Possibly the Creepiest Thing I've Ever Seen

Happy Hallowe'en y'all.

h/t to the guys at Medium Large

Discussion Question: Law and Order Edition

Here's an interesting case.  Accused murderer resurfaces 20 years after the crime.  He is now old, frail, and suffering from Alzheimer's Disease.  The legal machinery is in place to prosecute and likely convict him.

Here's the post with the original story.

For the purposes of this discussion, let's make a few of assumptions.  

1) the suspect is guilty

2) the dementia is severe and debilitating

3) the suspect is not violent

Should he be arrested, brought to trial, and imprisoned for his crime?

Hmmm....

The interesting thing is that there are a fair number of people who will consider this a strike against the Democratic team.

Educational Background:

Barack Obama:
Columbia University - B.A. Political Science with a Specialization in
International Relations.
Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude

Joseph Biden:
University of Delaware - B.A. in History and B.A. in Political Science.
Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)

vs.

John McCain:
United States Naval Academy - Class rank: 894 of 899
http://www.clipmarks.com/clipmark/BDEDE2FD-B26C-4161-9232-8B80274B433E/

Sarah Palin:
Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester
North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study
University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism
Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester
University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in Journalism

How I Make Important Decisions

Most of the people who call me regularly know that if I'm busy, I won't answer the phone. Don't take it personally, just leave a message. If it's REALLY important, go ahead and call back right away and if at all possible I'll break away and answer the phone. Otherwise, I'll get back to you as soon as I put down the heart.

A few years ago, one particular Valentine's Day, I was at work. Well, school really, because I was still paying them to be there. Anyway, my boss and I were dealing with a particularly tricky situation--the kind you just can't walk away from. And my phone rings. Fortunately, I had taken the precaution of putting the phone on vibrate, so I just ignored it and kept on with what I was doing.

And then the phone rang again.

And again.

Shit.

In an amazing display of professionalism, I finished what I was doing, then stepped outside and checked the voicemail.

In an amazingly calm, controlled voice, ItsALongStory described to me how The Girlfriend had just been in a car accident. She was at the Level One Trauma Center for the region, and doing very well.

Message two was The Girlfriend's Dad (who does this for a living, and was much more upset) telling me the same thing.

I called ItsALongStory back, and got the details: She's fine, she's at the hospital, they're examining her, she should be OK.

I grabbed the office assistant, explained (very briefly) to her that my girlfriend had just been in a car accident, and that I was leaving for the day--could she please let the boss know?--and ran out the door.

I've been trained to deal with this sort of thing. My brain doesn't shut off, no matter how much adrenaline I'm working with. No matter what, I keep thinking.

As I was running down the stairwell (from the third floor. The time efficiency break for elevator v. stairs is supposed to be 2 floors, but in this situation I figured I could push the envelope) I started thinking--she's supposed to be OK. That's good. Do I trust the doctors who examined her?* They performed a trauma activation** on her--that could be bad, but they perform trauma activations at the drop of a hat...

I got in the car. I made sure I had the flowers (it was Valentine's Day after all). I headed to the hospital.

The Dadmobile would do 110 mph before the governor kicked in...then the ride gets rough.  I've been trained to drive very fast through traffic.  I've also been trained when not to. ItsALongStory and The Girlfriend's Dad had told me that her blood pressure and pulse were stable, that she was doing fine.  I wouldn't do her any favors by hauling ass to the hospital and getting myself in an accident.  Between bouts of realizing I was driving too fast, slowing down, and realizing I was driving too fast my brain kept presenting me with possibilities.  External bleeding was pretty well ruled out--they'd have noticed that.  Slow down. Bleeding into the chest or belly can take a while to show up.  Slow down.  Bleeding into the brain can take even longer.  Slow Down.  They said she's fine. Slow Down.  I wonder how the car is?  Broken bones are usually pretty obvious, but minor ones can be missed in the rush to catch more serious injuries.  Slow Down.  Where did the accident happen?  Which EMS crew brought her in?  SLOW DOWN.

I've been on some pretty long car trips in my life.  One of 'em took 5 weeks by the calendar.  None of 'em were longer than that 10-minute drive.

Eventually, I got to the hospital.  My credentials got me in right away.  My brain made me pause, grab a (clean) urinal, fill it with water and stick the flowers in it (it was Valentine's Day, after all).  The Girlfriend was, in fact, OK.  Nothing that wouldn't heal completely and fairly quickly.  As we were all reassuring ourselves that she would live, a random medical student stuck his head in without knocking, but he was looking for someone else.  As The Girlfriend's Dad went off to chew him him out, she and I got to hold each other for a minute.

I think that's when I started breathing again.

Somewhere in the middle of all this, I realized that this woman was just not allowed out of my life.  That I needed her.  That I couldn't live without her.  That I had to marry her.  That's when the machinations started to convince The Girlfriend that she should become The Wife.

*rule 1: Trust Nobody
**a trauma activation is a specific series of assessments, studies, and notifications that is designed to 1) identify serious trauma patients and 2) get them to the operating room as quickly as possible

ATTENTION WEATHER SYSTEMS

This is official notice to all weather systems in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. I have stored the hurricane shutters for the winter. Further hurricane activity will not repeat NOT be appreciated.

Thank you for your cooperation.

One of the stranger parts of living on the Gulf Coast is the need for large amounts of plywood, sufficient to cover all of the windows on your house. This usually leads to home that looks like a cave all through the peak of hurricane season, as these shutters are a pain in the ass to put up and take down, and therefore tend to stay up for quite a while once they go up, usually right before the first big storm of the season.

Mine came down in early September, and have been stored loose in the garage since then, which takes up a lot of garage space.

Yesterday I decided that this was getting old, and figured out a storage plan for the damned things. A little creative drilling, a run to the hardware store, and one nearly-thrown-out back later, I have a ceiling hoist system that is supposed to be able to hold half a ton. I'm pretty sure I have less than half a ton of storm shutters, but there were a few moments where I wasn't sure if the stepladder was going to put up with the weight. Anyway, a night's rest and a few ibuprofen later the hooks haven't pulled out of the ceiling yet, so I'm optimistic that they'll stay put until next August.

A Public Service Announcement

h/t to the good folks at graphjam.com

Iron Man

The "Iron Man" DVD came out the other day, so I spent a fair amount of time watching it with the bass turned way up...Great flick.  There's explosions, hot women in bikinis, just enough character development to keep things moving, and more explosions.

I never got into Iron Man when I was reading comics, but I know enough to know the major players from the book were kept, and that the basic plot is fairly intact, if updated.

After seeing the movie, I want to go out and read the comic.

Now, I can be a fairly harsh movie critic.  I delight in finding continuity errors, plot holes, and any other issues.  So when I say it took me 3 viewings to find ANYTHING wrong with this flick, and then it was a fairly esoteric medical issue, it's really high praise.

It missed a five-star rating on the Joe-Bob scale, but only because of the mandatory one-star deduction for no nudity.  

Four stars.  Ted sez check it out.