respublica

New look for Capitol Fax

Illinois political writer, Rich Miller, has redesigned his site, Capitol Fax.  It takes some getting used to but there are lots of cool new ways to interact with him and others who visit the site.

Talking with a general, an Olympian task

I don't really mind the president heading to Denmark to lobby Olympic officials for Chicago's 2016 bid.  I love the Olympics and a part of me would love to have them so close.  As a matter of fact, there's some who believe that if Chicago gets the games, St. Louis would be the site of a few events.

But, it is troublesome when you compare Obama going to Denmark, with his speaking only one brief time during his 9 months in office to our Afghanistan general McChrystal. 

Click

And, Heh!

Via Exurban League

Football and forgetting

The results of a study done by the National Football League found that former NFL players between the ages of 30 and 49 have 19 times the rate of Alzheimer's and other memory related diseases than men in the normal population.

When you see video replays of University of Florida quarterback, Tim Tebow's recent collision and concussion, the results of this survey are very believable. 

And, if you've had occasion to have an elderly family member with Dementia or Alzheimer's you know how sad and horrible it can be.

Football people at all levels have worked to find equipment which protects players, but when it comes to head injuries, nothing is working well.  This is scary stuff.

More road work

Seems there is activity once again over the possibility of widening 159 in Collinsville.  This time things are getting annoying. 

Surveyors are out again, this time someone in the decision making process has decided to look into taking more property from the east side of Vandalia.  

Little orange survey flags are way back from the current road in our neighborhood and let me just say, we are not happy.

Do we really need this widening and all the trauma it is going to cause or could the state fix the awkward Main and 159 intersection and stop at that?

Chicago's Olympic bid

Question:

Would President Obama be going to Denmark to tout Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Olympics if he thought the city might might lose?

The Chicago Sun-Times editorializes today:  "Chicago's success or failure at snagging the 2016 Summer Olympic Games now rests on the shoulders of President Obama."

Then this bit of adoration swimming against the growing tide of editorial writers in other papers:

"Why bother trying?

Maybe because he likes to dance with the one who brung him.

Maybe he likes to follow his mind and heart, not just polling data.

Maybe he's a true leader.

Best of luck, Mr. President."

"Time to start acting like the president"

Wow.  The editorialists and talking heads are really after President Obama this week.  Some might say that it's about time, but something went very wrong last week during the president' visit to the UN and the G20 Summit.

The French and German leaders were furious during the UN meetings because they wanted a strong, united front on Iran and its nuclear building program, seeing UN headquarters as the perfect place.  Administration officials told the French that they did not want "to spoil the image of success" on Obama's first visit and speech to the United Nations.

French President Sarkosy said, "We are right to talk about the future," referring to the U.S. resolution on strengthening arms control treaties. "But the present comes before the future, and the present includes two major nuclear crises," i.e., Iran and North Korea. "We live in the real world, not in a virtual one."

The Wall Street Journal said, "We thought we'd never see the day when the President of France shows more resolve than America's Commander in Chief for confronting one of the gravest challenges to global security. But here we are."

The Washington Post jumps in with an editorial today as well.

"Sooner or later it is going to occur to Barack Obama that he is the president of the United States. As of yet, though, he does not act that way, appearing promiscuously on television and granting interviews like the presidential candidate he no longer is. The election has been held, but the campaign goes on and on. The candidate has yet to become commander in chief."

Add to this lots of hand wringing over Obama's decision to travel to Denmark to promote Chicago's case for hosting the 2016 Olympics. 

50 Princeton students not really liking the Kindle

According to the Daily Princetonian, the school began a pilot program using Amazon Kindles instead of textbooks.  50 students in 3 classes-Civil Society and Public Policy (ha), Diplomacy in the Middle East, and Religion and Magic in Ancient Rome were given the Kindle.

Many were disappointed and found it difficult to use.  This surprises me in this day and age when college age students have been technologically savvy most of their lives. 

Those students found that the Kindle's ability to make margin notes, highlight passages and finding previous pages awkward and slow.

On the plus side, most found the Kindle easier on the eyes than a normal book which makes it easier to read for longer stretches of time. 

Owning a Kindle, I'd have to say that note saving is quite easy, highlight a passage and it's saved on the home page. 

But currently the Kindle is mainly for reading.  That's the market.  It does make the attempt to include useful ways to save sections and make notes.  I predict it won't be long before the e-readers gin up the format for classroom study.  There's a huge market out there and a huge market means money.  

I love it, frankly.  But then I'm not studying for Civil Society and Public Policy.  Civil Society.  Heh.

Thanks, John!  Our tech guy who needs a Kindle.

What is your reaction time?

Click the mouse as soon as you notice a sheep move.

See what your reaction time is.  No texting.

Surfing and trucking

One more reason to worry about those big trucks rolling along right next to you on the interstate.

They have a computer monitor right next to the steering wheel and often the keyboard in their laps.

Pending legislation would ban the use of texting while driving and...

There's a move to include banning the use of computers while driving by truckers, but the industry is, of course, against it.  They believe banning the use of computers while driving is 'overkill' won't improve safety.  Overkill, interesting choice of words.

One trucker said, "We're supposed to pull over (to use the computer), but nobody does."

One recent study found truckers using a computer while driving were 10 times more likely to crash than truckers who did not.  A driver texting is 23 times more likely to crash.

I don't know about you, but since a spate of bad accidents involving trucks and texting and cell phone answering, I give these guys a very wide berth.  Knowing they all have computers next to the steering wheel and a keyboard in their laps, I'll be staying even farther away.

Shovelnose protection

There's a plan afoot to dig into the possibility of protecting a Mississippi and Missouri river caviar producing fish with the unfortunate name of "Shovelnose" Sturgeon.

Seems the Shovelnose is not endangered, but is a look-alike to the Pallid Sturgeon which is endangered.

Caviar demand from these two fishes boomed after European caviar became depleted.

Still, as special and expensive as caviar is, it's kind of humorous to think of it coming from a Shovelnose.

And, it'll be interesting to see what happens if and when this fish is off limits to fishermen, will an over population of Shovelnose cause more problems in local river waters than before?