“NO QUEERING” … yeah, how would you feel if you saw this sign as you walked into a restaurant? Whether you’re gay or straight, it would probably strike you as questionable to say the least. It’s discrimination, right? But, what about when you see this sign:

You probably see these things all over the place and probably think nothing of them. Even if you’re a smoker, you just accept and generally obey these offensive things. Why doesn’t seeing one of these signs make you uncomfortable, then?

Before you jump on my case about the fact that smokers aren’t a protected class in the United States while homosexuals are, lets remind ourselves that fat people aren’t a protected class, either. How would you feel if you saw this sign up at a restaurant:

One could argue that the restaurant is trying to discourage folks from engaging in unhealthy activities which could lead to serious negative health effects like obesity, increased risk of heart disease, and early death. Also, they might be trying to create a more pleasant atmosphere for the other patrons–you know, it’s an unpleasant sight watching someone eat themselves into a food coma as part of their 6,000-plus-calorie-per-day diet. Yet, if a sign like this went up, there’d be no end of people complaining about how insensitive or offensive it is, or how businesses nor government should have this much control over how folks choose to fill their bodies.

According to the CDC/NCHS, a rough estimate based on sampling from 2003-2004 suggests that over 32% of U.S. adults are considered obese. Similarly, from the CDC’s 2003 data, the national average of smokers is only 22% of the population.

The American Lung Association claims that 438,000 deaths per year may be attributable to smoking-related causes, including second-hand smoke. The Department of Health and Human Services estimates 300,000 deaths per year may be attributable to obesity.

When I’m standing outside in the freezing cold, trying to enjoy my cigarette in peace in the only place left where I can exercise my personal freedoms, I really love it when someone feels the need to come up to me and say “you know, those are bad for you, you should quit.” Well, boy-howdy, I’m so sorry your great aunt Ruth died of emphasema or lung cancer and blah, blah blah. Look me in the eye and ask me if I really care. If I was related to someone as intrusive and annoying as you, I’d probably rather be dead, too.

The next time you see some fatass ordering two double-Whoppers with cheese and a large diet soda, you walk right up to them and tell them how your great aunt Ruth died of coronary disease and kidney failure and how they might want to think about quitting overeating–you might just save a life. Or, piss someone the hell off who is likely to be a lot less polite than your average smoker, who will likely tell you to shut the hell up, instead of just nod and smile and let you walk away.

Tags: smoking, obesity, rights

“Wish you weren’t paying $40/mo. for unlimited cellular data services that aren’t working? With at&t, you will.”

Yes, at&t’s cellular data services have been unavailable since January 31. You know, the service I pay $40/mo. for each Treo 650 and I have two on my account. It’s been unavailable since the outage started, and it’s still not working today, February 2. This also includes SMS text messaging.

I don’t know how many people are affected, but it seems this was widespread enough to make it a newsworthy outage. It’d be interesting to see if there’s any estimate as to how many customers are being affected by this.

Do the math real quick and you’ll see that this service is costing me close to $80/mo.–that’s roughly $2.60 a day. Is at&t going to give me a service credit for this outage? I doubt it. The best you’ll probably get is a “oh, we’re sorry” and basically screw the customers. But, if I “forget” to pay my bill on the due date, they’ll cut the service off until payment is made! WTF?

Is this a large enough outage to create a class-action lawsuit? If they fix the service by tomorrow, that’ll be 3 days of outage, or $7.80. I don’t know how much your data portion of your monthly bill is, but I imagine this is at least a few million dollars of revenue that at&t is collecting but hasn’t provided the service for. It’s plain old theft, if you ask me. Telcos should be federally mandated to return monies paid for services that weren’t delivered–customers shouldn’t have to wait for hours in hold queues to get refunds that weren’t their fault to begin with.

Did this outage affect you? Is it still affecting you? If you want to join the angry mob, drop a note in the comments. Lets see how widespread this is: share your city and state so we can see. I’d also like to know what data plan you’re paying for, to get an idea of how much this outage is costing us all.

Tags: at&t, outage

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DSLreports.com offers a neat view showing “actual” Verizon FiOS coverage using Google Maps. The screenshot above shows Butler, NJ (07405), which I drew a big blue ring that shows a total lack of FiOS coverage within a 12 mile radius around Butler.

Come on, Verizon … hurry up and roll out FiOS in Butler! I’m waiting!

Tags: Butler, NJ, Verizon FiOS

Dave Winer links to a transcript and video of Ahmadinejad’s visit to Columbia University.

Bollinger’s totally disrespectful introduction of President Ahmadinejad was unbelievable. Ahmadinejad even goes on to say “I know there’s time limits, but I need time. I mean, a lot of time was taken from me.” He should have just taken the time he needed and said “Don’t taze me, bro” if they continued to pressure him.

If you haven’t yet, go and read the transcript. I would love to see the sources people keep quoting where he calls for the violent destruction of Israel, where he denies the Holocaust, or any of those things. From what he said most recently at Columbia University, I’m starting to suspect that those faulty interpretations were more the fault of our crack journalists and media wankers.

My take-aways from his speech:

• Iran has complied with IAEA. Iran refuses to be bullied into giving other countries money for nuclear power technologies that are never delivered. Legally, Iran has every right to pursue peaceful nuclear power and has been doing so.
• Ahmadinejad believes there is still opportunity to research Holocaust-related events. This does not equate to denial of the Holocaust. Anyone who interprets his position as such is simply wrong.
• Iran, just like the US, employs capital punishment. Iran, just like the US, has laws. Women are highly respected in Iran. Criminals aren’t, even if they’re women.
• Ahmadinejad does not see science in conflict with religion, quite unlike our own President. He sees the human desire and ability to grow our knowledge as a gift by God. Regardless of your position on God’s existence, not holding science at odds with religion is a healthy mindset.

I hope Americans can listen to his message–I don’t think it was offensive or inciteful or provocative–and learn from it. We are all on this ball of dirt called Earth together. Perhaps we should learn to make the best of our time on it together?

Tags: politics, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran, Columbia University, speech

I read this article and cringed. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is to come to New York and speak. Americans are pissed off that he’s coming. Right now, I’m actually embarassed to be an American–I don’t want to be lumped in with those fools.

Fortunately, Scott Adams cleverly expresses why I feel this way–anything I could have come up with would have probably been labeled anti-Semitic ranting. Whatever I would have written about the irony of the situation wouldn’t have been as effective as how Scott expressed it.

My kids, who are 7 and 4, stick their fingers in their ears and go “la la la” when they don’t want to listen to someone. America, can we grow up, please? President Amadinejad wants to come and tell us his side of the story, first-hand, instead of all that rubbish that the pop media spoonfeeds you through the idiot box. I have no proof, but my hunch is that Iranians aren’t the puppy-murdering evil people that they’ve been made out to be.

Our own President has waged a war against a small group of people who he can’t clearly identify and locate. He controls a known arsenal of weapons of mass destruction. Americans are terrified to travel–not because of “the terrorists”–but because we stand a good chance of losing our rights and being detained at the airport because of what we look like, how we dress, what we have in our suitcases, or where we’re going. Our children bring guns to school and shoot each other. We don’t feel safe leaving our kids playing in our own backyard any more.

As ego-centric Americans, we act as self-appointed stewards of freedom (doesn’t that just make you laugh out loud?). Therefore, we have an obligation to recognize that President Ahmadinejad represents his people and by sharing his story–that of the people he is responsible for–we might have a chance to learn that they are not so very different from us. Perhaps we can even help each other, somehow. But, as long as we keep believing the rhetoric of our own government and media and act like immature children and refuse to listen to what we don’t like to hear, how will we learn? And if we don’t learn, how will we ever improve?

I beg you all to show the world why America truly is the greatest nation in the world–stop being fools and start being part of the larger world as one nation out of many. Let us listen to what President Ahmadinejad is trying to tell us about the conditions of his people–their fears, their angers, their hatred–and try to understand how what we are doing here, affects them, half-way around the world. It is time to see past the end of your cable television from your little trailer park and know that the reason why Americans can’t locate America on a world map isn’t just because “we don’t have maps.”

Tags: America, patriotism, Iran, President Ahmadinejad