Konsumer protection at its dumbest

I had dinner at Koko's (a favorite local Japanese restaurant) tonight, and, as usual, ordered sushi. When I looked at the menu, my usual imitation crab was labeled "Krab stick." This struck me as very odd, since it was previously spelled correctly. Thinking they redid the menu and had a typo, I pointed it out to the waitress.

After my meal, she informed me that the restaurant indeed intended to spell it that way--it seems the state of Florida prohibits using the proper spelling of "crab" for imitation crab. Hence "krab."

Not wanting to dupe consumers is all well and good, but I think most people would not assume misspelling meant that the product was artificial or imitation on that basis alone. "Lether" wouldn't make me think "plastic," "golde" wouldn't make me think "less than 10K, if not zero gold," and "Teevo" wouldn't make me think "DVR but not TiVo." If I thought the crab stick were crab, "krab" wouldn't make me think otherwise.

Of course, "crab stick" is--at least at the restaurants I've been to--sushi code for the imitation crab, anyway. Changing "crab stick" to "krab stick" doesn't make that clear to someone who doesn't know what a "crab stick" is to begin with. And, in any case, the waitress didn't know why it was misspelled until she asked someone else--if the whole point was to call attention to the fact that it was imitation crab, the misspelling wouldn't have done the trick, since I only found out why it was "krab" when I had already eaten the sushi and was about to pay the check.

News flash to the state of Florida, department of health or whatever: insisting that imitation crab be called "krab" does not protect consumers--it needlessly makes innocent Japanese restauranteurs look illiterate. Don't state inspectors have better things to do than meddle with orthography?

The fall of the infamous code

As you may have noticed, I'm no longer using the "infamous code" in my headlines. However, Blogger.com's new "Labels" feature does what I wanted to do with the code, only better. So, the code is gone from new post titles. I'll probably leave it on the old posts, if only because the permanent links depend on the title, and removing the code would change the title. (Has anyone linked to an old post? I don't believe so, but why do work that isn't necessary or really beneficial and could cause someone problems?)

I've also used more than one label for posts that cover multiple topics. In the (I hope near) future, I plan to create links on the page template to the pages for each label, to add additional relevant labels for past posts, and to redo the labels into actual labels as opposed to the codes they're replacing.

Why life is brief

A very dear friend of mine lost her mother today (or rather, since it's after midnight, yesterday). I did so over the phone, but I should again offer my condolences here.

I'd been trying to collect my thoughts to write some sort of longer poem--my friend's loss was a jolting reminder that today is the fourth anniversary of my mother's fatal heart attack, and I've never managed to write through my thoughts and feelings on her loss.

While I was composing my initial thoughts, I kept thinking back on how many philosophers and theologians emphasize that one of the things that makes live precious is its brevity--that scarcity and value are inexorably linked. Dwelling on that thought, I came up with a haiku--posted below.



Death makes life precious--
That's not much comfort when faced
With a loved one's loss.

Coming in pairs...

Last Sunday, there were similar train accidents in Gary, Indiana and here in Jacksonville that each claimed two lives.

In both cases, the drivers apparently went around the properly-functioning crossing gates, apparently thinking the gates were down for a stopped (in Indiana) or slow-moving (Florida) freight, only to be hit by a passenger train on another track at the crossing.

I'd note immediately that it's very dangerous to assume you see "the train" at multi-track crossings. This has been a problem for the railroads for a long time. Folks, if there's more than one track, it usually means the railroad thinks there will sometimes be more than one train.

Beyond that, my only thoughts are on general rail-safety issues.

Locally, some people have demanded extending the gate at the Jacksonville accident site to block both traffic lanes when it's down. This demand always troubles me--what someone making such a demand is really saying is, "people can't be responsible--we need a device to get in the way." The problem is that such gates can conceivably block cars on the tracks, and, if the gate is malfunctioning, it precludes people going around the gates with proper, official direction or in an emergency.

In any case, some general advice bears repeating: if the gates are down, wait for the train to pass. Yes, you may be waiting a few minutes--the gates are designed to go down in time to make sure you're not on the tracks when the train gets there and trains don't always move at top speed on a given stretch of track. It's still best to wait. If there doesn't seem to be a train, turn around and use another crossing. If you really, really must use a given crossing, it's malfunctioning, and there's no official directing traffic--some people (I'd be tempted to join that group) would say not even then, and, then, bear in mind this is both possibly illegal (there may be exceptions for broken gates, but I'm not well enough versed in the laws on that point) with heavy fines (I believe $1500 here in Florida) and at least somewhat dangerous anyway--stop, roll down your window, turn down the radio, and listen and look extremely carefully (if there's a lit signal on the line--whether green, yellow, or red--in many places that alone can mean a train is nearby). In any case, if you see a crossing malfunctioning, call the railroad that owns the crossing and let them know (the number can be found on the crossing gate--this is ten times more important if you should see a crossing gate up when a train is approaching or passing or if you see a gate that's physically broken--it's rare, but I've seen both).

Remember--the weight ratio between a 100-car freight train and your car is roughly the ratio between your car and a soda can. Such a freight train, traveling 60 MPH, can likely stop within its own length (not something your car can do)--but since the train is more than a mile long, chicken games are still ill-advised.

(OK--I'll get off my rail-safety high-horse now.)

The last refuge of scoundrels.

Samuel Johnson once said, "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." Knowing this, I think many libertarians knew that the so-called "Patriot Act"--passed hastily in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, another bad sign--would be bad news for civil liberties.

The other shoe dropped--the head of the FBI has confessed that his agency has used the Patriot Act to ignore the Constitution beyond what even it purports to allow.

I'm sure there will be more eloquent expressions of genuine outrage. However, I feel I should point out that all this "outrage" from the government is purely for show.

FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III asked, "How could this happen?" and "Who is to be held accountable? And the answer to that is I am to be held accountable." Yet, he neither resigned nor advocated a repeal of the Patriot Act.

Then there are the grandstanding senators. Quoted in the New York Times story, we have...

“It is time to place meaningful checks on the Bush administration’s ability to misuse the Patriot Act by overusing national security letters,” said Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader. ...

Senator Patrick J. Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who heads the Senate Judiciary Committee, said, “National security letters are a powerful tool, and when they are misused, they can do great harm to innocent people.” Mr. Leahy said his panel would hold extensive hearings...

Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee (and, like Mr. Leahy, a former prosecutor), told reporters that the bureau had apparently “badly misused national security letters.” ...

Senator Russell D. Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat on the judiciary panel who voted against the original Patriot Act, said the inspector general’s inquiry “proves that ‘trust us’ doesn’t cut it” when it comes to the F.B.I.

Everyone in Congress seems outraged, but none of them seem to be talking about any meaningful changes to the status quo. All I can say to all those comments are that those of us who truly care about civil liberties and the Constitution don't want hearings, investigations, or grandstanding. We want this unconstitutional law gone, repealed. Firing some of the officials who lead the abusive agencies (Mueller and Gonzales come to mind) would be good, too--not just the minions (who also deserve dismissal).

Anthony D. Romero of the ACLU is also quoted in the story as having said that, “This confirms some of our worst suspicions,” and that "This attorney general cannot be part of the solution. ... He is part of the problem.” True enough, but I think you could say the same about Congress on this one.