More Background Noise

November had a bumper crop of Utah strangeness.

First was the three-way pissing contest between Mayor Rocky, the SLC Town Council, and the LDS Church over the Main Street Plaza easement. In a deal brokered by prior mayor Dee Dee Coridini during her term., the LDS purchased the one block of Main Street that passes through their two blocks of buildings to create a pedestrian plaza and place of serenity between Temple Square and the Conference Center. They paid the city $8M. In return they agreed to the City retaining an easement that allows unrestricted public access and thoroughfare through the plaza. The sticking point is that the LDS wants to regulate behavior on the plaza - no swearing, no smoking, no drinking, etc - with the huge issue being no protesting. Now the LDS is unhappy about that and wants the city to give up the easement. Rocky Anderson has a slight problem with that - some little concern about First Amendment rights and all - and believes that the easement is absolutely essential to maintaining public access and the same free speech rights that any citizen has on any other city street or park.

Then we have the case where a teacher of a high school junior English class in a question on a mid-term exam asked the students to compare the precepts of transcendentalism with "The Words of Wisdom" (an LDS book that offers up virtues to live by). The non-LDS kids understandably felt they were at a bit of a disadvantage. And people outside of Utah wonder why there aren't Mormon private schools like there are Catholic and Jewish schools elsewhere. It often seems our public schools are Mormon schools.

Finally there's the mayor of Virgin who claims that "there isn't and never was a $25 fee for people wanting to appear before the town council", despite it being the first rule on the list of regulations for addressing the council at their public meetings. What’s more, even after you pay your fee, the topic still has to be approved by the Mayor. To be sure that you would actually be heard, an issue of the town newsletter suggested that prospective speakers keep their comments “positive”. When the Mayor was asked about this curious fee in a theoretic democracy, his response was "Well, we never actually charged anyone, and if we did I'm sure it was a mistake." When a number of people produced receipts or cancelled checks showing they paid the fee, his response was "Well, it's a fee that didn't have to be paid." So once again the mayor of Virgin proves he and the town council are raving idiots and bald-faced liars. This is the same town that passed an ordinance 2 years ago requiring every household in Virgin to have a gun. Is it the water down there? Is it radiation? Are they all smoking crack? Is there some kind of celestial vortex that attracts lunatics to that part of Utah?

Happy Satanic Christmas

One day last week I had the Today show on while bumbling about doing morning stuff. Then they had one of their guests on.......
I have seen the gates of hell. I've peered into the very face of the demon. I heard and saw the anti-christ. The hell-spawn that will annihilate us all is Barry Manilow. His epoxied-on, perpetual smiling visage peered out from the electron fog of the picture tube as he launched into his version of White Christmas/Happy Holidays. I immediately felt the waves of nausea envelop me as the wreched dreck the ass clowns at the Today show have been sodomized into thinking was music and singing reverberated off the green-pea soup plastered walls of our living room. I ran to find a long screwdriver with which to gouge out my eardrums and plunge into my brain. More than anything I wanted the madness to stop.
I've seen the face of pure evil - the demonic grin of Barry Manilow.

Background Noise

What do I mean when I say that there's a lot of background noise to deal with when living in Utah? Here's a recent example....
Like all governors, our Mike Leavitt has signed proclamations honoring all sorts of things - Rodeo Day, Wells Fargo Day, Peach Day, Home School Day, Jello Day. However he refused to join the 20 other governors declaring last week "World Population Awareness Week", sponsored by the D.C. based Population Institute.

The reasons given by Leavitt spokesperson Natalie Gochnour were that proclamations are granted to Utah organizations and "This is a national organization". OK. Fair enough I suppose (although Jello is stretching it a bit). More disturbingly though, she said the zero population growth message is not consistent with Utah values.

Barf.

Geek Alert!

Disturbingly cool - I think. The Internet License Plate Gallery

Toys for Boys

My friend went and bought himself a toy. Take a peek at Bob's Corvette

Read the page and you'll see some rambling about male menopause and mid-life crisis. I dunno, I just don't get the whole sports car thing. My concept of a suitable toy vehicle is more along the lines of something like this or maybe something in red. All to be able to get to places where going up stuff like this or down things like this is required to get there. That means you get to see way cool landscapes.

Is that your face?

The web site for Needle Sports in the UK has a curious page: rocks that look like faces. Well worth a look at Needle Sports - Rockfaces

Having Trouble Keeping Score?

I know. At this point it's getting pretty difficult. Here's something to ease your tracking burden. Don't forget to look at the other time periods.
The Wage Slave Journal: George W. Bush Scorecard of Evil

But It's A Dry Heat

From the NPS Morning Report today...
Death Valley National Park
Heat-Related Fatality


The park had its third heat-related fatality and second within the month on Wednesday, August 28th. Brett Kedish, 32, of Budd Lake, New Jersey, began a hike to Stovepipe Wells sand dunes with his wife around 10 a.m. that morning. The air temperature in the shade was 113 degrees; ground temperatures exceeded 150 degrees. Kedish’s wife, feeling hot and tired, decided to return to their vehicle after about an hour. At 1:50 p.m. she reported him as overdue. Three hasty search teams went to high observation points around the dunes while park pilot Ed Forner and maintenance worker Ron Giblin searched from the air. Ranger Aaron Shandor saw a person meeting Kedish’s description walking about a mile from the Stovepipe Ranger Station. Within moments, he’d disappeared again. Shandor and ranger Kyle Nelson found his tracks in the sand and followed them for about 100 yards, where they found Kedish lying unconscious on the ground. Basic life support was begun. The two rangers were soon joined by resource management employees Tim Croissant, Jim Roche and Ryan Taylor. Roche ran the half mile back to the ranger station and got a vehicle, then drove to meet the others, who were carrying Kedish out on their shoulders. Kedish was taken to a waiting ambulance, driven by visitor use assistant Bruce Casper. Roche and Nelson continued rescue breathing while Kedish was driven to Furnace Creek. He was transferred to a waiting helicopter, then flown to a hospital in Las Vegas, where he died the next day due to heat exposure. Shandor was IC for the incident.
[Submitted by Kyle Nelson, Park Ranger]

A Benefit Concert

It's nice to see Provo playing host to good works like this.....Neil Young Organizes Free the Mormons Concert

Hold Your Nose

A "friend" pointed me to this site. The Stinkymeat Project (TheSpark.com) Why did I look at that site? Why did I look at it after a Mexican dinner? I'm still deciding whether or not to sign him up for 450 random magazine subscriptions.

What Year Is This?

I had to take a second look to make sure this wasn't from The Onion or SatireWire. In Greece, use a Game Boy, go to jail - Tech News - CNET.com

A New Skiing Toy!

Perhaps a novel commuting vehicle? What happens if it can't keep up with you and you pass it on a steep downhill?
ZAP! Electric Vehicles