Don't Call Her Ma'am

The above video is from a congressional hearing in the Committee on Environment and Public Works, of which Barbara Boxer... excuse me... SENATOR Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) is the Chairman... excuse me... Chairwoman... excuse me.. ChairSENATOR.  While addressing madam Chairwoman, Brigadier General (merely one star) Michael Walsh had the audacity to call her "ma'am".  To which her majesty interrupted rather abruptly and condescendingly, "...do me a favor, could you say "Senator" instead of ma'am... it's just a thing... I worked SO hard to get that title, so I'd appreciate it... yes, thank you."

I work with a lot of people who are former military, and according to them in military protocol it is perfectly acceptable to address a female superior as ma'am.  It is probably something he has been saying for decades in complete respect and deference to his superiors.  So I'm certain he didn't intend any disrespect or gender bias when he said "ma'am".  But like a true politician, it seems Ms. Boxer had to read too much into things and put the General in his place.

What bothers me is that she is a public servant, appointed by the electorate to SERVE the American people.  It is a privilege and responsibility bestowed upon her by us.  Her "hard work" is nothing without the public trust.  I'm certain she worked hard to get where she is, but I'm equally certain that the General worked very hard to get where he is as well.  Heck, he has an engineering degree and a masters... with that alone, he gets my respect.  I can't believe she could look at him in his uniform laden with all those medals and have the nerve to value her "hard work" more than his.

Reading his resume you don't get a sense that he has had all that glamorous of a career, but I think that's what makes his position all the more noble... certainly not deserving of the public berating he got from the "honorable" Senator.

I mean, has "ma'am" really become a dirty word?  Is it that something that was a sign of respect is now a sexist shackle designed to keep women in "their place"?

What this really points to is one truth that is demonstrated over and over again these days... that posturing and titles and high ideals have more perceived value than things with true substance.  People would rather have the veneer of political correctness and meaningless slogans than something that is hard... and dirty... and real.

Ms. Boxer, if you want my respect, pay some to others who deserve it too... remember, those who gave you that title can very easily remove it from you.

Swine Flu = Bubonic Plague?

Seeing all the news coverage of the latest "pandemic" makes me want to just stop watching TV or listening to the radio.  It's just too much.

Photos of people wearing masks to work... parents pulling their kids out of school... schools in Texas closing... even the President and Vice-President are adding to the flames.

So to put it in perspective, here are some numbers...

Historic Death Tolls:

Bubonic Plague:  estimates range from 75 to 200 million people died
1918 Flu Pandemic:  40 million deaths

Current Diseases:

Malaria:  Annually, about 1 million deaths
Yellow Fever:  (thought this was gone, didn't you?)  30,000 deaths annually, AND we have a vaccine for it.

Influenza (the normal kind you buy NyQuil for):  conservative numbers... 20,000 deaths in the United States alone annually.

Recently Hyped "Epidemics"

SARS:  774 deaths total worldwide, 0 in the U.S.
Bird Flu (H5N1):  257 deaths total worldwide
West Nile Virus:  124 deaths in the U.S. in 2007

Current Death Toll of This Strain of Swine Flu:  160 suspected... 7 confirmed, worldwide

And... For Comparison:

Number of people struck by lightning in the U.S. in 2008:  329... 27 killed.
Number of people preportedly killed annually by hippopotamus attacks:  200

But you just watch... when this thing blows over like it always does, the hype-mongers... the media, celebrities, and all the talking heads in Washington are going to take credit for "averting this disaster"

sigh...

p.s.  ... and I have no idea what key words in this entry would trigger "Legally Blonde, the Musical" google ads to appear in it... maybe because you should avoid it like the plague...

I Hate Checking E-mail

I can't put my finger on why, but I cringe whenever I open my e-mail.  I'm not sure why I react this way.  I rarely check my non-work e-mail, and when I do, I never look forward to seeing how many e-mails I have in my inbox.  Sometimes when I have to send an email, I sign-in, quickly click "compose" without looking at my inbox, write as brief an e-mail as possible, hit "send", and logoff as quickly as possible.

I remember a time long, long ago when I had AOL email, I used to love hearing that wonderful, grammatically incorrect voice say, "You've got mail!"  Whenever I didn't hear it, I would die a little inside.  But that was many, many spams ago.

I don't think it's because I get a lot of spam, though.  Because I don't get nearly as much as I used to and deleting them is a relatively painless task.  And you can tell spam right away because of the subject line, so I don't think that's it.

I don't think it's because I get a flood of e-mails that I have to reply to.  I get maybe one or two e-mails a day in my personal e-mail... not like at work where e-mail is used like instant messaging...

Co-worker:     Subj: Lunch plans          - Hey, what are you doing for lunch?
Me:                 Subj: Re: Lunch plans   - I'm probably just going to fix a sandwich.
Co-worker:     Subj: Re: Lunch plans   - What kind?
Me:                 Subj: Re: Lunch plans   - Turkey and swiss.
Co-worker:     Subj: Re: Lunch plans   - Let me ask what others are doing
Co-worker:     Subj: Fwd: Re: Lunch plans       - Anyone going out to get something for lunch?
Co-worker2:   Subj: Re: Fwd: Re: Lunch plans - I’m going to the deli, want anything?
Co-worker:     Subj: Re: Fwd: Re: Lunch plans - Ooh, yeah, get me a cold-cut combo.
Co-worker2:   Subj: Re: Fwd: Re: Lunch plans - Ok
Co-worker:     Subj: Re: Fwd: Re: Lunch plans - Okay
Me:                 Subj: Re: Fwd: Re: Lunch plans - Guys, do we have to do this over email? Our offices are right next to each other…

BTW, I think it's hilarious that somewhere on our e-mail servers backup hard drives there are countless e-mails like this saved for decades to come.

Maybe it's because e-mail has gotten so impersonal.  Maybe it's because it's just become a way for people to task other people to do stuff that they don't want to do themselves.  Maybe I'm just yearning for a simpler life where people actually talk to you face-to-face, and things don't have to get done RIGHT NOW, and being on facebook or tweeting or sending off a mass e-mail does not equate to social interaction.

Am I alone in feeling this way about e-mail?  Is it a personality thing?

I Drink Tap Water

I have a confession to make.  I drink tap water... not even filtered tap... I mean straight from the bacteria-laden, germ-swimming, prescription drug-filled municipal water source.

When I tell people this, they make faces as if I had just told them that I eat fresh cow paddies... "you mean, you don't even use a filter or anything?"  they would say as their faces contort to show their obvious disgust.

Nope, I used to use those Brita filters, but I just got tired of waiting for my water and of the guilt for not changing the filter every two months.  I hated that little sticker reminding me that I should have changed the filter back in November.  I have enough people telling me what to do on a daily basis.  I don't need a guilt trip from a water pitcher.

I used to tell people that I could taste the difference, but really, if someone held a gun to my head and said that he'd shoot if I was wrong in my guess, I'd probably be dead... and a little confounded on why anyone would care about that enough to resort to firearms violence.

I mean, I can taste the difference between two different vintages of my favorite wine, but I honestly can't taste the difference between a cold Dasani™ and tap ice water.  And here's a thought, if you ever drink anything with ice in it, guess what, they didn't make that ice out of Pellegrino™.  I can guarantee you that.

Today, in the U.S., we probably have the cleanest water in the history of mankind.  People used to drink water just downstream from where their sheep went to the bathroom, and humankind did not cease to exist.

I think we're just all buying the hype from the bottled water companies, plain and simple.  Twenty years ago, when it wasn't as fashionable to drink only bottled water, few did... and no one complained about the taste, and we didn't have masses of people dying from "tap water poisoning."

I also can't justify spending hundreds of dollars a year, driving to the store to get, and wasting energy and resources on plastic bottles (recycling is not "free."  Massive amounts of energy is spent doing it) on something that is otherwise virtually free AND comes directly to my house.

I think (hope) someday in the future, people will look back at this time and laugh at us for being so duped by the bottled water companies.  Back in the 70's people bought "pet rocks," which was basically a rock in a box, marketed as pets.  I mean, how stupid was that... paying good money for something that could just be found around your house for free but was just packaged nicely and marketed shrewdly... oh, wait...  nevermind...

EDIT:  And in the irony of ironies, yes, I realize that because of keywords in this entry, I have a Fiji water Google ad under this entry... oh, the horror of becoming a shill for the bottled water syndicate.  I guess we should all "drink the Kool-aid"... or at least "drink the insanely expensive water that travelled thousands of miles by boat to get to you."

Saving Up for Daylight Savings

In this current economic climate, and the fact that Daylight Savings time is coming up, I thought that a brief refresher course on how to save up for Daylight Savings time would be in order.

Since everyone will be losing an hour of sleep this coming Sunday morning, here's what I propose you do this week to make up for it.

1. Take a Lunesta and catch up on your walking, eating, or driving while you're asleep sometime this week.  This way you can sleep and make up that lost hour at the same time.
2. Zone out while talking to someone you find really boring anyway.  Since you probably won't find anyone you can do this with for the whole hour, you'll probably have to make some boring friends this week.
3. Take a power nap for an hour under your desk, a la George Castanza from Seinfeld.  In the fall you can work an extra hour to make up for the lost time if you feel really bad about snoozing on the company clock
4. Tax the "rich" for an extra hour of their sleep.  They probably spend the whole night just counting their stacks of money and gold doubloons anyway and won't miss it.

Or if you're like congress, don't save the daylight, in fact, spend trillions more than you have on pork projects like daylight arboretums and daylight beautification programs and expect the future generations (or if you're young, your older self) to save up enough daylight to barely make the interest payments on the daylight.  In fact, why don't we "spring forward" to the year 3929 to finance it.

Wow, it's been a long time since I wrote anything... this was just to force myself to write something.  And I think I'll start all my entries this year with "In this current economic climate."  I'm hearing it everywhere else anyway.