-- C.A. Beard
On last month's Fix;
the answer to last month's Fix,
"Design a hurricane resistant house and community."is
As it turns out this is not a trick question. Hurricanes Opal and Roxanne passed by during my brief Florida residency, and ground zero for Opal was in a little town just east of Pensicola. Some subdivisions were washed away while others were left standing. The difference was in their foundations. Those homes built on concrete slabs had the sand eroded out from under them, and cantilevered concrete does not hold up too well. The homes which stood were built on pilings driven 20 feet into the ground. They could withstand a LOT of erosion and still not have their "legs" cut out from under them.
On this issue
This issue is abbreviated since I will be in Chicago for RSNA the week after Thanksgiving and do not want to have an issue cross into the next month. However, this means that Dec's issue may be really big.
On the "Crisis"
It is 14 November and the feds just had their first day off courtesy of the evil and tyrannical right wing. All the nightly news broadcasts just showed the whining of America: a women who couldn't get her passport, another who was unable to sign up as a first time Soc. Sec. recipient and a family that was turned back at the entrance to Rocky Mountain Natl. Park. Will America survive the govt. shutdown foisted upon it by the Evil Gingrich?
Yes.
Some history. The President prepares a budget and sends it to the House for their advise and consent. When Reagen submitted his first budget in 1981 (which was balanced, by the way), then Speaker of the House, Jim "KeatingFive" Wright (Dem TX) held it up and said, "This budget is DOA." The Dems then shoved back a counter budget which was loaded with increased welfare (read "deficit") spending and Reagen vetoed it. This led to a govt. shutdown.Dems said it was all Reagen's fault that people were out of work and lacked govt.services. Polls of the day showed that the country concurred. Reagen faced a tough choice: hold firm and be blamed for unemployment or cave and continue Washington's deficit spending. He chose the latter and is blamed today for the deficits of the 80's. In 1990 it was Bush's turn. Another govt. shutdown occured and Dick Darmond, Bush's budget director, made a deal with the House. Bush signed the House version with increased spending and taxes with the understanding that the House would reduce spending in the following year to reduce the deficit. Care to guess what spending reductionsoccured? Naturally, Bush is credited for continuing the "Reagen Deficits."
Of course, none of this behavior should be surprising coming from a body that passed the Gramm-Rudman Balanced Budget Act in 1985.The bill only allowed deficit spending in the event of a national emergency. I guess the country has been in a continual emergency for several years.
From this, a reasonable observer might conclude that the guy in the WhiteHouse should always get the blame for causing deficits and govt. shutdowns. But that reasonable person would be ignorant of the media bias.The person responsible for deficit spending and govt. shutdowns today is the Speaker of the House - Newt Gingrich and his band of Reps.
Some facts. The current budget "crisis" is unique in US history. It is the first time that the House has responded to a Presidential budget with one that spends less money. Clinton and his Chief of Staff Leon "Panacea" Panetta are claiming that Rep. "cuts" in Medicaid and Medicare will throw the grandparents out on the street and have them eating dogfood. THERE ARE NO CUTS!!! Clinton's budget calls for Medicaid- Medicare increases on the order of 8%/year while the Rep. plan is about 6%/year. The actual cost increase projected by insurance companies is about 3%/year. Clinton's plan increases Medicare premiums from an average of about $40/month now to $82/month in the year 2000. Rep. planned premiums go to $90/monthin the year 2000. So for $8/month, the Rep. are evil and Clinton is the second coming. Gee, perhaps we should see what track record Clinton has on being nice to the AARP lobby:
-From detnew93.may Sunday Morning w/Brinkley, May 17: Paul Rubin, the Clinton budget director, said today that the tax changes which the admin. is proposing will be retroactive to the beginning of this year. When asked by George Will how Joe taxpayer was supposed to come up with the money by April 15 since the withholding on current W2's would be inadequate, Rubin said the taxpayers will have a choice. Either they can pay the extra debt with a short term loan or opt to have the withholding trebled or quadrupled for the last few paychecks of the year. -From detnew93.sep Clinton's BTU tax, which he called the principle part of his plan, was scrapped in favor of a 4.3 % increase in the gasoline tax. The gas tax could go no higher because Sen. Herb Kohl of Wisconsin promised to vote NO if it did and there were no votes to spare. -From detnew93.dec Increasing taxable Soc. Sec. income from 50 to 85% of benefits.Yes sir, Bill's a friend of the Senior Set - you bet. However, don't fret about grandma and grandpa. We're picking up the tab for them.
>From the San Jose Mercury News, Monday June 5th, 1995 >From an opinion column titled "Elderly are big winners in tax >benefits", by Timothy Taylor, an economics consultant to the Mercury >News editorial board. Generational Accounts The table shows lifetime "net taxes" for people of different ages in 1993.Positive numbers indicate that more taxes will be paid than benefits received; negatives indicate that more benefits will be received than taxes paid. Age in 1993 Men Women 0 $87000 $53000 10 $130000 $77000 20 $189000 $109000 30 $195000 $109000 [ Of course, at the top ] 40 $158000 $76000 50 $68000 0 60 -$57000 -$101000 70 -$108000 -$140000 80 -$86000 -$111000 90 -$68000 -$65000And I want to leave you with just a couple more facts:
-detnew95.feb
A rare thing came out of a Senate committee today - truth.
The _Bipartisan Committee on Entitlement and Tax Reform_, headed by
senators Bob Kerry (D, Nebraska) and John Danforth (R, Missouri),
announced the following;
- the govt. has promised too much and it can't pay for it
- entitlements are nevertheless guaranteed to be paid
- in 1973, 38% of the Federal budget was entitlements, now 48%
- in 2012, entitlements will consume the entire projected budget
And finally, children born in 1990 can expect to pay an average tax
rate of 84% over their life time at current spending rates. Consider
this when the nightly media tells you how mean the Reps. are.On the Federal Employees
Many news shows are demonstrating the hardship being endured by suspended Federal workers. CNN's Wolf Blitzer even intimated that some may have to eat cold sandwiches for Thanksgiving. Welcome to reality. Where in the Constitution does it promise unlimited job security to Fed employees? Only their insulation from the realities of the private sector could lead these people to expect they'd get any sympathy. Besides,in all previous govt. halts, those suspended got paid retroactively. There is no reason to believe this time will be any different.
From r-redman@nwu.edu Mon Nov 20 09:10:36 1995 Hi Steve - Did you get the map I sent? If not, call for directions 312/503-1690 at work or 708/780-0356 at home. And the answer to your question "Design a hurrican resistant home and community": is simple. Simply, put it in Nebraska. See you at the end of the week. Renee P.S. Since you're not bringing Sheryl, I expect a picture.
2. Texas Tom writes;
From ApogeeTom@aol.com Mon Nov 20 13:03:09 1995 Date: Mon, 20 Nov 1995 13:04:32 -0500 From: ApogeeTom@aol.com To: sglanger@oakland.edu Subject: Re: lastcall > "Design a hurrican resistant home and community" Step 1. Go to moon. I think you can fill in the rest. --Tom
3. Keeweenaw Chuck writes;
From cescript@mtu.edu Mon Nov 20 18:11:39 1995
Hiya Steve,
Since you said that things crashed for the last issue, here's a
fresh copy of my submission for last month (now you can gross everyone
else out...Yuck!!)
> interest of maintaining a lighter tone, I'd also appreciate any
> humourous anecdotes from your respective locales. Try to keep
I don't know about "local humor", but I got the article enclosed
below from (a very sick ;) someone via email...
> "Do you read this with a WWW browser?
Sometimes. Since you've switched to full HTML, one pretty much has
to... Though html2latex can usually make it readable. ;-)
BTW, I found a DOS version of "lynx", but unfortunately it's HUGE
(a fully functional package, I believe) and appears to gobble up
almost all of the conventional memory (and so it's always swapping
crap to disk, "grind, grind"). It would be neat if someone could crop
out the networking and make a PC html _reader_ out of it. (any
volunteers out there?)
> If yes, do you have an online connection?
Yes.
> Would you pay by the hour for connect time to read
> this from a central server?"
I'm more likely to download the file and read it locally.
**********************************************************************
And now for some filler... (Ugh!!!)
- ---Begin Text---
Rectal Impaction Following Enema with Concrete Mix
-- by Peter J. Stephens, M.D., and Mark L. Taff, M.D. from
the American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology
8(2):179-182, 1987.
This article describes an unusual rectal foreign body resulting
from homosexual anal erotic activities. The patient had used an enema
containing a concrete mix which became impacted and required surgical
removal. The use, abuse, and complications of enemas are reviewed.
Key Words: Anal eroticism--Colorectal injuries--Enemas, cement--Foreign
bodies--Paraphilias.
During the last 20 years, sexual habits have changed in western
society. Both homosexuals and heterosexuals have shown an increasing
interest in anal erotic practices, including the use of enemas for sexual
enjoyment. We report a case of a klismaphiliac who had an impacted foreign
body in his rectum followin an enema with a concrete mix.
CASE REPORT
A 20-year-old man presented to the emergency room complaining of
rectal pain. A well-nourished, well-developed man without signs of
intoxication was admitted in no apparent distress.
Digital examination of the rectum revealed a stony hard mass. Abdominal
plain films showed a vertically oriented, low-lying radiopaque object
in the rectum. A spherical radiolucency was noted in the upper pole of
the mass. A blood alcohol level was negative. No other drug testing was
performed.
Upon further questioning, the patient said that approximately 4
hrs earlier he and his boyfriend had been "fooling around." After stirring
a batch of concrete mix, the patient laid on his back with his feet
against the wall at a 45-degree angle while his boyfriend poured the
mixture through a funnel into his rectum. After the concrete mass
hardened, it became so painful that he sought medical care.
Under general anesthesia, the anus was dilated and two Foley
catheters were inserted alongside the rectal mass to relieve suction. A
concrete case of the rectum was delivered without incident. The rectal
mucosa was intact with a hyperemic and edematous appearance.
The patient was kept overnight and discharged uneventfully the
following morning. The attending physician recommended a psychiatric
consultation, but the patient declined.
PATHOLOGIC EXAMINATION
Examination of the specimen revealed a perfect concrete cast of
the rectum, measuring 12 X 7 X 5 cm and weighing 275 g (Fig. 2). A thin
layer of feces coated the surface and crevices. Grooves in the mass were
consistent with rectal mucosal folds. A layer of concrete was chipped off
the upper part of the specimen and revealed a white plastic ping-pong
ball. This corresponded to the radiolucency observed in the abdominal
x-ray.
- ---End Text---
--SGL
Ed: Would that the CIA was as complete in its investigation of Aldrich Ames.
2. Wall Street, Nov. 16: Clearly, investors are not worried about the govt. shutdown. The DOW crept up to 4985 today, near the virginal 5000 mark.
3. Nov. 20: The govt. went back to work today. The DOW responded by dropping 16 points.
Ed: Hey, Chiles can afford to be magnanimous. He won.
2. Nov. 15: Saying that the managment "just doesn't get it", the EEOC (Equal Employment Oppurtunity Commision) has ordered that Hooters Restaurant INC. must hire men, make all servers take gender sensitivity training, and pass all business decisions before an EEOC commision for the next five years.
3. Nov. 15: The Wash. Post reports that the Walt Disney company custom made "Beauty and the Beast" costumes for the Gore's Halloween party for the Wash. press corps. The costumes were flown out from California complete with tailors, at the Gores request, one day before the party. The Post goes on to point out that the Gores never paid Disney, and that this violates a law against solicitation for gifts by a govt. official from a business that is lobbying the govt. Disney is seeking permission from the FCC to buy some more TV networks, and the FCC is headed by a former Algore aid. Algore has responded that Disney just hasn't gotten around to sending the bill yet, but when he gets it, he'll pay the funds out of the DNC (Democrativ Natl. Convention) coffers.
The Physicist's Bill of Rights
We hold these postulates to be intuitively obvious, that all physicists are born equal to a first approximation, and are endowed by their creator with certiain discrete privilages, among them are a mean rest life, n degrees of freedom, and the following rights which are invariant under all linear transformations: