Deep Thought
July 3, 2009
Quitters are the new fighters.
Why did Palin resign?
July 3, 2009
Surely you’ve heard now that Alaska Gov. Palin is resigning. But why do so on the day before the 4th of July? It happens to be a Friday, but that won’t bury talk about it. What are we not seeing yet that’s about to blow up?
[Later...] Might it be that federal embezzlement charges are coming down the pipe?
propel has a very nice post about Volkswagen’s Clean Diesel lineup. It contains the very good news that the popular Golf TDI will be making a return next year. The new Golf TDI is said to rate at 140hp and a significant 236 ft-lbs of torque! [Emphasis not added.] (Too bad the new Golf GTD will outperform that — the GTD totes 179 hp and 258 lb-ft of torque!)
A promo article says “This engine [the 2.0 liter Clean Diesel] is capable of 49 mpg on the highway and 35 mpg in the city when paired with a six-speed manual transmission.” That is slightly better than my ‘06 Jetta TDI gets with a five-speed. Nice!
(That said, a Clean Diesel SportWagen may eventually be in my future.)
There’s also an older post from propel about a study showing that biodiesel does just what we know it to do: it works flawlessly.
Deep Thought
July 2, 2009
It’s a shame Gov. Doyle vetoed the transit tax reform we’d worked so hard for just to make Scott Walker’s life difficult next year.
New York Times story on Will Allen & Growing Power
July 2, 2009
A story on Milwaukee’s own champion urban farmer Will Allen has appeared in the July 1, 2009 issue of the New York Times. I haven’t had a chance to look at it yet, but local renaissance man James Godsil hails the four page long story as “great step for our movement.” Enjoy!
It’s fitting that the premier broadcast of Gridlock: Public Transit in SE Wisconsin will be happening this Thursday July 2nd at 6 PM on Milwaukee Public TV. Gov. Doyle just ensured that it will continue a while longer, even as the Milwaukee area loses jobs due to our poor transit infrastructure.
According to a press release, “Gridlock will give you an intimate look at our transit dilemma and accomplishments–and a snapshot of what is happening in some other cities. Many local leaders and grassroots advocates are featured in this documentary!”
Also quite fitting is the special party happening at at 5:30 PM on July 2nd down at Transfer Pizzeria Café for the premier of Gridlock. Kerry of Transit NOW (not a CNI rag) asks that you RSVP with her by Thursday July 2 at noon if you plan to attend. (kthomas [#atmark#] transitnow.org is her e-mail) I’ll try to be there. I would be there, but I already have plans for that day. Alas! Have a Bismark pizza for me, okay?
Coleman concedes at long last
June 30, 2009
Finally. it’s over, thanks to the Minnesota Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in favor of Al Franken. I heard Franken’s show on Air America back when the network started back in 2004. Going on that, I didn’t think Franken’s then-rumored ambitions for the Senate would fly. Of course the Republican Party still looked strong at the time, and the idea of a Democratic majority was hardly seemed possible, although it seemed Karl Rove’s dream of a permanent Republican majority was not going to fly, either.
Either way, congratulations to Sen.-elect Franken. I don’t believe that his seating will automatically lead to a permanent filibuster-proof 60 vote majority all the time. That assumes that all 60 Democratic senators vote in lock-step, which is not always guaranteed. They could always prove me wrong. Just like how I was wrong about Al Franken’s final victory. Well done, sir.
Living large via RAM upgrade
June 30, 2009
Oh yeah. I now have a whopping TWO GIGABYTES OF RAM.
Taste that, Mac 512k!
Not really impressive when you consider the two gigs cost less than $50. I do remember when a single megabyte dropped below $100.00. Or when a 20 MB hard drive slipped below $1,000. Would it ever end?!
Apple’s industrial design, however, is quite nice. Liked that a lot, thank you sir.
My Mac is slightly faster now, which is good.
Does this mean CRG likes him now?
I had a hunch this would happen, that Doyle would veto the transit portion of the budget if it didn’t exactly fit his vision for an RTA. So a big thing I’ve worked hard for since last November has been summarily swept away. Thanks for nothing, Mister Governor.
(Apparently KRM isn’t totally dead. At least there’s that… but what about our local transit?)
Meanwhile in Shorewood, a teen dies from heroin overdose
June 26, 2009
Sometimes it’s good to have thing put in perspective. We’re fanning ourselves over the “right to plant” where we want to, while the suburbs are also facing a serious spread in heroin use among teenagers. My heart goes out to the Shorewood family who lost their teenage son to that deadly opiate. Telling people that they can or cannot plant in the median between the street and the sidewalk at once seems much easier than preventing the use of narcotics, and much more mundane. Perhaps because it’s easy enough for a municipality to make a change with regard to land use such as planting in yards and medians, but making deep social change is much more challenging.
That said, allow me to suggest gardening as a way to combat crime and build community. Having people come together to plant food and flowers is but one step in building a community. You need to go beyond that, and have the people involved in planning the garden, have them involved in harvesting what comes from the garden, and making it part of their lives. If it’s just a pretty thing to look at, in time, it will get ignored. A garden that is producing food and showing people how the many systems relate to and effect one another is a powerful analogy to the way the rest of the world operates. It shows how powerful team work can be, and that we can easily accomplish positive change in our lives through small actions.
How about starting a garden in memory of the young man who lost his life? Few things could better serve his memory and his family.
