Category: Everything Else

The local CA radio stations didn’t start reporting on the Virginia Tech massacre until after rush hour, so I didn’t find out about it until I got to work. Watching the death toll increase over the hours while trying to get work done was pretty sucktastic.

There’s really not much I can add to what’s already been said today, other than the observation that Chris Rock was right:

Gun control? We need bullet control! I think every bullet should cost 5,000 dollars.

Because it’s looking like it’s going to be a long, dry summer around these parts. And that’s not good news:

More than 2 million Bay Area water users could face mandatory water restrictions this summer if they do not cut back on consumption now, the head of the San Francisco Public Utility Commission said Wednesday.

The Sierra snowpack — the major water source for people in San Francisco, parts of the Peninsula, the South Bay and southern Alameda County — is less than half of what it should be for this time of year. As of the beginning of the month, the snow pack was at 46 percent of normal.

[snip]

Officials will look at the measurements at the end of May and make a recommendation on mandatory restrictions for San Francisco’s 2.4 million users, said Susan Leal, general manager of the city’s Public Utilities Commission.

Mandatory restrictions could mean reducing consumption up to 20 percent. Customers who do not comply could face fines or have their water turned off.

75,105 and $3.27

The first, is the number of miles on my car odometer. The second, the price of unleaded gas at my regular station in San Mateo this morning.

Days like this, I start wondering whether it might be time for a new, more fuel efficient car.

But on the other hand, here’s another number: 31.5.

That’s the average MPG my 2000 Saturn SL2 has been getting recently. And that’s not at all bad for a 7-year-old automatic transmission car.

I could certainly do better. if you look at the Top 10 Most Fuel-Efficient Cars of 2007 (as rated by Edmunds.com), it’s clear that as good as I’m doing with my current car, there’s room for improvement in my MPG. The fact that I don’t know how to drive stick shift does limit my options, though. I’d have to go hybrid to see a significant MPG improvement.

With my student loans starting to kick in, I’m not very enthusiastic about taking on a new car payment, though. So perhaps it’s just as well that my old Saturn is merrily chugging along.

I know I said at the end of my last post that perhaps we should have a ‘blog against sexism in technology’ week, and strictly speaking this isn’t a post about that, but I think it’s relevant anyway. Check out this anecdote from Anthony Bourdain:

I will careful tell you of an equally horrifying episode. At a recent event, I was introduced to the incoming (Beard House honcho whose position I will not describe here). Suffice to say it was a high position. Very high.

When she inquired about the possibility of my involvement in some tandem Beard event with my friend Eric Ripert, I declined, saying it would be hypocritical of me–given what I’ve said and written–to take part. I explained that I would be an enthusiastic supporter and participant of all things Beard when and if I saw some kind of an effort to acknowledge the people who are actually doing the cooking in this country–the between 30 and 70% of restaurant employees of Mexican and Latino origin–of varying legal status. I was thinking a few bucks set aside for free para-legal advice. Maybe a widely accessible library. English lessons.

Her response? She looked at me with an expression of absolute sincerity and said, “Oh..we’re very aware of the important contribution of our Lateeeno population.” Then, proudly boasted about the good works Beard House has been doing on their behalf: “Why…just last week at a dinner at the House, 7 out of 10 of the waiters we hired were Lateeno!” She looked at me, guilessly, as if expecting a pat on the head.

Here, it’s Latino workers in the food industry instead of women in technology, but the unthinking cluelessness is all too familiar. “The extreme carelessness of the very rich” is how F Scott Fitzgerald put it, and that sounds just about right. The real prerogative of being in a position of power is that you don’t have to care. You can slide through your comfortable, privileged life without ever once having to think about how food gets on a table, or why everyone else in the boardroom looks just like you.

I was raised to believe that there’s a responsibility that comes with power, though. No one person can do something about all the problems in this world, but you can have an impact if you set a goal and make a real effort to do something about it. Some people like to make fun of Hollywood stars who so earnestly champion their pet causes. I don’t. There’s few enough people in this world who both want to do something good and are in a position to have that kind of an impact. As far as I’m concerned, the more the merrier.

I wonder how much they saved by not having to pay the claims for all these people whose policies were canceled?

Blue Cross of California systematically violates state law when it cancels health insurance policyholders after they get pregnant or sick, making no attempt to determine whether the consumers did anything to merit such harsh treatment, a scathing investigation by state regulators has found.

As a result of its unprecedented investigation, the Department of Managed Health Care today fined Blue Cross $1 million. The department’s findings also expose the company, the state’s largest health insurer, to legal liability in dozens of lawsuits filed by consumers who allege their policies were illegally canceled, subjecting them to substantial hardships.

Other major insurers face similar investigations and are targets of lawsuits over similar charges.

The investigation found that Blue Cross used computer programs and a dedicated department to systematically cancel the policies of pregnant women and the chronically ill regardless of whether they intentionally lied on their applications to cover up pre-existing medical conditions, a standard required by state law for canceling individual policies. Regulators examined 90 randomly selected cases of policy cancellations and found violations in each one.

Hat tip, Kevin.