Pointless Laws and Why I Still Hate Summer

May I just take a moment to whine, again, about the way Sun partitions disks by default?  And may I also complain that you have to go through the whole custom install procedure just to partition the disk the way you want?

Argh.

I heard a piece about street racing in California on NPR today.  The CHiPs interviewed claim that some people will quit racing after just one run-in with the law, but that many are not deterred by being ticketed or even arrested.  I hope this isn't one of those things where they make ludicrous penalties as a bigger deterrent.  That never works, and it just serves to make things like this even more attractive for a certain subset of the population.

I know this is a weird thing to say and that others will no doubt disagree with me, but I think we have enough laws on the books right now.  Things that should be illegal (and many things that shouldn't be) are already illegal.  Our gubmint is enacting laws that are merely more specific but are unnecessary.  The two things that come to mind first are hate crimes and cell phone usage while driving.  It's already illegal to beat someone up or kill someone, regardless of their race or sexual orientation.  Motive affects the degree of the infraction, and the laws currently on the books are enough to charge someone with first degree murder for killing someone they simply don't like.  

What makes the congress think new laws will make life better for minority groups?  It's total bullshit.  They just want to appear to be "doing something" about the problem.  They aren't helping anyone, they are just wasting valuable time and money that could be used to work on the many real problems (mostly fiscal) facing the nation right now.

I don't like seeing someone swerving all over the road or generally driving poorly because they are on a cell phone.  No one likes that, but why punish people who can multitask?  If you can drive competently and talk on the phone, it's fine with me.  If you can't, I wish the cops would stop you for reckless driving or reckless endangerment or any of the other laws applicable.  I fear that adding new laws will only give The Man an excuse to stop people they don't like because they are using a cell phone.  That said, I'm all for rigid enforcement of existing traffic laws like failure to yield, improper lane usage, etc.  I'm all for enforcing those laws that contribute to the insanity on the roads but are never ticketed unless an accident results.

There's so many things wrong with the way our country is being operated these days that I don't even know where to start.  Some day, I'm going to be one of those people off polishing their guns in the wilderness and waiting for the call to revolt.  Can't you just see it?

 I'm sick of summer.  It's August, the humidity has settled in, and I'm one of those people who does not love summer unreservedly.  My love for summer is very fickle, you see.  I know of two people who I believe love summer unreservedly, so those folks definitely exist; I'm just not one of them.  You'd think this would engender a love for A/C, but it does not.  By now, I'm sick to death of everything being over air conditioned, and I am frequently tempted to turn off the A/C at home.  At work, I'm back to wearing pants and socks because I'm freezing all the time.  

There's nothing I can do about it at work except to dress like it's a different season all together, but it strikes me as a sick waste of energy to be freezing in the summer.  Turning *off* the A/C (at home anyway) results in mildew growing on the floor downstairs, so I can't really adjust things there either.

I had a chat with Tino last night about his love for air conditioning.  I grew up somewhere that air conditioning was not a given.  Tino grew up somewhere that air conditioning is a fact of life.  He claims that he's sick of the A/C too, but that the difference between us is that he knows the alternative is worse, and I'm not sure it is.