Lincolnite

Firefox has now passed the 20,000,000 download mark since it was released in November 2004. Are you one of them? You should be.

I am familiar with this standard Monopoly rules variation, but the article also mentions this Scrabble twist:

Other interesting board-game rule variations include the blank-tile substitution rule in Scrabble. Under this rule, if somebody puts a blank on the board to signify "R,' say, and later you wind up with an "R' in your rack, you can substitute the real letter for the blank and re-use the latter. This keeps the blanks in constant circulation, which can be useful toward the end of the game when everybody is getting down to the nubs, letters-wise.

Has anybody ever used that one, or even heard of it? I can't say that I have.

From the United States: Repeal of 'Woman Slander' Law Sought. From France: France Outlaws Sexist Insults Does this mean we'll soon see an influx of women-insulting Frenchmen here in the U.S.?

Perhaps somebody with a background in law can explain this to me: how is this not entrapment? Especially this part:

Some suspects in prostitution investigations are confronting naked justice. A prosecutor says police are now allowed to undress in an effort to persuade suspected prostitutes to negotiate sex acts. [emphasis added]

Anybody care to give me a primer on entrapment and related concepts?

The Missus and I woke up to a nice 54 degree house this morning. Not an intolerable temperature by any means, but when you're expecting at least in the 65, it catches you a bit off guard. I want to send a big thank-you to the friendly folks at Service Guard. Seriously, they were very helpful when I called, and a little repair dude -- actually a fairly large repair dude -- showed up in under two hours. (It was probably around 90 minutes, but I didn't actually pay attention to the time.) Good news: The house is now approaching 64 degrees, and warming. The furnace is, for the moment, working. Sort of. Bad news: The (large) repair dude couldn't figure out what was wrong. He's pretty sure the problem is in the electronics within the control module, so he's going to replace it. He doesn't know if he'll be able to get a new part today, though. It is, after all, Sunday. We should have full-functioning heat either late this afternoon or sometime tomorrow. Cool news: The repair dude gave me permission to kick the furnace to get it to work. Well, those weren't his exact words. But it was something like that. I watched him work, and tapping on the control panel appeared to be the best way to get it to (occasionally) work correctly. Beating things is my usual solution to get them to work, so this won't be unusual for me at all.

I ate at Samurai Sam's today. By all appearances they aren't going to go down without a fight. They had an anti-eminent domain abuse sign posted, along with a petition (which I forgot to sign!). I may offer the affected parties -- the owners of Sam Sam's, along with other property owners and lessees -- free use of website space here on Lincolnite.com. If anybody out there knows any of those parties, feel free to connect them with me, or let me know their contact information.

Omaha Senator Pat Bourne wants to overrule local anti-smoking ordinances with a single statewide ordinance. Now I'm experiencing an ends/means conflict. I support the ends (property and business owner rights) of Bourne's bill, but I hate the means (usurping local control). I support the means (local voters decide) of Lincoln's anti-smoking ordinance, but I hate the ends (squashing property and business owner rights). But I'm not going to be wishy-washy and try to have it both ways. I'll be a good boy and pick my side. I do not support Bourne's bill. Bypassing local democratic processes -- even wrongheaded ones -- is not something Nebraska ought to be doing. More importantly, the bill's evil goes beyond overthrowing Lincoln's democratic decision. Bourne wants to pre-emptively halt similar democratic activity in Omaha, where an anti-smoking ordinance similar to Lincoln's will probably be enacted within the next few years. That's no different than Nebraska's voters bypassing Omaha voters' democratic rights by booting Ernie Chambers out of office via the term limits initiative. And so I come out on the side of Lincoln's anti-rights na... No, no, I'm not going to say it. Let me rephrase: I come out on the side of Lincoln's anti-smoking advocates. We are an unlikely alliance, but when you have principles to uphold, sometimes you find yourself among odd company.

Downtown hotel plan hits snag How this is handled will say a lot about our community. For my part I may contact the business and land owners to offer my research services to help them battle any potential abuses of eminent domain. I really want to help them, but current "life circumstances" may prevent me from doing as much as I would like.

Some people think the United States is run by a giant, sinister government that sees everything you do and knows everything about you. This hypothetical government is capable of just about anything. To them I say: yeah right. (All joking aside, this is rather disturbing news.)

Kudos to FoxNews for the creative name of the link to this story: SpongeBob GayPants?

Hey kids, learn to clean up after a tsunami the FEMA way!

Am I the only one who thinks this Reuters headline's double meaning isn't an accident? Bush Begins New Term, Vows to End Tyranny

Among the many proposed economic development drivers being promoted right now in Lincoln, a new convention center is one of the most publicized and praised. Indeed, Lincoln's current major convention facility, Pershing Center, is a steaming pile of poo compared to many of the newest convention and entertainment facilities in the country. (Compare to Qwest Center in Omaha, for example.) But let's not fool ourselves and think that if we build it, they -- people with overflowing wallets, that is -- will come. As The Brookings Institution notes, nothing is certain when convention centers drive economic development strategy.

Daisy loves pig ears.* There are now dozens of tiny little chunks of pig carcass scattered throughout the house. Yum. *For those of you who don't have pets, pig ears are exactly that: dried (and sometimes seasoned) pig's ears sold at outrageous prices to dog owners who, for whatever irrational reason, love to spoil their dogs.