Overpopulation is killing my trees
News ·Sunday October 1, 2006 @ 23:07 EDT (link)
Duvall is planning some expansions and annexations (of bordering parts of unincorporated King County), which will probably mean that some of the trees behind our property will vanish, and our cul-de-sac will become a "U". This is annoying, because I feel there are already enough people, so there's no need to kill my trees. Of course, it's in every politician's interest to have more people in their district, so you won't find any resistance there. Yes, I'm in favor of breeding licenses; feel free to call me a fascist. I know in the grand sceme of things if nobody reproduces we'll run out of people (there are some that don't think that's a bad idea). But we're not there yet.
Give every couple the right to have as many kids as will maintain a replacement rate; put the decimal points into a lottery (my original plan was to put them on the open market, but I don't know if I want only the rich having many kids, although at least it indicates they can probably take care of them; to prevent this happening with the lottery, of course, one must limit entries to one per citizen/couple and disallow adoption for a period). The lottery is one big pool out of which would come not only the right to have a child, but the right to immigrate; deaths and emigrations add to the pool. We'd also want to have some weighting for area; Oklahoma can support a lot more new people than D.C. Rather than a child tax credit, require parents to pay extra; we're way past needing to give people incentives to spawn. I don't think we (as a nation, or even a species) need to build a new house ever again, except to replace an existing one. Want a new housing development? Buy an existing one of equal size, and let it go back to nature, then you'll get your permit. Ah, pipe dreams.
Oh boy, a real prize today. We made it back to Northgate Bible Chapel this Sunday, finally, and driving back down 145th towards the I-5 S entrance a little after noon, this bald (shaved, not old) bull-headed guy comes careening into my lane—not ahead of me, or behind me, but right over. Black Volvo station wagon, WA 475 PSV. I honked at him and he backed off, but he almost forced me into oncoming traffic (dude... if you can't plan your turns better, go around the block and try again). He was yelling something out the window at me when he got onto the Interstate, but I had no idea what he said (probably nothing all that complimentary, however).
One more, dark blue Toyota Sienna van, WA 905 MOS, driving extremely slowly (time to dust off the term "Sunday driver"), probably 10 mph under the speed limit, including riding the brake all the way down Novelty Hill. A little annoying.
There's (another) Slashdot article about how globalization is killing U.S. jobs, but it appears as if the tide has turned and there aren't nearly so many people claiming that it's for the Common Good™ and if you've been fired from your network administration position, well, you should really just turn around and become a lawyer, because, hey, the mortgage will pay itself, going barefoot is better for the kids anyway, and law degrees are cheap and don't take long to complete. (Oh yes. Tongue, cheek, implanted firmly; make no mistake.) This one chap makes a good point about manufacturing capability and it's a little scary, because if one or more powerful nations decided to attack us (or do something that would call for making good on a threat, i.e. if, say, China decided that it wanted Taiwan "back" tomorrow), could we ramp up fast enough without nukes? Nearby, another good point: the term "anti-globalization" has been made into a joke (say "outsourcing" or "offshoring" instead), associated with fringe kooks, which is unfortunate. And there's a strong theme of "it's becoming a race to the bottom": which nation can make their slaves work the longest for the lowest wages, and make the cruddiest goods that people will actually buy?—and that we should be raising the standard of living of our trading "partners" (with tarriffs, etc.) rather than lowering them.
I'll go on the record, as I have in the past, to say that nations should do what is in the interest of the majority of their citizens (not just the rich) and should look to the future. It's possible that even letting me in on a T.N. visa back in 2002 wasn't in the U.S.'s best interest, although it's too late to go back on that, just like you can't set all the anchor babies adrift, although, I did go to Memphis, TN which isn't exactly known for its tech sector. I'll also say this: I don't care about so-called "fair", I want my team (country) to win: and by that I mean employment and continued high standard of living. And you know, this also ties in with the overpopulation argument: if there are limited resources, and unlimited people, well, start making less people (and growing more resources, if you can).
I put up our dining room blind; it wasn't too much trouble, just put up a few brackets (drill some holes, switch to a Phillips bit, put in some screws), slide the blind in, close everything off. We cooked roast beef (Honey's mother's recipe), with potatoes and carrots (well, Honey cooked it, I did some peeling). It was very tender after it had cooked all day. I hope I'm not making anyone jealous. :-)
Our Sierra Quests arrived in the mail recently: we got the King's Quest (7), Space Quest (6), Police Quest (4), and Leisure Suit Larry (5) sets; it's been a real blast from the past playing a few this weekend (PQ1VGA, PQ2, LSL1, SQ1VGA; started LSL2, PQ3, and SQ2; I'd played many of the King's Quest remakes recently already). We also got the original Star Trek season two, and Gattaca, another one that had been lost in the move.
October is breast cancer awareness month. Some people are turning their websites pink.
