Home of Mr. Joshy

I happened to get curious, about the definition of the word ‘reasonable’. Often times, I seem to come into dispute with others over the true meaning of the word, though I keep quiet for the most part about the discrepancy, and chalk it up to the whole dichotomy of logical/rational versus emotional thinking processes. The following quote was about halfway down Dictionary.com’s definition of “Reasonable”:

“What the majority of people consider to be ‘reasonable’ is that about which there is agreement, if not among all, at least among a substantial number of people; ‘reasonable’ for most people, has nothing to do with reason, but with consensus.” [Erich Fromm]

Suddenly a great many things which were mysteries to me become perfectly clear.

From The Washington Post via The Agitator, more news following my previous post on this topic, the Virginia Assembly has passed a bill re-authorizing traffic enforcement cameras throughout the state. On my ride into work this morning I spotted a red light camera that looked to be freshly installed in Arlington, and I know Fairfax County never dismantled theirs (that I can remember). Beware, as they will probably go live as soon as the bill is signed.

See The Newspaper for a good summary of studies on Red Light cameras and their effect on injuries and fatalities.

Just caught word from The Newspaper that Virginia’s Legislature is hard at work bringing back Traffic Enforcement cameras. Just when you thought you were safe. Fire up your fax machines and telephones! I’ve heard that lawmakers don’t read e-mail. They get too much e-mail from people.

Article from AP via Yahoo! News. Tag is unsafe. Dodgeball is “exclusionary and dangerous”. One parent says “I’ve witnessed enough near collisions”.

The fear of lawsuits is supposedly the motivation behind this one. Lined with the veneer of “save the children”. From themselves, of course. The problem here is quite simply tyranny.

I caught this article via Yahoo! News, and it seems to do a good enough job outlining the reasons why I think this Nation is in the midst of a great crisis, just not the one that everyone seems to think that it is. I’ll refrain from mindless banter for now and leave you to read this piece.

to say that I have the right to not have a sense of humor, to get pissed off or offended at what someone else intends as a joke, and the people who think I should lighten up can go to hell.

I think for the third time, I was shown one of the “Switch” ad parodies. I have never seen any of the original “Switch” ads. I don’t watch television, because I think television is for the sheep. I understand that people try to be funny, but that’s just not a subject I can laugh about.

Different people have different senses of humor. Can you laugh about the World Trade Center?

I bring you this article from boston.com about a snowboarder who is going to be convicted of criminally negligent homicide. (Apparently, the misdemeador version of murder). There is no accurate account of events, as far as I could find. Perhaps if one could access court records, they could learn more. I am guessing that the trial is being held in Wyoming.

Seriously though, criminally negligent? I find it hard to believe that anyone could be found criminally negligent for snowboarding.

Disclaimer: I have never viewed, or participated in, any snowboarding activity or event.

I had an idea for a website related to politics and the economy. A somewhat simple idea, really, but requiring a lot of research. If I were a college student, I’m sure I could pull it off. The website would list various pet projects of rich political talking heads, and work back through the economic food chain to determine what products and services one must buy, to fund these projects. One could then make a decision on what to buy, and/or who to patronize, based on what political goals their money would be advancing by doing so.

The pitfalls of such a project is that it would require a major investment of time, something that I do not have a large surplus of. Perhaps when I am rich and famous, I can have someone build that site for me.

From TheNewspaper.com comes word of this story, from local station WRC-TV (Channel 4). I’m somewhat speechless. Police are often afforded much respect, honor, even “hero status”. However, it would appear that if an Officer of the Law is having a bad day, you’d better steer clear. After all, there are so many laws on the books, it’s nearly certain you’re breaking at least one.

So I went up a couple of stops on the Metro for lunch today, and made my typical comments about how many lazy people leave their newspaper trash on the train. (My comment is that you will typically find no less than five (that’s 5) papers per car.) I usually make it a point to snatch up as many papers as I can carry, while making rude comments about those who leave them, and recycle them. My hope is that I can make someone feel that much more guilty about leaving trash on the train.

Today however, I decided that I’d make an announcement here of a public service campaign I am spearheading. The title of the campaign is above. The idea is, to find a single freakin’ newspaper or newspaper ’section’ on the train or bus, to pick it up, and to recycle it. Keep track of your score people, maybe we can have a contest later this week.

Right.