respublica

Love Wide Angle Lenses?

Do you love them enough to shell out $160,000?  I didn't think so. But here's a look at the world's widest wide angle, wide enough to photograph the world.

Imagine using something like this, you'd never get a picture taken because you'd constantly be having to answer questions about the lens from other people.

If you live in the Hillcrest neighborhood of Clayton...

The Board of Aldermen will be honoring your neighborhood on its 100th anniversary with a proclamation tonight. They would love to have many of the families in attendance as the city celebrates with you.

America's Top Universities for Food Lovers

According to the Daily Meal folks who used the top college list from U.S. News and World Report and then redid the list according to the best food served to students.

Washington University in St. Louis is number one.

How they came up with their ranking is found here.

The slide show of the top 20 is here and what's interesting to me is that several of these schools have a dining hall which looks very much like we have here at Concordia Seminary. 

For example: the University of Chicago, Yale, and rather slightly, Notre Dame.

Is it real or is it paranoia?

A link to a story about the possible ramifications of the Moving Ahead For Progress in the 21st Century Act or more officially, Senate Bill 1813 which was passed by the senate and has moved to the House.

The legislation "will impose a legal requirement that all new cars made beginning with the 2015 models be fitted with so-called Event Data Recorders (EDRs)." This equipment will store and transmit data on how you drive, how fast you drive etc. This is a supposedly safety feature which would help in accident reconstruction, but as you read on you'll see how many other invasions of privacy will occur.

The EDR's will tie into the car's GPS system and data will be recorded and transmitted, often to your insurance company who may then send you a raised premium if the information shows you're driving above the speed limit.

The bill was proposed by Senator Barbara Boxer and includes an amendment that would prevent any American citizen from leaving the country based upon a determination by the IRS that you owe the government back taxes.

This is so totally Big Brother is watching you it's frightening. No, wait, it's Big Brother is with you even in your car. Life imitates fiction. You may want to check to see if your House representative is in favor of this bill.

Here is the way the senate voted. You can see who voted yes or no or did not vote. 74 yes   22 no and 2 did not vote. 

Transparency in Illinois

State Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka has created a new website which provides a full accounting of Illinois public dollars.

Named The Ledger, the site will allow you to perform searches on specific revenues, expenditures, and entities, or even track a state employee's salary. You can even send an FOIA request.

No small job pulling this together, but it may be the first stop for anyone wanting financial information on the state of Illinois.

Sales tax holiday in Missouri

From today through the 25th, Missouri will not charge sales tax on the purchase of energy efficient appliances. If you're thinking of getting something new this may be the time to do it.

Bird's Nest Spruce

Went to a wholesale nursery on Friday and came across the cutest shrubs I've seen in a long time.

They're Bird's Nest Spruce shrubs, low growing, slow growing and are great for borders or along foundations, in rock gardens and even as some ground cover. They will never get too high, maybe 2 feet or so and will spread out in a larger circle.

If you have a nursery which sells Monrovia plants you may be able to find one.

Resources for finding facts

Liberty Chick did the work so you don't have to when you want to vet what politicians say or did, cross check what media tells you, find out who or what organization is giving money to what campaign, where federal contracting dollars go, legislative salaries and much more.

Invaluable during an election year when you want to know what's true and what isn't.

Data bases and search sites galore.

Family Ties

Charlie's twin brother Dan, his wife Hannah and two boys are visiting DC this weekend and the 7 Bailey's stopped by Union Station and had their picture taken in front of an old Pullman car. I love this because my great grandfather worked his whole life for the Pullman company in Chicago sewing the tapestries which decorated those cars. He even lived in the Pullman company town on the southside of Chicago.

Katie took the picture so she's not in it but here are the other Bailey's.

St Louis car break-ins ramp up

Every spring this area sees a big up tick in car break-ins. Every year. Cars are broken into at night and in the daylight, downtown and in Forest Park and in neighborhoods. You can predict this by the thermometer, when the weather turns mild, the thieves roam.

Last week a couple from Hawaii visiting the Arch had their car hit at noon. The husband was a veteran who had his uniform, medals and every bit of Afghanistan stolen from their vehicle which was parked in a tended lot. The police were not much help, telling them "this happens all the time." In fact car break-ins downtown are up ten percent over last year.

What's interesting is the question the wife asked, "Are there cameras anywhere?" The answer was from the police was, no. The woman then said, "I was shocked. If it happens all the time you haven’t gotten any cameras yet?"

Here's the frustrating thing. Cars are being broken into all over St. Louis, some the other night in our neighborhood. Like most cities, St. Louis has traffic cameras everywhere, we're watched at every intersection and highway. But where crime is known to be constant and in big numbers there are no cameras? 

We're great at apprehending the average driver who doesn't stop completely before turning right on red, but we don't bother with thieves who practically own downtown St. Louis?