2011 archive
Extreme Couponing 0
The reality, not the reality show:
Details, but no coupons, at the link.
Aside:
I bet Newton Minow never imagined he’d live to see a wasteland so vast as to include “Extreme Couponing.”
Water Polo with the Homeless, Reprise 0
On my way to Drinking Liberally last night, at the intersection of Wesleyan and Northampton Boulevard, a bedraggled and undernourished looking gent was holding a sign that said
U. S. Veteran.
Please
Help.
Several weeks ago, I mentioned Virginia Beach’s approach to homelessness: Out of sight is out of mind.
City Council is pursuing its plan to shuffle the homeless out of view, while simultaneously stuffing more money into the pockets of developers.
In a vain attempt to persuade Council to look at the plan more carefully, my friend Andrew Jackson wrote a letter to City Council before Tuesday’s meeting. Although the vote has been taken, I felt that the points he made were worthy of more visibility–not that I am all that visible, but my regular readers outnumber the usual attendance at City Council meetings. (Here is the local rag’s report on the meeting.)
You can download Andrew’s full letter (it’s about a page and a half) in *.pdf format. Here’s an excerpt:
Approval of the Light House project as presently planned makes no sense. It will serve no more than it presently has the capacity to serve. In fact, the truth be told, it only serves 60 -70 percent (on a good day) of it’s present capacity of 90. It will not reduce homeless numbers to any noticeable degree (if any), it will not serve the homeless city-wide, and the cost of the land which is now planned is nearly four (4) times it’s original value and with no land improvement.
The fact is, that the only purpose the expenditure of nearly $5M will accomplish is the removal of the present suitable facility so that a convention center hotel complex can be accommodated. This comes about because the city has on two previous occasions missed opportunities to rectify the situation.
While the city claims to be bringing a committee of citizens together to review the present options for this project, it is at the same time planning to vote on the budget for the project even before the committees have completed their work. It is obvious dishonesty to the highest degree toward the citizens of this city. A meeting of the committee is scheduled for tomorrow, yet the Council is voting this evening.
In a resort town, “Republican” and “Democrat” are not meaningful classifications. “In the pocket of developers” and “not in the pocket of developers” are.
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
Still not good:
A further decline in the number of firings accompanied by job gains elsewhere may shore up consumers’ confidence and boost average incomes, helping Americans overcome the strains of higher food and energy costs. U.S. payrolls have expanded for seven straight months, a sign the labor market is strengthening.
Blame the Victim 0
It’s a hallowed tactic of bigots.
Drafting an Obituary on the Typewriter 0
I’ve made my living with a keyboard almost my whole career.
Raja Murthy, the author, goes on to survey the history of the typewriter and its last refuges of use.
Somewhere around here I have to old Royal manual portable that followed me from high school to college and onward. I haven’t opened the case in years, but I can’t bring myself to throw it away.
A Newt Is a Small Lizard 0
Jay Bookman of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution recalls the Gingrinch’s Greatest Hits.
Breaktime 0
Off to drink liberally.
Stating the Obvious 0
Writing at Bloomberg, economist and professor William K. Black considers the price of coddling bankster crime. A nugget:
We have seen this in the financial crisis that started in 2008 and in an earlier era, when the savings-and-loan industry collapsed.
In the Texas “Rent-a-Bank” scandal of the 1970s, for example, two ringleaders created a fraud network of 50 lenders that caused billions of dollars in losses. The watchdogs removed and sanctioned one of the main culprits, but because the crimes weren’t prosecuted, the same crooks reappeared in the 1980s to do it all over again, only on a bigger scale. Unless you imprison the fraudsters, sophisticated financial scams grow ever more destructive.
It seems as if we have forgotten this lesson.
Read the whole thing.
Facebook Frolics 0
Given that, according to Zuckerberg, at Facebook “the default is social,” this surprises us how?
Security firm Symantec discovered that programs were inadvertently sharing access tokens which could be used by advertisers.
It estimates that, as of last month, 100,000 applications were still enabling leaks.
This sort of stuff is exactly why you don’t see me logged into Facebook very often.
You also don’t see me walking naked on the beach very often either.
Wo-Wo-Wo-Wo-Wildwood 0
When I lived in Greater Philly Co-Prosperity Sphere, I visited Wildwood from time to time. and always enjoyed it. No place does tacky beach resort with more elan than Wildwood.
And Morey’s Pier was always a favorite stop.
Here, the owner of Morey’s and several other piers reveals the key to carny rides:
Achieving that balance is where “the art and science of amusement-ride designing comes in,” Morey said. “The art is making a scary, thrilling ride and the science is in making sure the passengers are safe but they are unaware of the safety. That would take the thrill out of it.”
The first roller coaster I rode was at Morey’s piers.
Wedding Blues 0
I predict in-law troubles for the betrothed couple:
The 50-year-old Rock Hill man was at White Horse Restaurant on Camden Avenue for a wedding party for his daughter Friday night, according to a Rock Hill police report. After the bill arrived, he was angry he had to pay for the alcohol because he thought the groom’s father was supposed to pay for all of the dinner, the report states.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Always be polite to your spouse or significant other to ensure domestic tranquility.
Facebook Frolics 0
Boo-bleepin’-hoo:
In a 14-page letter sent to the FEC on April 26, three lawyers working on Facebook’s behalf argue that small campaign ads on the social networking site should be exempt because displaying disclaimers would be impractical. TPM was alerted to Facebook’s letter by a source.
Facebook touts its status as a “gathering point for the American electorate” and argued that changing the size or format of their ads “would cause a significant disruption to Facebook’s basic advertising model.”
To paraphrase Church Lady, “They’re so special.”