Lincolnite

Three guys are in a jail cell. They start to talking and find out that they're all gas station owners. The first one says, "I set my prices at a couple of cents higher than my competitors. I'm in here for price-gouging." The second one says "I set my prices at a couple of cents lower than my competitors. I'm in here for predatory practices." The third one says "I set my prices at the same price as my competitors. I'm in here for collusion!" [Hat tip: The Agitator]

38 bucks. That's all I have to pay for my hotel room each night in downtown San Antonio. As a bonus, the place is neither a roach motel nor a drug den (my parents have stayed there before). The last time I stayed in a hotel in a major city's downtown, my employer had to pay $160 per night. Hotel room supply must be far outstripping demand in San Antonio these days.

How do you know when you have taken fertility treatments too far? Is there a "too far"? Interesting questions, aren't they? The Missus brought them up, although in a different way, just a few minutes ago. She was talking about how some women go to incredible lengths to have biological children, only to give birth to children with severe mental and physical handicaps. She mentioned that now that she has come to terms with the fertility issues underlying our decision to adopt, she has become very judgmental of women who go "too far" to give birth. Is there really a "too far"? I think there is. Giving birth ought to be a means to an end, not an end in itself. But my understanding is that, for many women, there's a strong psychological pull to deny that notion. That is, many women, whether they want to or not, think giving birth is the goal. They are wrong on several different levels, but they don't necessarily have the capacity to realize it. How is a woman supposed to know when she is approaching the "too far" barrier, or even when she has crossed the line? Is the line in different places for different people? I think it probably is. Fine then: how do you know where your line is? Even if it were possible to know when you've gone "too far", we all know that being too close to a situation can make us blind to the realities that others see so clearly. Add in all the hormones a woman will have pumping through her body when she's trying to make these decisions, and you quickly realize that making the "too far" determination is going to be very difficult indeed. I don't believe The Missus and I went "too far". We called it quits somewhere between "urging" the biological process to cooperate and "forcing" it to cooperate. Perhaps that's where the line lies, somewhere in the gray area between helping nature do her thing and sticking a gun to nature's head. (If you pull th e proverbial trigger on mother nature you've really taken things too far.) That gray area is, not coincidentally, where the financial costs really start increasing, which indicates to me that the medical community knows they are playing with forces they cannot quite control. As risk increases so does cost. It's basic economics. The Missus and I judged at that point that the benefits of adoption outweighed the benefits of giving birth, when taking into account the relative risks associated with each. I feel very little regret about not trying "just one more time". I think that means we made the right decision at the right time. What about the morality and ethics of taking fertility treatments "too far"? Is it moral to wager that much risk against the quality of life of a potential child? Is it ever immoral to go to great lengths to bring life into being? So many questions to think about as I wind down my evening.

I'm impressed. Newsweek managed to fill several pages of its latest issue with an analysis of energy costs and "alternative" energy solutions, and not once was nuclear power mentioned. Nuclear power is incredibly cheap and remarkably clean, yet it is so maligned that it didn't merit a single mention in Newsweek's articles. That ought to tell you just how much news there really is in "News"week. While I'm griping, I should also get this off my chest: if you own a 6-bedroom, 5.5-bathroom house with a "cavernous" basement and a pool, you are not middle class, and you have very little room to moan about your energy woes. Seriously, Newsweek, that's your poster child for the "victims" of high energy prices? Give me a friggin' break. There's a word for Newsweek's miserable display: pandering. Pandering to the audience that brings in the big money advertisers. There is no journalistic integrity in making a victim out of the owner of a $500,000 house. It drives me nuts that The Missus subscribes to Newsweek. It's a horrible, terrible, awful weekly. She says she knows it's not a good magazine, but that she needs it to keep up with what's going on in the world. Considering the dearth of national and international news in the Journal Star I see her point. But Newsweek? It pains me to see it in my mailbox every week.

It's now official: I am leaving Wednesday, December 14th to drive to San Antonio to watch my very first Final Four. Get your tickets and head down with me! I'll probably check out regional action at the Qwest Center in Omaha on December 9 and 10 as well. I figure if I'm only going to watch a few volleyball matches this season, they may as well be the most exciting matches of the year!

The State Fair is truly a lost cause:

The Nebraska State Fair is selling naming rights for buildings and events at State Fair Park as a way to raise more money.

Even bathrooms are up for grabs:

For $5,000, you can name a public restroom after yourself at the Nebraska State Fair. But naming the toilets after someone else as a joke won't be allowed, said the fair’s executive director, Rick Bjorklund.

I don't know about you, but I really hope that Sheldon and Kathy Crapo have a spare five grand sitting around. (Thanks to the Official Alltel Telephone Directory for the help!)

I have been thinking about this for a while, and now I would like your feedback. Lurkers, I want your feedback, too! Pretty please! It's clear that many of the regulars around here like food, especially when we're talking about local food. Much of my search engine traffic comes from people looking for information about local dining options. Like Nebraskans generally, we like to eat. How about starting an informal food "club"? Every week we will pick a restaurant that we will try to visit at some point that week. After each individual has visited that week's restaurant, he or she will post a review or summary of his or her visit. No meetings, no club president. Maybe a secret handshake, though. One of the most obvious benefits of this sort of a club is that we get to support area businesses. That's always a plus. But there are additional benefits as well. For example, our summaries of our visits to the restaurant will be accessible to folks who try to find out information about that restaurant in the future. (I might even compile the summaries into a format that I will then post in Lincolnite's Reviews section.) Those summaries will likely be pretty varied; some will love the restaurant, some will like it, and some will hate it. That's a good thing. Our summaries are also useful to the restaurants themselves. If everybody loved the taco salad and the funky music, the restaurateur should know that. He should also know what features of the restaurant people didn't like. (Service too slow? Temperature too cold?) I can make sure the restaurant manager and/or owner sees our feedback. There's another bonus that really intrigues me: the possibility that we could actually run into each other now and then. Have you always wanted to chat about the Al-Skeini decision with Mr. T? Or about Husker athletics with D.M.B.? Perhaps you can connect with them for lunch or dinner. I should clarify that we don't always have to eat at locally-owned restaurants. I know a bunch of people wanted to try Granite City when it first opened up, for example. Our purpose ought to be trying a variety of foods and restaurant styles. There's nothing wrong with trying a chain now and then. But if anybody suggests Applebee's, I swear.... Does the general idea sound at all interesting to anybody? Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the idea? Where should we go first? What should the "club" be called?

I installed Google Analytics on Lincolnite a couple days ago. The system hiccupped and gagged for a while, but it's finally returning some data. Lots and lots of data. I'm in data heaven. I've long believed that the web statistics software I have been using has been giving me less-than-perfect results. The data from Google Analytics appear not only much more accurate, but also much more precise. These data will help me tremendously as I continue to build Lincolnite because I will be able to see in incredible detail which features are working, and which are flopping. The level of analysis Google is making available used to cost hundreds of dollars. Now, it's free. It will take a week or so for there to be enough data for me to really evaluate the system, but for now: wow.

The City Council yesterday voted to deny a request by Developmental Services of Nebraska (DSN) to add a fourth resident to each of three homes, making the homes "group homes" for the purposes of Lincoln ordinance and thus subject to regulation by the city. As Cindy Lange-Kubick notes, it's easy to not get too fired up since few of us have a positive emotional connection with "those people" who live in group homes, and most of us don't live in the immediate vicinity of the proposed group homes. The group homes' supporters aren't helping their case with their faulty logic:

People who work with the developmentally disabled said the comments by neighbors are hurtful and discriminatory. James Masten, a DSN executive assistant, said if you insert the word "black" for "developmentally disabled" and then make those kinds of comments, it would clearly be discriminatory.

Mr. Masten's comparison to racism is awfully weak. You could substitute a lot of words and phrases for "developmentally disabled" and the comments would still evoke some hefty emotions. Mr. Masten's plea strikes me as little more than an invocation of Gilliard's Corollary To Goodwin's Law. According to the article, Roxanne Copp noted that "a lot of people would rather live next to a home full of extraterrestrials than a group home." Well sure, but extraterrestrials are not stereotyped as violent pedophiles. Group home residents, unfortunately, are. The article includes this bit at the end:

Councilman Jonathan Cook got personal, asking if it's true DSN provides LeFevre with a Cadillac. LeFevre defended his Caddy, recalling his company's beginnings when he was its entire staff and he earned nothing during its first year of operation "because I had to pay my staff." "I have put my life, my heart and my soul into DSN," LeFevre said. "And I don’t believe I have to take a vow of poverty. I feel I've earned everything that I have." Cook said he wasn't persuaded DSN needed the waivers, particularly when the company threatens to "put people out on the street" while "buying expensive cars for their" CEO. Only Councilman Ken Svoboda and Councilwoman Robin Eschliman voted to grant the waivers.

Does Mr. LeFevre need or deserve a Cadillac? I don't have any idea. I only care to the extent that my tax dollars paid for any part of that car. I don't know anything about the funding structure of Mr. LeFevre's organization, so I will reserve judgement for now. If I paid for his chrome wheels, I'm pissed. Otherwise, I don't give a hoot. His funders, and only his funders, should be concerned with how he uses their money. But more importantly, did you see what Mr. Cook did here? He gave his political opponents some tremendous ammunition. Councilman Cook has said, in essence, that any non-essential use of funding is irresponsible and morally wrong. I wonder how much splurging of the taxpayer's dime Mr. Cook has been responsible for in his career, and how much he will be responsible for in the future. Couldn't he have had the hamburger, rather than the steak? Couldn't that project have been completed more cheaply by making it simpler? A savvy political opponent would be wise to keep track of these things. Mr. Cook, it is very dangerous to allow yourself to be portrayed as a hypocrite. Speak carefully, sir.

Oops, I forgot to link to my most recent adoption update over in The Front Porch.

Hot dog! Nebraska's trusty meteorological prognosticators -- who are never wrong -- are saying we could see four inches of the white stuff tomorrow. Sweet! I doubt I'll be as pleased about the weather once tomorrow rolls around, though. It's not the snow I'll mind, but the wind. Nebraska's fall winds can really take the fun out of a good snowfall.

I wrapped up the college soccer reffing season with one final game last night. I was AR1 for the Hastings College vs. Midland Lutheran mens match in Hastings. It turned out to be a very exciting match. As one of the Hastings coaches put it before the match, you never want to play the same team three times in a season. Hastings had already handily beaten Midland twice earlier in the year. Saturday's victory wasn't so easy. Midland scored first in the tight match, but Hastings came right back just a couple minutes later to tie it up. Hastings dominated control most of the game, but it was Midland that missed the most scoring opportunities, hitting the post two or three times in the match. The first 90 minutes ended in a 1-1 tie. The 20 minutes of extra time ended without any additional scores. As they did for much of the second half, Midland played not to lose rather than to win. It wasn't necessarily a bad strategy, in that Hastings was obviously the larger offensive threat. But it sure would have been nice to see Midland take a few more risks to try to win the game. Following overtime came kicks from the mark. The high tension was only made worse by the fact that the wind was blowing so hard that the ball would not sit still prior to the kicks. Each kick, which should have taken at most one minute (for the kicker to walk up, place the ball, prepare himself, and kick) ended up taking several. One player had to reset the ball at least a dozen times. But the rules don't allow for the ball to be secured or held in any way, so there was nothing we as the referees could do. Hastings ended up winning thanks to two Midland misfires and one blocked shot, while only one of Hastings' shots was blocked. The better team won, but only barely. I'm glad I got the opportunity to referee college soccer this year. I had a blast, I learned a lot, and I met some great referees I had never before wor ked with. I even managed to get a center this year, thanks to a fellow referee's injury. I'm already looking forward to next fall. Who knows, maybe in a couple years I'll even get to center a Creighton men's match. That would be an incredible experience, and it would represent the best competition I will be able to center in this area. Probably the best thing about the end of the season is that it ended on a high note. With all the tension and drama involved in the Hastings/Midland game, it would have been a shame to be involved in a referee-related controversy. I dreaded negating a goal due to a controversial offside call, for example. As it turned out, the only hubbub I caused was when I gave the ball to the defense rather than the offense on one particular throw-in. Judging by the reactions of the participants I'm pretty sure I blew that call. But of all the decisions I made last night, if that was the only mistake I made, I'm not going to complain. I think each of the referees had one mistake apiece last night, all of which were minor. All in all, it was a great match to finish up the season.

On Friday I wrote a little blurb describing the general purpose and direction of Lincolnite. Today I put together a roadmap that will be updated as I work toward the official launch of Lincolnite. Keep an eye on my progress -- and kick me in the butt if I fall behind -- by checking on the roadmap now and then.