Dust Raven

On the ballet this year in California is Proposition 19, which would enable persons age 21 older to legally possess, consume and even grow marijuana. As I’m not a resident of California, I have no say in the matter and will not be significantly influenced either way if the proposition passes or fails. I have some thoughts on the matter though.

I’m no expert on the substance, but I understand it has a number of short-term physical and neurological effects, some of which may interfere with any number of physical and cognitive tasks, just as driving or taking a math test. How much interference I’m not sure of, but having been near enough to some friends who’ve been under the influence I can easily say I’d rather not be in the road while someone driving high, and know not to expect such a person to finish that test on time (at least not without a lot of guessing to save time). What I’d like to do is discuss how, if legalized, users under the influence of marijuana may be treated.

My first concerns involve the workplace. With marijuana illegal, having traces of it how up on a drug test would be immediate grounds for termination from any employer which uses drug screening. As a legal substance, its presence would have to be ignored. Like alcohol, there would have to be indicators an employee is under the influence while on the job. I know some tests may indicate how recently marijuana was consumed, but I’m worried it would be impossible to distinguish between people using it responsibly away from work, medicinally, or at work in violation of company policy.

I have similar concerns for law enforcement, whose tests performed in the field are far less accurate than a full lab test.

I suppose these issues are matters for the employers to figure out, but it leaves a lot of room for error. I’d also rather not smell pot at work.

I love my computer. It does marvelous things for me. It connects me with my friends (and even coworkers when I have a job). It provides an outlet for my creativity in art and web design. It plays games with me and allows me to play games with others. It takes me to Wikipedia and Google and a hoard of web comics I read. It even gives me a near endless stream of porn for when I’m lonely. I love my computer.

However…

A few weeks ago DeAnna’s computer broke. Looks like the hard drive failed, so the OS can’t boot up and all of the data stored there is possibly lost forever. That’s okay though, for the most part. Nothing critical. Some of DeAnna’s earlier writing was stored there, but we still have backups on disc (those 3.5 “floppy” kind). Also DeAnna as near to completing her Sims 2 Legacy Challenge, and all the saved game data is lost so she’ll have to start over if she wants to really finish it by the book.

So we picked her up a new computer. We were planning on replacing a few things we lost during the move, but having more than 1 good computer in the home was a priority. And since all that broke on the old computer was the hard drive, why not salvage the rest of it? My first plan was to take the hard drive out of my mother’s “not good” computer and put it in DeAnna’s. Nice idea, but it turns out the working hard drive won’t fit, as the connectors are not compatible. Oh well, no additional loss, maybe I could just put the 2GB of memory into Mon’s computer… Or not, as Mom’s computer is so “not good” that is incompatible as well. Sigh.

But wait! I still have a good computer with the good kind of memory and two open slots to hold exactly 2GB of DDR2 memory! I could just upgrade my computer instead! Or not. Turns out my computer is already so full of good stuff I can’t even reach the memory slots without dissembling the entire thing. I consider myself to be very mechanically inclined and very technically capable. But I don’t trust myself to take apart something that has wires with connectors not connected to anything and then put it back together correctly when I’m done. Maybe I can find a professional to do it. And hopefully he’ll be able to do it for cheaper than it’d cost just to by more memory.

I have discovered I have a superpower. While it’s nothing as dramatic as the ability to fly or move objects with my mind, my ability is just as astounding. I did not come to this realization suddenly, for I had my suspicions for some time there was something… unusual about myself. My suspicions lead me to test myself. My lab was anyplace where there were lots of people, specifically moving people. Shopping malls, department stores… even a busy street. In each of these places I tested my ability and found that I am capable of generating a field of slowness around myself.

Wherever I went, people who crossed my path would invariably slow down, perhaps even stop right in front of me. At first I thought they were just being dicks, but how could so may people have a universal disregard for those around them? Especially in America! So I am certain this must be a superpower of my own that is influencing these people, causing them to linger in my path for far longer than is reasonable. I only wish I could control this ability…

I’d really like to turn it the fuck off.

Isn’t it nice how when you need to make a left turn into a parking lot, but traffic is backed up so far it blocks entry except for that one car that stays put to allow you in? I love those people. It’s rare acts of kindness and courtesy like this the world is missing out on. Unless, of course, this courteously minded driver is dreadfully oblivious to the fact there is another lane of on coming traffic filled with drivers with nothing but “fuck him” on their mind as they pass. The courteous driver is then left wondering why I’m looking at them like they’ve suddenly turned into a purple giraffe who thought the road would make a nice place to take a nap. They usually figure it out when someone further back, with a fully justified “fuck him” attitude, honks their horn once or twice.

So remember folks, even if for some reason you do own the whole damn road, unless you also have access to a rather sturdy mind control laser to catch the guys in the other lanes, don’t be a purple giraffe. Just say “fuck him” and get to where you’re going. The sooner you are off the road the better it is for everyone.

So D and I got to talking about vegetarians. Before I start my rant, I would like to say I believe there is nothing wrong with a vegetarian diet, at least in and of the diet itself. My issue with most vegetarians is the reason they are vegetarians. Basically, if you are a vegetarian for any reason which would imply it is wrong for anyone not to be a vegetarian, you would be the one in the wrong. The choice to eat meat or not is not a moral one. Humans have sharp teeth designed to eat meat. It’s up to you to decide if this design is the result of evolution or by intelligent design, but there is no escaping the fact humans are not only capable of digesting and drawing nutrition from meat, but are biologically designed to.

There is nothing moral involved in this design and the choice to eat meat is not a moral decision. Perhaps the choice to eat other people would be a moral decision, but not meat in general. There are of course particular animals which seem ideally suited to be eaten by other animals. Cows, chickens, pigs, deer, whale, fish, etc. all seem to be very compatible with our digestive system. Cows and chickens particularly. I suppose it’s no coincidence cows and chickens are also the most docile animals of the human diet, but it can be argued they are only such a large part of our diet because they are so docile. Regardless, we eat them because their meat tastes good to us. Again, your choice to believe if this is due to evolution or intelligent design, but ultimately I feel it is obvious humans are supposed to eat cows and chickens (and several other animals).

Of course there are some who believe animals have feelings. I would be among those who do. Of course animals have feelings; they are living things with emotion not so different from our own. Should the fact an animal is capable of feeling fear and pain stop us from eating it? No. A bear still eats salmon even though salmon can feel pain. A lioness still eats the antelope even though it runs from her in terror. Like many other things, it’s up to you to believe it’s evolution or intelligent design, but emotions are simply part of the survival instinct inherent in all living things. If it was not, there would be no animals left to eat because none would get away.

Which brings us to free range chickens… The idea here is that instead of keeping chickens… well, cooped up, they are raised in a “natural” environment where they can wander free in a really large yard and experience what is believed to be a happy life. For a chicken. Right before we slaughter them. Vegetarianism I can understand, even the kinds based on a “moral” decision that eating meat is wrong. But what kind of person believes it’s moral to force the feelings of fear and terror into the animals we eat before we kill them, or think it’s morally superior to cooping up them up? Wouldn’t it be better (morally superior) to deny the animals that fear by providing an existence of devoid of need? When cooped up, the animals are feed, cleaned and their waste removed. They don’t even need to move to get everything they would want. Sure, some people think moving around is good, but then why don’t plants do it? They don’t need to, and now the chickens we eat don’t need to.

So what’s the big deal?