urgh

I haz the Drazi Death Cold.  I felt fine yesterday; last night my sinuses were in RAPID FLUSH mode (I could feel the fluid building up and draining in realtime), and today I'm a shambling zombie.  I can hardly focus enough to think.

As if this wasn't enough, trenching out the front foundation wall by hand has taken a serious toll on my lower back.  I shovelled out the last couple of feet through to the step yesterday, which was almost all crushed rock, after finishing the job of chopping out the tree stump that sat in the middle of the front yard pretty much squarely on the direct path to the propane tank (which involved pulling a 70-80lb rock out from among the roots), and I guess this is my back telling me I've been overdoing it.  When I woke up this morning it was all I could do to get to the bathroom and back to the bed.

No more digging for me for at least a few days.  We shall direct the minions ... er, daughters ... to fill in the stump hole and do however much more trenching they can manage.

Karma refund!

We've been — or, at least, I've been — sweating over how we're going to pay for heat this winter with both of us out of work, which is why last week we went to talk to the local Community Action office to sign up for the energy assistance program.  We don't know whether we'll qualify for fuel/energy assistance yet, and probably won't know for another 60 days.

But, with all the energy the universe has put into taking a dump on us lately, I guess Karma decided we were due a break.  I just got a call from Community Action telling me that they needed a propane-heated house to run a bunch of their energy-audit students through for training purposes, and here we were, newly registered and with a propane-heated house, and would it be OK if they run a couple classes of students through and, while they're at it, give us a full energy audit and winterization?

Funny thing, but I have NO PROBLEM AT ALL with that.  :)

Uh ... say what, now?

[...] even though the jury acquitted him of the crack charge, the judge kind of figured he'd done it and therefore found, by a preponderance of the evidence that he'd done it, and sent him to prison as if the jury had actually said "Guilty" rather than "Not Guilty."

WTF?

Excuse me if I've been asleep a long time, but ... the last time I knew, the standard of proof in a criminal case was not "by a preponderance of the evidence", it was "beyond a reasonable doubt".  And then the high court refused to hear an appeal?

Somebody just got railroaded here, and if this stands up, it's a very, very dangerous precedent.  What's the next step?  Presumption of guilt instead of presumption of innocence?  Eliminating the jury altogether and going to an inquisitorial court system like, say, Italy's?  Perhaps we could allow secret evidence in all trials, not just ones where someone within a half-mile radius said the word "terrorist", and deny all defendants the right to confront their accusers, hear and contest evidence presented against them, or know the charges against them.