Letters to the Editor
Just Jake
Published Letters: 61 Editor's Choice: 8
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Just inform and move on
[Read the article: May we congratulate you on your divorce]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Divorce is traumatic, no argument. Really, after watching a co-worker slide the name plate off her door, snap it in half in one stroke against the edge of a desk, and fling the last name in the trash; hey I'd welcome just having a glass of champagne.
Several letters are critical of the author's point, which surprises me. By all means, if you are divorcing, do what is necessary, and sure, let people know the practical details: "We've split, you can reach Bob here and Betty here. No reply is necessary. This is of course a tough time for us both. Will stay in touch in real life, but we just wanted to get the word out."
Big fancy announcements are smarmy enough for a wedding invite, and certainly seem out of place for a dissolution of marriage. If you want to have a formal party when you won't feel like sobbing uncontrollably or getting hammered to numb the pain, I'll bring something we can all enjoy at the party. Anyone getting divorced who thinks they should get gifts in addition to all the gifts for past marriages, children, and housewarming -- should think again.
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A wonderful experiment
[Read the article: Writers' strike: Will you ditch Colbert for YouTube?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Strictly from a personal perspective I'm looking forward to it. I'm paying nearly $90 a month for cable (not counting Internet), and it is an expense that would be great to knock down to little or nothing. Not only does the DVD back-catalog continue to swell, but the cycle between initial TV showings and DVD sets have shrunk like the movie release window. DVDs are far too lucrative for studios to hold back longer and risk people losing interest.
Four years ago I ended my movie theater habit, spending six months doing other things and rewatching old favorites on DVD instead. Now I don't even notice the release delay. A protracted strike would be just the thing to prompt me, and perhaps many others, to do much the same with TV. Who cares what's on now, I'll rent the DVDs later. Plus that way if a show is cancelled abruptly it is possible to skip it completely if that sort of thing irritates. The real question for me is if I'd miss topical shows enough to keep a basic cable subscription, or just cancel it outright while boosting my DVD rental plan. Most of the daily info I really want can be met via the web, with or without video. Between that and buying a Wii I expect I'll be set for a long time.
The studio rhetoric suggests they forget their viewers are actual people with free will. Indeed there are countless more options today for home entertainment. If the studios think commercial skipping is a nightmare, what will they do if after a multi-month strike they discover that a sizable chunk of their boob-tube audience have moved on? Their greed in fighting the writers over a few pennies per DVD or viewing will likely bite them on the ass, much as their obsession over piracy has stifled new opportunities they seem incapable of even understanding.
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Gone too far?
[Read the article: Smoke this!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The author believes that only this latest nonsense raises the question "has our national drug panic finally gone too far?" Asking that question now makes me presume that the author has been too stoned to have paid attention for the last few decades.
When we got so obsessed with keeping relatively mild drugs like pot out of the hands of teens that many turned to "huffing" and some turned to near suffication for highs, it had gone too far. When people who receive a medical benefit from marijuana got locked up for using it, it had gone too far. When the feds started busting doctors for prescribing legal pain medication to patients slowly dying in agony, drug panic had gone too far. When the annual bill for the drug war exceeded the gross national product of some decent sized countries, only to get results like the street cost of heroine falling faster than computer prices, it had gone too far. Despite the huge obsession about drugs, with the news this week I'm more concerned about kids licking supposedly safe toys than most illicit drugs.
Now that Ritalin is handed out to kids like tic-tacs and kids have learned to siphon off pills from the 'rents medicine cabinet or purse, I don't picture many youngsters turning to fermented crap. Plus at least according to the media, pot and alcohol are easier than ever for kids to get, nevermind adults.
It would be great to see some reasonable drug policy in the USA, but considering that we can't even get out of a war that we never needed to start in the first place, I don't have much hope for a shift toward realistic drug policy.