Category Archives: Scribbles

Red-light camera fines illegal

Posted on October 2, 2007 | Comments Off on Red-light camera fines illegal

A cousin of mine in Dallas has been a big champion of this technology, but it now looks like it’s about to go belly up because a court says you can’t ticket the owner without proving that he ran the red light.

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Finally, an honest murderer

Posted on October 2, 2007 | Comments Off on Finally, an honest murderer

He didn’t kill her by accident, oh no. He did it on purpose and he doesn’t mind saying so.

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Bassoon joke

Posted on September 30, 2007 | Comments Off on Bassoon joke

"Q. Which is better, an oboe or a bassoon? A. The bassoon, because it takes longer to burn."

Don’t see many bassoon jokes, these days, you gotta admit. Nor an oboe player who likes Ben Folds.

UPDATE: Ah, it seems there really are a lot of bassoon jokes out there, after all. More.

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Parenting 101

Posted on September 30, 2007 | Comments Off on Parenting 101

"He would threaten them with dire punishment, and they would start crying. This called for hugs and chewing gum all around."

When it works, it works. 

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Giant spider web diminished

Posted on September 28, 2007 | Comments Off on Giant spider web diminished

Thanks to winds and rain, the giant web that stretched two hundred yards at Lake Tawakoni in northeast Texas back in August is only six percent of its previous size, but scientists are still interested in studying the apparent social effort of thousands of spiders–principally long-jawed orb weavers–which are normally canabalistic rather than cooperative. We can only hope they’re not evolving in some unpleasant new way. But, just in case, I plan to start being nicer to the ones I see around the rancho.

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Posted in Rancho Roly Poly, Science/Engineering, Scribbles

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The gate keeper’s lament

Posted on September 26, 2007 | Comments Off on The gate keeper’s lament

Pity the elite gate keepers of information. They’re being usurped by the Internet and they just can’t stand it. Tough.

Via Instapundit 

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Heart scan

Posted on September 26, 2007 | Comments Off on Heart scan

I got a CT heart scan this morning at Austin’s Heart Hospital, a simple, non-invasive test whose results should be back sometime next week. My g.p. had recommended it when my cholesterol jumped back up recently and I’m still a smoker. Nevertheless, there’s no known history of heart disease in my family, so I’ll be curious to see how it comes out. In doing some searching on the value of CT scans, I found this interesting interview with one of the champions of the test.

UPDATE: It turned out to be a 1, i.e. low risk. Meaning minimal plaque in the arteries around the heart. But the g.p. said I still might have it in my neck or elsewhere, and he is advising me to start taking Zocor, a cholesterol-reducing drug, because of my age and the smoking. I’m thinking about it.

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