Saturday, October 25, 2008
SwingState 08
I attempted to create a new poll on Vizu to post to this site called 'SwingState08': who will decide. Stay tuned....
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
gas prices rose again????
Gas went up today.
30 cents a gallon.
This is nuts. Oil went up a few cents per barrel, and there is a hurricane in the gulf, but neither of those are sufficient justification for a 30 cent per gallon price hike. This is highway robbery, and someone needs to be sued or strung up or something!
30 cents per gallon works out to a minimum of an additional $450 million per week. Probably closer to $1 billion when all is said and done. And what have the oil industries done this week to justify an additional billion in gross profits?
Here in Indianapolis prices keep coming tantalizingly close to $3.50 per gallon, and then quickly spiking up. I sometimes wonder if 3.50 is a psychological price point for oil companies, as if god forbid gas prices should drop below that point. I have no proof of course, but I have watched this happen 4 times in a row these last few weeks.
We are waiting for an answer.
(and of course prices won't drop 30 cents per gallon. No, that would be too obvious)
30 cents a gallon.
This is nuts. Oil went up a few cents per barrel, and there is a hurricane in the gulf, but neither of those are sufficient justification for a 30 cent per gallon price hike. This is highway robbery, and someone needs to be sued or strung up or something!
30 cents per gallon works out to a minimum of an additional $450 million per week. Probably closer to $1 billion when all is said and done. And what have the oil industries done this week to justify an additional billion in gross profits?
Here in Indianapolis prices keep coming tantalizingly close to $3.50 per gallon, and then quickly spiking up. I sometimes wonder if 3.50 is a psychological price point for oil companies, as if god forbid gas prices should drop below that point. I have no proof of course, but I have watched this happen 4 times in a row these last few weeks.
We are waiting for an answer.
(and of course prices won't drop 30 cents per gallon. No, that would be too obvious)
Another success from my former employer
--It's not as much as we asked for, but the neighborhood in question really needs the help (particularly after this year's flooding):
East Moline recently received a $350,000 grant that will cover about one-third of the cost for putting in new water and sanitary lines for the Babcock-Meersman subdivision near the Quad-City Downs.
The funding is part of $11 million in funding from U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development going to communities in Illinois. East Moline is the only community in the Quad-City area to receive funds.
Mayor John Thodos said the project will help replace wells and septic systems and put residents on city services. The addition was annexed by the city about 10 years ago, he said.
“This has been an issue for quite some time,” he said of bringing the residents city services. “If we could start this project this year it would be wonderful.”
The project is expected to cost about $900,000.
— Dustin Lemmon
East Moline recently received a $350,000 grant that will cover about one-third of the cost for putting in new water and sanitary lines for the Babcock-Meersman subdivision near the Quad-City Downs.
The funding is part of $11 million in funding from U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development going to communities in Illinois. East Moline is the only community in the Quad-City area to receive funds.
Mayor John Thodos said the project will help replace wells and septic systems and put residents on city services. The addition was annexed by the city about 10 years ago, he said.
“This has been an issue for quite some time,” he said of bringing the residents city services. “If we could start this project this year it would be wonderful.”
The project is expected to cost about $900,000.
— Dustin Lemmon
Friday, September 5, 2008
Sarah Palin notes
the list of Gov. Palin's controversies are lengthy:
-- She has been out of country but once, and considers the Iraq war an 'task from God'
-- She originially supported the 'Bridge to nowhere', then opposed it only after Congress basically killed it, but kept the money.
-- The 'reformer' obtained (through the help of a private lobbyist) $27 million in earmarks for the City of Wasilla
-- She denies the man-made contribution to global warming
-- She calls building a natural gas pipeline 'God's will'
-- Her statewide campaigns were partially funded by oil companies
-- She supports teaching creationism in the public schools
-- She cut support for teenage mothers and supports abstinence-only policies
-- She allegedly fired a state official in the Alaska public safety department for not firing a trooper who was in a divorce battle with her sister
-- She expressed support for the Alaska Independence Party (a seccessionist party), but she was VERY careful not to express outright support for seccession: "I share your party’s vision of upholding the constitution of our great state"
-- she left the town of Wasilla $20 million in debt when she left office in 2002.
Here is a link to these stories: http://thinkprogress.org/palin-digest/
--It's not about her being a woman, a parent of a newborn, or even her lack of experience. The experience she has is what is especially troubling. This is the person who, if McCain wins, will be half a heartbeat from the presidency. Is it any wonder McCain is keeping her away from reporters?
-- She has been out of country but once, and considers the Iraq war an 'task from God'
-- She originially supported the 'Bridge to nowhere', then opposed it only after Congress basically killed it, but kept the money.
-- The 'reformer' obtained (through the help of a private lobbyist) $27 million in earmarks for the City of Wasilla
-- She denies the man-made contribution to global warming
-- She calls building a natural gas pipeline 'God's will'
-- Her statewide campaigns were partially funded by oil companies
-- She supports teaching creationism in the public schools
-- She cut support for teenage mothers and supports abstinence-only policies
-- She allegedly fired a state official in the Alaska public safety department for not firing a trooper who was in a divorce battle with her sister
-- She expressed support for the Alaska Independence Party (a seccessionist party), but she was VERY careful not to express outright support for seccession: "I share your party’s vision of upholding the constitution of our great state"
-- she left the town of Wasilla $20 million in debt when she left office in 2002.
Here is a link to these stories: http://thinkprogress.org/palin-digest/
--It's not about her being a woman, a parent of a newborn, or even her lack of experience. The experience she has is what is especially troubling. This is the person who, if McCain wins, will be half a heartbeat from the presidency. Is it any wonder McCain is keeping her away from reporters?
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Even more fantasy metros:
-What can I say; I love this stuff. I will tell you that if you are interested in the dicussion of these maps (I'm not; even my geekness has limits), there is a forum for such things (several of these maps come from it): http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=384997
Enjoy:
--A proposal for Rome 1986
--Seattle
--Sydney Australia
--Hamilton, Ontario (with a half-million people it is very doubtful this will ever be built)
--Montreal
Enjoy:
--A proposal for Rome 1986
--Seattle
--Sydney Australia
--Hamilton, Ontario (with a half-million people it is very doubtful this will ever be built)
--Montreal
Friday, August 15, 2008
some random musings
1) I was driving about last Thursday, and I took a look at the sky, and noticed something....
...The season had changed...
At the risk of sounding like one of those cranky old men who say things like 'yeeah; I remember the summer of '37; what a wild one that was!', I notice these things. It's a subtle thing: the blue is a little paler, the clouds are a muddy grey instead of bright white, and there's just this sense of twilight in the air even at noon. So Fall is upon us, even if the calendar says August, which is only in keeping with this years Weather of Weirdness (tm).
2) On my hotmail webpage I get a lot of banner ads. most of them are merely irritating, but some really annoy me. Like the ads for 'True' dating site, with the 'random' (yeah, right) cute single woman who just 'happens' to be on the site, and has the whole 'cute-and-perky' thing going on.
Yes, I know; these are professional ACTRESSES. That bugs me most of all. I've been on some of these dating sites in the past, and the vast majority of women (and men FTM) aren't nearly as attractive (truth to say, myself included: Adonis I ain't) as these models, but somehow we're supposed to think that we'll magically meet/look like/have sex with one of these people?
Please; I'm not that stupid. I don't blame the models for acting like that: that's their job. It's the site owner who knowingly puts this crap out there that I want up against the wall when the revolution comes. Right next to the guy who came up with the 'office dancers' who are 'accidentially' caught dancing and have this unbelievably fake look of surprise on their face, and just down the wall from the producers of the 'live links' ads. We, the people no longer tolerate being treated as if we're just stupid and gullable, so please kindly PULL THIS CRAP OFF THE AIR!!!!
End of rant; enjoy the rest of the summer y'all.
...The season had changed...
At the risk of sounding like one of those cranky old men who say things like 'yeeah; I remember the summer of '37; what a wild one that was!', I notice these things. It's a subtle thing: the blue is a little paler, the clouds are a muddy grey instead of bright white, and there's just this sense of twilight in the air even at noon. So Fall is upon us, even if the calendar says August, which is only in keeping with this years Weather of Weirdness (tm).
2) On my hotmail webpage I get a lot of banner ads. most of them are merely irritating, but some really annoy me. Like the ads for 'True' dating site, with the 'random' (yeah, right) cute single woman who just 'happens' to be on the site, and has the whole 'cute-and-perky' thing going on.
Yes, I know; these are professional ACTRESSES. That bugs me most of all. I've been on some of these dating sites in the past, and the vast majority of women (and men FTM) aren't nearly as attractive (truth to say, myself included: Adonis I ain't) as these models, but somehow we're supposed to think that we'll magically meet/look like/have sex with one of these people?
Please; I'm not that stupid. I don't blame the models for acting like that: that's their job. It's the site owner who knowingly puts this crap out there that I want up against the wall when the revolution comes. Right next to the guy who came up with the 'office dancers' who are 'accidentially' caught dancing and have this unbelievably fake look of surprise on their face, and just down the wall from the producers of the 'live links' ads. We, the people no longer tolerate being treated as if we're just stupid and gullable, so please kindly PULL THIS CRAP OFF THE AIR!!!!
End of rant; enjoy the rest of the summer y'all.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
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