Lincolnite

It isn't the most exciting video of Robert, but here's a clip I recorded yesterday:

Heard today that the building on the west side of 13th and L that used to house the short-lived Ma Lou's and M13 Sandwich Shop has been sold to new owners. Coming in 2008? A coffee shop and bakery. If true, this will be good for me as it is right on my daily commute to work.

Lancaster County Corrections Director Mike Thurber wants to house as many as 100 inmates outside of Lancaster County, due to overcrowding at existing facilities. Why don't we just export all of the inmates? Then our new tourism campaign could tout that Lancaster County is "criminal-free"! Would any of you amateur (or professional) criminologists or sociologists care to take a stab at the problem's root causes and possible solutions? Clearly the County thinks a new $94 million jail would help. What other options are there in the mean time or instead?

I didn't even realize O Asian Garden (27th and O) had closed, but apparently the space has been acquired by the credit union next door. So much for my plan to give O Asian a try this fall.

Lincoln's new fire chief will be announced today at 1:30pm. To refresh your memory, the candidates are:

• Robert Brown, chief of the Stafford County Fire and Rescue (Washington, D.C.)
• Niles Ford, deputy fire chief in Fulton County, Georgia (Atlanta)
• Mark Rohlfing, assistant fire chief in Omaha

Jake "Weird Expression" Cake is promising to take the winner of his /identify this bug/ photo contest out to lunch in Downtown Lincoln at either Oso, Yia-Yia's, or Roost.

I don't know if former Lincolnite Alex Svoboda deserved harsh treatment by North Providence (Rhode Island) police officers. Maybe she whacked one of them with a drum stick, and maybe she reacted poorly when they took offense at the whacking. But come on, officers, does it really require a rough take-down and knee inversion to subdue a small woman at a peaceful demonstration? Whatever happened to "minimal necessary force"? Anyway, I have watched a lot of videos of similar incidents. Sometimes the protester is obviously at fault, sometimes it's the cops, but usually all of the parties involved are to blame thanks to hot heads, overreactions, and swelled egos. It's too bad nobody had a video camera. Note to police departments: Want to secure easy convictions? Always record video at these events. Note to protesters: Want to secure an easy victory in your civil suit against the police? Always have several video cameras on hand. There, now that everybody is watching each other, we can all get along. I digress. None of that is what this post was supposed to be about. There will be a support rally on Sunday. The LJS is silent on the date and time, but the Nebraskans for Peace blog says 12:30 on the north steps of the Capitol.

I love how the LJS picked a menacing pose for their close-up of a bat in an article about bats and rabies. Two bats in Lincoln have positively tested for rabies so far this year. I don't want bats in my house, and I certainly don't blame people for getting nervous when they manage to get inside. But have you ever been near a bat? They're cute little guys. Like little mutant mice. I mean that in a good way, though it doesn't sound real positive, does it?

Sure seems like there have been a lot of restaurant-related posts lately. As an unapologetic consumer of mass quantities, I think that's a good thing. Here are two more restaurant notes for you: First, I noticed that Five Willows (48th and Pioneers) is advertising that their restaurant is coming soon. I want to say that I once heard it would be a vegetarian restaurant, or at least very vegetarian friendly. I might be imagining that, though, so don't hold me to it. No word on a date. Second, Vincenzo's is opening a seafood joint in the Haymarket called Crabby Bill's Sea Food Shack. I place the likelihood of "I Got Crabs from Crabby Bill" t-shirts at 90%. Edited: Oops, I'm a doofus! I forgot to add these notes that Swid was kind enough to send my way:

• Taco Bueno on N 27th opened on Saturday - the downtown location will probably open sometime next month;
• De Leon's has opened another location on 48th & Vine (next to the former Godfather's/future Jimmy John's);
• Roost Gourmet Sandwiches is now open;
• Cliff's is open in their new location;
• The State Theatre is offering free admission to college students August 24-30.

Thanks, Swid!

David G. Brady of Lincoln works for the State, and apparently one of his employers (that's you and I) is forcing him to work at gunpoint. What other explanation could there be for him to put up with this litany of abuses for 25 years? The poor man! Even with a gun to his head, Mr. Brady isn't afraid to let his employers have it. He says we are "morons". Frankly, I don't want my employees to talk to me that way. Mr. Brady, feel free to clean out your desk. I'm sure you will appreciate the freedom of no longer being forced to work at such a horrible, awful, no-good job.

Quick, see if you can identify everybody in today's cartoon by Neal Obermeyer. (As of 8:00am it isn't online. Hopefully it will be soon.) I recognize several local, umm, "characters". Edited: You can see the cartoon at Neal Obermeyer's website.

When it comes to advertising practices, what is deceptive? Is it deceptive to advertise that a certain price comes with limitations? How clear must the limitations be? How much responsibility falls upon the customer? I really want to know your thoughts. Attorney General Jon Bruning thinks the bozo gas station owners along I-80 in central and western Nebraska may be committing a crime. But I don't take his opinion on this very seriously; he is running for public office, after all. (Not that I would accuse Mr. Bruning of allowing his future job aspirations to control his decisions at his current job. No, politicians never do things like that.) These are our laws we're talking about here. Where do we want to draw the line between deceptive advertising and caveat emptor?

I have a really hard time feeling sorry for Jim Brewer. After Monday's storm a "giant tree branch" dangled over his house. So who did he call? A tree trimmer? His insurance company? His friends who own chain saws and tall ladders? Nope. He called the cops. And they said "You're on your own". Mr. Brewer said "I was just really, really ticked that they didn’t send anybody out and just look at it and give me some advice." Judging by the article in the LJS, apparently that's appalling. I had no idea the city was in the business of giving tree trimming advice. The city certainly should come to the rescue when life and limb (ha!) are in danger. It doesn't sound like that was the case here. What did Mr. Brewer end up doing? He contacted a professional tree remover who was at his house by 10:00pm that night. Problem solved. Now why didn't I think of that?

That was a pretty storm last night, wasn't it? OK, I admit, I'm saying that as somebody who didn't experience any damage. Still, the clouds were neat. Did you see how they rotated and bubbled and gurgled? Good stuff. For a couple minutes it looked like Lincoln might break out of its tornado-free streak. Fortunately, the streak continues. Did you have any damage at your place?

I think both Jon Cook and Jonathan Camp need to sit in timeout for a while after yet another spat over the fire department. This is really getting old. The problem is, even though they are both wrong, they are also both right, so neither has much of an incentive (in his own mind) to back down. The fire chief applicants have got to be positively giddy about stepping into the middle of this.