Before I get as far away from a computer as I can without actually leaving my house (it’s Amateur Night, after all), I wanted to wish you all a very Happy New Year.
If 2007 sucked for you, then I wish you a New Year that’s ten times better.
If 2007 was good to you, then I wish you the same as above.
Now, if my ears don’t deceive me, someone’s pouring something bubbly into a glass with my name on it. See you next year, folks.
Be good, and if you can’t be good be Venomous!
“I know a rocket launcher might seem excessive, but people tend to listen when you point it at them.”
- Michael Abrams
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The FBI is compiling the world’s largest repository of fingerprint, face, iris and palm scans, purportedly as part of its effort to help catch criminals and terrorists. The project, which carries a $1 billion price tag, will allow law enforcement worldwide to more readily identify and, presumably, apprehend bad guys.
But they’re not the only ones who’ll have access to the data.
At an employer’s request, the FBI will retain employee fingerprints and notify the employer if a worker has an encounter with law enforcement. As Wired points out, that’s the kind of service you’d expect from a private company, not from a tax-funded agency. Not even the courts or police bother to notify employers if their workers are charged with criminal activity, and yet the FBI is offering to perform this service regardless of whether someone’s been charged, much less convicted.
There’s no need to fear, says Thomas E. Bush III, assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division. The FBI has “strict laws” regulating those who can access information stored in the system and, in case that’s not enough, they audit agencies with access every three years. Meanwhile, individuals can ask for copies of what’s in the system.
But what if the information in the system is not accurate? Well, the last time anyone raised that challenge it involved the National Crime Information Center database, which the FBI said was exempt from the Privacy Act’s accuracy requirements.
Pardon me while I go dust off my brown coat.
Thanks to a bill passed by Gov. Mitt Romney in 2006, any Massachusetts residents without health insurance by midnight tonight will lose their personal tax exemption of $219.
But wait, there’s more!
When the new year begins Tuesday, most residents who remain uninsured will face monthly fines that could total as much as $912 for individuals and $1,824 for couples by the end of 2008, according to penalty guidelines unveiled by the Department of Revenue on Monday.
The penalties are based on the cost of insurance plans available and are due as part of the 2009 tax return. According to lawmakers, only adults “deemed able to afford health insurance by the Health Insurance Connector Authority” will be fined.
The good news is that uninsured Massachusetts residents probably won’t need colonoscopies since the government will have already done a rather thorough job while it was up there, anyway.
From this:
To this:
My kitchen is still a work in progress. Those awful roosters have been gone for almost a year, remnants from the previous homeowners who somehow convinced themselves that wallpaper appliqués of roosters on the kitchen cupboards would be “nifty”.
We knew when we bought the house three years ago that the roosters had to go. They were, in fact, the first thing I intended to change when we moved in, the second being replacements for the discount window blinds that, like the paint, quickly grew intolerably grimy in a kitchen where someone actually cooks.
That green paint bothered me, too. Oh, I love the color green, but not that particular shade which was really closer to an acid green than an apple, and neither springy nor a color one wants to deal with while, say, suffering a hangover.
Unfortunately, I am a master at putting off work someone else could do tomorrow that I’d otherwise have to do myself today. So I’ve whined and complained about the kitchen’s dingy walls and cupboards, I’ve prattled on about the cheap blinds which had turned more yellow than white and defied all of my efforts to degrease them. I’ve moaned and blitched and otherwise attempted to inspire VH into doing something about our kitchen if only to shut me up.
This weekend, he got the message. Our kitchen is now a sunny shade called “Buttercream” by Behr, and as you can see from the view out my kitchen windows, we’re in need of a dose of sunny and cheery this time of year. Even as I type this he’s painting the kitchen cupboards a nice shade of “Linen” (also by Behr) and finally purging our home of the last traces of that hideous acid green.
The rest of the transformation is, unfortunately, up to me and as I’ve said I’m excellent at putting things off. See, it’s my job to find just the right window blinds or curtains, and I’m having a heck of a time making up my mind. I’m hesitant to get vinyl or wood ones since they tend to attract dust and, particularly in a kitchen, greasy grime that just won’t come off no matter diligent you clean them.
So I got to thinking perhaps curtains are the answer. That way I can simply throw them in the washing machine whenever they start looking dingy or dull. But that just means even more decision-making, which I’m not terribly good at. After all, it took me three solid years to decide on what color to replace that green with, so how can I be expected to pick out window treatments in one short weekend?
I’m thinking I might go with a dash of color, though. Something homey and down-to-earth, something that adds a touch of whimsy and helps bring focus to the room. You know, maybe like a pattern with roosters or something?
Don’t worry, I’m just kidding, folks.
