Lincolnite

I'm starting a movement. A revolution, of sorts, one focused on a tiny pet peeve of mine. The mission: replace the word 'guys,' when used in certain situations, with a suitable alternative. I'm not anti-guy so much as I just think it's a poor word. It's sloppy. It's brusque. And it is arguably sexist. The most specific example of inappropriate usage is when restaurant personnel refer to entire tables of customers as guys. "How are you guys doing today?" "What can I get for you guys?" "Can I get you guys some refills?" And so on. My wife is not a guy. Neither is my mother. Nor are we the server's pals. We are happy to be pleasant and friendly with him. But he should not speak to his customers the same way he would speak to his buddies after a night of hard drinking. You might be thinking, "Mr. Wilson, you're making a mountain out of a mole hill." Probably. I'm good at that. But why use a word like guys when there are other perfectly suitable words just dying to be pulled from the thesaurus, dusted off, and put to good use? In fact, I have just the one in mind. Folks. That's right, guys should be replaced with folks. (For you computer geeks out there that's something like s/guys/folks/gi) It's friendly, it's pleasant, and it's extremely Nebraskan. Some folks use folks already, and that's great. I would like to encourage restaurant managers to deprecate use of the word guys by employees to customers. Then other businesses should catch on. Eventually, the demise of guys would be inevitable! Mwa ha ha ha ha! Ahem, sorry about that. There are limitations to the word folks, of course. A police officer wouldn't approach a group of troublemaking teenage boys and say "Pardon me, what are you folks up to this evening?" Nor would a group of guys watching a football game in a bar be referred to as folks; they are, of course, guys. There's a qualitative di fference between folks and guys. It's really quite easy to make the distinction once you know to look for it. All I ask is that folks be called folks and guys be called guys. I've heard servers refer to 80 year-old men and women drinking coffee at Village Inn as guys, for Pete's sake. If you think there's nothing wrong with that you probably also think it's ok to call the President "Head Dude" to his face. If that's the case, I really can't help you. Remember, folks, change begins with you. Join the pro-folks brigade today and stamp out guys overuse!

Three weeks after the AP first reported on Brice Mellen, the Lincoln Journal Star finally got around to featuring him in today's edition. Better late than never, I suppose, but c'mon, it's not as though the LJS had more pressing topics to cover in the mean time. Why so late?

I made a few updates to the website this evening. They include:

• Minor cosmetic changes
• Implemented a search feature (cosmetic modifications forthcoming)
• Implemented a few site membership functions (ditto on the cosmetics)

As always, your comments are appreciated.

Everybody who's anybody knows that the place to be on the Friday evening before UNL classes start is Memorial Stadium. Why's that? Why, it's the site of the post-band camp performance by your beloved Cornhusker Marching Band, of course! The annual exhibition gives new and experienced band members alike the chance to perform in front of a large crowd (in the 8,000 to 10,000 range, usually) in preparation for the upcoming season, and it gives band fans a chance to see the band's progress after only one week of rehearsals. The band usually performs Pre-Game and portions of their first half-time show, and they show off a few of the musical and marching fundamentals they've learned so far. The exhibition also features the famous Drill Down, a fun competition in which band members try to be the last to goof up as marching commands are thrown at them progressively quicker. Gates open at 6:30pm and the show starts at 7:00pm. Enter Memorial Stadium through Gate 3 or Gate 11. Both The Missus and I are band vets, so we try to get to the exhibition every year. It's a good time and it's free. You can't go wrong with that combination, right? Here's a tip: the band usually practices their warm-up and march to the stadium prior to the show. If you want to catch that -- I recommend it, especially if you haven't seen it before -- it will probably begin around 6:15pm or 6:30pm outside Westbrook Music Building, which is behind (West of) the Lied Center. On game days they typically begin their warm-up routine outside Westbrook approximately one hour before game time, with their march to the stadium 15-20 minutes later.

Matthew Koso doesn't stand a chance, now that Attorney General Jon Bruning has "leaked" that Koso has done the nasty with underage girls other than the one he married. In a fit of petty irresponsibility Bruning indicated that there are "many credible reports" to suggest Koso has mssed around with several young girls, and that such activity was "an open secret" in Falls City. I have two responses to that. First, why the heck is our Attorney General spreading hearsay and rumors? If he is going to charge Koso with crimes he should charge Koso with crimes. It is completely out of line for a major government official to engage in the equivalent of schoolyard scuttlebutt. If the rumors turn out to be false, I hope Koso nails Bruning to the wall. (And if they turn out to be true, good luck in prison Mr. Koso. You'll be there for a good, long while.) Second, it was an open secret? What the hell is wrong with Falls City residents?! If anything deserves a good WTF, it's that. That's right up there with the open secret in Crete that parents provide copious amounts of alcohol (and, erm, "more") to their teenagers and dozens of their closest friends on a regular basis.

It's official: West O Street is blighted. That shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody who 1) has noticed that Lincoln is on pace to declare every area of town blighted by 2010, and 2) has experienced the unattractive blandness that is West O. Of course, if unattractive blandness is our standard, then most of Cornhusker Highway should be next on Lincoln's blight list. Along with a good chunk of North 27th Street. And [insert your example here].

I received word today that I have been assigned as AR1 to my first college soccer match. Sort of. It's a women's scrimmage at Concordia in Seward. They are playing some community college from Wyoming, I believe. It probably won't be the most exciting game in the world, but it's my first college game, so I'm excited.

Apologies to those who are bored by the topic, but I think it's too late to stop providing updates now. The latest:

It has now emerged that Mr de Menezes:

• was never properly identified because a police officer was relieving himself at the very moment he was leaving his home;
• was unaware he was being followed;
• was not wearing a heavy padded jacket or belt as reports at the time suggested;
• never ran from the police;
• and did not jump the ticket barrier.

But the revelation that will prove most uncomfortable for Scotland Yard was that the 27-year-old electrician had already been restrained by a surveillance officer before being shot seven times in the head and once in the shoulder. ... A man sitting opposite him is quoted as saying: "Within a few seconds I saw a man coming into the double doors to my left. He was pointing a small black handgun towards a person sitting opposite me. He pointed the gun at the right hand side of the man's head. The gun was within 12 inches of the man's head when the first shot was fired."

I will be playing with several different pieces of the website over the next couple days. You may have already noticed that the blog archives are now available (Hint: look in the column on the right). Other changes will be coming as well. My apologies for any hiccups as I play around with a few things.

Yesterday I blogged about the shooting of Jean Charles Menezes, and the questions surrounding his death. Today I came across an article with information I hadn't seen before. Specifically:

By 10am that morning, elite firearms officers were provided with what they describe as "positive identification"... [Mr. Menezes] started running when we saw a tube at the platform. Police HAD [sic] agreed they would shoot a suspect if he ran.

That information is nowhere near enough to exonerate the cops who murdered him, but it is the only bit of information I've seen so far that gives even the tiniest bit of justification for killing an innocent man.

Go ahead, admit it. You're planning to watch Tommy Lee Goes to College tonight at 8:00pm. Oh sure, you claim that you're just watching it to see if you see somebody you know. But I know the truth. You want to watch it. It's ok; it doesn't make you a bad person. Unless you order the DVD version of the show. That would be pretty weird.

Researchers are working on a way to grow meat in a laboratory, hoping to eventually develop an alternative to farm-raised meat. The hope is that the lab-grown meat -- frankenmeat, if you will -- will be healthier (because its nutrition characteristics can be controlled), safer (no mad cow), more consistent, cheaper, less offensive to ethical vegetarians, and so on. Many people say "Eww! That's gross! I would never eat 'fake' meat!" Yeah, but you'll eat meat that's crawling with bacteria and was once attached to an animal's ass, where it was covered in crap for years. Anyway, I would love to give frankenmeat a try. I think it's an awesome idea, in principle, and I can't wait to see how it works out. Imagine the possibilities for feeding poverty-stricken populations. The first time they have a taste test at my local Hy-Vee, I'm there.

Illinois Man Says Rabbit Saved His Wife

Murphy's obstetrician, Dr. Anita Pinc, credits the rabbit with telling Ed Murphy "Wake up, wake up. Something is wrong with your wife."

This is all so familiar...

Yet again, the Lincoln City Council has come up with a new way to top itself. The Lincoln Journal Star reports this morning that the Council was "distracted" and "failed to ask the right questions" when it approved pay raises last December for M class employees. My major complaints:

• This stuff happens all the time. The Lincoln City Council is notorious for not thinking things through. Councilman Jon Camp said he wants "to resolve any doubt and make sure the information is accurate." Why weren't doubts resolved and information checked in the first place?
• The City refused to give salary study information to the Lincoln Independent Business Association (LIBA). When LIBA conducted its own study, LIBA could not confirm many of the City's numbers. Governments should not be in the habit of hiding public information from the public.

Even if it turns out that the City did everything right in this situation, they will have done it in spite of themselves. Any time Council members admit incompetence and the City refuses to divulge information (which is contradicted by other sources), the public rightly wonder what the heck is going on. This is yet another example of why Lincolnites ought to be ashamed of our leadership. We should do better.

I have never been to the Mary Riepma Ross Film Theater. I have thought about going to a couple shows there, but not being an "artsy film" kind of guy, I have stayed away. Now I'm thinking about going sometime between September 16 and September 29. The film I want to see? The Aristocrats. I think the fact that I really want to see that film officially makes me a twisted SOB. Anybody want to make a wager on what proportion of the moviegoers walk out before the end?