Tuesday, 30 March, 1999 07:40
Much, much better this morning. I feel almost human. A bit bubble-headed from medication, but not too bad.
Good enough for a coupla rants, anyway.
Rant one: The University of Kansas is designating "non-smoking entrances" for all of its buildings. Supposedly, someone who is "allergic" to smoke had an attack after whiffing smoke while exiting a building where smokers were gathered.
And gee, I don't want to appear to be unbelieving or sarcastic... although I am mostly both... but it appears to me that on the horizon is the lawsuit brought about by the person who glimpsed a cigarette in someones hand and was reminded of the time that they had an asthma attack and by golly that memory set off another asthma attack. They need lawful protection from the people who would let them see something that looked like a cigarette...
Now, I'm not denying that an allergy to cigarette smoke is impossible or that it is damned inconvenient.
But there should be limits on how much society should have to change to accommodate the individual. And I think that we've gone way beyond those limits.
We must have access for wheelchair-bound people everywhere. OK, all over America, billions of dollars have been spent, and continue being spent, to guarantee this universal access. Every intersection that has sidewalks is now curbless. Great for bicyclers, skateboarders and rollerbladers... but most of these intersections will never accommodate a wheelchair.
Because the people in wheelchairs who want to get out... simply call the city or county bus service, who are required to have vehicles equipped for wheelchairs available at all times.
This is money being wasted that could be spent on social security for my future. 'Cause when I'm in a wheelchair, I'm not gonna wheel my way three miles to the grocery store. I'm gonna call the bus.
Rant two: gun carry laws.
But I do think that law-abiding citizens should be allowed to carry guns. Citizens who are not law-abiding have been carrying them for years. No permits, no nothing. Just carrying them around, waiting for a victim.
And the victims are easy to spot. Yep, they don't look like criminals... they look like law-abiding citizens... and the law doesn't let them carry a gun, so they don't. Easy pickin'.
But wait! We have a law that lets everyone who wants to carry a gun!
Not just the criminals!
This is really confusing for the criminal. Because not only will each potential victim be able to defend themselves, any bystander who is a witness to a crime will also be able to stop that criminal.
The six-gun, in the days of the wild west, was the great leveler. The little man was just as able to defend himself as the big man was. Muscle was no longer king... and justice was known by all. Well, not really, but it was at last a potential.
So I will never carry a gun. But I like the idea that someone wishing me harm doesn't know that... that they think that I can defend myself... I'm not an easy mark.
As I said, I'm feeling much better. My body feels very abused, though, all of my joints need working and my sinews need stretching and my muscles need contracting.
And I've wasted my entire week off. Leave it to me to get sick on my time, and not company time.
I don't think that I've ever been this sick before with an URI; there were
And the coughing... my diaphragm will be sore for a week. Coughing, even now, is painful. Thankfully, it's needed only infrequently since I'm getting better.
I must be getting better... I've been awake four hours, and I don't need to go back to sleep! A good sign... just in time to go back to work!
Beautiful weather here, too, so I've heard. It looks like it. I think that I'm going to get a book and a drink and go sit out on the deck in the sun...
First point I need to make: I don't want to carry a gun. For the same reason that I don't carry a sharp knife... I'm way too likely to hurt myself.
times when I thought that I might literally drown in secretions... very unpleasant sensation. But mostly, I just didn't give a shit what happened... just let me sleep.