Hey IPS writers: Anyone – black or white, tall or short, fat or skinny, pale or tanned, disabled or not – has as much right as anyone else to visit the beach. If the appearance of other people is enough to ruin your trip to the beach, then I feel sorry for you, because your day must get ruined a lot.

Signed,
A pale overweight person

I think “Really?!” with Seth & Amy on SNL should cover this issue.

I mean, come on. Would they jump out of a plane without a properly-inspected parachute? If any of them work in construction, do they turn down any safety tethers offered to them? (I doubt it because they’d be fired if they did.) You can’t ride a carnival ride without the safety restraints in place. I almost never notice my seat belt, but if yours is that uncomfortable, either adjust it or use one of the products on the market designed to hold it away from your neck. And helmets? So you’re willing to tell me you’d rather live as a quadriplegic, or die, rather than be slightly uncomfortable and look a little uncool? Because if you get hit the chances are very good of that happening if you’re not wearing a helmet.

If you think it’ll never happen to you, you’re a good driver… well, I was a good driver, never had a ticket, when a 17-year-old kid with no license pulled out in front of me and totalled my car, and broke my best friend’s leg in 2 places. And ripped open her arm and her knee. Yes, I do have a scar from a friction burn from my seatbelt because I was wearing a lower-cut shirt that day. You know what? I’m happy to have that scar, because without it my scars would be a lot worse. Mostly it’s hidden under my shirt, but if I was that vain it’d be easy to cover with makeup too. The cost of having a scar on my chest is acceptible when without it the scars could have been from my face hitting the windshield.

Face it, laws change over the years as people learn what makes you safer. They don’t let kids ride in the back of a pickup truck anymore even though I happily did that when I was 10. So quit whining and just buckle up. If you’re badly injured because you weren’t wearing your seat belt, you have no one to blame but yourself. Save yourself a lifetime (or your family a lifetime, if you die) of saying “if only I had buckled up.”

I live in Indiana, but close enough to both Michigan and Illinois to make it practical to subscribe to this service for all 3 states. There are 2 problems with this:

1. Amber alerts are usually issued statewide, but that site forces you to pick a zip code, so I had to pick a nearby city in MI and IL and look up the zipcode to subscribe. It simply doesn’t make sense.

2. Michigan either has an abnormally high amount of abducted children, or else they have far less stringent standards for issuing Amber alerts. It seemed like I was getting one every week or two (whereas IN and IL alerts are rare), which is not a problem in itself, but leads to the problem that I was routinely being awoken by Amber alert and alert cancellation messages.

Now, while I could have put my phone on silent or shut it off, but I like to keep it on to get important texts from other people.

A solution I see to this problem is that cell phone carriers should let me choose a setting to hold texts when I’m sleeping (say between midnight and 8am) and then deliver those texts at 8am. (After all, I am not going to run into a missing child when I’m sleeping.) This could be done by whitelisting – hold all incoming texts except for those from certain phone numbers; or by blacklisting – hold only those texts from a specific phone number or shortcode.

Sadly, since this is not an option, I simply unsubscribed from Michigan’s wireless Amber alerts.

I think this would be an ideal feature for Google Voice to have, but that’s another issue entirely – you can’t sign your Google Voice number up for wireless Amber alerts at that site, because they are landline-based and thus not considered a wireless provider.

Do you know how many times my friend (who’d had a broken leg after a car accident) and I would be walking around a store, and she’d get tired and sore and I’d have to go back to the front of the store and get her a Mart Cart? I had to leave her where she was because it hurt too much to walk all the way back.

Did I “look” like there was anything wrong with me when my ankle was injured in the same accident and I used one for a couple of weeks? How about the time I dropped the bowling ball on my foot and rode one around?

People, you can’t always tell if someone is disabled by looking at them. My friend can now sometimes walk without a limp, but she’s still often in a lot of pain.

A recent study shows that a texting driver is 23 times more likely to be in an accident. No one needs those odds, but teenagers or novice drivers especially don’t need additional distractions behind the wheel.

As teenagers gain confidence driving, they may feel like they can handle the multitasking, but it only takes a split second of inattention to seriously injure or kill someone.

I am in favor of all drivers seeing this video. If it can make them feel even a tiny bit of what I felt as an accident victim, then maybe it can save lives. Parents may say it is too graphic. Think how your child will feel if he/she is ever really in this situation, and turns to see his/her friend(s) severely injured or dead in the next seat. You may think it’s a horrible video, but it’s even more horrible to see your injuries and those of your passengers, to be cut out of your car using the jaws of life, placed on a backboard and taken to the hospital in an ambulance, and listen to your family – parents, spouse, children – cry on the phone when you call them.

Bottom line: If you’re old enough to drive, you’re old enough to see the potential consequences that may arise should you make bad choices while you drive.

Gizmodiva has posted about larger seats being installed on a train. They use such hateful words as…well, read it for yourself:

We know that the world is slowly turning grotesquely fat, what with all the Mcdonalds and other fast food chains and their up-sizing around. It’s quite a painful experience to watch fat people squeeze into seats with half of their body spilling out! Thankfully, they don’t have to endure the tiny cramped seats anymore as special chairs have been installed on trains to cope with rising obesity rates. I’m not sure I like this, because it only gives them lesser motivation to shed all those excess pounds. So instead of catering to them, we need to tell them to get up and exercise a bit. That’s the only way the obesity problem will come to a halt. What do you think?

First of all, what makes you think it’s your place, a stranger, to tell someone to get up and exercise? How would you feel if I came up to you and said, “You’re too skinny, you need to put on about 20 pounds.” Or, “You’re grotesquely ugly, you should have plastic surgery.” Don’t you think you’d feel a little bit embarrassed, and angry? Wouldn’t you yell at me and tell me to mind my own business? How do you expect a person to respond? “Oh my gosh, I had no idea I’m overweight, thanks for the insight!”

I’ve already left a comment but it hasn’t shown up yet, so who knows if it will be approved. I’d like to direct you all to Kate Harding’s Shapely Prose, specifically this page, and specifically points 7, 8, and 9.

“7. Human beings deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. Fat people are human beings.

8. Even fat people who are unhealthy still deserve dignity and respect. Still human beings. See how that works?

9. In any case, shaming teh fatties for being “unhealthy” doesn’t f***ing help. If shame made people thin, there wouldn’t be a fat person in this country, trust me. I wish I could remember who said this, ’cause it’s one of my favorite quotes of all time: ‘You cannot hate people for their own good.’”

Sign here

I Am a Constitution Voter

* I believe that no one — including the President — is above the law.
* I oppose all forms of torture, and I support both closing the Guantánamo Bay prison and ending indefinite detention.
* I oppose warrantless spying.
* I believe that government officials, no matter how high-ranking, should be held accountable for breaking the law and violating the Constitution.
* I believe that the Constitution protects every person’s rights equally — no matter what they believe, how they live, where or if they worship, and whom they love.
* I reject the notion that we have to tolerate violations of our most fundamental rights in the name of fighting terrorism.
* I am deeply committed to the Constitution and expect our country’s leaders to share and act on that commitment — every day, without fail.

We need to let our leaders know that when we step into the ballot box the Constitution will be the first thing on our minds.

Our goal is to sign up 300,000 Constitution Voters by October 15th to demonstrate our power.

If you travel outside the United States this summer, you can kiss your right to privacy, and perhaps your laptop, digital camera and cell phone, goodbye.

Did you know…

1. Border security can seize your laptop, cell phone or camera with no suspicion or explanation.

2. Many airports use scanners that conduct a virtual ” strip search” of passengers.

3. There are over one million names on the terrorist watch list.

4. The TSA recently expressed interest in having every airline passenger wear “electro-muscular disruption” bracelets that could be used to shock passengers into submission.

Traveling shouldn’t mean checking your rights when you’re checking your luggage. It’s time for some sanity when it comes to security.

I just asked my members of Congress to rein in travel abuses by the Department of Homeland Security. You can learn more about this and email your members of Congress here:

ACLU

After lunch, around 12:30, the aide brought him a refill without asking if he needed one. In fact, since he’d had iced tea with lunch, he didn’t. What I found appalling was how she brought it. Rather than dumping the water in the pitcher and refilling it, she brought in a plastic pitcher liner full of ice water, took the one inside the pitcher out, dumped the old water and threw the liner away. What a waste of plastic! Wouldn’t just washing the pitcher in the hospital’s dishwashers solve the problem of germs? And how germy is a pitcher sitting there for 2 1/2 hours going to get? It’s not like anyone was drinking from it, and my dad wasn’t contagious.

I’ve been reading a blog called Plastic Free by EnviroWoman. She’s taken a pledge to not purchase any new plastic in 2007. The plastic she’s bought, by desperate need (deodorant) or by accident (inside cans of pop!) are in a very small pile that she’s posted pictures of. Her blog has definitely made me more aware of all the plastic in my life, most of which won’t degrade for hundreds or thousands of years (this site says a plastic jug will take a million years!) And not all plastic can be recycled.

Check out Plastic Free and then think about how much plastic comes into your life every day.

If Real ID happens:

* Every state’s DMV database will be linked and tons of information from social security numbers and birth dates to copies of birth certificates and bank statements will be accessible to DMV employees across the country.
o This will be a dream for identity thieves.
o The potential for insider fraud and the issuance of false licenses is very real.
* All of these problems led to an almost unprecedented revolt among the states. Five states, Maine, Idaho, Arkansas, Montana and Washington, have passed anti-Real ID resolutions or legislation. This type of legislation has been filed in more than 30 states.
* Drivers licenses will cost each American approximately $100.
o Since the federal government has appropriated only a small fraction of the necessary costs to implement REAL ID, the driver is now going to have to shoulder the burden of higher costs at the DMV.
* DMV locations will be completely overburdened.
o Lines will be longer because it will take more time to process applications.
o Mail and Internet renewals will have to be suspended.

The law that created the Department of Homeland Security prohibited a national identification system. By trying to implement REAL ID, the Department of Homeland Security is breaking the law and violating the public trust.

Use the link above to send in your comments (you can do so anonymously at the government site, without even an e-mail address) against RealID.

More info:
BoingBoing
Privacy Coalition
Electronic Frontier Foundation

“Cancellation penalties are anti-competitive and deprive consumers of the benefits of competition in the markets where there is more than one broadband provider,” says Kenney. “The justifications for them are suspect. Once enticing consumers to sign up, broadband providers should rely on quality
and service to build customer loyalty, not onerous contract terms that hold consumers hostage.”

Like wireless phone companies, broadband providers who have started including early termination fees and requiring long term contracts for promotional offers say they are justified. That’s because consumers are usually getting a break on monthly rates, as well as free or discounted installation and equipment, such as modems.

“Basically, we are charging the (early termination) fee to regain what we have been giving the customer for free,” says Bobbi Henson, director of Media Relations at Verizon. “Customers who sign a (high-speed Internet) contract with us get free installation and sometimes free equipment. They also save $2-$8 on their monthly rate.”

Check on what your broadband provider is charging here, and then go here and tell the FCC via an already-written e-mail to stop early termination fees.

Other designs available, for $5 to $7, at Anti-Magnet

“Alright, we’ve been following the RIAA’s increasingly frequent affronts to privacy and free speech lately, and it’s about time we stopped merely bitching and moaning and did something about it. The RIAA has the power to shift public policy and to alter the direction of technology and the Internet for one reason and one reason alone: it’s totally loaded. Without their millions of dollars to throw at lawyers, the RIAA is toothless. They get their money from us, the consumers, and if we don’t like the way they’re behaving, we can let them know with our wallets.

With that in mind, Gizmodo is declaring the month of March Boycott the RIAA month. We want to get the word out to as many people as humanly possible that we can all send a message by refusing to buy any album put out by an RIAA label.”

Interesting. They note you can still support your favorite artists by seeing them in concert, which makes them more money than simply buying their albums.

Gizmodo

200 ways to fight DRM this Tuesday
DefectiveByDesign’s Peter Brown writes in with “Zuned” — a sticker-designed produced for October 3, the International Day Against DRM.

There are over 200 projects proposed for the Anti-DRM Day, from Free DRM-Free movie downloads to encouraging French citizens to continue turning themselves into the police for violating France’s barbaric new DRM law.

DRM

Amazon’s Unbox video download service has some of the worst terms of service ever, including a clause that lets them report on what software you have installed on your computer.

German company Akuma may have figured out a solution to DRM. They are letting their customers download music without DRM. The MP3 files contain a small high-pitched “watermark” that identifies the song’s purchaser. This allows people to play the song on any device they want without restrictions, and allows law-enforcement to catch anyone who shares songs on file-sharing P2P networks.