See here. (I moved mine.)
Monday, October 31, 2011
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Sunday night personal
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| Bernie Madoff's wife, Ruth [click to enlarge photo.] |
The Madoffs used to live in a penthouse in the building above, at 133 E. 64th Street in Manhattan. She now lives in a three-room apartment somewhere in Florida, and when asked by Morley Safer whether she misses the penthouse, she said "not really."
See "60 Minutes" story here.
(The Madoff situation is a tragedy and has nothing to do with the hijinks going on on Wall Street that destroyed our economy.)
[9:10] "Desperate Housewives" is on now. Just heard a very alarming weather alert about a storm with 70 mph winds and tornados. It's down in the southwest metro area and heading west-northwest (i.e., not this way). (That was a relief.) As for "Desperate Housewives," all I can say is "ugh."
"Pan Am" was interesting tonight, however. Getting into it.
GOP House majority vulnerable in 2012
HuffPost reports on a poll that came out earlier in the week, but it's important - it's from PPP, the polling firm that gets elections right more often than anyone else.A new survey sponsored by a Democratic super PAC reveals that several Republican-held House seats could be competitive next year as Democrats look to gain 25 seats to take back the House of Representatives.
The poll, conducted by Public Policy Polling on behalf of the Democratic super PAC, "House Majority PAC," shows 12 Republican incumbents in a vulnerable position heading into their reelection campaigns: fewer than 50 percent of voters in their districts would vote to reelect them.
"These polls illustrate that Republican incumbents running in swing districts across the country are in serious trouble and Republican control of the House is in serious jeopardy," House Majority PAC Executive Director Alixandria Lapp said in a press release.
The poll comes as Democrats have retaken the lead on the generic House ballot question, which answers whether voters want to support a Democratic or Republican candidate in their district. An Oct. 10 Reuters poll showed Democrats ahead 48 percent to 40 percent over the Republicans, and an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll also on Oct. 10 found the Democrats with a 45 percent to 41 percent lead.
Amazing picture of the Statue of Liberty taking shape in a workshop in Paris more than 125 years ago
Occupy the Boardroom: protesters get message to inboxes of CEOs
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| Occupy Wall Street protesters plan to hand-deliver messages written to CEOs of major corporations. Photograph: Chris Hondros/Getty Images |
Thousands of Americans who were badly hit by the recession have been able to directly message the most powerful figures in the country's top financial institutions via a new website set up as part of the Occupy movement.
So far, almost 7000 people have sent messages via OccupytheBoardroom.org directly into the inboxes of figures like Lloyd Blankfein, chief executive of Goldman Sachs, Vikram Pandit, CEO of Citigroup and Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JP Morgan Chase.
To make sure the executives can't just ignore the emails, activists from Occupy Wall Street plan to print them off and hand-deliver them in a march on Friday.
Those who have sent messages include foreclosure victims, students unable to pay off loans, and ordinary hard working people affected by the recession and then by debts called in by banks.
Some are heartbreaking, many are angry, and a few rely on sarcasm to get their point across. In one message, a Marine Corp veteran who has served in the Middle East described to Joe L Price, a Bank of America executive, how he got into debt because his son had a lengthy spell in hospital, and how he can't afford the mounting fees.
He writes: "You may think that this is ok but it is not ok... as a patriot of the original founding fathers beliefs, you are unpatriotic and I was willing to lay my life down for people such as yourself. Tell me, what sacrifice are you willing to make for me?"
Another, written to John G Stumpf, chairman and CEO of Wells Fargo, under the heading "Congratulations Mr Stumf", reads: "I work two jobs (retail and freelance) to keep up with my student loan payments ($700/mo), mortgage ($1100/mo), utilities, insurance, credit, and two car payments ($1500/mo). I have so many payments, sometimes my account gets really low, and I like to pretend its a game to see if my paycheck will clear in time before the payment goes through! Its very exciting, and when I lose, YOU WIN! $30 each time!
The site is a collaboration between Occupy Wall Street, New York Communities for Change and a coalition of community and labour groups. It has posted 200 names of CEOs and board members of Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo, with links allowing messages to be sent directly to their inboxes.
Olivier Leirer, of New York Communities for Change, said the idea was aimed at giving ordinary people a chance to tell their stories and have their voices heard.
"The letters touched on four key issues, foreclosure, unemployment, anger at rising fees and corruption and collusion between Wall Street executives and our elected officials" said Leirer, who helped set it up.
They had originally intended to publish the emails and other contact details of all the board members and executives, but learned that they could be prosecuted under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act if their actions unwittingly crashed the email servers of the banks.
"It could be punishable by time in jail and we decided it wasn't a good way to go about things" she said.
Instead of sending out thousands of emails, with the potential risk, OTB devised a system where individuals write into a group blog, which is then tagged and sent in batches of 99 emails to the intended recipient.
Leirer said that they are able to discern if the emails are being opened and, so far, around 20% of them are.
"We know that they are not being sent directly to trash. But even if they are, we are printing off the letters and delivering them directly."
The site also urges readers to choose a "Best Friend Forever " among the "1 per cent". By clicking on their name, they are encouraged to find out more about them and even meet them. It stresses, however, that they should not be harassed.
The site, which has been running for two weeks, has not gone unnoticed by the institutions it has targeted.
A memo from Fay Feeney, a consultant and member of the National Association of Corporate Directors, described how corporations should prepare to combat the Occupation movement.
In the memo, leaked to the Occupy Washington and first published by website October2011.org, Feeney warns "corporate counsels, CEOs and board rooms" about OccupytheBoardroom.
She said: "As the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protesters are hitting the streets worldwide, another movement is quietly unfolding online; OccupyThe Boardroom"
"Users can access a list of CEOs and share their stories regarding bankruptcy, job losses, and unfair treatment. According to OTB (which claims it has the contact information for al members listed) prizes will be awarded to the best funnniest and most revelatory interactions."
She warns: "Board members and corporate counsels prepare themselves for a bumpy ride by future-proofing their companies."
"Protests can spin out of control, with real time data processing from Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites."
Among the steps taken to protect themselves is to use social networks to gather intelligence so "board chairs and CEOs should always remain one step ahead in protecting their boardroom."
When contacted by the Guardian, Feeney said in an email: "This guidance was for directors to listen to stakeholders and take action to make the board responsive to the voices - whether internal or external... My counsel is aimed at improved governance and enlightening the boardroom."
Koch-Backed Climate Denier Admits Global Warming Is Real
WASHINGTON — A prominent physicist and skeptic of global warming spent two years trying to find out if mainstream climate scientists were wrong. In the end, he determined they were right: Temperatures really are rising rapidly.
The study of the world's surface temperatures by Richard Muller was partially bankrolled by a foundation connected to global warming deniers. He pursued long-held skeptic theories in analyzing the data. He was spurred to action because of "Climategate," a British scandal involving hacked emails of scientists.
Yet he found that the land is 1.6 degrees warmer than in the 1950s. Those numbers from Muller, who works at the University of California, Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, match those by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA.
He said he went even further back, studying readings from Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. His ultimate finding of a warming world, to be presented at a conference Monday, is no different from what mainstream climate scientists have been saying for decades.
What's different, and why everyone from opinion columnists to "The Daily Show" is paying attention is who is behind the study.
One-quarter of the $600,000 to do the research came from the Charles Koch Foundation, whose founder is a major funder of skeptic groups and the tea party. The Koch brothers, Charles and David, run a large privately held company involved in oil and other industries, producing sizable greenhouse gas emissions.
Muller's research team carefully examined two chief criticisms by skeptics. One is that weather stations are unreliable; the other is that cities, which create heat islands, were skewing the temperature analysis.
"The skeptics raised valid points and everybody should have been a skeptic two years ago," Muller said in a telephone interview. "And now we have confidence that the temperature rise that had previously been reported had been done without bias."
Muller said that he came into the study "with a proper skepticism," something scientists "should always have. I was somewhat bothered by the fact that there was not enough skepticism" before.
There is no reason now to be a skeptic about steadily increasing temperatures, Muller wrote recently in The Wall Street Journal's editorial pages, a place friendly to skeptics. Muller did not address in his research the cause of global warming. The overwhelming majority of climate scientists say it's man-made from the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and oil. Nor did his study look at ocean warming, future warming and how much of a threat to mankind climate change might be.
Still, Muller said it makes sense to reduce the carbon dioxide created by fossil fuels.
"Greenhouse gases could have a disastrous impact on the world," he said. Still, he contends that threat is not as proven as the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says it is.
On Monday, Muller was taking his results – four separate papers that are not yet published or peer-reviewed, but will be, he says – to a conference in Santa Fe, N.M., expected to include many prominent skeptics as well as mainstream scientists.
"Of course he'll be welcome," said Petr Chylek of Los Alamos National Lab, a noted skeptic and the conference organizer. "The purpose of our conference is to bring people with different views on climate together, so they can talk and clarify things."
Shawn Lawrence Otto, author of the book "Fool Me Twice" that criticizes science skeptics, said Muller should expect to be harshly treated by global warming deniers. "Now he's considered a traitor. For the skeptic community, this isn't about data or fact. It's about team sports. He's been traded to the Indians. He's playing for the wrong team now."
Muller's study found that skeptics' concerns about poor weather station quality didn't skew the results of his analysis because temperature increases rose similarly in reliable and unreliable weather stations. He also found that while there is an urban heat island effect making cities warmer, rural areas, which are more abundant, are warming, too.
Among many climate scientists, the reaction was somewhat of a yawn.
"After lots of work he found exactly what was already known and accepted in the climate community," said Jerry North, a Texas A&M University atmospheric sciences professor who headed a National Academy of Sciences climate science review in 2006. "I am hoping their study will have a positive impact. But some folks will never change."
Chris Field, a Carnegie Institution scientist who is chief author of an upcoming intergovernmental climate change report, said Muller's study "may help the world's citizens focus less on whether climate change is real and more on smart options for addressing it."
Some of the most noted scientific skeptics are no longer saying the world isn't warming. Instead, they question how much of it is man-made, view it as less a threat and argue it's too expensive to do something about, Otto said.
Skeptical MIT scientist Richard Lindzen said it is a fact and nothing new that global average temperatures have been rising since 1950, as Muller shows. "It's hard to see how any serious scientist (skeptical, denier or believer – frequently depending on the exact question) will view it otherwise," he wrote in an email.
In a brief email statement, the Koch Foundation noted that Muller's team didn't examine ocean temperature or the cause of warming and said it will continue to fund such research. "The project is ongoing and entering peer review, and we're proud to support this strong, transparent research," said foundation spokeswoman Tonya Mullins.
[Emphasis added.]
Here comes the next wave of condos
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| Brickell House; 1300 Brickell Bay Dr; Units: 374; Height: 46 stories; Planned completion: 2014; Developer: Newgard Group (Miami) Newgard Development Group [Herald photo] |
The aftershocks of the last housing boom are still lingering, but developers are once again rushing to buy up land and erect new condo towers in downtown Miami’s burgeoning metropolis.
At least six new condo projects are slated to break ground in Miami in the coming years, with developers promising to announce several additional projects soon. . . .
The demand is coming, almost exclusively, from outside Miami. Buyers based in Latin America, Canada, Europe and the northeast United States have spent more than $3.8 billion on South Florida real estate this year, helping boost sales. International buyers account for about 90 percent of new condo sales, according to the Miami Association of Realtors.
Builders believe the surging international demand is strong enough to support new condo towers.
They are also using a more cash-focused financing model this time, hedging risk by requiring buyers to pay as much as 80 percent of the full price of a condo before construction is completed. Under the arrangement, buyers pay 20 percent at pre-construction, 20 percent at ground-breaking, and another 30 to 40 percent as the tower is topped off and approved for occupancy. . . .
William Hardin, a professor of real estate and finance at Florida International University, said some of the developers are simply testing the market. They might make splashy announcements and host lavish launch parties, but if the cash-buyers don’t materialize, the projects will never be built. . . .
Recession-weary South Floridians have become a minority of the market and developers acknowledge that the 70 percent deposit financing model virtually shuts all locals out of the market.
“I want a buyer that can pay cash — no financing,” said Hernandez, “Our buyers here [in South Florida], nobody has 70 percent. Nobody can afford that.” . . .
“A condo in São Paolo that was selling for $500 a foot in 2005 is now probably trading for $1,500,” said Studnicky. “A condo in downtown Miami that was selling for $1,000 is now selling for closer to $500 a foot. It’s completely flipped.”
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Saturday afternoon personal
From Wikipedia:
Muscadines have been used for making commercial fine wines and port wines dating back to the 16th Century in and around St. Augustine, Florida.BTW, I myself have made wine before. When I was growing up, my parents bought a wine-making kit. (We had a prolific grapefruit tree in the backyard at the time, and I think my father tried to make grapefruit wine.) But as I recall, I used it twice to make wine from bottled Welch's concord grape juice. Not bad (though I was a minor at the time and only had a taste). I'd made it for my parents, and they drank it at dinner and liked it. (There was just a little sediment at the bottom of the bottle.)
I usually don't drink wine, especially white wine - I find it too acidic for my stomach. (And I've had GERD and now have Barrett's esophagus.) Again, from Wikipedia:
Both macroscopic (from endoscopy) and microscopic positive findings are required to make a diagnosis. Barrett's esophagus is marked by the presence of columnar epithelia in the lower esophagus, replacing the normal squamous cell epithelium—an example of metaplasia. The secretory columnar epithelium may be more able to withstand the erosive action of the gastric secretions; however, this metaplasia confers an increased risk of adenocarcinoma.[9][Emphasis added.] I think it's pretty smart that the body replaces part of the lower esophagus with cells that are better able to withstand the acid from the stomach. But then there's the increased cancer risk. So I have to have this condition monitored.
The metaplastic columnar cells may be of two types: gastric (similar to those in the stomach, which is NOT technically Barrett's esophagus) or colonic (similar to cells in the intestines). A biopsy of the affected area will often contain a mixture of the two. Colonic-type metaplasia is the type of metaplasia associated with risk of malignancy in genetically susceptible people.
The metaplasia of Barrett's esophagus is grossly visible through a gastroscope, but biopsy specimens must be examined under a microscope to determine whether cells are gastric or colonic in nature. Colonic metaplasia is usually identified by finding goblet cells in the epithelium and is necessary for the true diagnosis of Barrett's.
The risk of developing esophageal adenocarcinoma in people who have Barrett's esophagus has been estimated to be 6–7 per 1000 person-years,[19][20] however a cohort study of 11,028 patients from Denmark published in 2011 showed an incidence of only 1.2 per 1000 person-years (5.1 per 1000 person-years in patients with dysplasia, 1.0 per 1000 person-years in patients without dysplasia).[21](In case you're wondering what a "person-year" is, I've found this definition: "a statistical measure representing one person at risk of development of a disease during a period of 1 year.")
I'll never forget the appointment I had with the gastroenterologist following my endoscopy (and a colonoscopy, done on the same day). He said, "You have Barrett's," as if I knew what that was, "Barrett's dysplasia." (I think I now know all about it that a layman can possibly know.)
It's too windy outside today to deploy the cat-door insert for the slider. Lucas is a little disappointed (and Boozy, too, it seems). But the wind was blowing the cat door wide open and gushing through.
Saturday morning personal
Have a call in to my homeowners insurance agent. I'd received a message from them that the mortgage lender wanted me to up my coverage by $10,000. Expecting a call back soon. (I carry minimal insurance since I have hurricane shutters on all the outside openings, i.e., windows and sliding glass door.) The building carries the major insurance, since this is a condo.
Friday night late personal
Watching a new "Dead Files" that takes place in Ybor City, Tampa. Very interesting. The last time I was in Ybor City was way back when, with my Lesbian cousin at an enormous gay bar there. Can't remember the name of it. I think it had been a Spanish restaurant at one time. It was probably the biggest gay bar I'd ever been to - room after room after room. A humongous disco and sundry bars. (Kind of like the old Warehouse 8 in Miami, but even bigger.)
Friday, October 28, 2011
Something I extracted from a post last night (cleaned up)
Re: work (which I don't usually talk about, for various reasons).
This project was originally requested last Wednesday morning and expected to be finished that afternoon. (A transcript of three hours of testimony in toto.) The person requesting it had thought that the portion of the recording that he needed was well less than the total three hours, but it turned out that the testimony encompassed the entire three hours.
I enjoy transcribing this kind of stuff and am good at it, but it can be extremely time-consuming. (Even under optimal conditions at a professional transcription agency, it can take 6 to 8 hours to transcribe 1 hour of dialogue). And we were essentially expected to transcribe 3 hours of dialogue in 3 hours (by "sometime" in the afternoon).
The manager did not handle this well. She fundamentally doesn't understand the work involved in something like this, and sympathized with the requestor (she rarely if ever supports our department, although you would think that that should figure in her job as manager). Thus all our jobs were declared, by her, (according to the report by our supervisor) in jeopardy. I was horrified.
After all the work we'd accomplished on a project last week up against a totally unrealistic deadline and managed to produce something substantial and fundamentally sound by the tail end of Friday, we were called on the carpet today and told our jobs were in jeopardy, since the person requesting the work had not found it to his liking.Yesterday, among three workers (including the supervisor, who was back from vacation) we spent collectively probably (as a conservative estimate) an extra 20 hours polishing up the project - about as long as, if not longer than, I'd originally conveyed to the requestor that this project would require to be accomplished satisfactorily, about which I was told he expressed outrage and demanded I call him, which I did not do and had the office manager intervene (her job). (I've been in this business for many years and know whereof I speak).
This project was originally requested last Wednesday morning and expected to be finished that afternoon. (A transcript of three hours of testimony in toto.) The person requesting it had thought that the portion of the recording that he needed was well less than the total three hours, but it turned out that the testimony encompassed the entire three hours.
I enjoy transcribing this kind of stuff and am good at it, but it can be extremely time-consuming. (Even under optimal conditions at a professional transcription agency, it can take 6 to 8 hours to transcribe 1 hour of dialogue). And we were essentially expected to transcribe 3 hours of dialogue in 3 hours (by "sometime" in the afternoon).
The manager did not handle this well. She fundamentally doesn't understand the work involved in something like this, and sympathized with the requestor (she rarely if ever supports our department, although you would think that that should figure in her job as manager). Thus all our jobs were declared, by her, (according to the report by our supervisor) in jeopardy. I was horrified.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Mississippi womb controllers: kiss your birth control goodbye as ‘personhood’ amendment vote looms
From Pam Spaulding at Firedoglake here.If this ballot initiative in Mississippi passes, it will make a woman a criminal in the eyes of the law if she exercises her right to control whether she becomes pregnant — not just whether she will have access to abortion services.
Ballot Measure 26, which has the blessing of luminaries like Mike Huckabee and Brett Favre’s wife Deanna, is outrageous:
Yes and the desired interpretation, led by the homo-hating, womb-controlling American Family Association and zygote Personhood movement advocate Les Riley, a former candidate for agriculture commissioner, and chair of the state Constitution Party is jaw-dropping. . . .“[H]uman life would begin not at birth but at the moment of fertilization. If the amendment passes, it will outlaw abortion in the state entirely, even in cases of rape or incest. It might even leave some forms of contraception, and procedures such as in vitro fertilization, on life support.
The use of the condom in hetero boot-knocking is preventing “what comes naturally” to these ignorant, judgmental uterus invaders, who apparently want state tax dollars (in a state as poverty-stricken as Mississippi) spent prosecuting women and their doctors. Will condom-using men get time in the joint as well?
Almost TGIF!!
Now a new "House Hunters International" in Cognac, Poitou-Charentes, France. From Wikipedia here:
Poitou is believed to be the region of origin of most of the Acadian and Cajun populations of North America (settlements founded in New Brunswick, Louisiana, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, the Gaspe Peninsula of Quebec, Maine and Newfoundland .[1] Their ancestors emigrated from the region in the 17th and 18th centuries.
At first, these French immigrants from Poitou settled in eastern Canada, and established an agricultural and maritime economy (farming and fishing). This area of the "New World" was dubbed Acadia by the French, after the Greek Arcadia - the idyllic part of the Peloponnesian peninsula in Greece. It was renamed Nova Scotia (New Scotland) in the aftermath of the 1755 expulsion of most of the Acadians by the English.
Now for some "Viking Wilderness."
E. called and said he had a good night at work. It's getting to be tourist season.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Tuesday night personal
I got pretty upset last night. Never heard from E. Then I called him at midnight. No answer, so I left a message. Finally ended up talking to him but way too late for my schedule. We have to get more in synch.
Talked to him tonight. He'd been over at one of his co-worker's last night (female), watching TV, chilling out. After I excoriated him and hung up the phone, he called back to apologize for not calling and promised to be more considerate in the future. (He'd been "high.")
He's got a totally new life now and is learning to get used to it.
And if he now wants our lives to be more intertwined (which I welcome), it can't be all about him. He fundamentally knows this.
Talked to him tonight. He'd been over at one of his co-worker's last night (female), watching TV, chilling out. After I excoriated him and hung up the phone, he called back to apologize for not calling and promised to be more considerate in the future. (He'd been "high.")
He's got a totally new life now and is learning to get used to it.
And if he now wants our lives to be more intertwined (which I welcome), it can't be all about him. He fundamentally knows this.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Monday night personal
Today's is E. day off and I don't know what he's up to. Talked to him earlier in the day.
Lately he's been going to Flanigan's on his night off (as I've reported). I'm not going to call him. I'll let him call me, if he feels like it. He knows I now have some beer here in the fridge. But I also told him I'm not going to let him drive home from here if I think he's had too much to drink and that if he's going to crash here, he has to have his night-time medications with him.
Roasting a small eye of the round roast for lunches. I coat the roasts with salt, pepper and garlic powder (as my mother used to), so it smells all garlicky in here. Mmmm.
(Above, the roast is done and resting before I carve it.)
[Later] It's almost 11:00 and no word from E., not that I had any particular expectations. He has only one day off a week these days, and last Monday was moving day into his new place. He wanted to come over that night to visit but I didn't think it was a good idea and it didn't happen. He knew I had to go to work the next day, that the supervisor was on vacation, that I couldn't stay up late and celebrate (and commiserate) with him. (He'd already been at Flanigan's.) Maybe that hurt his feelings (which was definitely not my intention), but Monday night is not a party night for me. And as for tonight, his first "free" night in ages, who am I to put a damper on his party? I don't fault him for not calling.
E.'s got a lot of new freedom now (and responsibilities). I'm glad he has his own place. He's free to come over here (under certain conditions) or not.
Today I had a little down time at work and helped him renew his driver's license online. (Very easy - it took only a couple of minutes.) The Florida DMV requires notification of a change of address within 10 days of moving. It cost $25 to renew the license and $6.50 to put his new address on his vehicle registration. I charged it on my Discover Card and he'll pay me back. He didn't want to charge it on his own American Express. Kind of odd. (He didn't trust the process or me having his credit card number?)
Thank G*d he's getting online with the laptop he'll be getting. I told him that practically every routine thing can be done online nowadays. He's totally computer-illiterate (as was my friend in Canada at one time) but I think he'll be a fast learner and love it (and find it worth the money) ($19.99/mo. for the first year - then he can change plans if he wishes). He also knows (as I've told him) that the whole online experience has become super user-friendly.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Incomes down for 99% of Americans
Americblog post:
The 1% profiting, again.
See Americablog here too.The 1% profiting, again.
Fifty percent of U.S. workers earned less than $26,364 last year, and those earning less than $200,000 per year - roughly 99 percent of Americans - saw their earnings fall a collective $4.5 billion.
There were fewer jobs, and overall pay was trending down -- except for the nation's wealthiest, who saw a boost.
While the incomes of the top 1 percent of the country rose slightly in 2010 (from $1,909,874 in 2009 to $2,196,124 last year), their collective wage earnings rose dramatically, by about $120 billion.
Sunday night personal
"Desperate Housewives" is so lame. Got better at the end.
"Pan Am" next. Liked it. Getting into it. It's somewhat difficult for me to get past all the fastidious nostalgic trappings.
"Pan Am" next. Liked it. Getting into it. It's somewhat difficult for me to get past all the fastidious nostalgic trappings.
Sunday evening personal
Just got back from E.'s restaurant, where I got a free meal (I'd bought lunch yesterday). Had a big bowl of lintel soup, chicken wings, a fried chicken tender, and iced tea. The chicken tender had been coated in crushed cornflakes, which gave it a nice crunch and some extra flavor. (Hot sauce and lemon juice added more.)
Ave Maria University: A Catholic project gone wrong
From The Miami New Times here.
Marielena Stuart stood in the middle of a quietstreet, 120 miles across the swamp from Miami, and stared down the blackplastic barrel of a news camera. Behind her loomed a monstrous church, its100-foot orange-brick façade shimmering like scales in the nighttimespotlights. Stuart glanced up at its one round window — a Cyclops's unblinkingeye gazing out over the strange, tiny town of Ave Maria — and shuddered. . . .Stuart's two years in Ave Maria had become a nightmare, she added, allbecause she had committed the cardinal sin of questioning town founder and Domino's Pizza magnate TomMonaghan. On her blog, the Chronicles of Ave Maria, Stuart had compared theplace to a prison and Monaghan to its warden. She and her family had been"harassed" because she was the only one willing to stand up to thebillionaire and his edicts.
"I believe that the duty of a journalist is to expose and write thetruth," Stuart said. "And I've written the truth."
That was in 2009. Two years earlier, Monaghan had unveiled Ave Maria as hisvision for a new and righteous America founded upon strict Catholic values. Hehad sunk a half-billion dollars into building the town and its centerpieceuniversity in the middle of the Corkscrew Swamp, 20 miles northeast of Naples.Calling the place a ticket to Heaven, he had boasted that birth control andpornography wouldn't be allowed. Ave Maria would be the epicenter of anAmerican Catholic revival: "a saint factory" that would "changethe world," he promised.
But there has been trouble in paradise.Construction has halted, leaving half-built subdivisions to mildew in thetropical heat. Lawsuits and a federal investigation have dogged Monaghan. Ave Maria University's ambitious athleticprogram fell to pieces amid an unholy trinity of F-bombs, firings, anddefections. And the town's hidden, anti-democratic, and perhaps unconstitutionalorigins have been splashed across local news. Instead of a city on a hill, AveMaria has become a place of secrets and sectarianism. . . .
Rice adds that, before leaving the law school, he warned Monaghan that his idea for a strictly Catholic town to host the university was impossible. "Tom had this concept of a place with no pornography, no contraceptives," he says. "I told him right up front that there is no way he could do that. It would be unconstitutional."
Monaghan didn't listen. . . .
"This is a very unique arrangement here. It's almost like what you would see in medieval times when a baron would go and build himself a church and monastery." . . .
"It's a vicious town," Stuart says. "Once in, there is no way out."
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| ("Street View" from Google Earth) [Click on image to enlarge it] |
'A bad bet for Florida': St. Pete Times argues against casinos for South Florida
See editorial here.
See story here.Supporters of the plan, including sponsors Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, and Rep. Eric Fresen, R-Miami, deflect questions on the societal costs increased gambling brings. Bogdanoff, a former antigambling lawmaker turned casino backer, argues Florida is already a gambling state with horse and dog tracks, bingo parlors, cruises to nowhere, a state lottery and Indian casinos. Supporters claim high-end destination casinos with accompanying resorts and convention centers under intense state regulation are a logical way to increase the state's revenues and create jobs.But lacking is any analysis of the impact on Florida's tourism industry; the homegrown parimutuel industry, whose 35 percent tax rate contributes to the state's coffers; or the state's compact with the Seminole Indians, which also brings in significant cash. Or of how turning South Florida into a gambling destination on par with Atlantic City could forever alter the state's image and affect its efforts to diversify from a low-paying service economy. Or of how the scheme ultimately would bleed to other parts of the state as Orlando and Tampa Bay seek parity as hotels whine they cannot compete without gambling.
Miami Herald building
Fortunately, other voices are starting to be heard. The No Casinos group is reforming, and there is burgeoning opposition from the Florida Chamber of Commerce, the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, Orlando's attractions and even Frank Nero, a former New Jersey county commissioner who is president of Miami-Dade's economic development organization, the Beacon Council. Nero told the Miami Herald earlier this month he now regrets his support of gambling in Atlantic City after seeing the negative economic and social impacts, including an industry that sucked customers and dollars from surrounding businesses and increased prostitution, gambling addiction and organized crime. . . .
To up the ante, Genting Group purchased the Miami Herald property last spring from the McClatchy Company, the newspaper's parent owner, paying $236 million in cash for the bayfront building and allowing the paper to remain rent-free at the site for two years. Genting has since gobbled up adjacent property, met with downtown traffic engineers and started assuring local retailers and hotel owners that it wants to work beside them, not in competition, Au said. . . .
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| The Miami Herald building sits next to the MacArthur Causeway, along Biscayne Bay |
Sunday afternoon - katz edition
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| Soaking up some sun |
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| Laundry day - Ah, warm undies and socks, fresh from the dryer! |
Port of Miami tunnel on the cutting edge
Looking like a cross between a rocket and a locomotive, it rests on an inclined concrete “launch pad” at the bottom of a 50-foot pit at the center of the island in Biscayne Bay.
The boring machine’s disc-like cutter head is aimed squarely at a wall marked with a 43-foot-wide, roughly drawn circle — marking what will be the tunnel entry portal. In early November, hydraulic thrusters behind the slowly rotating cutter head will push off against a giant steel brace anchored to the concrete slab, and the enormous train — all 410 feet of it — will begin to inch forward, grinding its way into the subsurface.
Right at that spot in the middle of the MacArthur Causeway, if all goes as planned, the first truck will enter the new Port of Miami tunnel in May 2014. It will dip down to 120 feet below the bottom of Government Cut before emerging on Dodge Island from an underground trip of less than half a mile.Scores of such tunnels have been built around the world to convey everything from cars to trains to petroleum, and Miami’s — at less than two miles in total length — is no great shakes. The massive boring machine is the biggest of its type to be used in the United States.
Yet it’s still a complex task, and Harriet is an engineering marvel, designed and built at a cost of $45 million by Herrenknecht, a German firm, specifically for the Miami job, which requires digging in porous and potentially unstable limestone. . . .
Saturday nite late personal
Glad E. and I had our (for me, long awaited) chat today at his place. He said himself the BF was "a crook" but doesn't want to talk about him anymore. (He hopes his boat sinks in Mexico, however.)
Among other things, I told him for the first time about the theft of one of my credit cards: an Amazon card, which I kept at home only to use on the Amazon website and never carried with me. The card had been lifted from here - it had been sitting out on my dresser - and used to buy gas somewhere in the area.
I told E. that the neighbor across the hall, who was unemployed at the time, had observed E. letting the BF into our apartment while I was away at work and described the BF, who at one point had been employed here as a security guard (and running scams for which he was eventually fired, along with the condo manager), as "some kind of shyster." (This was right after E. left here, over three and a half years ago.)
I told E. I didn't go to the police about it because I didn't want E. to somehow get in trouble.
E. has seen the light at last. I basically told him he was fortunate to get away from the BF before E. could be implicated in some type of crime as an accessory. (I said I wasn't a lawyer but that I watch TV shows.)
Among other things, I told him for the first time about the theft of one of my credit cards: an Amazon card, which I kept at home only to use on the Amazon website and never carried with me. The card had been lifted from here - it had been sitting out on my dresser - and used to buy gas somewhere in the area.
I told E. that the neighbor across the hall, who was unemployed at the time, had observed E. letting the BF into our apartment while I was away at work and described the BF, who at one point had been employed here as a security guard (and running scams for which he was eventually fired, along with the condo manager), as "some kind of shyster." (This was right after E. left here, over three and a half years ago.)
I told E. I didn't go to the police about it because I didn't want E. to somehow get in trouble.
E. has seen the light at last. I basically told him he was fortunate to get away from the BF before E. could be implicated in some type of crime as an accessory. (I said I wasn't a lawyer but that I watch TV shows.)
Saturday, October 22, 2011
'Ronaldo hat-trick as Real top in Spain'
Another one of those inscrutable headlines, this one at CNN. Here's the story:
(CNN) -- There were contrasting fortunes for the two superstars of La Liga as Lionel Messi missed an injury time penalty for Barcelona in the Nou Camp to allow Real Madrid to go top as Cristiano Ronaldo grabbed a quickfire hat-trick.To me, the story is almost as confusing as the headline. And I still don't know what a "hat-trick" is. (If you didn't know, here's what it is.) (Not a sports fan, as you can probably tell.)
Messi saw his spot kick sensationally saved by Sevilla keeper Javi Varas as the game ended in a goalless draw.
Ronaldo notched his triple in 15 first half minutes in Real's 4-0 win at Malaga and they lead their arch-rivals by a point.
Barcelona dominated throughout in the late kickoff but they were thwarted by the brilliant Varas, who kept out efforts from Andres Iniesta and David Villa.
In the dying moments, Iniesta was fouled in the area and a penalty was awarded. . . .
'Obama: Gadhafi, Iraq Show Renewed US Leadership'
One of those wire stories you click on because the headline is so inscrutable. Here it is.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says the death of Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi and the end of the Iraq war are powerful reminders of America’s renewed leadership in the world.
At the same time, Obama said Saturday that the U.S. now must tackle its “greatest challenge as a nation” — rebuilding a weak economy and creating jobs — with the “same urgency and unity that our troops brought to their fight.”
Obama informed the nation on Friday that the long and costly war in Iraq will be over by the end of the year and that some 40,000 U.S. servicemen and women still there “will definitely be home for the holidays.”
A day earlier, he hailed the killing of Libya’s longtime leader as a “momentous day” in the history of a country that Gadhafi had ruled for decades through tyranny. . . .
Saturday night personal
Now for some "DATELINE: Real Life Mysteries."
E.'s new place
Was over there at around 2:45, after first going through the drive-through at the nearby McDonalds for some take-out. E. and I ate lunch together at his table (the card table I lent him till he gets something else). I hadn't yet seen the place in the daytime.
It turns out that getting him the red fabric chairs was a good idea. They fit right in with his decor, which he'd brought with him from the BF's place (E. had bought it, not the BF). (See below.) (E. had returned the red car picture I'd bought him at Ross and got a credit - it didn't go with his other stuff.)
The apartment has original hardwood floors, in good condition, and a nice stucco texture on the walls and ceiling. The walls are painted a rich cream, the ceiling white.
There were some ducks and cormorants swimming in the creek, too far away to get a good picture.It turns out that getting him the red fabric chairs was a good idea. They fit right in with his decor, which he'd brought with him from the BF's place (E. had bought it, not the BF). (See below.) (E. had returned the red car picture I'd bought him at Ross and got a credit - it didn't go with his other stuff.)
The apartment has original hardwood floors, in good condition, and a nice stucco texture on the walls and ceiling. The walls are painted a rich cream, the ceiling white.
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| Water view from the dining area |
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| Views out back, along Snake Creek (didn't see any snakes!) |
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| (That's E.) |
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| Meandering walkway along the creek |
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| Gazebo outside E.'s building |
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| The first-floor apartments are well above grade (good in case the creek floods) |
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| E.'s building is part of a large, well-maintained complex |
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| E.'s car |
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| Cat next door |
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| The apartments facing the creek have sliders |
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| The courtyard outside E.'s apartment |
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| E.'s apartment's on the second floor |
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| Wall in E.s dining area (that's the fridge on the left) |
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| Opposite wall in the dining area, with the ponytail palm I'd gotten him |
E. and I had a great talk after the tour. Then it was time for him to get ready for work.
Just for fun: Below is E.'s car on Google Earth, parked outside his place of business.
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