respublica

Blogging anniversary

One year ago today I started Respublica and it has been one of the most satisfying things I have ever done.  Now we are up in northern Michigan for a week and where newspapers carry stories two days old which makes it necessary to read blogs to keep up.   Thanks to everyone who has visited this past year and especially to the many Illinois bloggers who are fast making our state one of the best in blogging.   

Photo blogging northern Lake Michigan

Made it to Arcadia, Michigan, yesterday afternoon.  Arcadia is about 10 miles south of Frankfort, Mi, and an hour south west of Traverse City.  Right on the Lake.  Lots of Illinois folks up here as well as many St. Louis area cars. 

         When you cross into Michigan from Indiana there is a visitor's center/rest stop.  This is one of the best ones and we stop every year even if we don't have too because they give away local in season fruit as you go in the door.  And inside they have more maps and glossy brochures than you'd ever need.  Here the man about the house gets a peach from some teenage girls wearing tiaras.  Don't know why they have tiaras, but it was fun.

     Stopped in South Haven for lunch and watched the birds and boats heading out to the lake.

     boats

     Got to Camp Arcadia and the kids and the MAtH decided to shoot some hoops to get the long drive kinks out.

           The north bluff overlooking the Arcadia shoreline in the morning mist.

Packed up and on the road

Packed up the car and dog yesterday, picked up a couple kids at O'Hare last night, stayed with sister-in-law who will help care for said dog while we head for the upper west coast of Michigan.  Blogging will continue unabated, but at weird times of day, maybe. 

Camp Arcadia, here we come.

How much of a good thing is too much?

Musing in a grocery store while stocking up for a trip:

Classic Coke, Diet Coke, caffeine free Coke, caffeine free regular Coke, Coke Zero, Diet Coke with Spenda, Cherry Coke, Diet Cherry Coke, Coke with Lemon, Diet Coke with Lemon, Coke with Lime, Diet Coke with Lime, Vanilla Coke, Diet Vanilla Coke.  Coke, its the Real Thing.  Whew.

Then Dr. Pepper, trying to outdo the others comes up with...Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper!  What is going on here?   Like a just picked ear of perfect summer sweet corn, preferably from Illinois, does a nearly perfect food like Coke need to be so tricked up?

Decatur tops in ice cream trucks

Good Humor trucks seem to be gone, but Frosty Treats trucks based in Kansas City have replaced them and the company just recently upped their number in Decatur from one to three.  Which means that city must like those curb side popsicles more than most.  Good Humor ice cream always had a nice seductive jingle sound as they trolled the neighborhoods on summer days and nights.  Frosty Treats has annoyingly loud, screechy tunes which can be heard forever, including that tin voice that cranks out, Hello.  Frosty Treats trucks come with 12, yes 12, separate tunes.  Who knew?  I bet Decatur knows. 

Who are these people?

2006 edition of the 50 most beautiful people on capitol hill can be found by clicking here.

The Hill newspaper announced their picks for the 50 Most Beautiful People on Capital Hill.  Haven't heard of many of them and I know of several who are not pictured who should be.  heh. 

My DC spies tell me the winners are more often than not nominated either by co-workers sending in a photo or the nominee themselves sending in a photo. 

The MAtH pod casting

We interrupt our regular posting for this commercial.  At least today, the MAtH (man about the house) is pictured on the front page of the KFUO radio web site as he records his daily minute or broadcast on the station and on pod cast. 

Durbin rises to speak another day

Update at the top today.  Here is the link to the web site (Ask John Roberts) 7 Democratic women senators put up in order to gather input on what to ask John Roberts.  There is a place at the top of the site for anyone to write a question to the judge.  I assume these questions won't go to Judge Roberts, but to staff members of these senators, who will weed through them in order to flesh out the senators' own questions when the confirmation hearings begin.  The senators behind this web site are:  Barbara Mikulski, Hillary Clinton, Barbara Boxer, Patty Murray, Mary Landrieu, Debbie Stabenow, Marie Cantwell.  The alternate web site title is "It's Your Supreme Court...".  Yes, but it all depends on what "your" means.

Speaking to a meeting of the House Democratic Caucus yesterday, Senator Dick Durbin interjected a statement about the confirmation hearings for Judge John Roberts into a gathering called to discuss the impending vote on the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). 

Durbin said Democrats would adopt a posture of asking questions about Roberts rather than rejecting him out of hand, two sources who were there said.  Durbin also told the group that the democrats had "won the nuclear option" battle in the eyes of the public.  What this statement implies is that he and his cohorts intend to go full bore against Roberts.  In order to do that "female Democratic senators are planning to unveil a website tomorrow that will solicit questions that the public would like to ask Roberts during his upcoming confirmation hearings. A spokeswoman for Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) said that the site is intended to be nonpartisan.

Female senators unveiling a website today?  Nonpartisan?  Unlikely.  Hopefully this post will be able to update with the web address later today when it will be announced at 2:15 EST.   Oh, and until that time, here is a link to Senator (I'm creating a John Roberts website) Barbara Mikulski's recipe for crab cakes. 

Wacky warning labels

Thanks to Allen Adomite over at the Illinois Civil Justice League for this link.  Stories like this make blogging so satisfying.  Glad this site is back posting with a nice new design.

The Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Website reports on the top five winners of their Wacky Warning labels contest.  The contest is conducted in order to reveal how lawsuits and the threat of lawsuits make manufacturers leave common sense behind.  Either that or they have little belief in consumer intelligence.

             In case you don't know what a flushable toilet brush is.

1.   A label on a flushable toilet brush reads:  "do not use for personal hygiene"
2.   A label on a children's scooter which reads:  "This product moves when used"
3.   A digital thermometer who's label reads:  "Once used rectally, the thermometer cannot be used orally" 
4.   An electric hand blender's instructions read:  "Never remove food or other items from the blades while the product is operating.”
5.   A label on a 9 by 3 inch bag of air used as packing material reads:  "Do not use this product as a toy, pillow, or flotation device"

    

 

"Who's gonna sit on rocks?"

An Assistant professor of landscape architecture at Washington State University, Phillip Waite, presented the argument at a meeting of the Society for College and University Planning that good campus landscaping can aid in the retention and recruitment of students. 

Mr. Waite began by quoting the late Ernest L. Boyer, the influential higher-education thinker, as having said that groundskeepers were more important to colleges' recruiting efforts than vice presidents were.  He also cited the 18th-century Scottish philosopher Lord Kames, who said that "good professors are not more essential to a college than a spacious garden sweetly ornamented."

While those words may come as a surprise to professors and administrators his argument is not only about trees, shrubs and flowers, but outdoor seating.  College students like to be outside when the weather permits so:  "Seating is critical," he said, mentioning chairs, benches, stairs, low walls, and even planters whose edges are the right height for students eager to catch some rays between classes."  He even recommends outdoor seating that can be moved because:  "Guys sit side by side, facing out. Women face each other," he added. But where movable seating is impractical, low walls, broad stairs, or even large, well-spaced concrete blocks can be just as inviting." Beyond places to sit, people "love to be around water and art," Mr. Waite said.

Not just college students I would venture, but most of us like to be able to be in comfortable surroundings while outside and have a place to talk.  Some of the best designed cities have some sort of water feature to meet and talk and people watch.  But more important than professors?  That is saying that the most important aspect of a college education is the gab sessions you have with other students.  The most fun and the most memorable perhaps, but not the most important. 

Story via The Chronicle of Higher Education/today's news, expensive registration required.