Chip Gibbons explains some things about HIV, AIDs, and the law.#

There are two factors that come into play with all infectious diseases. There is the pathogen, in this case HIV, and there is the susceptibility to the pathogen. HIV is not a problem for those who are genetically resistant to it. Is the person who carries the pathogen responsible for another person's lack of resistance to that pathogen?

Given that some people have a genetic resistence to HIV, and Anthony Whitfield has no way of knowing his partners' genetic makeup or having any control over it, is it his responsibility to disclose his HIV status to people who are so ignorant of the subject? Should he have to endure their rejection and probable discrimination? Should he have that additional burden and suffer their rejection,

The laws are written to put the burden on the HIV positive person to not infect others. Would these women have been infected if the law was written to reflect their own personal responsibility in their infection? If the law didn't have the effect of allowing these women to blame the man for their infection, would they have been more likely to insist on having safe sex?

Michael Williams writes about repopulating the Earth in the event of a disaster.#

I just watched 28 Days Later for the second time last night, and I enjoyed it less than the first time I watched it -- but it inspired me to write some instructions on how to repopulate the earth, should it ever become necessary to do so. I'll focus purely on the technical requirements and ignore any questions of morality, pleading exigent circumstances.

If you've got more than 50 unrelated people and a decent mixture of men and women there shouldn't be any problems. Don't allow close intermarriages, and encourage later generations to have children with completely unrelated peers as much as possible. Genetic diversity could be strengthened by sterilizing children with serious defects, and this would probably be a wise move. Women should be encouraged to have as many children as possible, beginning at around ages 18 to 20. Women can have children at younger ages, but without proper medical facilities pregnancies for teenagers can be dangerous for both the mother and the child.

Don Park wonders about the future of responsibility absolution.#

In Korea, there are millions of credit card abusers who ended up with inevitable mountain of debts. Every five minutes, someone in Korea attempts suicide. Every 45 minutes, someone succeeds. Korean government is trying to help them with a new program that will restore their bad credit rating if they make some efforts to payback some of the money they owe to banks and credit card companies.

Unfortunately, the program is encouraging corrosion of decency and sense of financial responsibility in Korean. Not only are people refusing to pay back, some of them are even asking for banks to return of the money they already paid. They are also using the Internet to share information about ways to avoid paying back. One way is to incite collectors into making verbal abuses and using recorded evidence to threaten the collectors.

Tyler Cowen links to a theory of depression he doesn't completely believe.#

"Depression evolved to compel assistance from reluctant social partners," they theorize. "Depression signals need and compels social assistance by preventing the sufferer from providing benefits to others."

They cite the severe cost of depression not only to the individual but to the whole social network.

"The toll depression takes on both its victims and society may be precisely what it was, in human evolutionary history, designed to do."

BilLee Miller talks about the Libertarian Party.#

The Libertarian Party is the penultimate opposition party. By its nature, it will always work to keep itself from becoming the dominant party in government. I know this is not even a possibility right now, but consider how it could play out eventually. Regardless of the flavor libertarianism to which one adheres, success can be finitely achieved politically. Success would also shift the social focus from government to culture hopefully permanently. Social conservatives and social liberals would then be battling it out in the cultural arena. (Think Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ.) The death of coercive politics would mean the death of political parties. This would include the Libertarian Party. This describes the best case Libertarian dream scenario.

Cynthia Rockwell needs to smile a bit.#

Today in Widener library a man was in the lobby and appeared to be shutting the place down. Recalling that it is now spring break, I asked him if he was closing up shop. He said "No, we're not closed, but you can't get in until you smile." I chuckled and he allowed me entry.

This is a fairly common occurrence for me. What the hell kind of image am I presenting to the world? Once I was walking down the street and a man in a car stopped and yelled out the window, "Smile baby, it can't be that bad."

Jane:#

chris wetherell asks, "so what's this song about?"

i shrug. "hero quest?" a lot of our songs lately have been about hero quests - it's in keeping with the whole video game theme that has reverberated through our music lately.

chris wetherell smiles. "i've got an idea. i think it should be about a woman who has to time-travel to find her lost daughter."

chris groves and i look at each other. "okay."

so that's what the song's about. Epic: the journey of a woman traveling through time to find her daughter.

and all i have to do between now and when we play tonight is come up with the words to explain that.

On Thursday, Norman Geras pointed to an announcement from The Jews.#

Bowing to intense pressure from Mel Gibson's father, Jews announced today that they would no longer control the world. In a press release, Jews stated, "Although we have thoroughly enjoyed the challenges of world domination for the last 300 years, we feel it's time for gentiles to take control of their own affairs. We plan to spend more time with our families and pursue other interests."

Hutton Gibson stated he was pleased with the announcement, but expressed concern he was losing a scapegoat for all of his problems. He said he would be launching a search for a new minority group to demonize.

Many Jews expressed relief that they could give up burdensome responsibilities. Retired accountant Jerry Friedman, who controls all media in Montana, said, "I would just as well let the citizens of Montana manage their own TV and newspapers. Don't get me wrong, Montana is a fine state. But it gets awfully cold, and there's nowhere to get a good bagel."

Chip Gibbons on ABC on Ecstasy.#

As the drug's popularity grew, the government began a campaign to show that it was very dangerous and caused permanent brain damage; a claim that has been shown by more recent and better designed studies to be greatly exaggerated.

The broadcast version of the program made it very clear that making the drug illegal had handed production and distribution of the drug over to criminals, resulting in a drug that is far more likely to be contaminated with other substances and therefore more dangerous. They also stressed that the government had lost credibility with current and potential users of the drug with their unfounded claims that the drug can cause irreparable harm to users.

This ring symbolizes the fact that I got your fat ass pregnant.#

Betsy Devine on A Dog's Life.#

One of the seductive, heartbreaking things about owning a pet is that they stay the same for so much longer than people. OK, so Marianne no longer looks like a ball of white fluff, punctuated by shiny black nose, pink tongue, white teeth (ouch!)

But when I look down to see who is dancing around my ankles every time I open the fridge, it is recognizably the same little dancing dog who has tried hard to trip me in many previous kitchens.

When Marianne arrived, my daughters were 7 and 14. Do you want to guess if they've changed in 15 years? Marianne stayed short--and her interest stayed focused on things I might drop on the floor.

Alex Tabarrok links to Nicholas Kristof on child labor.#

It's bribery. The U.N. World Food Program runs a model foreign aid effort called the school feeding program. It offers free meals to children in poor schools.... "If there were meals here, parents would send their kids," said Muhammad Adam, a teacher in Toukoultoukouli.

School feeding costs just 19 cents per day per child.

So here's my challenge to university students: Instead of spending your energy boycotting Nike or pressing for barriers against child labor, why not sponsor school meals in places like Toukoultoukouli? I spoke with officials at the World Food Program [you can donate at this link, Alex], and they'd be thrilled to have private groups or individuals help sponsor school feedings. Children in Africa will be much better off with a hot meal and an education than with your self-righteous indignation.