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25 new of 160 responses total.
slynne
response 30 of 160: Mark Unseen   Oct 23 21:24 UTC 2003

UofM has one:

http://www.med.umich.edu/1libr/aha/umlegal04.htm

mary
response 31 of 160: Mark Unseen   Oct 23 22:50 UTC 2003

You are welcome.

I still need to fill one out too.  Your
comments gave me a push to get it done.
slynne
response 32 of 160: Mark Unseen   Oct 24 13:53 UTC 2003

 
Some of my cousins were in town last night for a funeral of their aunt 
(who I am not related to). Since they are all from out of town, they 
stayed at my folks' house. So, I went up there and got to hang out with 
the cousins.  One cousin and his wife are from a suburb of Cincinnati 
(Florence, KY). The other cousin is from Rochester, NY. Anyhow, it was 
a nice dinner with nice wine and nice conversation. I now know the 
history of the "Florence Yall" water tower ;) I know a bit about 
playing tuba in a Rochester orchestra. BTW, that cousin says that even 
though it would have been fun to dot the i, it wouldnt have ever been 
worth going to OSU ;) It is kind of cool to have interesting relatives. 
slynne
response 33 of 160: Mark Unseen   Oct 24 13:54 UTC 2003

I am really tired. I woke up at 5:30a because that is the time my cat 
decided she wanted to wake up. 

A few years ago, in my last apartment, my downstairs neighbor started a 
fire in his kitchen. He came home from the bar drunk, started cooking 
something and then went and passed out in his bed. My smoke detector 
never went off. But *before* my apartment filled with smoke too badly, 
the cat jumped onto my pillow and meowed and meowed until I woke up. 
She may have saved my life. The apartment totally filled with smoke and 
FAST. I mean I remember waking up and being able to just kind of smell 
smoke and not see it. By the time I had my pants and shoes on, the 
whole apartment was filled and I had to feel my way out. I was only 
barely able to grab the bird cage and the cat and run outside. I puked 
all over the place because of the smoke and I could barely breathe. 
(Luckily, the dogs were at my parents house). 

Ever since then, whenever the cat tries to wake me up, I JUMP out of 
bed. She has figured this out and often wakes me up if something in her 
world isnt quite right. You know how it is with cats. She will wake me 
up if she doesnt have enough food in her dish or if she is bored or if 
she wants to sleep in the dog bed and the dog isnt responding to her 
demands or *whatever*. 

I am happy that she saved my life and all but I also would like to 
sleep through the night a little more often.
slynne
response 34 of 160: Mark Unseen   Oct 26 02:30 UTC 2003

These are the ways I have abused my cat today:

1) When she went outside this morning, it rained on her. In her mind, I 
did this and she isnt happy that I made it rain on her.

2) I fed her dry food instead of the mushy food. I have cans of mushy 
food and she knows it. I withhold them as a form of torture. 

3) I wouldnt let her sleep on the computer keyboard even though, since 
she is a cat, she was born with a right to sleep anyplace she wants

4) I spoke to her in baby talk which insults her dignity. 

5) I showed her that picture of a cat with a lion cut and told her that 
is what happens to cats who annoy me.
jaklumen
response 35 of 160: Mark Unseen   Oct 26 20:50 UTC 2003

This is why I want a dog.
slynne
response 36 of 160: Mark Unseen   Oct 27 14:37 UTC 2003

I went to my friend Gary's annual Halloween costume party which he 
always throws on the Sunday before Halloween. It is a photographic 
scavenger hunt so I have lots of pictures. 

We did pretty well with our clues. First we went to Coner O'neil's 
Irish Pub and took a picture of our whole group crammed into a bathroom 
stall. Then it was off to the Real Seafood Company where we took a 
photo of the stopped clock in their bar. Then, we had to take a photo 
of "Arthur" the crocodile that is behind the bar at Louisiana Zydaco. 
We paused to drink a hurricane there. Whew. 

Our group did really well. We found even some of the more obscure clues 
like "the wall of gum" and some very small graffiti that possibly made 
reference to our host, Gary. 

We made up some things though. We were supposed to go to the cube and 
take a picture of us doing cartwheels but we decided to just draw a 
picture of a cube in chalk on the sidewalk and also of cartwheels. :)
slynne
response 37 of 160: Mark Unseen   Oct 27 21:21 UTC 2003

Aaron knows that I have been discussing the Terri Shiavo case and also 
partial birth abortion online here so he sent me a link to an editorial 
in the Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/articles/A21857-2003Oct26.html. 

Obviously, I agree with this editorial for the most part. However, I 
have to admit that I am particularly aware of what the legislature is 
doing in this case because I happen to disagree with it. I probably 
would be more forgiving of them if they were doing things I do agree 
with. However, it seems to be a commmon thing these days for the 
legislative bodies to pass laws they *know* will be struck down by the 
courts and that feels kind of wrong to me. For one thing, it is a waste 
of everyone's time and energy. For another thing, it is an easy way out 
for them and that bothers me. They get to pass laws that make it look 
like they are doing something but they dont have to actually deal with 
the repercussions of the act. 
slynne
response 38 of 160: Mark Unseen   Oct 27 21:22 UTC 2003

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21857-2003Oct26.html

Oops, that link didnt post too well. 
jaklumen
response 39 of 160: Mark Unseen   Oct 28 03:08 UTC 2003

*chuckles*
slynne
response 40 of 160: Mark Unseen   Oct 29 16:24 UTC 2003

I have always had a bit of a problem with seasonal depression. Once 
again, it looks like this is going to be an issue for me this year. I 
am trying to decide if I want to get medication or light therapy. UGH. 
I just hate all this darkness. I feel like someone has come and made me 
a lead suit or something. All I want to do all day is sit around and 
watch movies and stuff. By myself. That is so dangerous because I am 
always in danger of isolating myself too much from people. I turned 
down a dinner invitation last night. I think that is a bad sign. 

I have made plans with a co-worker for tonight though. We are going to 
drive out to the country to see if we can see the Northern Lights. 
Hopefully the sky will clear by tonight. It is cloudy now.
jaklumen
response 41 of 160: Mark Unseen   Oct 29 18:15 UTC 2003

My sister had problems with the SAD thing... she really hated where I 
am working now, and I don't blame her too much as the building is kinda 
dark.

Which is cheaper, meds or light therapy... and which would you think 
would be more effective?
slynne
response 42 of 160: Mark Unseen   Oct 29 18:51 UTC 2003

I think the light therapy is cheaper except that my insurance doesnt 
cover it. The meds cost more overall but they wouldnt cost *me* more 
because I have insurance. But there are side effects to the medication 
albeit minor ones. On the other hand, I dont think the light therapy 
has been studied as much as medication. 

Of course, one thing I know about depression is that if it is mild (and 
mine is, thank goodness) even if you just take small steps to get rid 
of it, it helps. I think the placebo effect is greater for things like 
depression. So if I go buy the special light and I believe it will 
work, it will work. 

Anyhow, I am leaning towards the light therapy now. Which might not be 
a good thing. I have developed Doctor anxiety lately and never want to 
go even for a check up. 
jaklumen
response 43 of 160: Mark Unseen   Oct 30 00:13 UTC 2003

*confuzzled* Well, if you get it figured out...
slynne
response 44 of 160: Mark Unseen   Nov 2 16:51 UTC 2003

I went to go see Michael Moore speak Friday night at EMU. I was 
supposed to go with Aaron but he stood me up (although with good 
reason). It was awesome even though it was weird going to an event like 
that all by myself. 

One thing you can say about Michael Moore is that he is one funny guy. 
I also found myself agreeing with him a lot. He had a lot of good 
things to say. Like that it is important to stand up for what you 
believe in even if what you believe in is pretty much not centrist. 
Anyhow, it was a very good talk and I was glad I went even though I had 
to go all by myself. I cant wait to buy his new book but I have to wait 
two weeks because then I will have an opportunity to buy it at a pretty 
good discount. Oh well, two weeks isnt that long. 
slynne
response 45 of 160: Mark Unseen   Nov 4 16:26 UTC 2003

Aaron has started a blog called The Stopped Clock 
http://www.thestoppedclock.blogspot.com/ . It is pretty good. I think 
it is interesting how different my blog is from his blog. His is much 
better written than mine. Certainly his grammar and spelling are better 
than mine ;) His reads like a newspaper column. Mine is a little more 
informal. He doesnt talk about his life at all. Just his opinions on 
things. Weird
jaklumen
response 46 of 160: Mark Unseen   Nov 5 04:05 UTC 2003

I dunno, take your pick... whichever you choose to hold up to 
scrutiny.  Opinions or life.
slynne
response 47 of 160: Mark Unseen   Nov 13 18:54 UTC 2003

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/walterwilliams/ww20031112.shtml

I agree with Mr. Williams on some of his points. For instance I believe 
that an international minimum wage that is set high enough for American 
workers to not have to compete with foreign sweat shops would be really 
bad for foreign workers. 

It would take a pretty high wage to motivate companies to move out of 
those really cheap labor markets. Consider too that workers in those 
markets are generally *really* unskilled when compared to even the most 
stupid of American workers. Even the most stupid people I know can read 
and follow very very basic written instructions. Because they are so 
unskilled, they dont have a lot of choices about what to do with their 
labor that means that, as a group, they probably have a very inelastic 
supply.

Demand for labor in those areas, by contrast is very elastic. Firms 
havent invested a lot in capital so it doesnt cost them much to leave. 
If the wage floor were high enough, they would be very motivated to 
move to more industrialized areas where they would need fewer workers. 
This would be very bad for those workers in developing countries. 

This doesnt mean that I am against an international minimum wage. It 
just shouldnt be set too high. I have a hunch that because labor supply 
is so inelastic in those areas, a wage could be set that effectively 
transfers "economic rent" from the firm's profits to the worker's 
paychecks without causing any difference in the output or the consumer 
price of the item. It would cause stock prices in those firms to fall a 
bit but I believe that a wage increase that would mean a LOT to workers 
who are earning pennies per hour of labor might not result in huge per 
share decrease in stock prices here. 

FWIW, I agree with William's ideas that minimum wages can increase 
discrimination in an industry. There is actually some evidence of this 
happening. We dont see this too much in the United States these days 
because our minimum wage is much lower than the market wage in most 
labor markets. But, it is possible that an international minimum wage 
could result in increased discrimination against various groups of 
people. 

There are probably all kinds of other effects an international minimum 
wage would have that arent so positive. The higher the wage is set, the 
more one would see those things cropping up. I am not sure saving 
American manufacturing jobs is worth all the potential problems. Now 
saving American Tech Support jobs is another issue entirely ;)
slynne
response 48 of 160: Mark Unseen   Nov 20 02:33 UTC 2003

I dont have anything particular to write about right now. Sometimes it 
is ok just to let one's thoughts ramble around the page. Still, I know 
this doesnt necessarily lead to good writing. Too bad for you, gentle 
readers ;)

I bought a new Sherman Alexie book yesterday. I think that after I walk 
the dogs tonight, I am going to curl up and read it. I love doing that. 
I am a real couch potato as I am sure some of you may have realized. I 
love my couch and I love lighting candles and curling up under a 
blankie with something to read. I had to get dogs because if I didnt 
have them and our nightly walks, I wouldnt get any exercise. 

I havent been taking any pictures lately. I dont know why. Laziness I 
guess. I still "see" pictures but I dont have my camera with me. I 
guess I need to get back in the habit of carrying it. 

Last night I was really kicking myself for not having it since the 
train came through just as my dogs and I were walking down by Depot 
Town which is a very cute area of town. It was raining and the lights 
from the crossing were reflected on the street and the train woooshed 
through with all this blurry cozy yellow light from the windows of the 
train. The store fronts all have that same cozy yellow light coming 
from the windows. It makes me warm every time I see that. Knowing that 
just inside there is some good beer and good music and warmth. Soup 
too. There is something about the people on train *going somewhere* but 
totally missing such an inviting place on a rainy evening as this place 
is. Would I have been able to put all that into a photograph? Probably 
not but it would have been worth trying. :)
remmers
response 49 of 160: Mark Unseen   Nov 20 11:31 UTC 2003

Ah, Depot Town.  Nice place.  We like to have dinner at the Sidetrack
Restaurant and feel the floor rumble as a train speeds by.
slynne
response 50 of 160: Mark Unseen   Nov 20 16:30 UTC 2003

Heh. The trains make the floor of my house rumble too. I like Sidetrack 
for the fried pickles mostly. :)
remmers
response 51 of 160: Mark Unseen   Nov 20 16:46 UTC 2003

Never had fried pickles.  Are they like fried green tomatoes?
cmcgee
response 52 of 160: Mark Unseen   Nov 20 17:43 UTC 2003

Better.  Fried green tomatoes are your basic tart crusty pan-fried hard
green vegetable.  Fried pickles are extremely vinegary crusty deep-fried
soft green vegetable.

slynne
response 53 of 160: Mark Unseen   Nov 20 20:13 UTC 2003

Yeah. Fried pickles are the best. You should order some next time you 
are there. 
remmers
response 54 of 160: Mark Unseen   Nov 20 21:56 UTC 2003

Now I am intrigued.  I forsee a visit to Sidetrack in the near future.
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