No charge.
Events are predicted in order of occurrence, with numbers reversed because I'm a bit of a weirdo.
10. Health care reform will pass, without a public health insurance option, but with a mechanism to activate government insurance if certain conditions are met.
9. You or your significant other or one of your siblings will get H1N1. You/He/She will spend a day in bed then be fine.
8. The Seahawks will finish the year 8-8, "tied" with the 49ers atop the NFC West, except San Fran will win the division lamely on a tie-breaker.
7. A major cell phone provider will fail and be gobbled up by a competitor by early 2011. (I'm looking right at you, Sprint. And glancing sideways at you, T-Mobile. And wishing it were you, Verizon. Bite me, at&t.)
6. The Dow Jones will reach and surpass its former closing-bell peak of 14,164.53 sometime in the fall of 2011.
5. The Mariners will reach the 2011 World Series. No further details provided at this time.
4. Barack Hussein Obama will coast to re-election as President of the United States of America. Coast, I tell you. Reverse Reagan '84 style.
3. The Republican Party will split in half sometime in or after 2013. A chain reaction will ensue, culminating in the split of the Democratic Party and the emergence of the Green Party as a non-negligible political force. Five parties are in our future. Don't try and stop it.
2. A major terrorist attack on par with or exceeding the carnage of 9/11 will take place on American soil in the teen years of this century. Tragically, we may have to get used to one of these per decade, as our government continues to do nowhere near enough to stem the tide of anti-Americanism.
1. Some time after 2030, retired government officials, prominent scholars and brilliant political scientists will converge on Philadelphia for a Constitutional Convention during which they will update the Constitution to ensure its survival in an age quite different than 1787.
Showing posts with label miscellaneous. Show all posts
Showing posts with label miscellaneous. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Monday, June 8, 2009
Stakes On A Plane / 6-8-09
(Dedicated to Val G.)
So, when we're 35,000 feet above the earth, what laws apply? This riddle came up Friday night in between drinks, and this is my pathetic answer to it.
Whilst "researching" my "answer" after a "hard" "day" of "work," the trip across the Internet took me many places. To the BBC magazine, which examined, thoughtfully and Britanically, the lawfulness of joining the Mile High Club. To a Nevada company's effort to install baccarat tables on international flights. To Baby Sasha, born in Canadian airspace on New Year's Day -- apparently, she's a Canadian citizen, imagine that. To the legendary stories of how flight attendants would relieve you of your cocktail when the plane flew over dry parts of Kansas. I got to read sections of the United States Code as exciting as this:
Sec. 7. Special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States defined
(5) Any aircraft belonging in whole or in part to the United States, or any citizen thereof, or to any corporation created by or under the laws of the United States, or any State, Territory, district, or possession thereof, while such aircraft is in flight over the high seas, or over any other waters within the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction of the United States and out of the jurisdiction of any particular State.
(6) Any vehicle used or designed for flight or navigation in space and on the registry of the United States pursuant to the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies and the Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space, while that vehicle is in flight, which is from the moment when all external doors are closed on Earth following embarkation until the moment when one such door is opened on Earth for disembarkation or in the case of a forced landing, until the competent authorities take over the responsibility for the vehicle and for persons and property aboard.
(7) Any place outside the jurisdiction of any nation with respect to an offense by or against a national of the United States.
I'm still looking for an ironclad answer, but my brilliant legal mind can deduce that if the plane is registered in the U.S., U.S. law applies from takeoff to landing. As a result, I don't suggest trying to get away with indecent exposure just because you're flying to Rio. (Or to the moon. By the way, the acronym for that treaty cited in subsection (6) goes like this: TPGASEUOSIMOCB. Rolls deliciously right off your tongue.)
This is all well and good for international travel, but let's get practical: Can or can you not engage in Nevada-approved behavior while in Nevadan airspace? On a flight from Sacramento to Salt Lake City, can you hire a prostitute? Can you gamble at cruise altitude? Can you get a quickie wedding?
I mean, my word, can you say "aboot" with a straight face on a flight from Spokane to Calgary?
Those crucial answers are harder to find. It's possible I may not sleep tonight.
(On the other hand, I DID find this, which was humorous, if unrelated.)
So, when we're 35,000 feet above the earth, what laws apply? This riddle came up Friday night in between drinks, and this is my pathetic answer to it.
Whilst "researching" my "answer" after a "hard" "day" of "work," the trip across the Internet took me many places. To the BBC magazine, which examined, thoughtfully and Britanically, the lawfulness of joining the Mile High Club. To a Nevada company's effort to install baccarat tables on international flights. To Baby Sasha, born in Canadian airspace on New Year's Day -- apparently, she's a Canadian citizen, imagine that. To the legendary stories of how flight attendants would relieve you of your cocktail when the plane flew over dry parts of Kansas. I got to read sections of the United States Code as exciting as this:
Sec. 7. Special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States defined
(5) Any aircraft belonging in whole or in part to the United States, or any citizen thereof, or to any corporation created by or under the laws of the United States, or any State, Territory, district, or possession thereof, while such aircraft is in flight over the high seas, or over any other waters within the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction of the United States and out of the jurisdiction of any particular State.
(6) Any vehicle used or designed for flight or navigation in space and on the registry of the United States pursuant to the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies and the Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space, while that vehicle is in flight, which is from the moment when all external doors are closed on Earth following embarkation until the moment when one such door is opened on Earth for disembarkation or in the case of a forced landing, until the competent authorities take over the responsibility for the vehicle and for persons and property aboard.
(7) Any place outside the jurisdiction of any nation with respect to an offense by or against a national of the United States.
I'm still looking for an ironclad answer, but my brilliant legal mind can deduce that if the plane is registered in the U.S., U.S. law applies from takeoff to landing. As a result, I don't suggest trying to get away with indecent exposure just because you're flying to Rio. (Or to the moon. By the way, the acronym for that treaty cited in subsection (6) goes like this: TPGASEUOSIMOCB. Rolls deliciously right off your tongue.)
This is all well and good for international travel, but let's get practical: Can or can you not engage in Nevada-approved behavior while in Nevadan airspace? On a flight from Sacramento to Salt Lake City, can you hire a prostitute? Can you gamble at cruise altitude? Can you get a quickie wedding?
I mean, my word, can you say "aboot" with a straight face on a flight from Spokane to Calgary?
Those crucial answers are harder to find. It's possible I may not sleep tonight.
(On the other hand, I DID find this, which was humorous, if unrelated.)
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