Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for cars and trucks haven't been raised in quite a while. But now, big changes are in the works, and it naturally worries people in the auto industry:
The Big Three automakers believe such strict requirements will be extremely expensive to implement and ultimately will lead to the loss of jobs and fewer choices for the consumer.
Those in favor of the current legislation say it will help reduce the U.S.'s reliance on foreign oil.
Hoosier Pro Wrestling played to a "packed" arena of 225 fans in Columbus recently. Obviously, we're not as dumb here as people say we were. I must confess that this name from the past caught me up short: "Diceman Ronnie Vegas pinned Pastor Pain who subbed for the no showing Bobo Brazil Jr. who was fired by Promoter Jerry Wilson." (Apparently, they don't like commas much in pro wrestling.) My father was a big fan of wrestling back in the days when Bobo Brazil Sr.
This hardly seems fair:
A study hint for immigrants preparing to take the citizenship test in 2008: Stop worrying so much about names and dates and start thinking conceptually about what it means to be an American.
The U.S. government announced Thursday that it was redesigning the test to put less emphasis on memorizing facts and more weight on understanding the nation's history and government.
Have a ball, old fogies:
A study of men and women age 70 to 79 found that those who downed one to seven alcoholic drinks a week had a significantly lower risk of heart problems or death than those who didn't imbibe, researchers said on Monday.
Cripes. If I make it that far, I figure pretty much anything goes. What's the point of self-denial then?
Quick, run and hide! The terrorists are coming! We're all going TO DIE!!!
Well, maybe not right away. But, according to a Homeland Security database of assets vulnuerable to terrorist attack, Indiana has:
8,591 potential terrorist targets . . . 51 percent more sites listed than New York (5,687) and nearly twice as many as California (3,212), ranking the state the most target-rich in the nation.
News-Sentinel staffer Ryan Lengerich wrote a story about local blogging. Mitch Harper, a blogger mentioned in the story, did an immediate critique of it.
Andrew Kaduk at the Just For The Record blog took this fun test and discovered the leader he was most like was Abe Lincoln, "a mild mannered assassination victim" who is good at mediating disputes "with the exception of the occasional bloody civil war." So I took it, too, and this was my result.
The Allen County Public Library's renovation and expansion project has gotten a little negative publicity -- there was a slight cost overrun ($560,000 on the $65.4 million project, less than 1 percent), and Director Jeff Krull took some heat over the expensive new chairs that were ordered. Compare that to what's going on in Indianapolis.
I'm not sure what I think about Bloomington's new requirements for dog-tethering. They can't be tied up for more than 10 hours in a row or more than 12 hours in any 24-hour period. I have cats, who bascially just roam around the house when they're not eating or sleeping. But it seems reasonable. What's the point of having a pet if you're just going to tie it up in the back yard and ignore it half the time? For what it's worth, here's what the Fort Wayne city code has to say:
Taking Down Words, an Indianpolis blog, has a post on the speech with several comments attached. Most of those commenting didn't think much of the speech. "Long on metaphor, short on substance," one of them said.
