ChrisKnight – Page 29 – The Wacky World of Chris Knight

2008/10/212008/10/22

Freedom of Choice Only Applies to Yourself

I believe in Free Will. I believe people should have the right to choose not to perform acts that go against their conscience. I do not believe people have the right to force their choices on others.

I have turned down projects that I considered unethical. I believe, for the most part, that doctors should have the right to choose what procedures they will perform and that pharmacists should have the right to judge whether or not to service a prescription. My exception to this belief is in situations where the individual has a monopoly on a specific service. If there is only one doctor or pharmacy available to a community, than they should be able not use their position of power to force people to live out their fantasy of what is moral. Each person on this planet bears the sole responsibility for themselves, and their moral compass; and with that responsibility comes authority, but that also only applies to themselves. If someone feels the need, or that they have the right, to play god then they are not suited for their position and should have their license to practice revoked.

The article referenced below began by talking about a pharmacy in Virginia that has opened with a unique inventory selection: “No candy. No sodas. And no birth control.” I don’t have the slightest problem with that. It’s their business, and in a free market capitalistic society, they will draw some customers and chase some away.

What bothered me was a little further down in the article. Apparently there is a pharmacist in Wisconsin whose conscience forbid them from fulfilling a prescription for birth control, and then their god complex kicked in and they refused to transfer the prescription to another drug store. To me, that is holding the health and life of a patient hostage to personal morality. Arrogant bastard.

Va. pharmacy follows faith, no birth control sales
[…snip snip snip…]
Earlier this year in Wisconsin, a state appeals court upheld sanctions against a pharmacist who refused to dispense birth control pills to a woman and wouldn't transfer her prescription elsewhere. Elsewhere, at least seven states require pharmacies or pharmacists to fill contraceptive prescriptions, according to the National Women's Law Center. Four states explicitly give pharmacists the right to turn away any prescriptions, the group said.

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2008/10/172008/10/21

How Canon bought my love

Over the years I’ve owned and used a number of digital cameras. The first one I used was the Apple QuickTake 100 camera, which looked like an odd set of binoculars. The first I owned was a Fuji FinePix, then a Sony Cybershot, and most recently a Canon SD500.

I love my Canon SD500 Digital Elph. It’s compact, has great resolution, a fair number of smart modes, and has a reasonably inexpensive underwater case available made specifically for it by Canon. I have two of the underwater cases; one for scuba diving and one for Burning Man. The one I have used on the playa will never be water-safe again, with all the dust clogging the o-rings; but it works well enough to keep my camera safe from dust.

My worst purchase for my Canon SD500 was a TEK Digital belt-style camera case purchased at Best Buy. I had no idea the headaches I was buying for my $19.99. I suppose this was intended as a feature, but the belt loop is held on with a snap; and it frequently unsnapped while on my belt. Not wanting to lose my camera, I had to fix the issue by epoxying that snap to be permanently closed. Later on, that snap would bite me again; when the pressure point of that hard metal snap, even behind a layer of nylon weave, cracked my screen while in my backpack. Learn from my mistakes, don’t buy any tight fitting camera cases that have hard points that could put pressure on the LCD.

Even if my camera had been under warranty, it was obviously a case of owner abuse; with a distinctive spider web fracture. Canon offered a flat rate repair for the SD500 for $127.00, and I considered that a steal compared to buying a new camera and two new underwater housings. So, I registered for the RMA and shipped off my camera. I received an email when my camera arrived, and two days later I received a second email stating that the camera had been repaired and shipped. The turnaround time was fantastic, but was not nearly as surprising as the repair charge: $ 0.00. I received my camera back a few days later, with a note that an out of warranty repair had been completed free of charge.

It’s a year and a half later, and my wife are thinking about buying a higher-end digital SLR. I can tell you with 95% certainty it will be a Canon. There is a lot of customer loyalty that can be earned by going the extra mile for your customers, and Canon did a pretty good job of earning mine.

-Chris

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2008/10/172008/10/17

Migration: Australia off the list

It’s no secret that Mel and I are considering fleeing the US before this place descends into total chaos. (Chaos storm on January 4th, if McSame wins.) Looks like we have to take Australia off our list now. No worries, we were leaning towards New Zealand anyways.

‘Net filters “required” for all Australians, no opt-out
By Jacqui Cheng | Published: October 16, 2008 – 11:14AM CT

Australians may not be able to opt out of the government's Internet filtering initiative like they were originally led to believe. Details have begun to come out about Australia's Cyber-Safety Plan, which aims to block "illegal" content from being accessed within the country, as well as pornographic material inappropriate for children. Right now, the system is in the testing stages, but network engineers are now saying that there's no way to opt out entirely from content filtering.

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