Lincolnite

It would be great if Lincoln's Oscos would become CVS Pharmacies instead. I don't know much about CVS, but I do know that the Osco stores around Lincoln could use a little TLC. Here's hoping that the new owners clean up the stores when they move in.

Bad news for Mayor Seng and other folks on the Downtown revitalization bandwagon: Heathrow Development has backed down from its desire to purchase the old K Street power plant. I maintained a middle ground on this issue. On the one hand I think condos are a much better use of the building than storage, but on the other hand I don't think the city was going to get as much money for the building as it deserved. That being (briefly) said, I want to point out that this is yet another example of Lincoln putting itself in a position to appear to be anti-development. To the degree that perception is reality, this is bad news.

After years of promoting some of the most affordable electricity rates in the nation, LES is facing a bit of a public relations problem with its recent spate of rate and fee increases. Their proposed temporary solution, a so-called power cost adjustment, isn't going over very well with some of Lincoln's biggest power users (who happen, not coincidentally, to also be some of Lincoln's most important employers). I'm not sure what the solution to this problem is, but in general I tend to support the notion that those who use a greater share of scarce resources should pay more for the privilege. Knowing very little about who pays how much for electricity in Lincoln, I can't say whether Lincoln's biggest power consumers are paying their fair share, or whether they are paying more or less than their fair share. What I do know is that LES's reliance on volatile energy sources (natural gas) and unsustainable energy sources (coal) is one reason, of many, that LES is in this predicament. And it's not just LES; lots of power companies find themselves in these situations all the time. If I had my druthers we'd be using much cleaner, much more efficient, much cheaper electricity -- nuclear-generated electricity, to be precise. It ain't perfect, but if you spend a little time reading the wealth of information on nuclear power (pro and con), I think you'll agree that it's an option we should at least discuss seriously.

I know what they're trying to get at, but the University of Florida's requirement that domestic partners have to have sex to qualify for benefits strikes me as amusing and misguided. [Obvious joke]I wonder who gets to verify the claims?[/obvious joke]

South Dakota wants to ban abortion. From the article:

A bill that would ban abortion in the state will be introduced within the next two days. The bill will be called the Woman's Health and Life Protection Act. It will ban abortion, but won't prosecute a doctor who performs one to save a woman's life.

I love that. They "won't prosecute a doctor who performs one to save a woman's life". It'd still be illegal, but they just won't prosecute. Yeah right. Few doctors are going to put their butts on the line to trust a prosecutor's definition of "save a woman's life". I suspect the county prosecutor's definition of "save a woman's life" will be substantially less expansive than a doctor's interpretation of that phrase.

Rep. Roger Hunt says, "Abortion should be banned."

Hey, you've gotta give the guy credit for being blunt and honest. I like that in a politician.

Hunt says, "DNA testing now can establish the unborn child has a separate and distinct personality from the mother."

You've also gotta give the guy credit for being a complete imbecile. What the heck does DNA testing have to do with establishing that a fetus has a "distinct personality"? Nothing, that's what. Rep. Hunt is on crack.

I just wrapped up my first Texas Hold 'Em experience. We played with a jar of pennies I had sitting around. Conclusion: I'm no good at poker. At least not poker with pennies. Bluffs don't work with pennies, for one thing. And it's too easy to be stubborn, to stick around longer than you ought to, when you're only talking about $.03. The good news, in my opinion, is that I'm not addicted to the game. One of the reasons I had held off trying out Texas Hold 'Em is I've seen how it can grab people and make them obsess over the game. I was addicted to online cribbage for a while, and I thought poker might do the same. I had fun and I hope to play again, but I don't see myself playing all night or losing money on the game. Before we dove into poker, we also played some pitch. I love pitch. I come from a four-person, ten-point pitch family. Tonight we played five- and six-person pitch. With the five-person crew we played call your partner and ace-deuce, and when the sixth person showed up we just played three-person teams. It was a good time, but I still prefer good old fashioned four-person games. Then again, I just love playing cards, so I'm not complaining. Now that it's 12:30 I should really go to bed. I haven't been up this late in quite a while. Not even on New Year's Eve. I feel fine right now, but when the dog wants to wake up and go outside in the morning, I'll feel it. Sleep in, Daisy! Sleep in! Good dog.

The Journal Star this morning ran a big, front-page spread about Brokeback Mountain. Is Brokeback Mountain another one of those stupid movies that you have to either love or hate, depending on your socio-political leanings? Is it, in other words, another The Passion of the Christ or Fahrenheit 9/11? It annoys the crap out of me when movies get sucked into a situation like that. For one thing, it's annoying because if you go see the movie (or even merely want to see the movie), you obviously share the opinions of the movie's most fanatical supporters. The opposite also becomes true. And it becomes virtually impossible to judge the movie on its merits. If you dislike TPOTC you are clearly an anti-Christian new-age bigot; if you dislike F9/11 you must be one with Bushitler. The situation is especially obnoxious to those of us who do not fit into the all-too-constraining left-right (blue state/red state) political paradigm. I hate telling somebody that I enjoyed (or disliked) a movie, only to receive "the look" that telegraphs quite clearly that the individual now considers me to be one of the enemy. I've received "the look" from folks of all political stripes, making me, I guess, everybody's enemy, if only because of my movie preferences. Anyway, back to my point. I think what really sets one of "those" movies apart is its rise to mainstream status in large part because of its non-mainstream content or perspective. A gay cowboy movie certainly qualifies as "non-mainstream" by most any definition. But did Brokeback Mountain become more mainstream primarily because of its non-mainstreamness? I think a pretty strong argument can be made that it did. If you sift through the reviews, you'll find that the movie itself is far from perfect: "flawed but groundbreaking", "the movie asks a lot of an audience", "though it's sad and sobering it's still only a rough draft of a great movie", and so on. Indeed, it seems it's the gutsiness of the topic, not the overall quality of the film, that's driving Brokeback Mountain toward its Oscar front-runner status, and also to the top of the box office charts. The movie is gaining momentum as a protest piece, just as The Passion of the Christ and Fahrenheit 9/11 did in their own ways. Brokeback Mountain is, in other words, most definitely one of "those" movies. All of that makes me wonder if I want to see the movie or not. Even with its imperfections, it is apparently a pretty decent movie. I'm willing to shell out a few bucks to see a pretty decent movie. But I have a pretty sizable queue of movies I'd like to see, and a pretty limited amount of time in which to watch them. I suspect Brokeback Mountain will end up being a rental. That's probably the easy solution anyway: I'm not giving money directly to those gay-loving liberal Hollywood types, but I'm stilling seeing the movie, which ticks off those gay-hating conservative types. That seems the best way to please and anger everybody all at the same time, which is pretty much my way these days.

Check out Jeff Korbelik's latest Ground Zero restaurant overview. (I can't honestly call Korbelik's articles "reviews" since his articles are more advertisements than reviews.) The article includes phrases like "boy, were we glad we stopped in", "most flavorful steaks", "tender", "thoroughly enjoyed", and so on. Those phrases, in and of themselves, are not unusual or shocking. That is, until you know which restaurant he's talking about: Lone Star Steakhouse. I don't know about you, but those are the first positive words I've heard about Lone Star in years. That's no exaggeration. I specifically recall the last two times I went to Lone Star. It was awful. The service was horrid, the restaurant was dirty, and the steaks -- well, let me just say that I've had better meat at Burger King. And among my family and friends my experiences with Lone Star are not unusual. In fact, Lone Star is synonymous with "horrible restaurant" for several of my family and friends. So what happened? Are Jeff Korbelik's standards that low? Or has Lone Star finally improved to the point where my Pavlovian response to hearing the name should be gleeful drooling rather than nauseous wretching? If the latter, I want to know. I can't believe that a restaurant could possibly rescue itself from such shocking levels of suckitude, but if it has, I must experience it for myself.

I've talked about it for a while, but I've finally posted my Scrumpy Jacks review.

Crud, I think I have conjunctivitis, aka pink eye. I've had a head cold on and off for a while now, and I think it has just decided to relocate into my eyes. ::sigh:: I suppose I should call up my doctor. Oh wait... I forgot, I don't have a doctor right now. My previous doctor, who had treated various members of my immediate and extended family for decades, retired in December. Hmm. I guess I need to get my medical records and go find me somebody to give me some drugs.

Lincoln is looking at a budget gap of anywhere from $6.8 million to $9 million this year. Where do you think Lincoln ought to round up the cash to cover the gap?

Dang, first I find out that Japan has mega-speedy elevators, and now I find out that they have 120 yard-long snakes [sic] that make friends with hamsters. I'm so jealous.

I'm so jealous of the Japanese. They have new maglev elevators that travel 670 miles per hour!

The maglev elevators will be quieter and more comfortable and will travel 984 feet per second -- not as fast as the company's conventional lifts that move 3,314 feet a second, Toshiba said.

Wow, the conventional lifts move at a whopping 2,259 miles per hour! I have got to remember to ride on an elevator if I ever get to Japan. I just hope I don't forget my Dramamine.

Ahh, the three-day weekend is winding down. What a great weekend it was! The highlight of my weekend was taking Daisy for a long walk out at Wilderness Park yesterday afternoon. We had a blast. About half the time we stayed on the walking trails, and the other half we followed deer trails and even walked down into the creek bed. Wilderness Park is one of Lincoln's greatest assets; I hope we protect it, and I'd even like to see us build upon it. Unfortunately, The Missus is down and out today. She was supposed to go to work. She made it as far as getting up and taking a shower. Now she's sitting on the couch watching Oprah, aching, shivering, and pretty much feeling miserable. I love that The Missus and I share pretty much everything in our lives, but I wouldn't mind if she keeps this particular little bug to herself. I hope to have a couple new articles posted sometime this week. Look for reviews of Scrumpy Jacks and Blue Orchid, and maybe another article or two.