Midwest Ramblings 

Saw a movie

Watched the old movie 12 Angry Men last night. First time I had ever seen it. Great movie. I think it is a 1957 movie. What was interesting about it was that virtually all of it took place in a jury room. Not much “action” according to today’s movies but the dialogue and interaction was riveting. There is much consternation in Hollywood about the decline of the movie industry the last few years, so much so that they appear to be reaching back to remake old successful movies that they appear to mess up as well. I never was a huge theater junkie, preferring to watch them at home but from what I see there are a couple factors in the movie theater decline. First is that many of the movies are just not very good. There may be a couple good ones a year but the rest are just trash. Secondly with the improvement in home entertainment systems who wants to go to a theater, pay 10 bucks and deal with the knuckleheads there. With the modern home sound systems, high definition TV’s someone willing to put out the money can do quite well. Hollywood also doesn’t understand what families and individuals want to see. Hollywood seems to think that the more violence, more sex, more vile language, the more likely it is to be successful yet there continue to be movies that prove it untrue. I don’t see a real turnaround anytime soon

I guess I am an old fogy

I got to thinking about things we did as kids that would probably get me stuck in foster care today. We played with lawn darts. I don’t believe they have been sold for many years. They were large dull pointed darts that you would throw at a ring in a yard. They were taken off the market as too dangerous. Riding bicycles without helmets was another one. No one wore helmets. We probably would have beat up a kid wearing a helmet. Now a parent letting a kid ride without a helmet would probably get a visit from a social worker. Car seats were unheard of. In fact I occasionally rode in the back of a Ford Pinto which we found out later was basically a gas can on wheels. Kids wearing chest protectors and helmets in the field while playing Little League baseball? Those are just a few examples. It’s not necessarily a bad thing to be safer, up to a point, but it is strange that a society that requires bicycle helmets will hand out condoms at school, have parents that think nothing of letting their children perforate themselves with body piercings, or in many places let children have abortions without the parents knowledge.

The Unapology

I hate the unapology. We’ve all heard them. Someone says something outrageous that gets them in trouble and they say “I’m sorry if what I said offended people” They have no regrets for what they said and the only reason an pseudo apology is being given now is because of the grief they are being given.

Round them up

Sounds like all the failed London bombers from last week have been rounded up. That was some quick work. The way Great Britain investigated 7-7 and the attempted bombings is pretty impressive. I’m not convinced we could do the same here. The cameras that all over the place there seem to do the job. I wouldn’t have a problem with the same thing here as long as they are used for observation and investigation only. The stop light cameras that are becoming a trend here are outrageous. Those are different. They are being used in an immediate law enforcement capacity and lets not even get into the temptation by municipalities to use them for revenue enhancement.

Instead of putting cameras up we will probably continue to search elderly men and pregnant women.

Get On With It

The NCAA has moved the hearing back on the Ohio State men’s basketball infractions of 5 years ago to mid September now. What is it with these people? This investigation has been going on for a year. The coach that committed the violation was fired. The school self imposed a ban on postseason tournaments for last year and most likely they would have been in the NCAA tournament without the ban. The athletic director has retired. Most people knowledgeable about the situation seem to think the only additional penalties are going to be taking down a final 4 banner and some monetary penalties. Just get it over with. As it is the 2006 recruiting class appears to be the best recruiting class in school history and will rank among the best in college history. These delaying tactics by the NCAA are needless.

Air America

We have had an Air America affiliate here for several months. I have caught many of the shows sporadically over that time. Most of them are just plain bad, slightly better than a local college radio station. The one I have heard there that is most professional is Jerry Springer of all people. Of course that is like saying oatmeal tastes a little better than brussels sprouts.

A Trip to the ER

Spent this evening in the emergency room with my wife. She called me at work to tell me she fell down and thought she dislocated her knee. I found out how fast the Mazda 3 will go. I got there about the same time as the squad. It looked pretty bad but after a couple hours in the emergency room it turns out to be a bad sprain so it could have been a lot worse. Seems like every time I have been in an emergency room it is chaos. I always wonder how people aren’t just dropping like flies from medical mistakes in emergency rooms. It is also always nice to have the obligatory drunk in there to liven things up. Now I get to look forward to the maze of paperwork for the hospital and insurance companies. You go to the emergency room and you get bills from every doctor that walks by, the radiologist, the hospital and others. It seems a lot of money could be saved just by paperwork consolidation. I know the doctors, radiologists and such are really independent but it seems there would be a way to do it. It would save a lot of grief for the patients and improve efficiency for the providers.

Common sense is all to uncommon.

Yesterday I saw on TV people being searched before getting on the New York subway. They had some lady being searched that had to be in her 60’s. What kind of sense does that make? Everyone can’t be searched so it only makes sense to search those most likely to be a danger, in other words profile, and 60 year old women aren’t terrorists (unless they are driving). We are so concerned about political correctness and not offending people that we don’t do the obvious. Unless that kind of nonsense stops someday after a terrorist attack we will be seeing a video of a terrorist walking by while an 80 year old man gets his bag searched.

The ADA

Today it has been 15 years the Americans With Disabilities Act has been law. It has certainly been a good law for the disabled by making it easier to use public buildings and opening up job opportunities. On the other hand the law has opened up job opportunities for lawyers. It was vaguely written and over the years the courts have had to resolve whether it applies to alcoholics, drug abusers, people with high blood pressure and a bunch of other “disabilities”. It has also been a boon to human resources personnel, giving them another reason to justify their existence.

What is it with human resources? It often seems their sole purpose is to create policies and paperwork to perpetrate their own existence. It seems almost like a government job.

Take Two Aspirin and Call Me in the Morning

Someone at work had brain surgery a couple days ago (no, they weren’t in management).They were sent home from the hospital today. A 2 day hospital stay for brain surgery? That is one way to cut health care costs.