RDT Right Now #1915

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Really Deep Thoughts Right Now			Volume 04 : Issue #1915

.
o - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - o 
.       o                                     o     .
o                                         o
O         "Thoughts right now...            O
o        What will become of me,            o 
o       Become of her, become of we?"       o
.    o                                         o     .     
O                                     O
O - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - O                  

o                           .
o 
o
o
Tori Amos, "Thoughts"
In this issue:
o-o-o-o-o-o-o

re: number 1914 all brian digest      [ "jessica parsons" <fullblownlife@ho ]
Re: RDT Right Now #1897               [ Simon Booth <simonbooth@mac.com> ]
rdtrn 1898                            [ Simon Booth <simonbooth@mac.com> ]
Re: RDTRN 1899                        [ Simon Booth <simonbooth@mac.com> ]
Re: RDT Right Now #1900               [ Simon Booth <simonbooth@mac.com> ]
Re: RDT Right Now #1901               [ Simon Booth <simonbooth@mac.com> ]
Re: RDT Right Now #1902               [ Simon Booth <simonbooth@mac.com> ]
An Open Letter to Tori: Coming Back   [ "J. Mathers" <jmathers@westol.com> ]



Missed a digest? Pick up a copy at the RDTRN archives:   
http://www.torithoughts.org/rdtrn/archives


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Date: Fri, 03 Sep 2004 00:32:44 -0700
From: "jessica parsons" <fullblownlife@hotmail.com>
To: rdtrn@torithoughts.org
Subject: re: number 1914 all brian digest

this is something i've been stewing about for awhile so let me just get if 
off my chest now. i was a poli sci major for 4 years and i am so tired and 
yet scared of this election. i am voting for john(my face looks my melted 
wax, my wife's a better person than me and my VP candidate and i look like 
we belong on the cover of the advocate) kerry. he is so boring but jesus 
christ, what a shitty alternative we have in bush. i'm freaked out that if 
he wins there will be riots in the streets. remember all that crap that

people said if he won in 2000 they'd move to canada or if arnold won CA

they'd move to oregon? since that never happened, i bet it wil happen this 
time. i keep trying to not pay attention to polls since all my poli sci

classes taught me that the media plays to what the majority wants and those 
polls only poll like, 500 people at a time. about a month ago on real time 
with bill maher, michael moore (aka god) was on and he said that he thinks 
that kerry will win because the polls only ask people that voted in the 2000 
election. as he put it back then, apathy was cool. no one cared but since 
september 11th, apathy isn't cool anymore. i also try to keep in mind the 
things he was saying in his emails after his movie came out this summer and 
how many republicans saw it and then cried and said they couldn't live with 
voting for bush again. please let there be thousands of those people. then, 
we must taking into account all the voting machines that don't leave a paper 
trail so if they have to do fifty recounts, we're shit out of luck. and you 
know the disenfranchised AREN'T rich, white, republicans. i really hope that 
all those people that are bitching at all of us to register to vote, 
actually VOTE. registering doesn't mean shit if you don't actually go to the 
polls (or stay at home and fill out your absentee ballot as is the case in 
oregon since we banned going to the polls. it's all vote by mail here!). jon 
stewart is my only source of joy and happiness concerning political news. 
god he makes everything funny and has people from the left and the right on 
his show and isn't an ass to them. why can't jon stewart and michael moore 
run? why! why! the convention this week was a joke. who did the democrats 
have as their keynote speaker? this great guy named barack obama who was 
engaging and articulate and reached out to people. the republicans picked an 
angry ass democrat who screamed and fucking already, SWITCH SIDES if you 
hate us so much! moderate, my ass. oh my god i love venting because i've 
been holding this in for weeks. i hope those swift boat veterans for 
revenge, (oops, i mean truth!) quickly slip off the radar. stop talking

about vietnam and who went and who didn't. talk about iraq and how any day 
the media will report on the 1,000th soldier to die there. or talk about how 
many people have lost their jobs since 2000.

oh man i think i feel 5% better but taking into account a +4/-4% margin of 
error, that could be 1% or 9%.

argh!
jessica

_________________________________________________________________
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Date: Mon, 6 Sep 2004 17:19:36 -0500
From: Simon Booth <simonbooth@mac.com>
To: rdtrn@torithoughts.org
Subject: Re: RDT Right Now #1897

> happy birthday Ade  :)


>

john wrote:

> It's obviously not going to happen in the US any time soon (or at all),
> but medicine is more and more nakedly a business for profit, so things
> are getting worse rather than better.
>

Sometimes I think the high cost of healthcare in the US goes beyond the

profit aspect and is a real effort to actually *thwart* access to 
healthcare.  The providers of some services and resources seem to to 
selective about their clientele based on who's either rich or who has 
insurance that's effectively a blank check for them.  For that matter,

sometimes it seems like "social rules" are being enforced when someone

is or isn't "allowed" to access a needed service or resource.  Hard to

explain it- one example from personal experience is when I was getting

a new wheelchair 10 years ago and was getting the worst amount of 
bullshit and runaround from a couple of dealers I was trying to ask 
about particular makes/models and prices.  My doctor had given his 
approval on a new chair, and insurance (coverage through my parents) 
was ready to go, but these dealers seemed more interested in acting 
like I was some high school kid trying to con mom and dad into getting

me a fancy car.  Not on a personal level, but it was obvious that their

business is focused on either lots of people getting the lowest-end 
model *or* a few people getting the most expensive model, and someone 
like me showing up interested in something decent but in that wide 
middle range really wasn't going to make them the same money on one 
deal.  Imagine a car dealer banking on selling *either* a fleet of Ford

Focuses or one Ferrari.   And refusing to sell someone a decent car 
based on their own personal ideas of who "deserves" it or not.

I have encountered a few doctors like that- being too interested in the

money and using restrictions on how one can pay to restrict access to 
their services as much as they're making sure they get paid.
>

bethey wrote:

>  for I have many thoughts
> regarding the prisoner abuse scandal in regards to Pax Americana (a 
> newly
> realized American Empire in the lines of the Roman Empire).
>

Only calling it that because calling it "Oceania" would get them sued 
by Orwell's estate.

jim wrote:

"Dead Like Me" is about a young lady, George, who gets
> killed by a toilet seat flying in from outer space and instead of 
> going to
> heaven, she becomes a grim reaper.

Interesting concept, an angel of death who isn't a cloaked, beckoning 
figure caring a sickle.  I'm reminded of a couple of old "Twilight 
Zone" episodes.

I've seen a couple of episodes- might look for it when they're out on 
DVD.
>

glad to hear about your daughter's recovery.


This semester is off to a good start.  Second drawing class is 
interesting, and I'm really psyched about the History of Communications

Graphics course I'm in.  Finally a chance to use that jump drive to 
move files around (better than a zip disk!) ;)

And in the process of one drawing I was doing here at home, I learned 
that dogs don't hold still for pictures ;)

Palpatine for Senate!

Simon

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Date: Mon, 6 Sep 2004 17:44:47 -0500
From: Simon Booth <simonbooth@mac.com>
To: rdtrn@torithoughts.org
Subject: rdtrn 1898

brian- watch for the sandmen.
>

and happy birthday holly :)
>

bethey- interesting comparison to Waters music and current events.


welcome back bethany and congrats on graduation :)   miss those IM 
chats.
>


> (have a feeling no matter how much time goes by i will never live down 
> the
> whole "Who is Axl Rose" thing)
>

Axl Rose? he's a racist, homophobic, and misogynistic piece of dog shit

on the boots of the human race.
>

> it's so nice to be back, dear RDT.

is that like "dear droogs"?  (on a kubrick kick, recently saw 
"Clockwork Orange" at a local theatre)

did the interview go well?
>

bethey- I too run into the same summer money crunch, although mine hits

a little later, usually in August and spills over a little into 
september.  money and expenses stay the same, except for the electric 
bill which goes way up because of running the AC (summer heat!) and the

initial expense of getting supplies for art classes.  Don't mind 
getting the supplies, but that combined with the high electric bill 
makes things difficult for a while.  What pisses me off is that it's 
impossible to save money without giving up important or useful things,

or else something you *could* give up would just make things suck more

if you did give it up.


and how I wish one could pay for cable TV al la carte instead of paying

for a huge channel package just to get a couple of channels you 
actually want to watch.

re: healthcare.   Personally, I think it's criminal that medical 
technology has not advanced to a truly useful level.  It is my belief 
that current technology is at minimum 35 years behind where it should 
be now.

The list is Mother, the list is Father...


Simon

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Date: Mon, 6 Sep 2004 18:12:06 -0500
From: Simon Booth <simonbooth@mac.com>
To: rdtrn@torithoughts.org
Subject: Re: RDTRN 1899

brian- watch for the sandmen.
>

and happy birthday holly :)
>

bethey- interesting comparison to Waters music and current events.


welcome back bethany and congrats on graduation :)   miss those IM 
chats.
>


> (have a feeling no matter how much time goes by i will never live down 
> the
> whole "Who is Axl Rose" thing)
>

Axl Rose? he's a racist, homophobic, and misogynistic piece of dog shit

on the boots of the human race.
>

> it's so nice to be back, dear RDT.

is that like "dear droogs"?  (on a kubrick kick, recently saw 
"Clockwork Orange" at a local theatre)

did the interview go well?
>

bethey- I too run into the same summer money crunch, although mine hits

a little later, usually in August and spills over a little into 
september.  money and expenses stay the same, except for the electric 
bill which goes way up because of running the AC (summer heat!) and the

initial expense of getting supplies for art classes.  Don't mind 
getting the supplies, but that combined with the high electric bill 
makes things difficult for a while.  What pisses me off is that it's 
impossible to save money without giving up important or useful things,

or else something you *could* give up would just make things suck more

if you did give it up.


and how I wish one could pay for cable TV al la carte instead of paying

for a huge channel package just to get a couple of channels you 
actually want to watch.

re: healthcare.   Personally, I think it's criminal that medical 
technology has not advanced to a truly useful level.  It is my belief 
that current technology is at minimum 35 years behind where it should 
be now.

The list is Mother, the list is Father...


Simon

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Date: Mon, 6 Sep 2004 19:07:14 -0500
From: Simon Booth <simonbooth@mac.com>
To: rdtrn@torithoughts.org
Subject: Re: RDT Right Now #1900

estraven (excellent remarks btw about the cost of healthcare) wrote:


> 	I fight terror every day. I don't watch Fox News ("Ein Volk! Ein
> Fuehrer! Ein NewsChannel!"). Of course, I don't have cable, so I can't
> watch it, but that's not the point.

I like that! hmmm....in the movie "Contact", was that a Fox news image

imbedded in the signal the aliens sent?


Main thing that blows about the local cable system here in san Antonio 
is that you lose the one *good* news channel (Newsworld International)

when you give up the higher tier of channels, along with BBC America. 

To keep Sci Fi channel one has to stick with the package that leaves 
them with only CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News.  I don't need movie channels,

DVDs are always going to be better than the pan-and-scan/crappy audio 
version on the movie channels, but the cable company has rigged it so 
that if really try to save money you just screw yourself out of having

anything to watch because, at least for me anyway, local/network TV is

mosts crap, and most of what I actually want to see is on a few of 
those higher channels.  so to get Sci Fi, Discovery, and Learning 
Channel, I'm stuck with a 50-channel package beyond the basic 20 
channels.  Even the Weather Channel is in that block that costs extra!

I do like having high speed internet, but still, sucks that cable costs

so damn much. If I had my way, I'd pay for only what I watch plus the 
high speed internet.

> 	I do have HDTV now, with a grand total of two--okay, four--channels.

Sounds like here in San Antonio- HDTV is hyped all over the place but 
there's nothing to *see* on the couple of HD channels available 
locally, and the cable company is hyping the hell out of their special

HD service- selection of HD channels (HD versions of existing channels)

and yet another fancy cable box.  Reminds me of what I've read about 
the history of television.  During the 30s and 40s, hyping of 
television despite there being almost no stations on the air to make it

worth buying an early TV, and then in the 50s and 60s when color was 
being hyped at a time when there wasn't enough color programming to 
justify the expense of a color set for most people.  I've been hearing

about HDTV for years, one of those "the future is just around the 
corner" things.  I see the potential for HDTV but I think more 
mainstream programming has to be produced and aired in HD before more 
people will want it, and that in turn might be enough to drive the 
prices down on the hardware.

> Three of those are really the same channel, though, so I don't count
> those separately (it's  See BS, with two 'sub-channels' showing 24-hour
> local news and, get this, the weather radar: this year's Emmy nominee
> for Most Boring Program).

Same thing here, the HD channels are 'sub channels' and simply the HD 
variants of current channels.  And that radar channel reminds me of 
something from back in the early 80s here....the local cable company 
(that era's incarnation of it anyway) at that time had only 30 channels

and most of those were "blank"- not static, just blank screens or weird

test patterns.  But one of the channels was a local weather channel.  
Not local weather news, but a crappy electronic screen with the time, 
temperature, and a crawl/runner along the bottom of the screen.  The 
main text on the screen was newswire service headlines scrolling at a 
sloooow rate, and the audio was actually the local weather service 
radio.  Boring as hell, and yes, later on they switched to a non-stop 
feed of the local weather radar.

and now it seems that, from your description, there can be a radar 
channel in glorious high-def!


> (and a remarkably ugly
> antenna which I'll call the Channel Monster: a dangerously sharp-edged
> Yagi intended for outdoor use which looks like an aluminum Christmas
> tree mashed flat lengthwise and pointed sideways, utterly dominating
> the bedroom decor) in the first place.

Used to be one only needed such a thing if they had a ham radio 
license, and for a long time I think TV antennas seemed to have gone 
out of use because so many people had cable.  I've heard nowadays that

the HD antennas actually get you a better picture than you'd get on the

HD channels via cable.  But isn't the digital signal easily affected by

the slightest interference?  I've heard that digital satelite users run

into problems during a storm- heavy rain and moisture in the atmosphere

actually scattering the signal.  Does the same thing happen with the 
over the air HD signal?
>

and it sounds like the roads there are as bad as the ones here.

welcome back kerri!
>

john wrote:

> Or, as Dirk Gently would ask, "yes, but *which* god?"
>

and I would say: No God, only the Goddess.


violet- congrats on 1900 digests :)


Simon

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Date: Mon, 6 Sep 2004 20:24:14 -0500
From: Simon Booth <simonbooth@mac.com>
To: rdtrn@torithoughts.org
Subject: Re: RDT Right Now #1901

Beach taken over by Jaffa warriors (Stargate SG-1)

Ga'ould Coast

brian wrote:

> I must admit of the 50 or so channels I get, there's really only about 
> a
> total of 9.

crappy cable isn't just a problem in the US I see.  Alot of the cable 
channels in the US are IMHO redundant or just plain crap to begin with.

The movie channels of the 80s and early 90s multiplied into duplicate

channels running basically the same flicks, and what used to be really

top-notch documentary channels went the same route over the past 
several years.  So instead of The Discovery Channel, we have the 
original Discovery Channel airing lower-quality programming, with a 
slew of multiple Discovery Channels on the higher block of channels 
basically airing ultra-specialized documentary programs, most of those

being worn-out shows from the originally discovery channel from years 
ago.  I used to enjoy their aviation shows until I noticed that all 
those shows were mere re-hashings of earlier shows, with a seeming 
fixation on certain aspects of history.  And those shows also turned 
out to be British and Australian aviation programs altered for a US 
audience (basically putting an American narrator in).

Arts and Entertainment channel is now the place for reruns of recently

aired network shows (they're owned by NBC so no wonder) and a slew of 
"true crime" documentaries.  And they too spawned a second channel, The

History Channel, although with their ad nauseum airings of World War II

shows, it's commonly called the Nazi Channel (some producer is having 
too much fun finding "Nazis on parade" footage in the archives).

There's Sci Fi, one channel I like.  But beyond that, it's all 
redundant attempts at specialized programing that ultimately just end 
up being a refuge for yet more out of production network shows or 
obscure "in house" programming.
>

> I am led to
> believe however in the next couple of months those extra channels will 
> be
> utilised for things like different camera angles in sport.

Now *that* would be the ultimate waste.  bad enough any channel is 
pissed away for sports, but multiple sports channels is a concept too 
sickening to contemplate.

> I won't even touch those super caffeinated drinks as I
> can barely handle a can of cola.
>
Avoid Pepsi, for it violates most treaties banning biological and 
chemical weapons.
>

> One thing I can guarantee is that when I walk into a doctor's surgery, 
> I'll
> see things like pens and pads with the names of medications on them.

You know, I see more pharmaceutical company freebies around than 
similar items with other company logos on them.  While it's good that 
so many conditions have a medication that can treat them, it does seem

a bit crass to resort to the hype.  TV commercials that go "Got (fill 
in the blank condition)? Try *our* drug!".

On the subject of medical hype: am I the only one who thinks Lasik is 
promoted more as a vanity thing beyond the actual vision correction 
benefit.  I admit, it would be great to not need glasses or contacts 
but I've gotten excellent results with them, and personally I vowed 
back in december of 1984 that I would never deal with another surgery.

Not sure if it's good to have anything billed as a quick fix or cure 
all.

Welcome back Teunis!


We live for The One, We die for The One.

Simon

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Date: Mon, 6 Sep 2004 20:34:19 -0500
From: Simon Booth <simonbooth@mac.com>
To: rdtrn@torithoughts.org
Subject: Re: RDT Right Now #1902

>
lavs wrote:

> Am also rather disappointed in winter so far... nowhere near cold or

> wet
> enough.

This winter is the 25th anniversary of the completion of the first 
international space project.  The S-IVB Orbital Workshop, joint 
US-Australian project, 1973-79.

welcome back.  great to hear about the kids. :)
>

oh- something tells me you like the latest series of "Stargate SG-1". 

Guess who incarnated back into human form?



brian wrote:

> Subject: I've got 13 channels of shit on the TV to choose from
>

hell, I was saying "300 channels of shit on the TV and nothing to 
choose from"!

re: Fox News Channel:  wasn't Rupert Murdoch who said "Tell a lie often

enough and people with believe it"?


Simon

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Date: Mon, 6 Sep 2004 21:45:03 -0400
From: "J. Mathers" <jmathers@westol.com>
To: <rdtrn@torithoughts.org>
Subject: An Open Letter to Tori:  Coming Back to Life

We were up to Rochester last weekend to see Judy.  Judy suddenly has
newfound freedom.  She has her electric wheelchair and has been zipping
around the hospital floor at will.  Self-determination is the key to life.
For 9 months she has been dependent on others for almost everything.
Suddenly she has freedom.  She has not eaten out this year so all of us set
up a caravan and rode down the street to TGIF for lunch.  Judy steered her
wheelchair with the joystick over narrow sidewalks.  She spooked me steering
that 400-pound chair down the street with her limited coordination but she
could do it and it was all that was on her mind.  It was like a 16-year-old
who first got their driving license.  Sure enough, off the curb she went and
we had a crises.  Judy did not tip completely over and a car stopped and two
young men ran out and lifted the chair back onto the sidewalk.  Judy was off
again and at TGIF she was in her glory.  She has come back to life again and
self-determination is the name of the game.  Next weekend she can visit home
for a few hours.  She probably will not leave the hospital till next year.
She can stand up and should be walking some day.

Later that afternoon we had a discussion with her on her life and death.
She was brain dead for four days last Christmas and there was major
discussion on pulling the plug.  At the last minute she opened her eyes but
did not respond to anything.  There was major concern that she was a
vegetable and they would still pull the plug.  I showed up and spent three
day at her bedside looking at her with all of her monitors and tubes,
praying that there was something going on in her head behind those eyes
staring out into space.  During this time period I would talk with the
nurses with some my stupid jokes and get into my favorite topic, Tori Amos.
At night the doctors would analyze Judy's blood pressure fluctuations during
the last 24 hours and were totally mystified.  Finally they determined that
her blood pressure went up when I was around and having my conversations
with the nurses.  The conversations irritated Judy so much her blood
pressure shot up.  This was the only way she would communicate with the
outside world.  With this information provided to the other doctors, there
was no doubt "Judy" was still there and there was no more talk of pulling
the plug.

Tori, someday when your old and gray, you may ask yourself, "Why did I do
this all for?".  Yes, you made tons of money and became world famous but
beyond all that remember that you are directly responsible for saving my
daughter's life!  My son-in-law, my granddaughter, and my wife are forever
grateful to you.  However I am still not allowed to play any of you albums
within 500 feet of them but you cannot win they all!

Jim Mathers




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