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Open thread
- By Phillip Brownlee
- Posted Jan. 17, 2007 at 1:05 a.m.
- Filed under Uncategorized
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55 Comments
Wichita EAGLE editorial staff: Thanks for furnishing the arena thread below.
This issue needs to be thoroughly rehashed now before a giant 1/4 billion dollar mistake is made. A lot of mistakes were made including proceeding on one tiny majority vote based on misinformation. Voters now have a far better idea of what they will be getting — essentially another larger ice rink.
VOTERS NEED TO BE GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY TO VOTE AGAIN.
Was thinking about my joke idea of a Walmart Sports Arena.
What if the city enticed Walmart into a new concept of a Super Store?
That is, instead of one huge building, they provide an alternative for Walmart to put seletive parts of its stores into separate buildings. Each could be connected by over or under the street pathways.
Let’s say, the pharmancy, cosmetics and sundry items were combined in a Grocery Compartmented Store. The household and automotive were in another store building. Clothing and etc. in another building.
All interconnected and in the proximity of the Sports Arena. Walmart utilizes the concept of plaza shopping and the German concept of fusgangerzones (footway zones)
Streets in that area become walking and bike paths. The art section of that becomes viable because people can walk in these zones. They can have the choice to visit stylish art galleries, participate in artisan learning, attend events at the arena or do their domestic replentishing chore by visiting the various Walmart stores in the Wichita Walk Plaza (WWP.)
Maybe this is a key for downtoan development instead of plopping huge superstores in Urban areas.
Trams that go to and from the walking areas. Shopping cart trollies that take you and your recently purchased shopping cart close to your car.
Is it the future or a concept of simple mindedness?
(scratches pointy head)
Judges gone wild.http://www.cnn.com/2007/LAW/01/16/michigan.courts.ap/index.html
Spouses as Lobbyists.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16660846/
Good morning JM.I’m afraid to take your link.
Afraid it’s some old man judge jumping around with his butt cheeks hanging out.
Alright!Lobbyist CAT FIGHTS!Let the games begin.
Presidential Pardon Necessary Here or ?
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,243921,00.html
“I’m afraid to take your link.Afraid it’s some old man judge jumping around with his butt cheeks hanging out.”Posted by: TRACY | January 17, 2007 at 07:10 AM
heh heh
Morning Tracy :)
Diversification of the Democratic Species. :)http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16660843/from/RS.2/
So, the analysts are saying that the lowered gas prices are going to be around for a while.
What happened? According to the conspiracy buffs, the Bush Administration somehow lowered gas prices before the election, and the dire prediction was that the prices would skyrocket afterwards.
What happened? Anyone care to step up and defend your prediction?
Tracy,From yesterday’s posts. Not racist, but tired of racism – in all forms. Thought we were all supposed to be American and color blind. Only point I was trying to make.
Raptor,Ok, I am STILL a Bush supporter, but just to fuel the fire, could it be to ease the ‘Surge’ decision? Get America a little happy about SOMETHING?
Why gas prices droppedTrust us. It wasn’t OPEC or Republicans trying to influence midterm elections.By Nelson D. Schwartz, Fortune senior writerOctober 16 2006: 11:35 AM EDT
(Fortune Magazine) — If the recent plunge in gas prices is the result of a conspiracy by President George W. Bush to help the Republicans retain control of Congress, as 42 percent of Americans believe, according to one Gallup poll, a lot of Wall Streeters wish they’d been in on the plot.
The end of oil’s stunning rideSo what really drove prices down – if not an Oliver Stone-worthy scenario involving the Commander-in-Chief, the House of Saud and Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson cajoling his cronies at Goldman Sachs to sink the crude market?
Hedge funds get ahead of themselvesMore from FORTUNENearly half of workers mull job changeBy late summer, hedge funds and other investors had poured billions into long positions in oil, gasoline, natural gas and the rest of what traders call the “energy complex,” all betting on a replay of the severe 2005 hurricane season that sent prices soaring in the wake of Katrina and Rita. But one day after oil reached a monthly high of $76.98 a barrel on Aug. 7, government meteorologists downgraded their hurricane forecast and cautioned that a repeat of 2005 was “unlikely.”
That announcement, combined with the end of the summer driving season and a recalibration of the Goldman Sachs (Charts) commodity index that reduced the weighting of gasoline, prompted speculators to head for the exits even faster than they’d piled in.
The switch in Goldman’s basket of commodities had been previously announced by the firm, but that didn’t stop the conspiracy theorists. “Hmm, what a coincidence, luring Goldman’s top dog to take a HUGE pay cut by becoming Treasury’s top dog, and then Goldman Sachs makes this unexpected decision, serving to dramatically drive down gas prices,” said the Grey Matter, a liberal blog. But the grassy-knoll crowd didn’t bother to crunch the numbers.
Jwink
Well done your published editorial in Tuesdays paper. And I agree on re voting on the arena.
raptor?
It really is not so difficult to figure out.
The powers that be got gas prices down BEFORE the election to try and keep Republicans in office.
Didn’t work this time.
Dems have the majority now. The oil folks KNOW that dems will favor alternative energy research where a Republican controlled congress did not. SO they need to keep those prices low to stave off a desire for alternative energy.
Class dismissed.
SOLLIE, 10-4I suspected as much.I agree, hire the best person.Not just hire because the stewpud law says you gotta hire somebody that’s a certain color.thanks
What ever it was that got gas down, I ain’t bitchin. I drive over 80 miles one way to work. Gas prices were killing me. About $50 to fill up (when the price REALLY sucked) and filling up 3-4 times per week. Ouch !!! It was cutting into my crack habit. Now you just KNOW something had to give and is sure weren’t gonna be my crack !!!!
JM – interesting idea about downtown WalMart. Intersperse little restaurant/bars in the mix and I think you are really onto something.
Evolution SundayFeb. 11th at a Church near you!Join us in celebrating God’s plan on earth.
http://www.butler.edu/clergyproject/rel_evol_sun2007.htm
Why do I have to push ‘1#’ to continue in English. I sure thought we were in America and isn’t English what Americans speak?
“JM – interesting idea about downtown WalMart. Intersperse little restaurant/bars in the mix and I think you are really onto something.”Posted by: hmmm … | January 17, 2007 at 09:13 AM
Thanks hmmm,
I sent a written notice to Walmart HQ about the idea. Whether I hear back from them I don’t know.
I was going to do a concept drawing, but that takes some time and didn’t want to do one just yet if it was flat out rejected.
I may submit one to Sedgwick County and/or Wichita. We’ll see.
I really like downtown plaza atmospheres. The plaza shopping makes it attractive and it is a really big drawing point for downtowns struggling for business and notoreity.
I think that is what the Communst WaterWalk was supposed to be. I wonder how it would develop if it were made capitalist?
In Charlotte, NC, they erected ‘walking bridges’ between the buildings in uptown. You can damn near go anywhere uptown and never touch the street and never get wet when it rains.
They put up all kinds of stores and eateries on the second floors of these buildings. At lunch, you can go eat, get your wife’s anniversary present, pick up your eye glasses and dry cleaning, and drop off your digital pictures for developing. Working well for them out there. Wonder if Wichita could pull that off?
A cartoon on Iraq private contractors:
http://www.markfiore.com/animation/outsourcing.html
Why do I have to push ‘1#’ to continue in English. I sure thought we were in America and isn’t English what Americans speak?
Yeah, Sol and others, why cannot those with whom you are doing business assign English (as it is butchered by us Americans) as the default, and require those wanting to do business with the vendor/service to select the alternative language; thus, in alternative language, some instruction to press 2, 8, whatever, then continues in English. You’re a computer person; is the current situation where press 1 for English, …, less difficult to set up than a default to the digital spoken message in English and then provide other options?
VT, absolutely not. It is basic branching logic.
Phone banking…
Please press “1” to enter phone banking…Pregunta dos … That would be ‘Press 2 to continue in Spanish, 3 for Chinese…
The only benefit of pressing 1 to go to home banking is that you don’t have to listen to the other options and have the system wait for your response before moving down the default path.
Sol, kinda what I thought; thus, to avoid forcing the English speakers to hear the other options, it is better(?) to require pressing “1″ to get to the next level of menus, etc. more quickly. I get a bit antagonized from time to time by these messages, but given the scope of consumers, any business that doesn’t try to accomodate non-English speakers is limiting its potential market. I also don’t assume that all parties calling the number live in the U.S., BTW.
Good point.
Another pet peeve – voice prompts instead of keypad. Half the time their recognicion software misinterprets the response – and it really gets bad when I have to ’say’ an account number etc. I’d rather use a keypad; especially since I am usually on a computer doing it.
ROBOCALLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Man, if I could launch a freakin rocket down the phone lines……
I get this same damned robocall from some asshole I don’t know,everday at the same time.Wants me to call some freakin number concerning “important business”.Can’t be to goddamn important,or the butwipe would call me in person.sheesh
Any good revenge techniques out there for this kinda’ thing?
TRACY – call them, find out who they are, and turn them in for violating no-call list.
If y’all have complaints with the way an automated system works, call the company and complain. Developers are stuck with a list of requirements. Most of those come from ‘The Business Side” that unfortunately don’t always have the end user in mind.
Most developers are mainly concerned with end users. That is who we really write for. The change has to come from the project managers though – and that comes from the ‘Business Side’.
We want y’all to enjoy using our work =)
VT and GMC70,
So, what do you think about the provision inserted into the Patriot Act that allows the Adminstration to install U.S. Attorneys without the consent of the Senate? The one that the White House is using to fire sitting U.S. Attorneys who are prosecuting Republicans, and to replace them with sympathetic party hacks?
Sol – it would be interesting to have an early option “if you are calling through a computer … ” That way it can bring be to options that let me use my keayboard for both text and numbers.
Don’t know how hard that would be for you guys but …
Ben,You are using a virtual phone? I’ve written a few apps that use telephony, but never ran into this. OK, end result is you are talking over a phone line at some point. I don’t know how you would translate key strokes over a phone system unless you were using a terminal for –challenged- individuals.
Do the not have a web interface?
sol – I use straight voice if I am talking to a client. What I am referring to is if i am talking to a machine at the other end. “Say the letters in your last name” … then just let me type them.
I am one of those who is “technically challenged” when it comes tot everything going on behind the keyboard – i am often the EBKAC! (Error Between Keyboard And Chair)
CF, would you be so kind as to provide a citation to the provision in question? Taking just a “brief” break from helping revise an appellate brief, and don’t have much time to do free research at the present.
EBKAC……HA!I gotta steal that one for work.
CF, yes.Being the ever-vigilant iconoclast that I am, I read that and plan to follow the story.
Sure seems like standard Bush doctrine.Can you kids say “recess appointments?’
JM,
One of the first pedestrian malls was built in Curitiba, Brazil– plus they used other ideas that improved their city (size of Houston).
Interesting reading, chapter 14 at http://www.natcap.org/sitepages/pid20.php
Vaughn Tolle,
Gladly.
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002357.php
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002355.php
http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2006/12/16/WashingtonDCBureau/339192.html
By Aaron SadlerArkansas News BureauStephens Washington BureauWASHINGTON – A former Republican political operative and top aide to President Bush was named late Friday as interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas.
The appointment of Tim Griffin drew criticism from Arkansas senators Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln, both Democrats. Pryor accused the Bush administration of circumventing the traditional nomination process on behalf of a political ally.
The open-ended appointment differs from a normal presidential selection, where Griffin would face Senate hearings and a confirmation vote.
Pryor believes the Senate should be able to quiz Griffin about his qualifications, especially given his background as Bush’s deputy director of political affairs under Karl Rove, spokesman Michael Teague said.
Before that, Griffin worked in opposition research for the Republican National Committee.
“We hope it’s not the White House’s intention to go around the Constitution, go around the nomination process and reward a fellow who’s done some political work for them,” Teague said.continued……
Ben,
EBKAC reminds me of story about guy that could login to his account when sitting, but got ‘invalid password’ when standing.
Turns out two of the key caps on keyboard had been swapped during repair. Sitting = touch-typed, so okay. Standing = typed by looking at keys, error.
That problem I would not have cosmos … I have no clue what “touch typing” is!
I just heard on the radio that city coucilman Martz has been found dead in his home.
Ben,Talk to your IT folks about text to speech. You turn TTS on and it ‘Says’ what you type. The phone interface should pick that up and solve your problem.I’ve done some work with speech to text. If you have questions hit me at SolDevVB@GMail.com. I gotta scoot though. Y’all have fun.
CF, et al; took a quick look at the provision in question, looked at the prior law, looked at Article II, section 2, Constitution; conclusion, the administration owes Sen. Specter a big one. Unless changed, another president with different leanings could use the same process in the same way. Back to the brief.
From Kansas.com
Wichita City Council member Bob Martz, the longtime representative for the 5th District in west Wichita, died today in his home, his wife said. He was 64.Sandy Martz said she found her husband lying on the kitchen floor when she got home at about 12:30 p.m.”I’m assuming probably a heart attack, is what I think,” she Martz said.Mr. Martz has served west District 5 since 1999. He could not seek office this year because he was in his second term, the maximum allowed by city code.Sandy Martz said she last saw her husband when she left for a substitute teaching job about 8:30 a.m.Memorial services have yet to be arranged.”He truly enjoyed, he truly enjoyed being city councilman for this district,” she said. “He loved the challenges, he was always eager to try to solve the problems and he was always really pleased when he could find solutions to help people in District 5.”Mr. Martz, an independent insurance agent, graduated from Quinter High School, west of Hays, and earned a master’s degree in business administration from Fort Hays State University. He and his wife had one child.Former Mayor Bob Knight called Mr. Martz “a good friend. He was a good man…. He really took a lot of pride in his public service, the privilege of serving his neighbors. You could always rely on Bob’s word.
CF–
Wow. You’d think with the media being so “liberal” and all that this would be all over the news, but, nope, nothing but crickets chirping.
I say, let’s leave it in.
President Obama can use this provision to get rid of all the mental defective Republican appointees . . .
South Dakota (I think) has a solution for what you are talking about, Tracy and SolDev.They have a Real Person law, which calls for fines of up to $500,000 for any company which cannot provide access to a real person within 30-60 seconds.I can’t get anyone to sponsor a similar law in Kansas, but don’t you think it’s time?
We NEED a law that says companies must provide access to a real person when you call them.
I only own a cell phone as it’s cheaper than a home phone since all the calls I make are long distance (one of the downfalls of living in a rural setting).
Well my phone numbers stick sometimes. Whenever I call in to pay my bills, it’s HELL trying to put in the 3,000 digit account number. nothing like putting in 10 of the digits, then having to start all over when the last one pushes 8 twice, kicking me back out of the system. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.
I think Cox Communications is the WORST for this lately. I was literally stuck in a automatic tech help program for over 30 minutes.
It used to be the gas company, and even the cell phone company too.
Has anyone noted…I’ve been quiet, and so has someone else….
Hmmm.
By the way, for the last two days, the topics have been kindof eh.
So how about that Prez saying he’s going to quit doing warrantless wiretapping?
Don’t trust him, he’s a known liar.
P mom,I really think “you know who” has a crush on you. Don’t you remember what it was like in grade school? If a boy liked you he would tease you and generally make life miserable. Doesm’t that describe “you know who?”
P Mom and “you know who” sitting in a tree….K-I-S-S-I-N-G!!!!!!!
OH STOP IT ewww.
I don’t get turned on by mean people.
LOL.