Trying to unharsh my mellow...
Dec. 9th, 2009 11:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexpgpGalina called a little while ago and said the house in Seabrook was shaken by an explosion somewhere in the vicinity. It wasn't hard to track down the news, and I called her back immediately to tell her to stay inside and close the windows, as Seabrook is in shelter-in-place mode, as is pretty much every school east of I-45 in the area. The blast, at a nearby chemical plant, was less than 2 miles away from the house.
Speaking of "shelter-in-place," the media seem to prefer the term "lockdown" when referring to schools, which I find somewhat offensive, because the term has its origin in the practice of literally locking prisoners in their cells in the event of a disturbance at a prison facility. Then again, considering where our society seems to be headed, perhaps it's good to get the next generation used to being referred to using terms that have not the slightest whiff of civil liberties about them.
In other news (before I go back and start on the 2300 source words I have left for today's bag), Google's CEO Eric Schmidt has come out with the standard ignorant bromide about how people who are concerned about privacy must have something to hide. (This is the same CEO, by the way, who instituted a company policy of not talking with CNET News reporters for a year after CNET published personal details about him that had been collected using Google.) Quoting Bugs Bunny, "What a maroon!"
Cheers...
Speaking of "shelter-in-place," the media seem to prefer the term "lockdown" when referring to schools, which I find somewhat offensive, because the term has its origin in the practice of literally locking prisoners in their cells in the event of a disturbance at a prison facility. Then again, considering where our society seems to be headed, perhaps it's good to get the next generation used to being referred to using terms that have not the slightest whiff of civil liberties about them.
In other news (before I go back and start on the 2300 source words I have left for today's bag), Google's CEO Eric Schmidt has come out with the standard ignorant bromide about how people who are concerned about privacy must have something to hide. (This is the same CEO, by the way, who instituted a company policy of not talking with CNET News reporters for a year after CNET published personal details about him that had been collected using Google.) Quoting Bugs Bunny, "What a maroon!"
Cheers...
