OK, I take it all back. Global warming is real, and the consequences even scarier than anybody has said:
GLOBAL warming has its detractors but English wine-makers won't have a word said against it.
The rise in average temperatures is making all the difference in the world to the English wine making industry, which is expected to expand by 50 per cent over the next year.
This has been designated Suicide Prevention Week in Indiana, which means its time for the state to crank out a press release but not do much else. If this is the problem:
Indiana has a higher rate of suicide than the nation as a whole. In 2002, Indiana had 12.1 suicides per 100,000 people, compared with 11 suicides per 100,000 people nationally, the coalition says. In 2002, 743 Hoosiers died by suicide, according to the coalition's Web site.
Somehow, I let this get by me last week. I very pleased with the progress of the Daniels administration, as graded by Gov. Daniels himself in the latest of his six-months report cards:
Roughly 64 percent of the measured categories were defined in the report as needing improvement or unsatisfactory during the first six months of this year, compared with 73 percent in the previous six months. The report covering Daniels' first six months in office in 2005 rated 87 percent in those areas.
Quick what was Rodney Dangerfield's first "I don't get no respect" line? "I played hide-and-seek, and they wouldn't even look for me." If you got caught up in the "Path to 9/11" stuff or just had to see the Colts-Giants game, you probably missed this Comedy Central tribute to one of my heroes (and it's worth looking for the rerun):
I found these two of the more interesting commentaries on the fifth anniversary of 9/11. People keep saying the "war on terrorism" is one that will go on forever. But is it possible we've already won?
The difference is that for many years, it was fighting an adversary who was not really fighting back. In the fall of 2001, al Qaeda found, to its shock, what it was really up against.
Boy, if it weren't obvious before that absolutely everything about the infidels is reviled, this should clear it up:
Pet owning is not common in the Arab world, though dogs are kept for hunting and guarding. In large cities around the Middle East, stray dogs often wander the streets and are considered pests. Street cats are also plentiful, and people will often feed them or play with them — but it isn't a widespread custom to keep one in the home, and many cannot afford it.
One way you can tell you live in Fort Wayne instead of Chicago. Here, we note coming of Macy's with tearful reminiscences about the passing of the L.S. Ayre's era. There, they take to the streets:
Protesters marched, carried signs and called for a boycott Saturday because their beloved Marshall Field's store, the shopper's magnet on State Street for more than a century, had been replaced by a New York icon — Macy's.
An interesting take from Britain's Guardian on why an Indiana popcorn business in the middle of Amish country ended up being a "terrorist target": It's all about the money:
Five years after the World Trade Centre fell, a highly lucrative industry has been born in America - homeland security. There has been a goldrush as companies scoop up government contracts and peddle products that they say are designed to make America safe.
One of the things I regret missing out on is the campus experience. I started college at IPFW, continuing to live with my parents. After military service, I finished at Ball State, commuting from Marion, where I lived with my in-laws. So when people talk about dorm parties and all-night study sessions and getting together for pizza after the football game, all I can relate it to is sharing barracks with 30 or more other soldiers, not nearly (I suspect) the same experience.
Newspapers face extraordinary challenges these days, as so many people continue to point out. But they have chronicled the history of this country as it unfolded. So this is very cool:
Google News is getting a sense of the past to balance out its relentless focus on the present.
Yeah, sure, as long as the military action lasts only a few days and doesn't involve anything messy like destruction or deaths that might make it look like an actual war:
Most French and Americans would support military action against Iran as a last resort if other means fail to stop it acquiring nuclear weapons, a major transatlantic opinion survey showed on Wednesday.
OK, show of hands. How many rights do you think a child molester should have?
This week's nomination for headline stating the obvious: "Lack of sidewalks could stymie movement." In all fairness, I think the headline writer was trying to be cute, "movement" actually referring to an advocacy group trying to encourage more walking to school. But it takes awhile for cleverness to sink in -- most readers probably scratched their heads until they got a few paragraphs into the story (if they did) The story itself is interesting:
Once in a while, somebody comes up with something we've never thought about. You'd heard of the crime of "driving while black." But what about "sitting on a park bench while gay"?
I realize that some
foolsmen still have sex in parks, and I realize that there are pedophiles in the world — but are the women of America so afraid that the mere sight of two men in a park makes them call the police?
Look, I know what President Bush was trying to say:
Five years after the September 11 attacks, the United States is safer but "we are not yet safe" from a significantly degraded but still dangerous al Qaeda threat, the White House said in a report on Tuesday.
Libel law is applied in different ways to different media. The telephone company, for example, is just a carrier, and isn't thought to be responsible if Person A says mean things to Person B about Person C over the phone. But a newspaper exercises editorial judgment, so Editor A can get in trouble if he lets Letter Writer B's libelous comments about Citizen C appear on the editorial page. How does this apply to blogs? If a blogger lets a snarky reader make libelous statements about a third party in the comments attached to a post, can the blogger be held accountable?
Being otherwise occupied at the Bob Dylan concert Tuesday night, I'm afraid I didn't catch the "historic" first broadcast of the CBS News with Katie Couric as anchor. Sounds like I didn't miss much, though:
After Katie Couric was introduced on her first night as "CBS Evening News" anchor by a Walter Cronkite voiceover, she delivered a fast-moving newscast that the legendary newsman might have found unrecognizable.
[. . .]
This letter to the editor in The Indianapolis Star raises an interesting point:
Even back in the dark ages when I was young, it was commonly understood that graduating from high school was a prerequisite for any kind of success, and it was even fairly clear that at least some college might be useful. So it's discouraging that, at this late date, so many still aren't getting the message:
Chamber president Kevin Brinegar said the report, which estimates that more than 20,000 young Hoosiers drop out of high school every year, does not bode well for the state's work force.
I'm taking my birthday day off today, so this will be my only post. Y'all keep the wheels of commerce running till I get back tomorrow.
