citizens who signed up for Medicare’s new prescription drug coverage say they are happy with their plans, but some report that they are not saving money and many say the overall program could be better designed, two new independent studies show.
I’d also say the program could be better designed. Barring the obvious course (elimination), those receiving the “benefits” should pay for them. Those of us not receiving benefits shouldn’t. The phrase private markets comes to mind, but I’m probably being selfish.
Leslie Norwalk, deputy administrator of the Medicare agency, said, “I was heartened to know that we were largely successful.”
Let’s wait more than two months to pop the champagne. The longer-term success might need different standards to determine success.
Nothing like ambitious standards:
U.S. Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona let it be known yesterday that he is stepping down, saying in a letter that he would judge himself successful if he had persuaded one student to make good health choices or one mother to stop smoking.
I suspect he was working more to persuade politicians to force all students to make “good” health choices and all mothers to stop smoking.
Federal regulators said yesterday that Comcast Corp. may have discriminated against a regional sports television network by refusing to carry the network’s broadcasts of Nationals games.
…In a 10-page opinion, the FCC said it found that MASN had made a “prima facie showing” that Comcast had discriminated against the network and had “indirectly and improperly demanded a financial interest” in the network in exchange for carrying it. The FCC also said, however, that there were factual disputes on both points that would have to be decided by a judge.
Media lawyers said the FCC’s finding shifted the burden to Comcast to prove that it has not broken any of the agency’s rules. The lawyers said it was possible that the judge could find Comcast had played by the rules and was justified in declining to carry the network.
I don’t know the specifics of the rules, but shouldn’t we first be asking whether or not the FCC should have rules governing this? Is this regulatory burden in the interest of customers, or is it in the interest of regulators? Let’s all ponder that for a long nanosecond.
Remember, the argument is that male and female circumcision are not the same, despite evidence that justifications are often the same.
Although female genital mutilation among the Pokot is a threat to girls’ education girls are keen to undergo it, the district Vice- Chairperson in Charge of Children Affairs, Ms Helen Pulkol, has said.
…In her view, parents sometimes influence the practice, but the girls too are interested in the practice and are inspired more by peers.
I’m in no way objecting to Ms. Pulkol, as the article later explains that she’s working to end female circumcision. It’s just useful to remember that cultural influence is powerful, and when parents start with irrational adherence to the opinion of others instead of logical acceptance of normal anatomy, harmful practices and violations continue. Change female to male and Africa to America and the argument remains unchanged. That isn’t a sweeping revelation, of course, but it is another data point demonstrating that violations of genital integrity are not unique to one gender.
First, some background:
A new vaccine aimed at halting the spread of a common sexually transmitted virus that can lead to cervical cancer should eventually be given to both sexes, doctors said Monday.
The vaccine, Merck & Co.’s Gardasil, was licensed in June by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in women and girls 9 to 26 years of age.
Gardasil protects against four types of the human papillomavirus, also known as HPV or human wart virus.
Yay, science! I couldn’t be happier (or less surprised) that modern science has triumphed again to make our lives better. Treating progress as good seems to be a generally advisable position. As such, I have no qualms about this vaccine’s availability. Some people can’t leave it at that:
Bradley Monk, associate professor in gynecologic oncology at the University of California at Irvine, said the best use of the vaccine would include giving it to girls and boys and all women and men, regardless of individual risk factors.
…“To have a vaccine that prevents cancer and not use it would be one of the greatest tragedies,” Monk said.
I’m not going to turn this into a rant against vaccinations of any kind, because that’s not my position. But as I’ve pointed out before in numerous different ways, the person undergoing medical procedures should have input, whether direct consent or indirect assumptions based on evidence. It might be useful to include an HPV vaccine in routine childhood immunizations. In all likelihood, after some thought on the subject, I’d agree. However, I will discount any scientist who uses regardless of individual risk factors as a dismissal of intelligent objections. The public good is important, but we’re not at a point where individual lives are less than the whole. HPV is sexually transmitted, unlike polio, for instance. Personal behavior matters. As such, individual risk factors matter and must be included in the decision.
I think I could’ve saved money on conducting this study:
How many M&MS are enough?
It depends on how big the candy scoop is.
At least that’s a key factor, says a study that offers new evidence that people take cues from their surroundings in deciding how much to eat.
It explains why, for example, people who used to be satisfied by a 12-ounce can of soda may now feel that a 20-ounce bottle is just right.
It’s “unit bias,” the tendency to think that a single unit of food — a bottle, a can, a plateful, or some more subtle measure — is the right amount to eat or drink, researchers propose.
Hello, duh. How many of us heard “clean your plate” from our parents as kids? I’d put the answer somewhere between everyone and all of us. It’s nice to have some sort of scientific confirmation, and some of the specific examples provide useful insight, but now what?
So can all this help dieters?
Some food companies are introducing products in 100-calorie packages, and [the University of Pennsylvania’s Andrew] Geier thinks that could help hold down a person’s consumption. He also suspects companies could help by displaying the number of servings per container more prominently on their packaging.
I don’t mean to imply any policy suggestions to Mr. Geier from that statement, but how long before some hack politician uses research like this to suggest that companies should help, thus mandating new regulations? I’m guessing next week.
My server died last Tuesday, locking me out of my site. My hosting company finally resurrected it late Wednesday, but by then my vacation interfered. Rare access to the Internets, as well as general mental decompression, stood in the way of regular posting. So I disappeared for almost a week. In no particular order, here are a few items filling my news inbox while I was away.
————-
From Reason’s Hit and Run, I think I might be the only person in America who answers Yes and No instead of some other combo.
…, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer fielded two questions on marijuana. One: Would he legalize medical marijuana? Two: Had he ever smoked marijuana? The answers: No and yes. The terror of Wall Street has picked up and run with the old Clintonite maxim: Do as I say, not as I did.
Spitzer should’ve been discredited as a candidate for any number of actions he’s taken, but this is just further proof that the people of New York need to see more than (D) when they get in the voting booth. I suppose it should be comforting to know that Virginia isn’t the only state with hack politicians.
————-
Is anyone shocked by this:
The federal government will need to either cut spending or raise taxes down the road to pay for extending President Bush’s recent tax cuts, the Treasury Department said in a report released [last Monday], dismissing the idea popular with many Republicans that such sacrifices can be avoided.
My question should be rhetorical, but there are many people in this town who will probably be genuinely shocked. Okay, actually, the shocked people will be voters. Those who are not shocked, but are bitter that the Treasury Department could be so treasonous as to impugn the American economy this way, will complain among themselves that their secret is revealed.
————-
Maybe I can start a network and force Comcast to air it:
After more than a year of inaction, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin J. Martin yesterday addressed a dispute that has kept Washington Nationals games off the region’s biggest cable network.
The Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN), which carries most of the team’s games, asked the FCC in June 2005 to order Comcast Corp. to begin carrying the games immediately, but the agency took no action.
…MASN now has the right to seek a resolution to its complaint through the FCC process or take the path of arbitration.
Shouldn’t customers decide whether or not MASN is important to them? Of course, lack of competition due to regulatory monopolies prohibits customers from having a sufficient voice, say to cancel and switch to a cable provider that carries MASN, but I’m certain the answer is not to push the regulatory hand deeper into the industry.
————-
Tomorrow MTV turns 25. Being old enough to remember the early days of MTV, and young enough to enjoy them, the present-day celebration is good for reliving fond memories. But this explanation of why MTV evolved (devolved?) into what it is broke the spell:
“I think we started as an idea with very little content; it was more like a radio station with songs and cheesy, hair-metal videos,” says Van Toffler, president of MTV Networks’ music/film/Logo group. “But we quickly realized the novelty of music videos wore off and was not repeatable with thousands of viewings. So we evolved into being more about TV production — yet still sloppy, live and organic.”
Forget that my musical tastes are stuck more in early MTV than current MTV, which means I don’t watch most new videos. The video has not gotten old. Look at iTunes and its music video sales. There is a market, meaning the novelty didn’t die. MTV killed it with its repetition of the same tiny number of videos.
Early on this was necessary due to the newness of the form. But by the late ’80s, that didn’t hold. MTV abandoned it. Today, when I watch music television, I watch the extra music video channels like VH1 Classic. Even when I’m watching country music videos, I’ll flip to the all video channels rather than the regular channels. When original programming appears on any regular music channel, I almost always pick up the remote. I understand that I’m not MTV’s target audience, but I didn’t age out of that audience. MTV decided my viewership didn’t matter. But that makes sense, because my money is not green, it’s plastic.
As a vegan, testing or not testing for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (Mad Cow Disease) isn’t a particular concern. One cow with the disease, or one billion cows, my brain is going to continue functioning nicely. (Open to interpretation, of course.) And the politics involved, through subsidies for meat and dairy production, preclude my “Save the cows” pleas from making any headway. So, instead of complaining or applauding the wisdom of the Agriculture Department’s decision to cut testing for BSE, I’ll highlight this quote from the story about the possible impact of the decision:
“It surely will not encourage consumers in the U.S. or Japan to rush to the store to buy more beef,” said Carol Tucker Foreman, food-policy director for Consumer Federation of America.
The government shouldn’t be in the business of encouraging consumers to buy more beef. Or less beef. Or chicken instead of beef. Or beets instead of chicken. Or… you get the point.
If consumers want beef, they’ll buy it. If they deem BSE or any other possible contamination to be a risk, their inevitable decision to stop buying beef will suggest responses from beef marketers. They could stop selling beef. This might be necessary if the cost of testing proved prohibitive to what consumers are willing to pay. More likely, they would test their beef, which would raise their costs. They would pass that increase to their consumers. Taxpayers like me, who do not consume the beef we’re all paying to protect, would no longer be forced to artificially support the carnivorous habits of everyone else.
Capitalism. It’s what’s for America.
