I wish Fort Wayne had solved all its problems the way Jeffersonville has solved its, so that we, too, could worry about important things like aesthetics. About a month ago, I did a post about Peggy Duffy of that city, who heads some citizens group called City Pride. She was haranguing the City Council about newspaper and advertising boxes.
I know I'm an old fart, but I still remember Christmas breaks, and I'm pretty sure vegging out was at the top of the list. As a matter of fact it was the list:
The New York Times has a ponderous piece on when it might be best to "come clean" with children about Santa, if, ahem, you know what I mean. Here is but one sentence from professor of psychology:
The change in children's conceptualization of Santa is driven in part by cognitive development.
I love it when they talk dirty like that.
When newspapers go away, what are you going to do for information as valuable as this, from USA Today?
Happy winter. It's cold in much of the country and a perfect time for a brisk walk, a bracing run or a giddy trip down a ski slope. But winter also can be hazardous to health — and may be especially tough on hearts, hips, hands and hides (your skin).
So, what do you think? Is this guy a geek or a nerd?
But David Anderegg, a professor of psychology at Bennington College, says that merely mentioning terms like nerd or geek serves to perpetuate the stereotype. The words are damaging, much like racial epithets, he says, and should be avoided.
An indiscriminate use of the term "homeless" is in this headline from Evansville: Homeless couple arrested after knife fight:
Guess now we know the budget crisis is real in Indiana:
Indiana universities searching for ways to cut $150 million from their budgets by year's end say they're looking at all options -- including eliminating some sports or even academic majors.
"At this point, everything is on the table," said Tony Proudfoot, a vice president for marketing and communications at Ball State University, which saw attendance at its home football games drop more than 40 percent this year.
The juxtaposition of the day is for all you dog lovers out there. First, we have the story of a brave woman's demise:
Police in western Indiana say a woman trying to remove her injured dog from a highway was struck and killed by a vehicle.
Sometimes I might seem a litle gloomy, but I'm a cockeyed optimist compared to some people today. Time magazine calls the oughts the "decade from hell" ("This decade was as awful as any peacetime decade in the nation's entire history") and Americans rate the current decade as the "worst in 50 years":
If you've been in the winter frame of mind for weeks already, at least make it official. Happy Winter Solstice! The good news is that this is also the shortest day of the year. The days will start lenghtening before you know it. "Solstice," by the way is from the Latin phrase for "sun stands still."
The New York City Council is expected to override the mayor's veto of a bill giving drivers in certain parking zones an extra five minutes past the expired time on parking meters, escaping a fine of $65. I'm no fan of parking meters or excessive fines, but I think the mayor has a point:
Bloomberg says the law would lead to chaos. He asks how drivers and ticketers will know what time to go by.
Thw "Regret the Error" blog has released its annual list of "best' (i.e. most embarrassing") media corrections for 2009. Lots of contenders, but this one from The New York Times might be my favorite:
With the coming closing of B. Dalton's, Laredo, Texas, population about a quarter of a million, is about to become the nation's largest city without a single bookstore. The story includes this "Well, duh!" observation:
Some worry that the closing could send a message that books and reading are not priorities in Laredo, a hot, steamy city of 230,000 that is choked by smog from trucks lining up at the border, which is home to the nation's biggest entry point for trucks and trains.
The National Association of Manufacturers sent President Obama a plea on the eve of his trip to Copenhagen (pdf file):
Bobby Knight might have a promising second career as an ESPN analyst if only he can learn to speak his mind once in a while:
"People ask me,
I have my doubts about high school students going to the nurse for certain things, but perhaps I'm reacting too much based on my own recollections and not taking into account how kids have changed:
Without discussion, the Milwaukee School Board voted 7-0 Thursday night to make condoms available at many of the city's high schools, paving the way to make Milwaukee Public Schools one of the relatively few districts in the nation to provide contraception to students.
[. . .]
Quicher whining, Gary, and learn how to cope with the property tax caps:
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels wants struggling cities like Gary to consider merging with other local governments to become more efficient and reduce costs.
Another right you didn't even know you had, probably because you've been wasting your time reading that musty old Constitution -- the right to broadband access:
The Obama administration named 18 projects Thursday that would receive a portion of the $7.4 billion in stimulus funds set aside to bring high-speed Internet to poor and rural areas that have been overlooked by Internet service providers.
This is my brother's cat, Bubba, sneaking in a snooze while the humans are away from the bedroom. I'm posting it only because it's sorta cute, and this is a lazy Friday (I hope).
