There may be links between gambling and suicide: Nevada, for example, has a really high suicide rate. The possible link led me to coin a harsh phrase of the whole Indian casino political scene:
Why does Native-American self-determination have to rest so squarely upon Asian-American self-annihilation?
Not quite a slogan, but getting close!
OK, this little bit of news from the LA Times really freaks me out. Several years ago, when I was doing lots of late-night gambling at Cache Creek, it was crystal clear to me that narrow, winding Highway 16 was a BIG hazard, and that the Rumsey Rancheria band of Wintun Indians really didn't give a shit about who was getting killed on it, as long as they got paid. NOW, it looks like they want to compound this problem with liquor. People WILL die, good people, people who would otherwise have continued to live on, as a direct result of Cache Creek getting a liquor license. EVIL!
Here is the text of a letter I sent to the Sacramento Bee on April 6, 2000 (and which was published, I believe) regarding Rumsey Rancheria head Paula Lorenzo's over-reaction to having this problem pointed out:
Regarding Paula Lorenzo's letter on April 6th casting aspersions on the Bee's motives for pointing out dangerous traffic problems on Highway 16 in Yolo County resulting in part from Cache Creek casino traffic: Hoo-wee! Methink the lady doth protest too much! Just because the Indian gaming proposition passed on March 7th doesn't mean she should return to ignoring the bodies accumulating in front yards from Woodland to Guinda. No mitigation efforts by the Rumsey tribe, CALTRANS, or Yolo County can possibly match the hazards posed by sleep-deprived thrill addicts racing around blind curves peppered with blundering animals (a big mama skunk nearly sent me into a tree up there several years ago). I'm amazed that 20 miles of a single road, Highway 16, accounted for fully 10 percent of Yolo County's accidents in 1987-1997. Yolo County has tens of thousands of miles of paved roads! First, the Rumsey tribe should close the casino from midnight to 8 a.m., and put people to bed early. Second, shoot or trap the remaining wildlife in the Capay Valley. Hard for an Indian tribe to do? Not if they're serious about mitigating hazards and keeping customers alive. Otherwise, Ms. Lorenzo should grow a thicker skin and affect deafness. The screaming has just started about this issue, and it's not just the Bee - it could well be her neighbors from some roadside ditch.
What I find mystifying is seeing various reviews, and noticing how many critics seem to hold "Chicago" to a higher standard than almost any other movie out there (maybe that's the fate of all Oscar contenders). For example, one reviewer (Mark Steyn) thought the convention of slipping into reality for dialogue, and fantasy for songs, was trite. Hello! That is standard movie musical convention, and maybe it would have been interesting to invert that choice and watch the outcome, but only in the same way that it was so interesting to watch the Space Shuttle Columbia return to Earth last Feb. 1st. Then the reviewer from the Las Vegas Review-Journal thought that an even better picture could have been made with different stars, and who knows, perhaps she's right, but who might these people be? Stanley Kauffman thought Renee Zellwegger was not on top of her material, but then again, Roxie is supposed to be an apprentice murderess, after all.
My opinion? I thought Rob Marshall and company did a pretty darn good job!
There's interesting speculation that an atmospheric electrical discharge might ultimately be to blame for the Columbia crash. Off-hand, I would think an electrical discharge would be unlikely, since the atmosphere at that elevation should be ionized already, and thus incapable of permitting much charge buildup, but perhaps there may be more to this than I realize. I've also read in the press about an Air Force picture showing damage to the left wing (from Kirtland AFB, alternatively said to be a fuzzy amateur picture, or a high-quality detailed picture), and an interesting array of microphones at Big Bend operated by SMU that captured at least ten explosions from the Shuttle as it disintegrated over Texas.
After seeing the gripping Shreveport weather radar loops on the Web from Feb. 1st, showing shuttle debris passing over eastern Texas and western Louisiana, it occurred to me that (after a suitable time lag permitting debris to fall from the upper atmosphere) weather radar might have picked up falling tiles from the Shuttle even as far west as California, providing clues so that even the casual investigator (namely, me) could go off looking for them. Alas, on the Web, National Climatic Data Center seems to provide only coarse radar loops. Also, the loops are archived monthly, and since the accident happened on the first of the month, they may not be available till March 1st. Still, it might provide an interesting diversion on weekends, looking for this stuff. Then, of course, people all over CA, AZ, and NM are now finding all sorts of weird, inexplicable stuff in their yards and driveways (e.g., investigators in Shreveport, LA found - egg yolk! - on a porch there), which would not have attracted any attention prior to this time.
Perhaps we are coming to a needed rethinking of the Shuttle program.....
In order for people to retain access to space, much cheaper and safer spacecraft need to be available (indeed, that was the inspiration for the Shuttle program to begin with). That means new up-to-date spacecraft development, preferably of smaller, people-oriented shuttles, featuring the latest advances in materials and computer sciences, with the heavy lifting done instead by ferry spacecraft, and with the science missions done with various, tailored, unmanned missions. If the budget isn't to be increased dramatically (or even if it is), that means the Shuttle program needs to be shut down, one way or another (not necessarily abruptly). Years ago, the Shuttle program cannibalized the planetary science missions, which (still) are among the few doing genuine, ground-breaking science (together with the Hubble, COBE, etc.). Now, it looks like safety concerns and budget considerations might lead the Shuttle to cannibalize itself as well.
Given its costs, space flight is heavily dependent on political sponsorship, but no President since Johnson has given a hoot about it. What we really need is someone with vision at the top, issuing directives. But G.W. Bush doesn't seem focused on the problem either, so we may have a confused era here, where chaos reigns. But in chaos lies opportunity. Appropriate goals - appropriate technology. If I were King, I'd:
1.) Develop smaller shuttles, powered by solid-fuel boosters;
2.) go for a lunar colony;
3.) begin assembling a spinning space station (similar to visionary 50's-era sci-fi models) for a journey to land on Mars and return safely;
4.) send a plethora of planetary missions out, to places like Europa; and,
5.) send more telescopes into space.
It would be very costly, but it would serve as a better inspiration than today's NASA.
Years ago, I remember reading an article (wish I knew where it was now) concerning NASA's failure to get Richard Nixon to commit to a more ambitious shuttle program in the early 70's, getting instead his commitment to the cheaper, hybrid cargo carrier-manned spaceplane vehicle we have now. NASA chose to proceed with the more disappointing combo vehicle because of their post-Apollo fear of losing all manned space efforts altogether, even though they had concerns about the vehicle's safety even then. So, NASA took a risk, perhaps an avoidable risk, so as to keep in the game. It's not just astronauts voyaging into the unknown - contractors and bureaucrats too are at risk.
Opening Audition Scene - Featuring Isaac Daley (Al), Marc Valdez (Bobby), Colby Salmon (Mike), and Scott Griffith (Greg).
Montage 4 - In front, Matt Dunn (Paul); second line, Marc Valdez (Bobby) and Wendy Carey (Val); the rest, Monica Parisi (Dawn), Melody Davi (Maggie), Colby Salmon (Mike), Angela Yee (Connie), Scott Griffith (Greg), Patricia Glass (Bebe), Matt Welch (Mark), and Dena Lozano (Diane).
Montage 4 - Marcus Mitchell (Ritchie), Isaac Daley (Al), Courtney Bufkin (Kristine), Wendy Carey (Val), and Matt Welch (Mark).
Music & the Mirror - Heather Benner (Cassie).
Bows - At Head, Dian Hoel (Laurie); Second Line, Michael Miiller (Zach), Dena Lozano (Diane), Matt Welch (Mark), and Wendy Carey (Val); Third Line - Marcus Mitchell (Ritchie), Heather Benner (Cassie), Colby Salmon (Mike), Pam Lourentzos (Sheila), Marc Valdez (Bobby), and Patricia Glass (Bebe); Fourth Line - Scott Griffith (Greg), Melody Davi (Maggie), Isaac Daley (Al), Jennifer Heisleman (Judy), Matt Dunn (Paul), and Courtney Bufkin (Kristine); Fifth Line - Monica Parisi (Dawn), Savannah Scott (Cut Dancer), Camila Fabersunne (Cut Dancer), Jenny Reuter (Cut Dancer), Kelly Slachman (Cut Dancer), Wendy Wyse (Cut Dancer), and Angela Yee (Connie).
I was furious when I read Michael Kenny's letter (the Source of MTBE: January 13, 2003) that appeared to defend the role of the California Air Resources Board (ARB) in pushing the water-soluble oxygenate additive MTBE into California's gasoline in the early 90's. Toxic MTBE has since caused nothing but havoc for ground-water supplies across the state. As Kenny points out, the Bee's columnist Dan Walters made a minor error in his January 5th column (West Sac reflects tunnel vision among California public officials) when he asserted that ARB "decreed that refiners should add 'oxygenates' to gasoline to battle smog": that decree, of course, came from US EPA. But ARB did decide that the oxygenate of choice would be MTBE, not ethanol, and ARB had plentiful technical advice, available well in advance, that MTBE's water-solubility would prove a ground water disaster. And the stuff is STILL in the gasoline! The best ARB can plead is gross incompetence. To have Kenny trying to paper over ARB's role in this massive ground-water toxic dumping (something that would have been criminal if it had been done by anyone else), when he is now being appointed to the Sacramento County Superior Court, is ruinous to Sacramento County's reputation.
