Long Time No Post...

It's been a little crazy (isn't that normal?) lately. Last week, I spent a considerable number of hours working in D.C., and now I'm back home trying to catch up.

I'm still trying to move into my new office, but there is still some work to be done:

• finish mud on round fireplace wall


• finish round fireplace wall mantle (glue, sand, paint, screw)


• install fireplace (waiting on pilot assembly, but the gas and electricity are in)


• paint round fireplace wall


• touch-up all paint


• install incandescent light fixtures (switched plugs in ceiling already installed)


• finish light fixture retrofit (new ballasts, bulbs, wiring)


• put ceiling tiles back


• lay wood flooring


• install door trim (already cut and painted)


• install new door locks


• install new doors


• install workstations

So you can see I've got a ways to go yet. I'm also working on a 4-mile wifi link from my new office to the house, to replace the DSL line that I'm not paying SBC for anymore.

Here's something interesting to read:

American Lung Association Deplores Recent Marketing Tactics by the Tobacco Industry

Basically, the American Lung Association is mad at the tobacco industry for making cigarettes, and wanting the FDA to patrol them. Didn't the MSA settle all of that for all time? Isn't that why they called it the "MASTER" Settlement Agreement?

As a pseudo-libertarian, I have mixed feelings about the tobacco industry. On the one hand, if you're lacking the brain function to realize that lung cancer is a terrible and painful way to die, then it probably isn't the government's job to save you. They'd fail if they tried. On the other hand, your second-hand smoke is probably killing me, or my kids.

I guess my feelings, at this time, are that they either have to outlaw it entirely, or allow it entirely. The middle-ground that the government tries to play just doesn't even make sense. I think the same goes for alcohol- either you open it up or you outlaw it entirely.

Look at pot, for example. Can you imagine if pot were actually (really) legal (not California-legal, but really convenience-store legal) instead of prohibited? No politician would even dream of trying to regulate pot- they just outlaw it. Replace "pot" with "crack" and re-read this paragraph.

I'm not saying we should outlaw tobacco and alcohol. I think I'm saying that the government should focus on the things government is supposed to focus on, like keeping the murders off the streets and the Mexicans in Mexico.

I'm against smoking, but if we're going to allow it, then maybe we ought to leave the evil tobacco companies alone. We all agree they are evil, but seriously, they probably aren't any more evil than state lotteries. Yes, really, I said that.