Lincolnite

Some of you might remember that JournalStar.com underwent a facelift about a year ago. But as many of us noted, the new site was missing RSS feeds. I had a good conversation about it with Online Editor Steve Smith and he told me more about the company's position on RSS, the technical hurdles they faced, and his own personal opinion about it all. Tonight Mr. Smith contacted me to let me know that JournalStar.com finally has RSS feeds. I have only just briefly looked at the feeds so I don't know details like if they are updated in real time and so on. But with just a quick glance it looks like the feeds are nicely separated by topic. The notes on the page indicate that the feeds can be displayed on "non-commercial" websites. Lincolnite is, for now, non-commercial, but hopefully that won't be the case for long. I'll need to have a chat with the LJS folks to determine if I will be able to display the feeds here, and under what terms.

Schaefer's has moved across the street to their new location at 46th and R. The new store opens this morning at 10:00am. Schaefer's will keep the old building as their service and warehouse location. Many of you have shopped at Schaefer's, and most of you have at least heard of it. (Surely you remember their annoying "Christmas in July" commercials!) Schaefer's consistently ranks as one of Lincoln's favorite places to buy appliances and electronics. Congratulations on the move and expansion, Schaefer's!

I'll admit I was a little nervous about his return -- I have more faith in the Mercury capsules than I do in the hunk of junk we call the space shuttle -- but Clay Anderson and the Discovery crew made it home safely yesterday. Good job, Clay! Anderson had been in orbit for 152 days. Look for a hero's welcome when he makes it back to Nebraska. It would be cool if he could make it to Saturday's football game, but that's probably too soon.

If you like data about Lincoln, you'll like this...

Centennial Mall bugs me. It is ugly as sin, and it is so woefully wasted as a potential community gathering point. It represents some of the best real estate in the city and the best we can do is offer cracked, inaccessible pathways and broken down fountains. Harrumph. I would love to be on a committee tasked with redesigning Centennial Mall. There are four main segments. (Let's ignore the question of whether we should "de-street" the segment between M and P Streets.) Within those four segments I would create a tour of Nebraska. Some of the features I would mix and match include:

1. A stream of water stretching north to south through all of the segments, representing the Platte River. Where it dips underground (i.e. at street crossings) it would represent our underground water resources.
2. In one segment, several small, shallow pools, representing the state's small lakes, ponds, and reservoirs.
3. Real or simulated wagon wheel ruts, representing the pioneers.
4. Native grasses and flowers.
5. Sandstone formations for climbing and sitting.
6. A traditional band stand, representing the city parks in towns across the state.
7. A play area for kids, preferably near the Children's Museum.
8. Some flat areas, some rolling "hills".
9. Several small sculptures, or better yet, one single sculpture that ties together the four segments.

It sounds a little disorganized, I know. That's how my brain works when it's dumping ideas. It probably looks better in my head than it does in list format. I should draw it out sometime. What would your ideal Centennial Mall look like?

Former Councilman Terry Warner's living wage ordinance may be headed to its end, at least if Jon Camp has anything to say about it. Camp wants to chip away at the ordinance by exempting non-profit groups. I'm sure his druthers is to ditch it altogether, but such a proposal would likely face the wrath of Mayor Beutler's veto pen. Lincolnites haven't made much of a fuss about the impact of the living wage ordinance. Every now and then we hear that bids for various projects came in higher than expected in part due to the ordinance, but so far that has done little more than arouse a subdued grumble or two. I suspect Camp's proposed change will have the same effect on the general population. What's your take on the living wage ordinance?

The news is a bit premature, but it looks like Lincoln's EMS will make a small profit this year. The folks at LFR are likely issuing a strong "Hallelujah!", considering the rough times the department has been through. Just think: Only five more years of nothing but good news, and LFR may begin to re-earn some of the credibility it shed these past several years.

After previously announcing cuts of 50 jobs over the next 3 years, Nationwide Insurance will eliminate an additional 90 jobs over the next year and a half. Nationwide's current workforce in Lincoln is in the range of 700 employees.

Nebraska's official website placed in the Top 10 in the Best of the Web awards in the category of state government websites. First place went to utah.gov, while first place in the "city portal" category went to Tampa, Florida.

It looks like there may have been another murder in Lincoln over the weekend. The victim was Andrea Williams, a man apparently familiar to LPD. Details are pretty slim at this point.

Robbie is quickly advancing in the kitchen. First he simply observed The Missus at work. Then he progressed to assisting her. Today, a new milestone: he created his own recipe. Now, I can't pretend to replicate the master chef's work, but here is my best attempt at sharing his recipe with the world. Chef Robbie's Graham Cracker Surprise

1. Gather all of the bowls you can find. Big bowls, little bowls, glass bowls, metal bowls ... get them all out and scatter them across the floor.
2. Pull a chair across the kitchen and position it near your workspace. You'll need to be able to reach the countertop, after all.
3. Place the bowls on the counter. This may require several trips onto and off of the chair.
4. Once the bowls are on the counter, look around for ingredients within arm's reach. Grab that box of graham crackers over there.
5. Empty the contents of the box into one of the bowls.
6. Open utensils drawer and find a spoon. (I hope you didn't block the drawer with the chair! If you did, get off the chair and move it out of the way.) Use the spoon to stir the ingredients around the bowl.
7. Now use the spoon to serve yourself. Bon apetite!

Sounds delicious, doesn't it?

I know the recommendation to hold off on city-wide wi-fi will disappoint many of you, but I, for one, am relieved. Wi-fi is dead. Investing millions of dollars to turn Lincoln into one giant hot spot tomorrow using yesterday's technology isn't too far removed from just throwing those millions down the toilet. New technologies -- WiMAX among them -- are better for many different reasons. If Lincoln wants to hop aboard the municipal wireless bandwagon, doesn't it make more sense to go with a technology at the front end of its lifespan, rather than near the end? I wonder what sort of technologies Alltel, Time Warner, and even Verizon are working on...?

Drat. After a few days of gorgeous autumn weather, we're going to get a dose of good ol' Nebraska wind to start off the week. I don't like Nebraska's stiff spring and fall winds. Never have. When asked what they least like about Nebraska's weather, most people say either "the cold" or "the heat". I say the wind. (As does Mike Rozier.) Oh well, at least soccer season is (almost) over. All this wind makes me wish I were into kites.

OK, boys and girls, you can stop harassing me now. (You know who you are!) Here it is, the horrible, awful, offensive comic that the Lincoln Journal Star refused to print yesterday: I don't get it. The justification for not printing it, that is. (Although, as with many Bizarro comics, I don't really "get" the humor of the piece, either.) Is there something about lesbian witches that crosses the line? Is the fact that she's riding a golf club and wearing a plaid shirt offensive to lesbians, or golfers, or ... uhh, well, somebody? I'm stumped. <aside>If you want to talk about offensive comics, let's talk about Adam@Home's awful parenting skills. Adam is to fathers what Britney Spears is to mothers. As a man and a father I take tremendous offense. No really. I wish he were real so I could punch him in the nose.</aside>

Have you ever wondered what goes on inside your neighbors' houses? Here's a peak inside one Lincolnite's house, also known as The Museum of the Odd: