"OK, Natasha, here is plan. First, you hide all acorns..."
"...ALL acorns, Boris?"
"Yes, Natasha, ALL acorns. Then squirrel will come out in open to look for food in cornfields and garbage cans, and we grab him. Then, moose will come looking for squirrel, and we grab HIM, too. Then we ship moose and squirrel to Pottsylvania, and Fearless Leader will give us big bonus."
Bob Steele worries about bloggers' standards:
"I'm very worried about the significant erosion of ethical standards across our profession and the resulting corrosion of the quality of the journalism," writes Bob Steele in Nieman Reports. "The blogs, Tweets, social networking, citizen-submitted content, and multimedia storytelling that are the tools and techniques of the digital era offer great promise. They also, when misused, present considerable peril."
"I believe the death penalty is a just punishment for four counts of murder." That's not the police or prosecution calling for the execution of the murderer Joseph Corcoran. That's Joseph Corcoran speaking, being quoted by the appeals court that just put the death penalty back on the table in his case (pdf of the court's decision).
This is just sick:
While thousands of dogs and cats are being given up by pet owners across the U.S. as times become harder, chickens are gaining popularity as household pets in some U.S. cities.
The rising popularity of the feathered creature is due to the chicken's ability to provide eggs, pest control, fertilizer and eventually meat. To address zoning regulations, homeowners are working to amend local laws in areas like Fort Collins, CO, Bloomington, IN and Brainerd, MN.
Darn, just when I was thinking about investing in Soylent Green:
Citing the impact of the recession, Indiana's environmental agency has halted funding for state grant and loan programs that support recycling and pollution prevention -- a cutoff that will persist through at least through summer 2010.
[. . .]
This change has been needed for a long time, so three cheers to Gov. Mitch Daniels for proposing it:
INDIANAPOLIS - Indiana allows local government employees to serve on their own governing bodies -- meaning they can vote to raise their own pay or give themselves other perks at taxpayer expense.
This isn't exactly the shock of the century:
The number of crashes at Houston intersections with red-light cameras doubled in the first year after their installation, according to a city-financed study released Monday.
But Mayor Bill White argued that the cameras' presence prevented even more collisions and that the study proves the monitoring program is keeping drivers safe.
Two different ways to face tough economic times. Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels:
No money for new state programs. No money, potentially, to fully fund some existing programs at current levels. And no money for state pay raises.
I don't know why people think newspapers are in trouble. They'll still be indispensable as long as they provide such information as this, in an article titled "4 ways to safely open a champagne bottle":
Don't mar what could be a perfect start to the new year with a champagne cork injury to your eye.
Suggestion for the Allen County Public Library: Don't follow this example of the Bartholomew County Library Whatever the increase in fines collected, it will be more than offset by the bad feelings generated, especially if the agency uses some of the more notorious collection techniques:
The library loses about $50,000 a year in items that aren't returned. To recoup that money, they hired a collection company to bring in fines and books.
