Dirac Angestun Gesept

Kenji Yoshino’s NYT Magazine article, adapted from a forthcoming book, says what I have long believed: that the right to be yourself as long as it doesn’t harm anyone is the one basic civil right.

As Yoshino puts it, “the aspiration of civil rights - the aspiration that we be free to develop our human capacities without the impediment of witless conformity - is an aspiration that extends beyond traditional civil rights groups.”

Civil rights must rise into a new, more inclusive register. That ascent makes use of the recognition that the mainstream is a myth. With respect to any particular identity, the word “mainstream” makes sense, as in the statement that straights are more mainstream than gays. Used generically, however, the word loses meaning. Because human beings hold many identities, the mainstream is a shifting coalition, and none of us are entirely within it. It is not normal to be completely normal.

“It is not normal to be completely normal.” Indeed.

This BBC list is a compilation from their weekly “10 Things We Didn’t Know This Time Last Week”. There are some amusing items on the list, and I for one can use amusing right now.

“24. Germany has an 18-year-old MP - Julia Bonk, a member of the Saxony legislature. Her name is not funny in German.”

“44. Until 3 September 2004, the fastest bus in London was an old fashioned red double decker, registration number ALD 971B. Unlike other buses, according to reports, this one did not have a speed regulator and so could go above 30mph.”

“63. Just one in a hundred workers goes to the pub for their lunch, according to a study. The same proportion spend lunch having sex.” Presumably not the same people, though.

The often insightful Lis Riba points out a useful way to get perspective on the still-increasing death toll from the tsunami: compare it to the population of US cities.

The latest number I’ve heard is “over 127,000″, which puts it up there with Rancho Cucamonga, CA (127,743), and rapidly approaching Sunnyvale (131,760) or Pasadena (133,936). Worse, that’s the immediate toll; disease and such can still make things much worse.

Another perspective: NYC (not the metro area) has a population of about 8 million, and lost about 3,000 on September 11, 2001. Sweden has a population of 9 million, and 3500 Swedes are missing in the areas hit. CNN says “Sweden’s expected loss of life proportionately matches that of Indonesia, and is exceeded only by Sri Lanka.”

Trolley treat in store for stroppy kids

Tesco is working on a shopping trolley that plays DVDs and games to keep children amused.

It’s called the “Tantrum Tamer”.

A survey of 3,000 parents conducted by Tesco found three-quarters thought shopping with children was stressful and nearly half believed youngsters had tantrums in the supermarket because they were bored.

“Amateurs study tactics; professionals study logistics.”

The Boston Globe has an article on Boston Medical Center’s ER and how they reduce wait times.

It turns out that simple stuff, the kind of thing amusement parks and fast food chains do, can help reduce the average ER stay by 30 minutes, and average wait times from 60 minutes to 40 minutes even though the number of patients has increased.

Two areas that have seen work: better scheduling of elective surgery and quicker cleaning of beds after a patient is discharged.

Both of these measures help to keep beds available for times when the ER is busy, so that patients can be admitted and treated more quickly.

Where junk food rules, Food Access is bringing fresh vegetables.

As the Guardian puts it, “Fresh fruit and vegetables are so scarce in parts of London that mobile supermarkets have been set up”. London’s poorest areas have such bad options for buying anything but junk food that thirteen East London wards are considered “food deserts” by the Capital Eats study.

Other information from the study shows that 25% of London’s businesses sell food, but 4/5 of that food is imported into London…and London has over 30,000 acres of farmland! Presumably they aren’t counting Hyde Park.

Food Access buys the fresh food at New Spitalfields market, then sells through their mobile supermarket and at schools in the areas that need the food, with lower prices than in the shops to encourage people to eat more healthily.

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport is having a grand opening of the new south concourse on Saturday.

There are some interesting articles about aspects of the new terminal, including a neat 90-foot-long glass art piece and the P-I’s overview of the new terminal. The latter notes that Sea-Tac started out as a Quonset hut in an open field in 1947…hey, sounds like Logan 2000!

In smaller construction news, planning for a new playground near where I grew up continues.

The P-I’s Robert Jamieson has an interesting column in today’s paper on the roving homeless camp and how it came to Bothell.

Last but not least, some South Sound businesses are being helped onto the World Wide Web. Anyone for almond butter toffee salmon jerky?

(And, yes, these are regional articles and not Seattle-centric…but the title pun was too good to miss.)

Britishness is ‘defined by diet’ says the BBC. A survey last month found that both roast beef with Yorkshire pudding and fish & chips were considered more British than the Queen, the Houses of Parliament, the Beatles, or drinking tea.

The News Tribune (Tacoma, WA) has a great article Sordid, soulless no more on the way that urban planners have worked, and continue to work, to change the landscape to make it less inviting to criminals like Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer.

Two decades after the Green River slayings began, the strip in SeaTac is a different place. Some of Ridgway’s favorite haunts remain, but the scores of prostitutes who once thronged Pacific Highway South are almost gone, and the city’s per-capita rate of violent crime ranks among the lowest in the nation for communities surrounding international airports, said SeaTac Police Chief Scott Somers.

Changes in the landscape and streetscape are a key reason, SeaTac leaders say.

The results of SeaTac’s efforts show in crime statistics, he says. In 1996, police responded to 12,098 violent crimes, the majority of them along the strip. By 2003, the number had dropped to 9,916 - an 18 percent decrease, despite seven years of population growth.

Tacoma is using SeaTac’s techniques to help fight crime there, as well:

In 2002, Tacoma rewrote its land development code to require windows in new buildings in commercial areas, including Sixth Avenue, Hosmer Street and South Tacoma Way.

The idea is that clerks and customers inside a store should be able to see what’s going on outside. The code changes, for example, prohibit new buildings from having a blank wall facing the sidewalk and street.

The Daily Telegraph ran a story last month about a molecular biologist in the UK who is quitting to earn more money fitting gas boilers.

“My plumber was fitting my boiler and said he assumed I had loads of money because I had a PhD,” Dr Gensberg said. “I happened to have my pay slip to hand, so I showed it to him and he was absolutely gobsmacked.

“He said he earned £33,000 and some of his colleagues took home £50,000. I just thought what am I doing? My work is a combination of zero career structure, contractual abuse and pathetic pay, which is a pretty poor package.”

The last straw, however:

Dr Gensberg claimed that when he told the university of his plans, they said they might offer him a job as a gas fitter.