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Page 47 of 791 pages « First < 45 46 47 48 49 > Last »
Nov 2007
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I Swear to God
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Thu 8 Nov 2007 9:10
by Kevin McGehee
31° and sunny
in Coweta County, GA
0 comments
[Get Offa My Lawn!]
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Website designers these days need to be rounded up, dragged off and shot.
Who was the genius who decreed that Flash animation on a website is more important than content and navigability? He needs to be dragged off, shot, and then shot again. And then all of his relatives need to be shot. And his little dog, too.
Have you ever tried to find the little postage-stamp-sized part of a news website that contains the news, when every other pixel on that page is flashing and swooping and flickering and scrolling and folding down over half your screen?
Compared to that crap, the <blink> tag is the epitome of elegant HTML.
I’m just going to keep dumping links from my sidebar rather than put up with it. When all of the links are gone, that’s when I’ll know it’s time to pull the plug.
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The New Me
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Wed 7 Nov 2007 11:32
by Kevin McGehee
48° and sunny
in Coweta County, GA
6 comments
[Get Offa My Lawn!]
[Here's Your Sign]
[Wackadoodle]
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Encouraged by the warm wishes here by somebody‘s blogstalker, I went ahead and quit procrastinating on putting a new self-portrait in the sidebar. As you can see, my countenance is as uproariously joyful as always.
And why shouldn’t it be? That’s me weighing less than when I graduated from high school.
Update: It occurs to me my well-wisher in that other thread simply doesn’t get the joke. Hover your cursor over my picture and you should see a tooltip with the punchline. It’s been there all along, for as long as I’ve displayed a pic of myself here.
‘Nother Update, more than a month later: The pic discussed here has since been supplanted by one taken of me a few weeks later on top of the highest mountain in Tennessee. The tooltip mentioned above, having been made obsolete by the new pic, has been retired.
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Are the Media Doing at Home What They’ve Been Doing in Iraq?
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Wed 7 Nov 2007 7:23
by Kevin McGehee
31° and sunny
in Coweta County, GA
0 comments
[Our Times]
[Get Offa My Lawn!]
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Silly question.
In the end, backers of a cigarette tax increase for children’s health couldn’t assuage voters’ worries about monkeying with the state constitution—an issue stoked by a record-shattering $12 million TV blitz financed by the tobacco industry.
The result was a shellacking of Measure 50—voters trounced it by a 60 percent to 40 percent margin in Tuesday’s special election—and a stinging setback for backers of the effort to extend health care to 100,000 uninsured Oregonians.» Ore. cigarette tax rejected after spendy TV campaign
Oregonians rejecting expanded government? Next you’ll tell me they also rejected same-sex marriage!
The New Jersey measure had been one of the nation’s most ambitious public efforts to fund stem cell research.
Multimillionaire Gov. Jon Corzine campaigned heavily for the measure and spent $200,000 of his own money on TV ads for it. He argued the funding would help find cures for conditions such as spinal cord injuries, Parkinson’s disease, sickle cell anemia and multiple sclerosis while also luring leading scientists and research firms to the state.
But the measure was opposed by anti-abortion activists, conservatives and the Roman Catholic Church because it would pay for research that destroys human embryos and would increase state debt.
“It’s a reinforcement of our values and a rebuke to the governor,“ said Steve Lonegan, a conservative Republican who led opposition to the question. “The taxpayers are saying enough is enough.“ » N.J. Rejects $450M Stem Cell Proposal
New Jersey taxpayers calling a halt to the expansion of their burden? When has that ever happened?
Voters oppose driver’s licenses for illegal aliens by a nearly five-to-one margin, a new Fox 5/Washington Times/Rasmussen Reports poll finds.
As immigration politics explode into the presidential race, polls show Americans are taking a hard line on benefits for illegal aliens, including opposing driver’s licenses and such taxpayer-funded benefits as scholarships at state colleges for illegal-alien students.
The new poll found 77 percent of the adults surveyed opposed making driver’s licenses available to illegal aliens, while just 16 percent supported the idea.» Poll: 77% oppose illegals’ licenses
Why, you’d almost think all that talk we’ve been hearing since the 2006 campaign, about how the American electorate is more liberal than Republicans had assumed, was nothing but a lot of guff.
Say, you don’t suppose it’s possible the real reason—issue-wise, at least—that the GOP got in trouble, was they were acting more liberal than the American electorate was willing to put up with?
Yeah, right. Next you’ll tell me the surge in Iraq is working. And that’s just crazy talk.
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Good Republican Parliamentary Maneuver-fu
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Tue 6 Nov 2007 22:10
by Kevin McGehee
44° and clear
in Coweta County, GA
3 comments
[Wackadoodle]
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House Republicans on Tuesday prevented Democratic leaders from blocking a resolution to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney.
The vote to table the privileged resolution, offered by Ohio Democrat Dennis Kucinch, began as a largely party-line vote to kill the measure, but Republicans developed a strategy to force Democrats to debate the resolution by supporting Kucinich. GOP leaders felt as though it was in their interest to debate the measure because it would make Democrats look bad.
After more than an hour of waiting for the vote to close, the motion to table the resolution failed by a vote of 162-251 after Democratic leaders failed to convince a group of liberal caucus members to side with them.
Republican lawmakers and aides credited Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) for coming up with the idea.» Republicans keep Cheney impeachment bill alive
Good on Shadegg.
It is an approved maxim in war, never to do what the enemy wishes you to do, for this reason alone, that he desires it. attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte
The inverse corollary is, compel him to do what he wishes not to do—for this reason alone, that he does not desire it.
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We’ll See Him on CourtTV
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Tue 6 Nov 2007 8:22
by Kevin McGehee
58° and mostly cloudy
in Coweta County, GA
1 comment
[Alaska]
[Here's Your Sign]
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A North Pole Man has been charged with 11 offenses after leading police on a high-speed chase Thursday afternoon.
Alaska State Troopers were notified about 6:45 p.m. that Kenneth Lerhman, 37, was inside the Fox General Store, 2226 Old Steese Highway, stumbling and unable to stand without holding himself up on the shelves, according to a criminal complaint filed in court.
[...]
Lehrman did not stop at the direction of troopers, instead heading toward the Johansen Expressway at more than 80 mph. Lehrman also drove over the median into the westbound lane on the expressway and ran several red lights, according to the complaint.
While running a red light at the intersection of Johansen and Danby Road, he struck a Ford truck driven by William Byerly. Byerly and two passengers, Jennifer Byerly and Jason Kunishier, were taken to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital for minor injuries.
Lehrman continued toward the University Avenue intersection, where University of Alaska Fairbanks Police set up a spike strip. He avoided the strip and turned right on to University Avenue, where he was also seen driving into oncoming traffic.
Fairbanks Police set up more spike strips further down the road, which Lehrman again avoided. One officer said he had to jump out of the way to avoid being hit by Lehrman’s truck at the road block, according to the complaint.
As he continued southbound on University Avenue, Lehrman struck the rear of a 1996 Toyota 4Runner, pushing it into the rear of 2005 Honda CRV. No injuries were reported in that collision.
After striking the 4Runner, Lehrman headed westbound on Geist Road. He then turned onto the Parks Highway, where troopers said he accelerated to a high speed, according to the complaint.
He drove southbound on the highway for about one mile before he lost control of the vehicle while crossing the median into oncoming traffic.» Man leads police in long high-speed chase
Every so often I catch one of those police-chase video shows on CourtTV. This chase has all the makings of a featured incident—it’s just too bad Fairbanks TV stations don’t have traffic helicopters.
Update: Apparently some of this bird’s maneuvers have not been described. In Fairbanks at least, when you go westbound on Johansen Expressway and then turn right on University Avenue, you’re usually not heading south. I suspect that’s probably the same in most cities that have a Johansen Expressway and a University Avenue, that intersect. Maybe even in those cities that don’t.
Furthermore, to get from westbound on Johansen Expressway to westbound on Geist Avenue, one thing you’re strongly discouraged from doing is turning on University Avenue at all. The overwhelming majority of those westbound on Johansen who want to go westbound on Geist, go straight through the intersection and voila! Assuming the light is green, of course.
So, I’m thinking Lehrman must have found some way to reverse course on University Avenue. So maybe he really did turn right, only to subsequently be heading south.
Admittedly, the degree of detail included in the article as it was published is unusually specific. If they left out an impromptu 180 somewhere along the way, I don’t think I’ll hold it against them.
If it was an action movie, though, Fairbanksans would feel cheated if that one—on icy streets, yet—were left out.
‘Nother update: Strangely enough, in Fairbanks if you’re westbound on Geist Road and want to go southbound on the Parks Highway, you do turn right. So, it’s not as if it’s totally unprecedented.
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In a Strange Sort of Way, It’ll Be Sad to See Them Gone
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Tue 6 Nov 2007 8:04
by Kevin McGehee
57° and cloudy
in Coweta County, GA
0 comments
[Alaska]
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When we lived in Alaska, two of Chris‘ co-workers lived in Fairview Manor, and when I worked delivering food orders for what was then Fairbanks’ only KFC restaurant, I often visited the complex.
A development group’s plan to replace the aging Fairview Manor Apartments with new housing for seniors, low-income residents and others is being tweaked, and a city committee has stepped up its review of the plan as the developers near a deadline to apply for financing.
The Fairbanks City Council broadly authorized the city last winter to sell land under the apartments for $1 million for the project but reserved some wiggle room in case changes were made.
That room was needed, as financing challenges led developers to change the Weeks Field Development project’s first leg. The phase would build more than 100 apartments but no longer reserves a portion of that housing strictly for seniors, although senior housing is included in the larger $70 million plan.
[...]
The existing complex’s apartment buildings, built in the 1950s to house military personnel, sit along Airport Way west of the Noel Wien Public Library. The sky-blue buildings have deteriorated in recent years, and the Weeks Field Commons project calls for clearing the 13-acre site to pave way for a blend of housing, a “senior housing community” and some office or light commercial space.» Fairview Manor housing plan undergoing changes
No one who lived there in the 1990s would say Fairview Manor was a nice place to live. In fact, the nicest thing that could be said was that the place had unique character. Like most of that part of town it was on the then-city-owned utility’s steam-heat grid—where steam produced by the coal-fired power plant on First Avenue was piped underground to customers, thus turning a waste product into a marketable good—and in at least one apartment the heat could not be shut off, causing the tenant to leave her windows slightly open even at Fairbanks’ subzero winter temperatures.
Part of one of the buildings burned in the late ‘90s, making its residents homeless just before Christmas. It was razed and, if you can believe it, rebuilt in the original, er, style.
Undoubtedly a lot of people in Fairbanks will be glad to see those old structures gone for good. Not having lived there myself, I contemplate the change their absence will make to the overall character of an old hometown, with just a touch of sadness.
If we had lived there, we might be tempted to rush back to cheer the demolition.
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A Spectre Is Haunting the Democratic Field
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Tue 6 Nov 2007 7:57
by Kevin McGehee
57° and cloudy
in Coweta County, GA
0 comments
[Here's Your Sign]
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It is the spectre of eGray.
Wherever it’s been tried, embracing driver’s licenses for illegal aliens—as Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and most of the Democratic presidential field did last week—has been political poison, including helping cost one Democratic governor his office.
Ever since the September 11 terrorist attacks, lawmakers who back licenses for illegal aliens have suffered, such as Gray Davis, the former California governor who was recalled in part because he signed such a bill. Those who have called for crackdowns are reaping the political rewards.
“It’s a winner in a general election; I think it’s an absolute winner in a Republican primary; and I think it’s a winner even in many states in a Democratic primary,“ said Rico Oller, the former California state senator who sponsored the bill to repeal the driver’s license law Mr. Davis signed.
The issue has come to the fore since New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, a Democrat, announced in September that his state would begin to issue licenses to illegal aliens who could present a valid passport from their home country.
At last week’s Democratic debate, Mrs. Clinton fumbled on whether she supported her governor, but a day later her campaign announced she generally backs the plan.» Unsafe politically at any speed
Her Inevitableness may not be so inevitable.
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