Another moral puzzle / A practical question / On white shirts (business attire) /…

Another moral puzzle

Saturday's New York Times had an disturbing article. A woman gave birth to a child and the authorities took the child away right after birth. The reason is, that the father of the child (and husband of the woman) was convicted of raping two teenage girls in early 1980's. He served 10 years in prison and has now been free (and not committing crimes) for a years. The woman is ready to get a divorce, but the authorities say, that divorce will not help. So, the authorities have the child.
The moral (and practical) puzzle is, whether criminal get back the civil rights after serving their sentence in prison. If not, does this apply to all criminals? Can some freed murderer have a child? What about someone guilty of manslaughter? Can bank robbers use banking services? Can some white-collar criminal return to the corporate world? Where is the line? Can a person, who have bombed abortion clinics be allowed near such a clinic in the future? Or near any medical facility?
I think that once someone has served his sentence, he is free and as good a citizen as anyone. The task of the prison system is to try to change criminals, make the better citizen. The task of prison system is not so much to punish criminal. This is "liberal" way of seeing this, and there is the other way, too.

A practical question

There is a possibility of flu pandemic. Is it wise to cut the Medicare before the pandemic? Also, is it wise not to help poor people to heat their houses by cutting the heating subsidies? If people cannot heat their houses (due to low wages and high price of oil) and cannot get medical help, how can the pandemic be controlled? No matter how one calculates, the pandemic is much greater threat to the national security than Iraq, Iran, etc can even be. Should the state not use more money in preparing for the greater risk, and not waste money where there is no risk at all - or where spending money just increases the risk?

On white shirts (business attire)

From the Genius of Japanese Civilization (1896) by Lafcadio Hearn (quoted by Rasmussen in Experiencing architecture)

Think for a moment how important an article of Occidental attire is the singly costly item of while shirts! Yet even the linen shirt, the so-called 'badge of a gentleman', is in itself a useless garment. It gives neither warmth nor comfort. It represents in our fashions the survival of something once a luxurious class distinction, to to-day meaningless and useless as the buttons sewn on the outside of the coat-sleeves.

And still the business attire contains this useless garment. Not to speak of the useless collar.

Beware of crying babies

From a email chain-letter:

9. Another Safety Point: Someone just told me that her friend heard a crying baby on her porch the night before last, and she called the police because it was late and she thought it was weird. The police told her "Whatever you do, DO NOT open the door."
The lady then said that it sounded like the baby had crawled near a window, and she was worried that it would crawl to the street and get run over. The policeman said, "We already have a unit on the way, whatever you do, DO NOT open the door." He told her that they think a serial killer has a baby's cry recorded and uses it to coax women out of their homes thinking that someone dropped off a baby. He said they have not verified it, but have had several calls by women saying that they hear baby's cries outside their doors when they're home alone at night.
Please pass this on and DO NOT open the door for a crying baby. This e-mail should probably be taken seriously because the Crying Baby theory was mentioned on America's Most Wanted this past Saturday when they profiled the serial killer in Louisiana.

Also, remember that 3. If you are ever thrown into the trunk of a car, kick out the back tail lights and stick your arm out the hole and start waving like crazy. The driver won't see you, but everybody else will. This has saved lives. and 6. ALWAYS take the elevator instead of the stairs. (Stairwells are horrible places to be alone and the perfect crime spot. This is especially true at NIGHT!) Yes, it is very dangerous to be outside the relative safety of your home. And here is another puzzle: it seems that the serial killers somehow thrive in USA. There have been some in ex-Soviet Union, in Britain, but otherwise I do not remember too many elsewhere. It may of course just be a media-bias. Is it? If it is real peculiarity of USA, what it the reason.
Read the whole warning letter. I find it more than a bit comical.

Daily crono

Lazy days, sleeping at least 11 hours a day. Yesterday, I went for lunch to the "Buddha's delight". It is excellent place: very authentic Chinese vegetarian food, a buffet (I need a substantial lunch), large table for reading newspapers, and they even allow me to take my bike inside, safe from the criminals. Later, buying clothes at H&M. They have no service and very long lines always. I assume they keep prices down by not having enough personnel. I also spent some time reading and observing people in the Espresso Royale. It is interesting how the American girls (and women) use their voice: when they try to be professional/serious, the pitch is very low, almost too low, like the men in car ads in TV. When they try to be feminine, cute, etc, the pitch is very high, almost piercing. And it can even change in mid-sentence. What a remarkable skill it is.
Ilana threw a party at her home in Charlestown. She has a modern condo, with one bedroom. I went there with Pia and Kumar. We had good time with Ilana, her friends, Kevin, Maja, Yoav, Allison, Uday, Sam, Biju, Matt and others.
Today, just hanging out, having lunch in Chinatown (always there, best food there), etc. Sending a few job-search related emails.

Alun perin julkaistu kuukausikoosteessa "Blogs October 2005".