The War on Saggy Pants

Just yesterday I saw some kid walking down the sidewalk with his pants hilariously low, to the point where it had to have been uncomfortable to walk. I find both the fashion itself, and the resentment of it, to be silly. But that’s just me. The city of Flint Michigan, on the other hand, doesn’t find it silly but criminal, and is doing something about it. Saggy pants are now officially against the law there. And in case you’re unsure of what the exact definition of “saggy pants” is, they have come up with a handy chart:

Now I wish they would do something about “plumbers crack”. I say jail time for that! And anyone disagreeing with me is soft on crime.

Dr. John Simon

Civil War and Lincoln historian John Y. Simon died this week. Simon was a history professor at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. His obit even made the New York Times. I featured Dr. Simon in this blog post from a few years ago after he leveled a few criticisms about the then new Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. Well, mostly he had concerns about the museum.

I took a History of Illinois class from Dr. Simon while I was a student at SIU in the early 1980s. From my old blog post:

On a personal note, I learned a great deal in Dr. Simon’s class. Fortunately, the class was small in size by University standards. Dr. Simon was (and still is, I’m sure) a very interesting. knowledgeable and humorous speaker. He’s also written more than a few books.

His class was great fun. I remember him talking about a visit he had made to Springfield, calling it a “one horse town” where he once had his car stolen. I always thought that strange since in all the time I’ve lived in or near Springfield, I’ve never known anyone who had their car stolen. It happens, I’m sure, but it was odd that it happened to him on a visit.

A good man is gone.

Update: Ooops. Will has already covered this with a much better post and using the same picture. Oh well, I guess I need to check SpfldBloggers before posting in the morning.

Blog So I can Ignore You

Ha, ha. Now I know why people encourage ME to keep on blogging.

I've found that the age of the internet has made me far less tolerant of certain types of annoying people: the person sending out "did you see what candidate X did???" emails to their entire address book, the coworker constantly interrupting you with the latest gossip about Britney Spears, the deliveryman whose packages are always accompanied by long-winded unoriginal conspiracy theories. I feel that type of noise shouldn't be directed towards me, forcing me to listen, when they could focus all of that energy on a blog I could ignore.

Right. If people want your opinion they can go to your blog. Otherwise, STFU. It’s an opt-in option that relieves people of pursuing a potentially rude opt-out course of action.

I Don’t Like Mondays

Eric Zorn thinks that more of the traditional three day holiday weekends should run Friday –Sunday, rather than the usual Saturday – Monday (also see here). I agree. More Friday’s please!

I prefer having a four day work week leading up to the long weekend and, as Zorn says, having Friday off seems more like having two Saturdays as opposed to two Sundays when Monday is the holiday.

Snark of the Day 07/08

Kevin Drum talking about J. Sidney McCain’s balanced budget fantasy:

Sure, but what's a Republican to do these days? They're supposed to be fiscal conservatives, which means they have to pretend to love balanced budgets. So McCain does. Raising taxes is, however, verboten by party fiat, which leaves an aspiring GOP president only two choices: (a) reducing spending and (b) magic. Unfortunately for our hero, proposing actual, concrete budget cuts of any substance is political suicide and he knows it. This leaves magic as the only alternative.

In McCain's case, this seems to take the form of blather about eliminating earmarks (a reform that might be worthwhile but wouldn't actually cut the budget); more blather about "wasteful spending" (the political blowhard's best friend); a bit of nonsense about reducing defense expenditures after we've won all the wars we're fighting (sure, you betcha); and finally, every stumped pol's favorite gimmick: an across-the-board one-year spending freeze. This is a standard last-ditch device that gets hauled out whenever there's no actual plan to do anything serious.

As I’ve said before, this drives me crazy. I’m a fiscal conservative in that I believe in a balanced budget whenever possible. That means having revenues = spending. Republicans cut taxes at every opportunity (mostly to benefit the rich –but whatever) but never, ever make any substantial budget cuts because they would become (even more) unpopular with the electorate. They act as if tax cuts and hugely expensive wars of choice have no effect on the bottom line, or shouldn’t count toward calculating deficit spending. Sorry, but “tax and spend” seems far better to me than borrow and spend.

A Decade of Downloads

It was 10 years ago THIS VERY DAY that I purchased my first home PC.

It was the first opportunity where I actually had the money to do so. And while I had been using PCs for years at work, and messing around online with home computers belonging to friends and family members, having my own PC was a life changer in so many ways. I’m not even sure what I did to kill time in the years BC (before computer).

The Death of Satellite Radio?

Charlie Warner says satellite radio may be facing doom.

The last week of June, Chrysler announced it will offer wireless Internet access in all of its 2009 models, as reported in Jim Carnegie's Radio Business Report. RBR reports the Chrysler system "...dubbed UConnect Web, would be the first such technology from any automaker. Chrysler is hoping that providing drivers access to the information superhighway will set it apart from competitors. Needless to say, the system will be able to stream audio."
…
If Chrysler does it, can Toyota, General Motors, Ford, Honda, and all the other car makers be far behind?

XM and Sirius charge subscribers $12.95 a month for over a hundred commercial-free music channels that they program and for commercial-laden news/talk/sports audio channels such as CNN News and ESPN. XM has Major League Baseball and Sirius has NFL Football plus its biggest draw, potty mouth Howard Stern.

Soon, with free Internet access, people in cars will be able to access every radio station in the world that streams audio, plus Internet audio and music services such as Pandora.com and Last.fm. Baseball will be available via MLB.com for $10 a year or free from radio stations that have an audio stream of the games, and the same with NFL games.

All of this means that content providers (music, sports, talk, comedy, and news) will be able to go directly to their consumers and bypass (disintermediate) traditional distribution channels such as radio stations, satellite radio, television stations, and cable systems sooner rather than later. The disintermediation of the main-stream, traditional media has begun.

I love my satellite radio but if I could stream the internet from my truck, I wouldn’t need a subscription-based satellite service. So I think Warner may be right on this.

iPhone Photo Dump: Fertility Edition

This pile of dirt was placed in a paved parking lot near where I live a few weeks ago. Not long after that, the rich, dark topsoil greened-up all on its own; no one planted this stuff.

They say some of the most fertile soil in the world resides right here in Central Illinois. I think this small pile proves the point.

Weather Cash Cow

Who knew weather was so profitable…

NEW YORK -- NBC Universal and two partners said Sunday they have reached a deal to buy The Weather Channel...

Financial terms weren’t disclosed, but a person familiar with the matter who insisted on anonymity said the purchase price was $3.5 billion in cash
…
The Weather Channel was launched in 1982. Its Web site has about 37 million monthly unique visitors, putting it in the top 15 Web sites, according to the company. The Weather Channel has 1,300 employees and estimated annual revenues of $550 million.

I really don’t watch the Weather Channel all that much anymore, but I do frequent their website along with a number of other weather-related sites. Before I had regular access to the internet (about 10 years ago), I was always tuning into TWC to catch a glimpse at the radar or get a forecast or current temp. It’s just easier and more efficient to hop on the wide, wide world of web now. Still, from a weather geek’s perspective, it’s nice to see a pioneering weather outlet command that much money and employ so many people.

Bike Smart

I’d say this is good advice:

One of the earliest lessons when he started biking to work last summer: avoid Veterans Parkway.

“I would come all the way in on Veterans Parkway. I have since changed my route,” Smith said, adding the ride on Veterans resulted in some “scary” moments.

Can we get a Real Men of Genius award for this guy?

I know that in theory a bicycle should be able to go about anywhere (short of an interstate) that a car can go, but in reality that’s just not practical, at least not the way things are set up now.

Not to keep harping on the same point, but there really needs to be better accommodations for bicycles on the streets of Springfield. I think we need to recognize the reality that, despite the official rules of the road, bikes and cars are not equal and can’t be treated as if they are. Instead, we need areas where one is given priority over the other. Veterans Parkway right now is for cars –period. However, until the day in the distant future when bike lanes and trails abound, why not designate “bike routes” in the city where bicycles are to be given the right-of-way, so to speak, and cars must always yield to them. These would be well marked routes, mostly on side streets, and soon motorists would learn to avoid these streets lest they be slowed by bike traffic.

I’m not sure about the practicality of something like that but it seems to me it might work. It might even be nice for families to live on such streets as traffic would be slow and kept to a minimum. Or maybe everyone would hate it. Who knows.

Dud

Well, good.

After a disappointing July 4 downtown fireworks display, the Springfield Jaycees likely will not use close proximity fireworks next year.

This was the dumbest 4th of July idea for downtown Springfield since the cancellation of Lincolnfest. Fireworks displays are best IN THE AIR. Dumbasses.

Friday Beer Blogging: Taking the 4th Off Edition

I know I promised an exciting! FBB based on my St. Paul microbrewery experience last weekend, but that was before I realized today is the 4th of July. So I'll save it for next week when people are actually wasting time on the internet again. Until then, enjoy this 4th of July FBB from 2005, or better yet, this one from 2006.

Also, Marie of Disarranging Mine fame, has contributed the following must-see TV beer commercials from days gone by (comments hers):

PBR 1958 - We don't know this jingle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FsJhRQwsOw


PBR Early 1950s - This is the jingle we still hear in our heads

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RI_mZrLRl0I&NR=1


Mr. Magoo slinging Stag (this is pathetic)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf77ld5lLfQ


Okay, I just realized this is someone's spoof of a Lowenbrau
commercial, but I never could remember the 2nd verse of the jingle;
love that jingle, by the way - if I had a theme song, it would sound
like this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va_NuPvqcPA


Blatz!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJjSBKIuMWs


Man-sized pleasure - Falstaff:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AP8ISToe1Sc&NR=1


Schlitz

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T4V6jHn0i0

Thank you Marie, that was very entertaining. FBB contributions are always welcome!

Have a great 4th of July!

Best Snark of the Day

Barack Obama is a well-known elitist. He orders orange juice and stuff so how could he not be. Well OK, sometimes he’s a Marxist Muslim Antichrist, but mostly he’s just an elitist. And Matthew Yglesias provides us with the clear “regular guy” contrast J. Sidney McCain embodies:

By contrast, John McCain is an all-American regular guy who, like most people, earns his keep by marrying an heiress. Like average, everyday folks the McCain's rely on credit cards to make ends meet month-to-month "Cindy McCain charged as much as $500,000 in a single month on one American Express card and $250,000 on another, while one of their two dependent children had an AmEx card with a monthly balance as large as $50,000." Yes it's true, one of McCain's dependent children spent approximately the median annual household income of the United States in a single month and that's how McCain knows how to connect with regular people.


Similarly, Mrs. McCain "favors suits made by the German designer Escada, which typically retail for around $3,000 a pop" so she understands that most Americans welcome Wal-Mart's discount prices. And like many Americans, the McCains are very effected by developments in the real estate market, since "trusts and corporations controlled by her and her children spent nearly $11 million between the summer of 2004 and February 2008 on three condominiums in Phoenix and a pair outside San Diego." The McCains understand that these days many young people graduate from college saddled with debt and need a helping hand, that's why they spent "$700,000 for a 1,900-square foot, three-bedroom loft condo for her then-22-year-old daughter Meghan McCain" after she graduated from Columbia. Similarly, they know all about problems with inflation since they "increased their budget for household employees from $184,000 in 2006 to $273,000 in 2007, according to John McCain’s tax returns."

Truly a man in touch with the people who isn’t at all elitist.

By the way, this is kind of a cool video of Obama at his daughter’s soccer game (which, yes, is an elitist sport from Europe).

Come Closer or the City Will Burn Down!

Yes, let’s cram more people into a smaller area. Dumb idea.

[Springfield] City officials decided to use “close proximity” fireworks — the same kind used during the grand opening of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in 2005— so the public can get closer and to allow for the opening up of Capitol Avenue.
…
Robbie Johnston, event chair for Springfield’s Fourth festivities, said close-proximity fireworks are safer for the public because they create less debris. The city’s fire marshal, Dale Simpson, “had raised some concerns because we have so many historical buildings downtown and the trees are getting bigger,” Johnston said.

Unlike typical fireworks that are shot from a distance and travel farther into the air, creating a potential for wide-ranging fiery fallout, close-proximity fireworks stay closer to the ground and create a more intense display up close, akin to the types used at Disney World and rock concerts, Johnston explained.

As such, the fireworks cannot be viewed from great distances, she said.

When we go downtown to watch the fireworks, we are among those sitting a couple of blocks away. You can park so that there isn’t a lot of walking and you can get out quickly so as not to be caught in traffic.

And, hey, how ‘bout some bombs bursting in air? Baaaaah!

Oh well, no downtown fireworks for us this year.

Road Rageous

I can’t remember what blog I even read it on (so no link) but someone had posted a lengthy and kind of boring piece on how we project the worst on people who piss us off in road traffic. That is, we assume someone who cuts us off or doesn’t take his turn at a four way stop to be the worst kind of person ever. They must be stupid, inconsiderate jerks that no one likes! Since our only interaction with this person has been a negative one that might have even threatened our life, they must be only slightly less heinous than say, Hitler.

After slogging though most of the post, I moved on dismissing it as probably a correct observation but not worth such a long blog post. I mean, who cares. But as I subsequently drove around, and being one who gets easily irritated at driving stupidness, I couldn’t stop thinking about the post and began to appreciate how true it is. I really do assume the worst about the “idiots” on the road. They deserve my scorn, dammit. They’re horrible people; just look at how they drive.

Thing is, on a couple of occasions in my life, that idiot driver turned out to be someone I knew and, well, I’m sure their driving indiscretion was just an innocent miscalculation and they really are just good people doing a silly thing. But not the rest them! They’re bad people, dangerous to society, and probably should be put to sleep!

iPhone Photo Dump: Funky Studebaker Edition

I saw this modified (I'm assuming it's modified) Studebaker at a rest stop in southern Minnesota on my way home Sunday.

Not sure what to make of it really. It looks something like a half-century old limo pick-up.

I-55 Free-For-All

What’s with that highway? Close to Springfield, we had a truck full of butter burn up on it yesterday, another crash last night and then there was a plane landing on it near Dwight last evening.

DWIGHT -- Three men escaped injury when a small plane made an emergency landing Tuesday afternoon on Interstate 55 near Dwight, state police at Pontiac said.

The 1980 Beechcraft A36 Bonanza single-propeller plane was headed for Pontiac’s airport for refueling while en route from Detroit, Mich., to Moline. During its approach to Pontiac airport, the plane had engine problems, police said.

The pilot, Larry Kerr, 46, of Moline, made an emergency landing at 5:52 p.m. Tuesday on southbound Interstate 55 about three miles south of the Dwight exit.

Two semitrailer truck drivers helped by blocking traffic behind the aircraft as it landed, police said. The aircraft had minor damage when its right wing clipped a delineator post. The 4-foot-tall steel posts mark each tenth of a mile.

The plane was towed to Pontiac’s airport. The FAA is investigating.

Happy motoring!

Update: Even more 55 fun.

Military Matters

Sort-of related to the topic of whether military experience is a good thing to have in a president; it occurs to me that some of highest ranking military people to be president were decidedly mediocre or even bad. Eisenhower, Grant, and Washington were as high ranking as you can get in the military and none of them were particularly good as president. Grant was awful. Washington was burdened with having to be the first in a new nation so I guess we can cut him some slack.

My guess is that generaling and being president are different jobs with different skill sets needed. Being good as one does not necessarily mean you will be good at the other. And there have been some excellent presidents who were never in the military. Lincoln, while he did spend a very limited amount of time in the Illinois militia hunting injuns, wasn’t a military man by any measure and he turned out to be a very effective commander-in-chief. Same with FDR.

Having said that, I think any experience in life helps make one a more rounded person, so I guess having military experience would be a plus. However, time spent in the military can also take away from other life experiences that might be useful too, so it’s kind of a wash for me.

Horny Goat Weed

Top story in the Bloomington Pantagraph online early this afternoon:

Market strong for over-the-counter sex stimulants, but backlash brews

Flood Terms

Last week there were a bunch of stories about how the tiny community of Gulfport, Illinois had been swallowed up by the Mississippi river and how many residents hadn’t bothered getting flood insurance:

Gulfport was protected by a levee rated to withstand a 100-year flood. Although it wasn't designed to protect the town from a flood on the scale of last week's, it was enough protection that the Federal Emergency Management Agency did not require business or homeowners to purchase flood insurance.

Only 28 of the town's 200 residents had federal flood insurance. The rest trusted that the levees would hold. Residents Rick and Gina Gerstel, who lost everything, say no one from their bank to the municipal or federal governments ever told them they were at risk and ought to buy flood insurance.

Gulfport sits right up against a bend in the Mississippi River across from Burlington, IA. Just looking at the map (and never having been there) it seems to me you might want to have flood insurance if you live that close to one of the great rivers of the world. Even if the government doesn’t require it.

(Also, why does Google maps call it Gulf Port, two words, when no one else does?)

As for the term 100 year flood, many think it’s time to retire it because it’s misleading:

The terms have practical consequences; they are used for such things as classifying a levee's protection level and setting insurance requirements for people who live in flood-prone areas.

Many people seem to believe that a 100-year flood should happen once every 100 years, or that a 500-year flood should happen every 500 years. But that's not how it works.

A 100-year flood is defined as a flood so big that it has a 1 percent chance of happening in any given year. A 500-year flood is one with a 0.2 percent chance of happening in a given year — a 1-in-500 chance.

Scientists say it is not unusual to hear from people who want to know if they have lived through a "100-year" event and want to cancel their flood insurance, believing one recent big flood lowers the risk of another. But that's not the case.

While the rules of probability say that the odds are 50-50 that a coin will come up heads, it is entirely possible to flip a quarter and come up with heads four or five times in a row.

Ah, the rules of probability. You just never know. Get the insurance.