Tuesday Turmoil

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No disrespect intended to the people of Ukraine and I fully acknowledge that the turmoil is all in my head.

 

Despite this being the fourth day that my new Ford Mustang GT is in our garage, I am still envisioning a scenario in which another delay in the delivery of the parts needed to complete the repair of the Z06 causes the deal to come undone. That’s just how my mind works, or doesn’t. Ironically, the Z06 is literally next door to the Ford dealership where I bought the Mustang.

The parts are supposed to be delivered no later than the 22nd and the Ford dealership made the deal with that “knowledge.” The best-laid plans of mice and men oft go awry.

 

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On this day in 1814 the British army and navy halted their attempt to capture the city of Baltimore. Fort McHenry had been bombarded for 25 hours. Of course, this battle inspired lawyer and poet Francis Scott Key to compose the poem, “Defence of Fort M’Henry,” which became the lyrics for the US National Anthem.

This Wikipedia article might be a good starting point if you want to learn more about the origins of the War of 1812. I must admit I know little about that conflict even though my birthplace was the site of one of the war’s major battles and a turning point. I am not a student of military history. From Why Evolution Is True, a photo of the earliest surviving sheet music of the anthem:

 

 

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On this day in 1899 Henry Bliss (an ironic name as you will soon see) became the first person to be fatally injured in an automobile accident in the US. (The accident happened on September 13; he died from his injuries the next day.)

Bliss was exiting a streetcar at West 74th Street and Central Park West in New York City when he was struck by an electric taxicab driven by Arthur Smith. Smith was charged with manslaughter, but was later acquitted.

In 2020, about 7,000 pedestrians were killed in car accidents. About a third of those pedestrians were legally drunk, meaning that they had a BAC of .08 g/dl or higher. We are in an era where we can’t “blame the victim.” The percentage of drivers who were legally drunk  in accidents leading to the death of a pedestrian was, surprisingly, much lower, 13%. Maybe those in favor of Prohibition were on to something.

 

#TuesdayTurmoil

#TheDeal’sNotDoneUntilItIs

#Star-SpangledBanner

#somanyCARSjustonelife

#disaffectedmusings

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Published by rulesoflogic

Empiricism over ideology!

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6 thoughts on “Tuesday Turmoil”

  2. “Maybe those in favor of Prohibition were on to something.”

    As has been found out countless times in every corner of the world, you can’t legislate morals. As for the various “wars on (pick anything)” they never seem to amount to anything. The “war on drugs” has been going on for 40+ years and as far as I can see, drugs are winning. MADD and other groups have been fighting against drunk driving for years. It amounts to lip service, as long as alcohol is served at any place you can drive to/from. It comes down to individual responsibility and there seems to be less and less each day, like common sense. A lot like this latest “student loan forgiveness”. I paid for my college, with some help from my employers, but now I’m supposed to help pay for yours because you spent $80,000 on some degree that is useless in the job market? KMA. Gaining knowledge for the sake of gaining knowledge is fine. I’ve gone to night school because I had an interest in different things over the years. NOT to gain a degree, just to learn about things I didn’t know. To then ask my neighbor to pay for what I learned? I would be embarrassed beyond words to even think of doing that. And these days a college degree is no more useful, knowledge wise, that a high school diploma was 40-50 years ago. Our company has hired college grads that didn’t have the good sense God gave a crowbar. Some of them I think it’s a good thing breathing is a reflex, or they probably wouldn’t have been able to.

    Well, I see I managed to climb back up on that soapbox again. You might should grab it and hide in a closet somewhere so I can’t find it next time.

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    1. I agree that morals can’t be legislated, in large part because morality is a personal endeavor. However, Scandinavian countries have virtually no deaths due to driving under the influence because it’s simply not tolerated. Sometimes policy is not about morality, it’s about safety. We tolerate WAY too much bad behavior in this country, behavior that kills and injures many thousands every year, behavior that actually costs ALL of us, not just those immediately involved.

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      1. Most all DUI is treated as a minor offense, hence my comment about it being “lip service”. A friend of mine’s brother is a professional drunk. I know he has had at least 5 DUI’s in the past 20 years. The worst that has happened, to my knowledge, is 60 days in jail and his license suspended for a few years. It slows him down for a little while, but within a few months he is back to the same behavior. I doubt he will, or can, change. Only solution would be to jail him for years, not days. However the liquor industry has a lot of weight, and deep pockets, so those laws are unlikely to change.
        And sometimes law enforcement doesn’t help. I used to throw darts at a local pub. The local police started going into the parking lot and checking cars after the bar had closed. People who felt they had too much and were sleeping in their car, were then arrested for public intoxication.

        I have read that the younger generation, so called Generation Z, is not using alcohol near as much as previous generations. Perhaps there is hope.

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      2. Thanks for sharing, DDM. I think that the saying “where there’s a will there’s a way” is a bit simplistic, but it has some application here. For whatever reason(s), DUI is not seen as the extreme crime it is. More than TEN THOUSAND people die in the US EVERY YEAR from accidents caused by drunk drivers.

        US cars are mandated to have backup cameras because of a few deaths of children. Maybe Stalin was right when he said one death is a tragedy, a thousand is a statistic. I have read that, supposedly, starting in model year 2026 new US cars will have to be equipped with a breathalyzer/ignition interlock to keep people under the influence from driving.

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