Lincolnite

Nebraska Democratic State Senator Ernie Chambers has decided to go straight to the top in an effort to stop natural disasters from befalling the world. Chambers filed a lawsuit against God in Douglas County Court Friday afternoon, KPTM Fox 42 reported.

Read it for yourself. And believe it or not, there is a purpose behind Ernie's actions. There always is.

Foxspit was kind enough to drop me this quick review of Erbert and Gerbert's: Erbert & Gerbert's was good. The sandwiches are HUGE, almost too much to eat. I had the "Narmer," a turkey sandwich with provolone, tomato (which was fresh!) lettuce, mayo (a little too heavy), avacado and sprouts. The sandwich was good. I liked that it filling but not a real mess to eat. The turkey is sliced pretty thin but there seemed to be enough meat. The flavor was good. Side choices of chips or soup were good. If I had a do-over I'd add some mustard. A nice touch would be a condiment stand where you can add seasonings, if you so desire, to your sandwich. The lobby is congested enough, however, that a condiment stand would only make things worse. There is also a Java Zone coffee shop in the restaurant. It wasn't getting a lot of business over the lunch hour but maybe it will draw business when the restaurant is slow. I was underwhelmed when I heard another sandwich shop was opening up downtown. I actually liked Erbert and Gerbert's. The sandwich combo was around $7.50. Not bad. Planet Sub offers a much cheaper lunch option when you order the day's special, but I suspect people will keep E&G's busy. If today was any indication, the restaurant seemed to attract Lincoln's most attractive women for lunch ... reason enough for me to go back and try it again. I'm a simple man. [Note: Oops, I just realized this is already posted over at beerorkid's site. There are some comments over there you may be interested in.]

If you thought it was bad when the trucks tore the heck out of North 40, you're not going to like what you see on the northeast corner of 84th and Holdrege, either. Initial work on Colleen Seng's favorite Wal-Mart has begun. Between the northeast and southwest corners of that intersection, plus all of the other new building activity nearby on North 84th Street, that stretch has the potential to become very clogged. 84th Street already serves as "Highway 84", the only good route on the east side of town to get from the south to Interstate 80. Now that a stretch of it is set to become a substantial commercial hub (with hundreds of apartments nearby), traffic could really become a bear. Lincoln's leaders really screwed up by not starting an East Beltway years ago. Plans now exist for the Beltway, but its arrival date is approximately 2000-never, and its location so far east makes it less useful than it otherwise could have been. Wouldn't it have been nice if the East Beltway could have been built just east of 84th Street?

Local CPA Tom Larsen thinks Harvey Perlman should resign from the State Fair Board and the State Legislature should remove the requirement that UNL's Chancellor has to serve on the Board as a-oficio member. Mr. Larsen's core argument is that Chancellor Perlman's allegiances are torn and he can't possibly be expected to represent UNL and the Fair at the same time. I disagree. I think it's a good thing that one or more members of the Fair Board thinks about the Fair from a different perspective. I believe a substantial number of Nebraskans believes that the status quo isn't good enough for the long-term health of the Fair. But the status quo is exactly what we would end up with were the Board lacking at least one person willing to stir the pot a bit. There are many good arguments to support the changes to the Fair proposed by Perlman (and others). It is positive and healthy that those arguments are being made by a Board member, rather than by outsiders alone. What say you?

LES has an automated power outage reporting system, but it only works if the system recognizes your phone number when you call. Not everybody is in the system, and LES wants to change that. If you have ever called the outage line and received a message that your number isn't recognizes, or if you just want to make sure your phone numbers are all on file, fill out this form online.

The Trojans are coming to town. Will the Huskers stand tall and tear through the Trojans' protection, implanting the ball safely in the end zone? Or will the Men of Troy dull the Husker attack and send the Big Red limping from the field? USC fans in town for tomorrow's game might be wondering what to do in a backward little place like Lincoln. Here are a few things to try:

• Dine at Bread & Cup, at 8th and S in the Haymarket (just southwest of Memorial Stadium). I haven't been there, but everybody I know who has says it is excellent. It's not your usual Nebraska dining establishment.
• What's that? You want a more typical Nebraska eatery? In that case, head out to Lee's Chicken at 1940 W. Van Dorn. Just say "Number 3, all white meat, baked potato, sour cream, salad with Dorothy Lynch, and a large order of onion rings". Bon appetite!
• If you brought your kids, take them to the Lincoln Children's Zoo (27th and Capitol Parkway), Morrill Hall (on campus, east of Memorial Stadium), and the Lincoln Children's Museum (Downtown, 14th and P).
• Two great but unheralded pep rallies take place tonight: at Misty's (6235 Havelock Ave., 7:30pm and 8:30pm) and Grandmother's (70th and A Street, 10:00pm and 11:00pm). Pep bands, cheerleaders, screaming fans, and lots and lots of alcohol.
• Don't forget that ESPN Game Day is taping in Lincoln tomorrow. Memorial Stadium's tates open at 7:30am for the 8:00am start.
• Feeling homesick? Drive on I-80 and I-180 coming into town tomorrow. The heavy traffic will make you feel right at home.

Gary dropped me a note to point out a story about the latest LPD sex sting in Wilderness Park. Ten men were arrested. It is not, of course, illegal to hook up with random strangers for sex. If it were, UNL's entire population of fraternity members would be imprisoned. Unfortunately, that's not all that happens at Wilderness Park and elsewhere. Wilderness is a hot spot for public sex, indecent exposure, and any number of lewd acts. Obviously you don't want to be on a bike ride with the family, only to run across some guy enjoying his own company behind a tree. What is it with men engaging in high-risk sex-related activities in public places? There's no helping the exhibitionist crowd because "public" and "high-risk" are the point. But for the guys who just want to have a good time, don't they know there are websites that help orchestrate these things?

I had to chuckle at this SEVERE WEATHER ALERT on Yahoo! Weather:

TEMPERATURES WILL REACH THE MID 70S WITH MINIMUM RELATIVE HUMIDITIES OF 40 PERCENT. WIND SPEEDS WILL AVERAGE 10 TO 15 MPH.

Oh the humanity! Hide the children!

I can hardly believe it. Did the LJS really miss this story about Husker fans buying up Wake Forest season tickets and donating them to soldiers at the Womack Army Medical Center? If they ran a story about it, I missed it. The gist is this: Husker fans buy up Wake Forest season tickets just to be able to go to the Husker game. But what to do with the tickets for the rest of the season? Well, why not give them to some injured soldiers? Or maybe the local Big Brothers-Big Sisters program? At last count at least 200 tickets had been donated. Not bad, folks. Not bad at all.

Poor Roger Yant. First he lost in his quest for the Mayor's office. Now he's getting picked on at the drug store:

I was standing there not saying a word, and the lady directly in front of me turned around and said, “You’re that stupid Republican, aren’t you?” First I was stunned, and then said meekly, “Yes.” Not wanting to take it further, I just said nothing else. She turned around a second time and said, “I suppose you like Bush, don’t you?” I then said, “Yes, I love him, I think he is doing a good job.” She then went ballistic on me, so I said that at least he wasn’t having sex in the Oval Office like Clinton.

The entire letter is worth a read. Now aren't you disappointed Mayor Yant isn't running things around here?

The news isn't as sexy as Verizon's 800 jobs, but kudos to local company Lincoln Composites on opening a new 60,000 square foot operation at the Lincoln Airport's rail center.

The oddly named Erbert and Gerbert's has opened Downtown in the former Homer's location. Yes, it's another sandwich shop, but hey, competition is good, right? If I can figure out where The Missus hid the menu we grabbed I'll post photos. Until then, there are menus on their website.

You may or may not be familiar with the names Tory Bowen and Pamir Safi, but I'll bet you've at least heard about the rape trial in which the judge banned the word "rape". Yesterday, Ms. Bowen and her attorney got smacked around by U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf for filing a lawsuit against the trial judge regarding the language ban. What surprises me most about this whole mess is that the issue of language bans in the courtroom isn't pretty much settled. It makes perfect sense to me that there should be limits on what an accuser can present as "fact" against the defendant. After all, determining facts is what the court process is all about. I'm no legal scholar so I won't pretend to know where those lines should be drawn. But it seems intuitive that some limits are in the best interest of the justice process. Thus, I'm surprised there aren't some relatively standardized guidelines governing what can and cannot be said in different contexts.

I am stumped. Why would anybody steal speakers from fast food drive-thrus? Is there any use for those speakers? The speakers are valued at $200 and $50. I think the restaurants need to get their money back. I have never run across a drive-thru speaker worth more than about $6.50. What do you get for $200, extra static?

Chuck is out. Bruning, Johanns, and Kerrey are (probably) all in. If the election were held today, who would get your vote? Your preferences aside, who do you think would actually win?