I Don't Know Whether This is Funny or Sad...

A contaminated kiss kills teenager
By Phil Couvrette in Montreal, and agencies
www.smh.com.au

A TEENAGER with an extreme nut allergy has died after kissing her boyfriend hours after he had eaten a peanut-butter sandwich.

Christina Desforges went into anaphylactic shock after the kiss. She was given an adrenaline shot and taken to a hospital in Quebec City but died four days later from acute respiratory failure.

Doctors said the reaction to the minute traces of peanut on the boy's lips was the cause of Christina's death last week. Her boyfriend has not been named.

Dr Karen Sigman, a Canadian allergy expert, said: "If peanuts are still in the mouth, or on the tongue or on the lips, they can cause a reaction.

Besides the fact that 15-year-olds shouldn't be kissing anyway... Well, I'm at a loss for words.

Edmond the Hun

Why $3 A Gallon Was A Good Thing

Or, at least, an irritation with positive side effects

When gas shot up past $3 a gallon, people cried in horror. Now that things are back to relative normality, I look back and think it was a good thing.

It woke up Americans and gave them a foreshadowing of things to come. Europe is already used to the equivalent of four to five dollars a gallon, and they've adjusted with fuel-efficient cars and smart transportation systems and habits.

Things are only going to get worse. China is becoming more industrialized, and they are adding over 1,000 cars per day to their streets! (Thomas Friedman, The World Is Flat) Demand for oil is increasing exponentially, and supply is decreasing exponentially. Once demand overtakes supply, high prices will be a norm.

But this little high blip of September and October forced Americans to prepare a little better for this potentially impending energy crisis. We are buying more energy-efficient vehicles, and auto manufacturers are creating more energy-efficient vehicles. We're learning how to change our habits to adjust to higher prices. All of this helps ease demand and hold the supply.

It spurred on the search for and progress of alternative resources, which will be the only real way to solve an energy crisis and replace finite supplies of oil.

Oil will not last forever, but the panic brought about by these temporary price jumps will help us get ready for the time when they will be high and higher, indefinitely.

Edomdnd the Hun

Woman For President? It May Be Possible...

Two weeks later, and the results are in. They are only mildly surprising.

The mostly teenage/20's Christian forum was pretty split, with 12 votes yes and 14 votes no.

No: Women are frowned upon by other countries... God created woman as a helper, not leader.
Yes: We have a woman secretary of state, why not president?... I can't think of any harm... It doesn't matter as long as they're qualified...
Best Joke (by a woman): She'd plunge the country into war every 28 days or so.
Best Question (also by a woman): How could her husband have any leadership role at home when his wife is his authority?

General Consensus: Some would, some wouldn't, some object Biblically, some support Biblically.

The gasbuddy forum was almost entirely yes:

Yes: As long as she has the best overall interest in that of the United States... It's sad that people can't realize gender does not make a difference... Women have succeeded as CEO's and Executive Directors... It's depressing that people even ask this question... I think it's simply a matter of merit and qualification, not gender...
No: (no arguments or reasons, just statements like, "No." "Not in a million years!")

General Consensus: A woman president is just as justified as a man president, although it's unlikely to happen in the next election.

The science forum was also overwhelmingly yes:

Yes: Sure, but not as a political ploy... Aperson's gender is no guide to their abilities... Who they are and what they stand for are paramount... We had a female Prime Minister... Of course...
No: (No objections)

General Consensus: There is no difference between a man and woman regarding their ability to lead, although a woman candidate could become a sexist icon for people voting either way.

OVERALL RESULTS: While the younger Christians are split, most people have no problem at all with a woman president, providing she is qualified, although no one is anticipating it happening in the next few years. Therefore, it appears that it would be too hasty to conclude already that neither Hillary or Condi stand a chance at all, although I still am doubtful.

Note an argument in Freakonomics regarding an election some time ago involving a black candidate. Pre-election polls indicated the black man would win by a large margin, but he barely squeezed a victory. This implies that some people who objected to a black leader did not want to appear racist in the polls and said that they would vote for him, but did not.

It is possible that Americans are ready for a woman president, and it is equally possible that some say they are because they don't want to appear sexist, or the ones that don't want a woman president simply aren't saying anything. And there's no way to poll for that.

Edmond the Hun

Economy Update: November '05

As gas prices are under $2.29, the movies produce a movie that makes over $30 million for the first time since mid-September. However, it was a sequel to an alleged hit, and it was a horror flick on the weekend before Halloween, so this might have been expected.

It will be impossible to continue to judge the economy and the spending money of Americans based on the money movies make, because even though gas prices are "down," heating prices are going up, and there are a bunch of hits scheduled to release through the rest of the year, including Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia, and King Kong, which will be expected to gross big numbers. Too many factors to make justified conclusions.

However, there are two things to watch concering the economy in the next two months. First, people are going to start buying Christmas presents, and we'll see if they have less money to spend than usual. Second, yesterday marked the start of charging for those higher natural gas prices for heating your home, and we'll see if they will really be 25%-45% higher than last year. That could eat up wallets faster than gas prices.

So anyways, I'll keep you updated with what little I know. I'll keep looking for better economic data than movie numbers. But I still don't think we need to panic.

Edmond the Hun

Supreme Court Nominee: Brilliant! (i think)

Bush has now nominated some guy named Samuel Alito Jr. for the Supreme Court. His incredible track record makes him the most qualified candidate of the last seventy years. I think this is a brilliant move by Bush and Co. to either increase the conservative-ness of the Supreme Court, or expose the Democrat's liberal agenda, or both.

Here's why. Harriet Miers was criticized because she had no experience. In response, Bush nominates a guy who is incredibly experienced. (He also happens to be incredibly conservative.)

If Bush had nominated Alito from the start, his experience wouldn't have been that much of an issue, and it wouldn't have been an obvious positive factor. The Dems would have tried to find some objection based on his views, and would have had a decent chance of succeeding.

But since Alito is a post-Miers nominee, everyone looks at his experience and thinks, Hey, what a great choice! The only way the Dems can object is to make it obvious that they don't like his conservative-ness, which is no real reason at all.

Just as gas for $2.26 feels a lot cheaper after $2.99, an experienced nominee looks a lot better and more qualified after an unexperienced one. Thanks to this chain of events, there is now a good chance that this conservative president will increase the conservative-ness of the Court.

Brilliant!

Edmond the Hun