Month: June 2009

Obama Endorses Conan O’Brien

Obama Endorses Conan O’Brien

It seems that there is one thing that President Barach Hussein Obama and I disagree on (only ONE thing you ask).  I think that Conan O’Brien is not up to the task of the Tonight Show.  BHO thinks that he is. 

I am so glad that the leader of the free world is worrying about poor Conan in this time of economic unrest and while North Korea is playing nuclear games with us.

I picked up this video from the very funny blog, CrZay.

38 ideas for stimulus bill revisited

38 ideas for stimulus bill revisited

I am not a big fan of federal government spending.  There are few times when I think that the government can do a more effective job of spending than my local municipalities where they are far more accessible to my influence.  However, the current economy definitely needs a kick-in-the-butt and so I supported the stimulus bill (now called “Economic Stimulus Package Act of 2008“) if it really is going to be used for getting things done on a local level.

I wrote about this back in February in my article “38 ways to fill the stimulus bill with pork and save our economy“.  I still question that the stimulus is being adequately implemented but an article in the Sunday edition of the Cincinnati Enquirer gives me some hope.  This is exactly what we should do as a stimulus – create hundreds of small projects that will get people in the local communities working.  I only hope that most of the jobs the article cites were contractors as opposed to government workers.  As contractors, this will insure that these entrepreneurs stay in business and can augment this public money with some private sector jobs and keep these workers on their payroll.

Perhaps more of this money should be doled out to the local municipalities instead funding TARP.

In keeping with my tradition, I am not reprinting the article in its entirety.  Please click through and read the entire story but here is the beginning discussion.

The sidewalks on Mandarin Court in Forest Park are set to be replaced using federal stimulus money.

 

Stimulus benefits big – and small

President Obama may have been thinking big with his $787 billion stimulus package, but his counterparts in local government are thinking decidedly small.

As local cities and counties put together their applications for some of their first tastes of stimulus money, they’ve come up with block grant applications where the typical project costs less than $250,000.

The city of Covington, for example, has broken down its line items as small as $1,650 each – to replace 117 curb ramps in the neighborhood around Decoursey and Winston avenues, to make them handicapped-accessible. Cincinnati is giving out grants as small as $8,556 for a program to prevent teen pregnancy and violence.

The list of local applications for the Community Development Block Grants also includes $61,200 for sidewalks in Forest Park, $93,000 for air conditioners in Sharonville and $56,008 for playground renovations in Hamilton.

In Woodlawn and Lincoln Heights, taxpayers will spend $100,000 to resurface one-seventh of a mile of Prairie Avenue, and install curbs for 20 houses along the way – a project that Rev. Jesse O’Conner hopes will stop the flooding in his basement.

Without curbs or gutters, rainwater comes down the street and settles on his property. He’s even had precast concrete parking blocks installed in place of curbs in an effort to prevent floods like the one that put eight inches of water in his basement last week.

“We need to get people working again, spending money,” said O’Conner, a General Electric retiree who’s lived on the street since 1954. “It needs to be spent, not put in the bank somewhere.”

Those projects may sound like small potatoes in the context of a spending plan usually measured in the millions, billions and even trillions. But local officials say it’s important that smaller communities aren’t forgotten in the effort to pump federal taxpayer money into the economy.

“So far, everything coming out of the stimulus has been mega-projects that only big communities get,” said Hamilton County Commissioner David Pepper. “We heard a lot of discussion from smaller communities who said, ‘What about us?'”

Local governments in the region have been allocated more than $5.3 million in additional community development block grants, Applications for specific projects were due Friday, and governments are guaranteed to receive the funds as long as they meet federal criteria.

They hope to get some of that money in time for summer construction, though it may come as late as Sept. 30.

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-06-07

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-06-07

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RANT! No more faith in Microsoft

RANT! No more faith in Microsoft

After being on an iPhone for a year, I don’t think I could ever go back to a Windows Mobile phone.  I used the Windows Mobile platform for probably 11 years (including the original Windows CE non-phone devices) and it always seemed like the NEXT generation would solve all my problems. The next generation never did come and by the time I gave up, I was in the habit of restarting the phone every morning.

I recently tried to install the desktop search tool from Microsoft.  After several tries and lots of reading online, I couldn’t get the add-on installed that would allow this tool to search my Outlook 2003 files (let alone my Thunderbird personal email).  I gave up and installed Google desktop and was completely indexed on everything in one overnight session.

I have no faith in Microsoft anymore.  I have had to go back to Windows on my laptop rather than Ubuntu but that is just because my 2G RAM laptop was struggling with Ubuntu and a virtual machine with Windows so that I could use Outlook and Office.  If I didn’t have to be completely compatible with the rest of my company then I would likely not have a single Microsoft product on my computer or in my life.

I could survive without MS Office.  OpenOffice does everything that I ever need it to do.  I don’t need the extra functionality that overloads the MS Office product line.

The only product that Microsoft makes that I really like is Windows Live Writer (which I use for blog posts).  But when I was on Ubuntu, I found that Scribe on Firefox was perfectly adequate for my needs.

If I could get Evolution to really work well with our company Exchange server, I would be off of Windows.  I always struggle with the Calendar syncing, calendar invites, and the Global Address Book.  If someone could create a smooth interface to Exchange then it would be goodbye to Microsoft for me!

RANT! WHY CAN’T A DEVELOPER MAKE EVOLUTION WORK OFF OF EXCHANGE SO THAT I CAN DROP MICROSOFT!

I am done with this topic for now but I reserve the right to rant more on it someday.

Conan O’Brien is boring

Conan O’Brien is boring

On Monday, Conan O’Brien was given the keys to one of the best jobs in television.  The Tonight Show has been going strong since 1954 and is one of the longest running shows ever.  It was first hosted by Steve Allen, then Jack Parr (very shortly), followed by the masterful Johnny Carson, and finally Jay Leno.  The producers should have left the show with people that have a first name beginning with “J” since Conan simply doesn’t have what it takes.

It is interesting that Conan took the job over from Leno where he comes from taking the David Letterman vacated show.  Letterman was upset that he didn’t take over for Carson and left to form a show on a rival network.  Leno and Letterman have been battling for the entire time and Leno consistently won.  Now it appears that Letterman will easily have the upper hand since there is no way the very un-funny O’Brien can compete.

I feel sorry for Conan. He moved to Los Angeles from New York City. I sure hope that he is renting his home because I will be amazed if he will survive long on this show. He simply doesn’t have what it takes. He will do moderately well since actors and singers need to do the show to hawk their latest projects but they will quickly opt for doing Letterman first and then eventually get around to appearing with O’Brien.  The shows ratings are in for a huge fall!

The jury is still out if Leno’s new gig will be successful.  If it is a raving success then Conan is in for more of a challenge as the comparison will continue and they will split the audience. Why would a viewer spend an hour with Jay at 10, watch the news, and then be bored with the inferior Conan at 11:30?  If he fails, he may come crawling back to his old job and kick Conan out of his old chair.

The end of an era – last Titanic survivor passes away

The end of an era – last Titanic survivor passes away

1_22_titanic_dicaprioMost of us have seen the movie Titanic starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio. While this romantic movie stirred many people, the movie was a tribute to the many people who died and who survived this catastrophe.  

The era has ended.  The last survivor of that maiden voyage has passed away.  Millvina Dean, the last remaining survivor of the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, died in a care home in England on Sunday, media reports said. She was 97.  You can read more about Millvina here.

5649728_std To steal a scene from the movie, is Leonardo waiting at the top of the stairs for her?

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