Eddie Dean and Emily Yoffe
Eddie,
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StumbleUponAre your feet wet yet? The story about the possibility of a tsunami off the coast of Virginia caught my eye, too. Now emergency-management officials have to decide, according to the Washington Post, "whether to design tsunami disaster plans." What might those plans be, mass distribution of water wings? The researchers who discovered the cracks along the edge of the continental shelf will be up this weekend for an inspection to "perhaps predict how soon a tsunami could occur." I predict there will be no prediction.
I was in Candlestick Park for the 1989 San Francisco earthquake. I had been living in California about three weeks, and when the quake began I actually thought it was a special effect those crazy Californians had rigged up for the World Series. Then I was in Los Angeles for the 1994 Northridge quake. My favorite memory: As I stood in the doorway of my bathroom, the house shook so hard the water in the toilet bowl came flying out. (Come to think of it, next time I decide to visit Virginia Beach might be a good time for an evacuation.) After these quakes, I was surprised by how little the seismologists knew. They were all excited about Northridge because, as I remember, they kept going on about how they didn't even know the fault was there. Very comforting.
I met a young seismologist recently who had an explanation for why so little was known. He said for decades most seismology research has been funded by the military. The military wants to know how to tell the difference between real earthquakes and underground nuclear testing by various bad guys. The research has of course benefited civil seismology, but that's not what the focus is. He also says the profession hopes some day to have an earthquake warning system--of about 15 seconds! Maybe it would just be better to have 15 more seconds of blissful ignorance.
I also wanted to mention Al Gore's anti-drug proposal. According to the Post he wants to spend more money to monitor drug use by prisoners and parolees. Flunking the test would result in a longer sentence or a return to prison. What if these guys were alcoholics, as Richard Cohen pointed out in a column a while ago? Let's say a random test found they had been drinking (not while driving, of course). Would it make sense to send them back to jail? Given the two presidential candidates, it's obvious no rational revision of the drug laws will soon be on the agenda. Since we know both of them had youthful drug use--yes, Dubya, we know--maybe they should voluntarily serve some jail time for it. No, I'm not in favor of ignoring the horrible crimes committed in the pursuit of drug activity. But in our current system, drug trafficking trumps all. We'd have a lot more room in our jails for violent drug traffickers if we stopped jailing nonviolent ones.
Emily
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Reader Response from The Fray--to be read after the final entry:
Not only should Bobo the Clown be drafted to moderate the Presidential debates [Thursday's entry], but he should chair every Congressional Committee, be given Joe Lockhart's job, and he should anchor the news on all networks.
--Will Allen
(To reply, click here.)
I know it's all the rage now to demonstrate your liberal bona fides by trashing the Confederate flag in South Carolina or Confederate History Month in Virginia, but Eddie's little diatribe against Governor Gilmore and Richmond, Virginia takes the cake [Tuesday]. I see that he has joined some of those he criticizes in hijacking history, ascribing his beliefs to be in the great tradition of Robert E. Lee.
The natural progression of not honoring Confederate History Month is to begin to impede or discourage tourists who want to visit Civil War sites or Confederate museums and cemeteries, as these people must be misguided at best or racist yahoos at worst. I'm sure that Virginians of all ethnicities who work in tourism-related businesses appreciate all the controversy and would rather not have Civil War tourists staying in hotels, eating at restaurants, or buying souvenirs. And, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Virginia elect the one and only black governor ever to serve in the 50 states?
If you could find 50 people in Virginia who knew about the Confederate History Month proclamation before this contretemps, I would be shocked.
--Will
(To reply, click here.)
(5/4)
Slate should call this "Whenever You Can Make It To The Table" instead of the "Breakfast Table".
--NT
[See timing of Monday's posts. Matters seemed to improve during the week.]
(To reply, click here.)
So there could be genetically-engineered giant animals [Monday's entry]--but what about when politicians start splicing their genes? Imagine the havoc a 50-foot George Bush would do to the environment--dangerous. Or the monotone bellow of a 100-foot-tall Gore. O the horror.
--Chris
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I have engineered four-legged chickens because my family likes fried chicken legs. We are as of this date unsure of the palatability of these fowl because now we can't catch them.
--eieio
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Today Pharm Animals--Tomorrow Your Mom!
--Seeking Justice
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[This was the title of the post. There was quite a lot more, but this seemed to hit the spot.]
Actually, if the knife that George Harrison was stabbed with had been about a half-inch to the left, he would have died instantly [Monday]. Only those with no knowledge or understanding of violence (which in this post-draft era means basically all of the chattering classes) think that knives are inherently less lethal than guns.
--Tench Coxe
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Re: the possible break-up of Microsoft:
Oh Emily,
Some of us relate:
Poor Bill's the guy everyone loves to hate.
But fear not for your beloved Slate
Just follow His lead,
simply innovate.
--Ann
(To reply, click here.)
(5/2)