More reasons why the recent U.S. Supreme court decision on guns STINKS.

Our founding fathers had no idea of what lay ahead in the field of fire arms. The single shot muzzle loaders and small pistols were the only thing they knew. Had they been able to see our Uzi's and other assault weapons of today, they would never have written the constitution the way they did regarding the "right to bear arms". The recent decision by the Supreme Court is a very dangerous one. There are many weapons of mass destruction in the hands of the wrong people and our cities are now more unsafe than they have ever been. Shame shame on the high court for allowing assault rifles and other weapons of mass destruction into our society.

I think the high court should be sued, if possible, or should re-think this asinine decision and reverse themselves.

Although there probably was a wild, wild west in the early days of this country, it was probably never anything like we have today, west coast or east coast or heartland, or wherever. We are a country of very unstable persons and need to reign in this propensity for violence by any means possible.

Pocket Full of Notes

And yes, I have been collecting them.

Re: guns

Yes, the criminals will always have them until they are busted and put away a very long time. Others still on the loose will continue to have guns however but it is not our gun laws that are a problem. Since people kill people, whether it be with cars or knives or baseball bats, or whatever, we need to correct societal ills first. Unfortunately there is a large segment of our population who are beyond hope in my book. I would venture to bet that if the police were allowed to conduct random spot checks of certain types of young people wandering our streets, they would turn up a whole slew of weapons. They should start with those with baggy pants worn down around their knees.

Re: wet news

Some people complain about San Francisco's ban on plastic bags which will lead to their newspapers getting wet in rainy weather when delivered on their doorsteps. Well, I have a better idea. Buy a computer and read the Examiner or Chronicle on-line. It doesn't get wet no matter what the weather and you avoid the wrinkles so common in the Chronicle's newsprint.

Re: cyclists

Whoever the brain dead person was who, in an attempt to promote more bicycle use, proposed that people on bicycles should not obey the same laws as people who drive cars, you gotta be nuts. Traffic accidents in this very crowded city are already too numerous and allowing some people to sail right on through red lights after an all too brief stop, is asking for more trouble than we have already. One set of city streets - one set of traffic laws. Anything else is plain stupid.

Re: hackers, National Security, China, etc.

There is so much to decry here. One thing was the sale of American technology from IBM to China.
That was dumb-dumb-dumb. Cyber attackers have now been traced to mainland China and Chinese militants are now able to get into the e-mail of such people as Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Rep. Frank Wolf of Virginia. Then the U.S. can't even figure out how to shut down Osama bin Laden's propaganda network as his operatives were busy hardening security to the point that U.S. security can't penetrate it. Now that is dangerous and embarrassing.

Well, I have always felt that if the U.S. Government needed a good security team they should hire Israeli intelligence as the U.S. version can't cut the mustard.

Well, that is my rant for today. No wonder Herb Caen and other newspaper men like to drink so much. See ya next time around...

It is just as well that my optometrist of many years in Oakland retired. He was dragging his feet on prescribing new glasses due to a growing problem with cataracts but he said it was not yet time for surgery. Well my new doctor, only one block from my apartment, wasted no time this morning in making recommendations and telling me of my options. So next week I will have one or two more tests and then laser surgery will be scheduled after which time I should not even need eye glasses since both eyes are being done at the same time with lens implants. Yippee...

One of my favorite quotes from George Carlin:

"How come when it's us, it's 'an abortion,' but when it's a chicken, it's an omelet?"

While I will certainly vote NO on the proposed California constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, I am also concerned about the push for marriage in this country. My own personal feelings are, Why bother? It is something that straight people have made a mess of so I wonder if gay people will do better in the long run? Yes, there are some legal issues that need to be resolved but I don't think that marriage will be the best way to go. Some other people also feel the same way and you can read reactions from another country here. Personally, I don't want to get married. I would prefer just to have a significant other - period!

Suggestion to the Royal Family of Hawaii, mobilize residents and secede from the union first and then you can restore the monarchy. Wouldn't that be a hoot if they did?

Then in order to balance out a 49 state flag of stars, congress could admit Puerto Rico as the 50th State.

Don't you just love these huge multi-national corporations who hide behind layers and layers of web pages, none of which have the information you want. Or, if you send them an e-mail, the only thing you will receive quickly is an automated reply acknowledging receipt of your message. One such corporation is Dell Computer. I have been trying to get my Inspiron 1501 laptop fixed for over a week and either they don't call when they say they will, or the project is complete while I am on the phone with them and they tell me that they will send me an e-mail with step-by-step instructions for the clean re-install of Vista but the e-mail never comes. When I send them an e-mail about that message which never comes I am referred to some third party website with instructions for the clean install but the only problem is that it doesn't work so I have to send them another e-mail and I am still waiting for a reply to my question and my problem. I have decided that if I can ever afford another desktop computer and/or laptop, it will be a Mac just in an effort to try to get decent customer service. On a scale of 1 to 10, I give Dell a 2 and I think I might be generous there.

So for the moment I think Dell stinks.

It is too bad this kid could not stay in the USA. Instead he gets forcibly returned to Cuba and has now been brainwashed. So sad, so sad.

By the way, I expressed concern recently about the new and updated Das Rheingold at the San Francisco Opera. Well, I saw it on Saturday night and enjoyed it despite some of its silliness with one such thing being the plastic and aluminum patio furniture at Valhalla. There were others but at least the music was very well performed although the Mark Delavan and Jennifer Larmore were not quite up to the task.

The tail end of the 2007/2008 San Francisco Opera season is now underway with a new production of Das Rheingold, in an udated version no less, moving from Germany to the USA in the Gold Rush area. Yuck! Why do producers have to rape operas this way. Wagner wrote this and the other Ring operas based on Nordic and German mythology which has nothing to do with the gold miners of the 49er era, etc, etc. New sets and costumes are one thing but moving something to a time and place that the composers could not have imagined or at least not intended is an insult to the composer and to opera lovers everywhere. Shame...shame...shame on San Francisco Opera and Washington Opera for doing this.

Note: I have heard from one source anyway that it is not as bad as it looks. Hmm...I wonder what that means. Well, I still hold to the old adage "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" and this sure as heck applies to any of Wagner's operas. Oh well, we will see on Saturday night.

Deja vu...again. After dealing with the clean install of Windows XP on my desktop a few weeks ago I now have to do the same thing with Vista on my laptop. Dell technical support has "determined" that the intermittent shutdowns are being caused by a problem in the operating system and not some piece of hardware. I don't know if I should believe that or not but I will go through with it and hope that this can prove them wrong and that they can send somebody here or take the machine back for inspection and repair. They won't send anyone out for a software problem however. The clean install is easy enough but even with backing up the essentials, things never really go back the way they were. That is, address books, favorites/bookmarks, Robo Form data, etc., etc. Oh well, at least there is not a whole lot of things on the small laptop compared to the desktop. It is just inconvenient to have to do this.

Whatever one's feelings are about gun ownership, this certainly proves that you don't need a gun to commit mass murder. It would seem to indicate however that societal pressures in Japan as well as most other places on this planet are on the increase.

I don't know what is the matter with the people at Dell Computer and their technical support line. I spent considerable time on-line with somebody in Bangalore or wherever on the 23rd of May. They updated the BIOS on my laptop and apparently tweaked a few other things but did nothing to correct the problem of its periodic shutdowns. I told them that the machine was running hot at times but that received no response from them. Anyway, following this on-line session with Agent Alvish I received an e-mail from Agent Gaurav thanking me for contacting Dell Technical Support and advising me to reply to his e-mail with the subject line remaining the same should I need further assistance. Well, I did this on the 29th of May because the machine was still shutting down (apparently after overheating which was an issue I raised the first time) and to date no one has replied to that e-mail. I will try the Dell forums but I do not have much hope and confidence that anything there will correct this problem especially since it again shut down last night. Once again that case felt hot to the touch and the fan seemed to be working overtime from moment I turned the machine on shut down. This morning I started the computer but the fan was once again working overtime but this time it would constantly change speed as exhibited by the variable whooshing sounds it made. Just one question now: Does anyone at Dell care? Perhaps they don't as this machine is still under warranty and they don't want to do anything until that warranty runs out in February 2009. Well, I am not going to let that happen.

Say, this new integration of Google (now iGoogle) and YouTube is very interesting and Google has made some much needed and very good improvements to their home page for those who desire to use it as that. Also, people looking for particular YouTube pages will now find it easier if they know the page's author and his or her handle or ID, whatever you want to call it..

This morning I went out to vote. I was the only one there at 9:30 AM. That is not good with some very important propositions on the ballot. I had to go if for no other reason that to vote no on 98.

Anyway, during the past two days I have been busy putting together a video on San Francisco Bay water transportation and here it is.

If these right wing idiots want to "protect marriage" why don't they simply outlaw divorce?