Lincolnite

I stumbled across Skywave Radio today. It's a quirky little station out of Brighton, UK. They seem to play a mix of pop and lite punk. If you have Winamp or another program capability of playing streaming internet radio, check it out.

I hope you all are getting a chance to enjoy this beautiful day. Could there possibly be a more iconic winter day? It's cold, there's a fresh blanket of snow, and the skies are sunny and clear. Fantastic. The only thing I can possibly find wrong with today is that the snow is way too dry to build a snowman. But that fact made it a heckuva lot easier to shovel, so there's no way you're going to hear me complain. Daisy is enjoying the day by laying in the sun that is pouring into the kitchen. The missus is out braving the Saturday crowds at Hy-Vee. And me? I'm sitting at the computer gazing out the window rather than getting any work done.

I upgraded the system to Expression Engine 1.2.1 today. Post comments here if you notice any new wonky behavior. (Excepting, of course, expected wonky behavior from the fact that the site is still in an alpha stage.)

Do you absolutely hate Fox News? Well now there's a solution! I am torn between (1) thinking this is yet another example of just how lame partisans can be; and (2) thinking this is yet another example of just how creative a really dedicated group of individuals can be. I'm actually leaning toward 2... Still, I can't help but wonder: Shouldn't the anti-Fox types be out hugging trees, saving whales, or protesting the fact that some imprisoned terrorist had to suffer through regular Cheerios with 2% milk this morning, rather than the Honey Nut Cheerios and skim milk he requested?

You may notice that I finally added search capabilities and a member login form to the column on the right. Neither is very pretty right now, but I'm trying to work on function before form. Also, there still isn't a way for people to become a website member without my intervention. I'll get there ... eventually. This upcoming three-day weekend will give me an opportunity to get some stuff done on the website. I hope.

The Missus and I ate at The Oven last night. I'm not typically the Indian food type, so I wasn't all that enthusiastic about going. The Missus, on the other hand, was adamant. So we went. Gotta maintain a happy home life, y'know? I'm glad we went. For one thing, my chicken tikka mahkani was very tasty. But beyond the food, The Oven has a nice atmosphere. And it is always good to see a local restaurant succeed. One of these days I will get around to writing a review of The Oven in Eat Lincoln. One of these days.

After 5 long years, the new dietary guidelines for the country were released today. Fruits and dark green vegetables are good. As is looking to fish and beans for protein. Avoid deep fried and sugar-laden products, and try and exercise every now and then. Truly earth-shattering. Anyway, I'm still waiting for the revised pyramid thing.

I could use some help understanding all the furor over the Randy Moss "Moongate" incident up in Cheeseheadland. What's the big deal? He didn't actually drop trou. The act was relevant (Packers fans are prone to mooning the opposing team's bus). Relative to much of what professional athletes get away with, a faux-mooning seems pretty tame. Drugs and violence are OK, but mime mooning is beyond the pale? Obviously I don't know what the hell I'm talking about because pretty much every commentator and columnist thinks Moss should be flayed, flambeed, and fed to the sharks. Can anybody shed light on this for me? [update]Moss has been fined $10,000 for his actions.[/update]

The collective genius of the Lincoln City Council blows my mind. Lincoln has been planning more and more "marquee" projects for at least a decade. These include:

• South Beltway
• East Beltway
• Widening East 'O' Street to 6 lanes
• Antelope Valley Project
• Downtown Master Plan
• Haymarket redevelopment
• State Fair Park renovations
• West Airport Subarea Plan
• Stevens Creek infrastructure development
• 48th & 'O' Street revitalization

Yesterday it finally dawned on the council: How the hell are we going to pay for all this stuff? Question: Which is more worrisome, that the Council doesn't have the slightest clue how to address this problem, or that they just now realized the problem even exists?! Councilwoman Patte Newman says the cost of projects in the pipeline is $43 million. She is either lying or she's bad at math. The Antelope Valley Project alone is projected to cost $240 million (plus 3 times that amount -- an additional $750 million -- in private funding). Add in all the other projects, stir, and we're talking a sum closer to at least $430 million -- ten times Newman's figure. And we can't even figure out how to cover the projected $8.7 million budget gap for the coming fiscal year. The Journal Star notes that covering the budget gap plus an additional $3.7 million in proposed new spending will require a property tax hike of 25%. Let's say we want to complete all our $430 million worth of projects over the next 25 years. (That's not asking too much, is it?) That's $17.2 million per year... ::number crunching:: If I'm doing my math correctly, our total property tax hike next year would have to be at least 55% to cover the budget gap, the new spendin g, and all the projects. That's an increase of over $100 per month on the average property tax bill. Try to get that one past the taxpayers. And that doesn't include the (well) more than $1 billion worth of new capital investments private companies will need to make in order to make all these projects a success. And that doesn't include all the new money Lincoln's residents will have to come up with to build all the new houses and support all the new businesses in order to keep all these projects afloat. Where is all that new money coming from? Further evidence of the Council's collective density also appears in this morning's Journal Star in the form of an article titled "Council delays action on 48th and O." (Aside: Is it just me, or is the Council always "delaying action" on important matters? Do these people ever make hard decisions?) The gist: Considering the City's financial woes, maybe it's not such a great idea to waste a few $million on the "blighted" (Ha!) 48th & 'O' Street area. The big clue:

(T)he largest property owner in the area, Julius Misle, opposes the city interference. His attorney, Mark Hunzeker, said Misle has had numerous queries from restaurants, banks and retailers interested in the area, but the blight designation and uncertainty about access to property have derailed plans and made it difficult to develop the area.

So developers are trying to take care of the problem on their own but government interference is holding them back? What a shock! ::sigh:: This is giving me a headache.

Meet the 26 most dangerous schools in the United States (reg. req., or BugMeNot). Believe it or not, most states have no schools defined as "persistently dangerous" under No Child Left Behind. South Dakota's schools, though, are leading the way in school danger. Money quote:

...no matter what we learned in eighth grade civics class, passing a bill in Congress often doesn't mean much.

I lived for four years in Iowa City, IA, a city with a population of a little over 60,000 people. I was expecting Lincoln - a city nearly 4 to 5 times larger a population - to have a wider choice in restaurants. Ironically, the opposite is true! And when compared to other neary smaller towns, say Boulder, we can't hold up a candle when it comes to choice in restaurants. In Lincoln, there are more restaurants of course, but the selection overall is more limited. Lincoln tends to have a lot of fast food places, a lot of chain places, and that's about it. There are a few Indian restaurants, and then your slew of Chinese-American places. What's the matter with Lincolnites? Is it a law to only eat burgers and chicken wings? Since I've been here, many locals have expressed a desire that more choice in restaurants be available, and I have certainly met a number of Lincolnites who have previously lived in big cities, in foreign countries, and so on, whom you would think would bring their taste buds back with them. Why such few choice here? What kind of restaurant would you like to see in Lincoln? Personally, I would like to see a creperie or a Malaysian restaurant in town. I wouldn't mind more Mexican places, as long as it was good Mexican food and not the chains. And what about an Ethopian restaurant? Doesn't this sound good?

Weekends are really too short. I'm certainly not the first to observe that, but I figured I ought to add my name to the list. After nearly a month off, I refereed seven indoor soccer matches this weekend. They were all pretty easy. I didn't even give out so much as a blue card! (In indoor, a blue card is one step below a yellow card. There is no equivalent in outdoor soccer based on FIFA's Laws.) I sure hope next weekend's games are more interesting, or this could be a long indoor session. Not that interesting == giving out a lot of cards, mind you. But I had way too much day-dreaming time during my games this weekend. Heck, I don't think anybody even disagreed with any of my calls. (Of which there were few, because most of the games were pretty pathetic.) What's the fun of being a sports official if you don't get yelled at once in a while? For the first time this year I really started itching for the start of this spring's baseball and outdoor soccer seasons. My soccer needs have been met (sort of) by the indoor season. I really need to get back out on a baseball diamond, though. I finished a book this weekend. Yeah, it's a book about running a restaurant. I'm not actually planning to open a restaurant any time in the near future, but I have always been interested in the idea. Maybe one of these days... For the record, Running a Restaurant for Dummies is a pretty decent book. It is by far the best read of the books I looked at that were directed at beginners. I read it in about 3 days. It could really use an accompanying CD (or website) with the forms they talk about, though. The Missus made me roasted chicken and twice-baked potatoes last night. Mmm, tasty! I think she has salmon on the menu tonight. She must like me.

A group of scientists were asked (requires registration or BugMeNot): What do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it? Their answers are interesting, ranging from there is (or is not) a God, to string theory is bunk, to "true love." What say you, fellow Lincolnites?