NEPAblogging - 1st Annual Scranton Jazz Fest

Lord knows, I spend enough time bitching about how there's rarely anything interesting to do in the NEPA area. As a result, in the last few years, I've been making a point of going out to whatever interesting events are happening whenever possible, hoping to do my part one $10-bill at a time.

Thus, I feel honor-bound to point out that this coming weekend, on August 6th & 7th, at Nay Aug Park will be the First Annual "Scranton Jazz Fest". Looking over the schedule, I'm a little surprised at how many names I'd expect to see there, but are not, as well as how many I just don't recognize. Saturday night definitely seems worth checking out (Clarence Spady is headlining, and hell, Spady's just amazing!)

Hopefully, I'll also manage to drag my lazy ass out on Sunday as well, but only time will tell. Whatever the case, I think any music-loving NEPA-lese citizens ought to check it out and make sure there's a 2nd Annual Scranton Jazz Fest. (mergenow steps down off his soap box and concludes this PSA)

Lineup:

Saturday Schedule:

2 PM Jim Buckley & Friends- regional baritone saxophonist with piano trio

3 PM Tony Miceli/John Swana & The Philly All-Stars, jazz vibraphonist and jazz trumpet great with bass and drums

4 PM John Coates, Jr., solo piano

5 PM Ilona Knopfler, french jazz vocalist, with The Steve Rudolph Trio

6 PM Mike Fahn, NYC valve trombonist, and Maryann McSweeney (west coast bassist) Quartet with drummng great Bill Goodwin and jazz guitarist Bill Washer

7 PM Tim Warfield, Jr. and friends

8 PM Clarence Spady Blues Band

Sunday Schedule:

2 PM Doug Smith's Dixieland All-Stars

3 PM Roaming Gabriels

4 PM Mark Soskin Trio

5 PM Gary Rissmiller Quartet

6 PM Steve Rudolph Trio

7 PM The Dave Liebman Group

8 PM Scranton Jazz Festival 16-Piece Big Band with special guest TBA.

technorati tag: scranton

NEPAblogging - Lackawanna County Spending

The recent announcement that the County plans to add onto the courthouse building has been eating at my brain. Given the inexplicable love-fest going on between the County and the owner of the Scranton Electric building, and the failed plans about building a frankenstein addition onto same, in order to consolidate County staff and operations in one location near the square, I suppose the planned additions are really no big shocker.

But, $48.5 million dollars? Holy crap! The building on the corner of Adams and Linden, across the Street from Farley's has been vacant for months, if not a year or two. And given the ongoing discussions of renting space in the Scranton Electric building, there's clearly no short supply of office space around the Courthouse Square. Shitballs, people...this is downtown Scranton we're talking about! Vacant buildings are the city's most abundant resource. (Though, admittedly, "parking garages" may soon usurp that title.)

So, given that the justification to slap up more square footage isn't exactly clear, let's flip the proposal over and look at it from the cost perspective. Once again, $48.5 million dollars. The same year, the County suddenly announced they had to raise taxes by 48%. Let's just put this in some perspective, why don't we? In December, the Scranton Times reported that the 2005 Lackawanna County budget outlays were going to total $96.6 million dollars. So, in a year where we find the County hiking taxes to a degree that seems to warrant flinging our metaphorical tea into the harbor, the Commissioners are proposing spending an amount equal to 50% of that same year's County budgetary outlay to build more office space in a city overflowing with vacant buildings.

Yeah, that makes sense.

You may now return to your regularly-scheduled websurfing.

***Update*** The Times-Tribune Editorial board has followed my bold lead and taken this issue on as well.

technorati tag: scranton

Electron Band Structure in Germanium, My Ass

Ah yes, the good old days of being an undergrad science and/or technology student, writing up the results of one's lab experiments. I guess it wasn't just me who freaked out about the inability to get my results to correlate to the values the lab manual told you that you should be seeing. (via metafilter, by the way)

No, seriously, this kid's paper made me crack up out loud. He's got that perfect mix of romantic desire to find the hypothesized results, coupled with the bust-one's-gut cynicism that tells me he'll go far in the real world.

Rumsfeld calling for "fast" Iraq pullout

I guess in the weeks since the "no timetable" talking point was all the rage, some Congressional Republicans must have reminded the Administration that there's a midterm election coming up next year, because....

Surprise! Now the Iraqi PM and Rumsfeld are announcing a desire for a fast pullout of Iraq, which could begin early next year!

In the article, it is stressed that even though they have some sort of vague, plan-like thing, there is still no timetable, because as we established a few weeks ago, timetables for Iraqi pullouts are bad. Because, you know, that would just let the insurgents wait us out. And of course, announcing a big pullout early next year is totally different than a timetable, you silly liberals. Take some notes, you might learn something.

All of this is predicated on training Iraqi troops, and expectations of "curbing the insurgency", which is not at all a pie-in-the-sky expectation given the success we've had so far in those areas.

And the best part is, now we'll have freed up a bunch of soldiers who can be deployed into the 2007 War on Iran! w00t!

Utah Teens Invent a Better Air-Conditioner

From slashdot, we learn about two Utah teens who developed a working automotive A/C unit that works off the Peltier effect, rather than Freon (or R-13a, whatever the new stuff is called.)

The article implies that utilizing current to power the Peltier effect, rather than taking mechanical power off the engine's pulleys, will result in significant savings in fuel consumption. Also, the chips have a life-span of 20-30 years, which is a hell of a lot longer than any automotive A/C I've ever owned. And not having to synthesize and/or dispose of the coolant is a big plus.

Do Not Call List At Risk

So after a week of business, I'm back.

Given the new round of London bombings, and the ongoing Rove/Plame thing, and the nomination of a rich white guy for the Supreme Court, this story may be getting buried. As a public service to you, the reader, I'm hereby doing my thing to make it part of the public consciousness.

According to MSNBC, Telemarketing lobbies are working to weaken statewide Do Not Call lists via the FCC. They hope to get the FCC to claim sole jurisdiction over interstate calls, allowing them to circumvent more stringent laws in five states. (Florida, New Jersey, Indiana, Wisconsin, and North Dakota)

They're trying to push this through on the basis of allowing communications with people with whom they have "existing business relationships", which is a term so vague as to be exploitable beyond one's wildest dreams. Also, this potentially could open up the situation to allow for automated banks of recorded outgoing marketing calls.

The FCC is soliciting public feedback on this action, and I urge anyone who enjoys sitting at home without telemarketers calling to voice their opinions on this one.

The best part is how the companies complain that it's "difficult" for them to deal with a "patchwork" of state laws in soliciting new products to consumers. Not surprisingly, their solution is not to find new or better ways to enable that communications, but rather to open loopholes in popular statewide laws that allow them to circumvent the privacy protection currently afforded by the existing laws.

thepoorman kitten porn

This week The Poor Man has taken his kitten pr0n to the next level...

Interspecies cute animal pr0n!

Shuttle Damaged One Day Before Launch

Sometimes, the stories just write themselves. The last time I'd refreshed my browser, the shuttle story was how we were less than 24 hours before the first launch in 2-1/2 years, and the only concern was the weather. What with that Hurricane that just whacked the Caribbean and SouthEast US a few days ago, and all, quite the concern.

But lo, I refreshed and see: "Space Shuttle Damaged on the Launch Pad"

"Holy crap!" I thought, wondering what could have possibly happened. Reading, we find out that a "window cover" came loose and damaged some heat tiles near the tail section. The killer line in the story:

"It was not immediately clear why the cover - which was held by tape - came loose."

Huh! Tape. Not rivets, or screws, or welds. Not even some kind of fancy "aeronautical-grade high-temperature adhesive strips". Tape. Yeah, it's not clear how something held on with tape could fall off.

From the article we are told that the damaged tiles could be replaced in an hour. Though it's not addressed in the article, I'm sure the technicians checked to make sure all the other goddamned taped-on and wedged-in parts were "pretty tight" and weren't about to fall off at any moment.

When NASA starts using technology similar to that found on beat-ass, 15-year-old, oil-burning Cavaliers with busted out windows, you know there's a problem, people.

Calling the BS

If you open your web browser and turn up your PC speakers, you can almost hear the collective sigh of:"FINALLY" coming from the Left Blogosphere today. As has been commented on pretty much everywhere, the Press Corps finally confronted the White House on the B.S. they have been feeding the public regarding the allegations that Karl Rove was the leak in the Plame case.

Press: "Dude...seriously, your pants are not just on fire, they are a complete smoldering inferno."

Scott McClellan, Press Secretary: "As I've said before, the White House does not comment on the pants I am currently wearing."

As such, anything I have to add to the subject will probably be redundant. However, in the spirit of the Press calling out the White House when they talk complete B.S., I'd like to I'd like to suggest that the next press target should be that classic White House gem-polished turd: "The War on Terror(ism)."

Now, I admit that this one has become so familiar through relentless repetition that I no longer look up and yell:"What the hell does that mean?" when I hear it said.

As has been asked before, what would we think if Chimpy had decided to wage a war on "Guerilla Warfare" or "Flanking by the Light Cavalry"? I think with the exception of the rabidly loyal koolaid-drinkers, it would be obvious what a completely ludicrous term it is. "War on a tactic?", we'd all say,"What does it mean to wage war on a tactic?" But somehow, Chimpy's "War on Terra" gets a pass.

How, exactly do we measure success in this massively ambiguous venture, this War on Terrorism? Has the government secretly been working on some sort of mind-reading device which would screen people for "mental patterns consistent with terrorists or those predisposed to commit terrorist acts"? Could we consider this war won when all of those people have been killed or detained? What if new ones are born after we declare victory?

Perhaps they might therefore move to launch a domestic "War on Teenage Vandalism". Think about it; teenagers are easy to identify, relative to us adult folk, and we know they're all up to no good. And most of your active radicals are teenagers, right? We must destroy them, now! If we hesitate, the smoking gun may well be your smashed mailbox.

London Olympics in 2012

The whole Olympics thing mystifies me. That is to say, the competition between cities to host the Olympics is a situation that just doesn't make sense to me.

As the title notes, apparently London has been selected to host the 2012 Summer Olympics. Props to London and all, but I find myself wondering why cities like London and New York would bother.

Every article I read on the subject points out that Olympics host cities wind up shouldering massive debt for decades to fund the infrastructure improvements, security, etc. necessary to host the influx of spectators and atheletes. Athens city officials are on record for having said: "We really spent more than we could afford," on their preparations for the 2004 Olympics.

In the case of a B-List city (in global terms) like Atlanta, this could conceivably make sense. Suddenly, for a month or so, the whole world is thinking about your city, and thousands of visitors who may not otherwise ever have visited pour in and get to know your city.

But for A-List cities like New York and London and Paris, which almost every single person in the world hears about almost daily, it seems counter-productive to me. You're shouldering all this debt, and building facilities that experience seems to show tend to be under-utilized after the event is over. In the end, as a percentage of total expenditures, does this make sense for a two-week deal, when pretty much everybody already knows who you are, and people from all over the world visit your city on a daily basis, anyway?

Kos troop support

In case nobody has seen this yet, kos diarist hyperbolic pants explosion has setup a site to connect kos-reading troops deployed in current hotspots to kos members who can send care packages.

Check it out and sign up!

Deep Impact Success

Since I posted on this previously, I figured a follow-up was called for.

The Deep Impact probe designed to investigate the composition of comet Tempel 1 successfully made a big-ass BOOM! The event was captured by telescopes around the globe, and the scientists are continually reassuring the public that the orbit of the comet has not been altered. ("No, man...seriously. Think Bugs-against-a-windshield. There will be no death spiral down into Earth. None.") It was first time human technology has actually touched an orbiting comet, as the 2004 probe following comet Wild 2 only got as close as 147 miles.

Cool-looking, if not otherwise-lacking-in-meaningful-detail, pic from nytimes.com:

(Jet Propulsion Laboratory/AP)

Happy Independence Day

I have little to say that hasn't been said before. As displeased as I may be with the current state of affairs in our country, I'm still damned glad to be here.

So, in lieu of posting comments, I'm just going to post a picture from the front page of the nytimes which appears to be of Bush in a big, floofy dress:

(Gerald Herbert/Associated Press)

***UPDATE*** Fark tagline today is a clear ripoff of my original post. I'm teh kewl! - here

Independent World Television Network

I just posted a diary on kos on this subject, but this post will be slightly different. (diary here)

We are informed, via buzzflash, of the in-progress creation of the Independent World News network. The idea is to create a non-profit, sponosor-supported, world-wide news network, as an antidote to the corporate- and government-sponsored news media organizations. This is the brainchild of a Toronto native filmmaker and CBC Producer. It looks like most of the work was initiated last month, and he's secured some seed money from some big sponsors, but they're shooting for full netroots-sponsorship in three years of going live. They're shooting for a 2007 go-live date.

There doesn't seem to be much coverage of this project in the mainstream US media, but The Guardian, the Globe&Mail and the Toronto Star have covered it, as well as Variety and some other Hollywood-insider channels. As was mentioned in the Guardian article available on the IWT website "Press Releases" section, the initial goal is going to be towards breaking into the North American market, with plans for global expansion later.

From their "Programming" section, they appear to be shooting for a primarily News Reporting and Analysis format, heavily tilted towards politics, with some smatterings of culture and entertainment thrown into the mix.

Clearly, this is an idea whose time has come. My first thought was that yet another ambitious netroots-sponsored project would be one more organization chasing after an increasingly smaller slice of the same pie, but if the global intent of the network is realized, there will be a significantly larger pie to slice up.

As I mentioned in the diary, I want to find out more about the situation before I toss them any cash, but if it works out as planned, this is one project I would definitely consider backing with some funding.

***Update (10:53pm)***

Kos user J@ffa has started a pledgebank petition, pledging $25 if, and only if, 20 other people commit to it. I've signed it, and I encourage anyone who cares to do so as well.

Radio and Web Zen

I was just reading this post from Riverbend, discussing Bush's most recent speech. Given the general sense of the "Don't Americans realize..." questions, I was feeling more depressed than usual about the general state of things at this moment.

However, in one of those perfect moments of coincidence, I was simultaneously listening to the rebroadcast of last night's Prairie Home Companion, when they had a short character skit, on which they had a public announcement from Tony Blair, which started:

"This is Tony Blair. On this 4th of July holiday, I want to remind you that we, the British, are now your only friends in the whole world."

I nearly spewed my drink all over my keyboard when I heard it. The rest of the announcement was "Blair" trying to convince Americans not to take the whole "Independence thing" too seriously.

Pure. Comedy. Gold.

Sunday News Roundup and Roping Exhibition

I surf the news sites, so you don't have to!

1. Dylan, the missing Iowa kid and Natalee, the missing Aruba girl: Stil Missing

2. One of the Special Ops soldiers who were missing in Afghanistan was found.

3. Yet another "Top Al-Qaida suspect" was killed, this guy was out of Saudi Arabia. How many "Top Al-Qaida" dudes do we have to kill/capture before we win, exactly?

4. Live 8 - Already forgotten by US headline news

5. Top Egyptian envoy to Iraq was kidnapped by gunmen. This guy was only there since June 1st. Just more of the insurgents' "last throes", I'm sure.

6. The Newsweek story about Rove as the Plame leak came out, but it seems not to be much of a bombshell. They stress that it was "unclear" what information was passed between Rove and Matt Cooper. It's good that it's getting some exposure, to be sure, but the actual impact of the story is a little less than overwhelming, I'd say.

7. Comet. Probe. Gonna go BOOM soon.

So, yeah. That's today for you. You may now return to your regularly-scheduled napping.

Independence Day Weekend

Okay, having the 4th of July fall on a Monday kind of sucks. We apparently missed the city fireworks event at Nay Aug Park last night, and I can't find any information indicating that they're planning any actual fireworks for Monday night.

In lieu of easy access to an actual fireworks display, tonight I plan on watching the virtual fireworks, or whatever coverage they plan on having, on the webcasts of the Deep Impact probe crashing into the comet tonight, just before 2:00am EST.

Offspring

All evidence points to the likelihood that it's a good thing I've never parented a child. I like other people's children, in suitably small doses, and most of all I like being able to not have to deal with them once they stop being entertaining.

Having said that, we ate at Denny's today. After we'd been there a few minutes, the hostess seated, in the booth behind me, a pair of women and their three children. Now, as a non-parent, I can't understand why people who have kids can't leave their spawn at home when they're going out to an adult restaurant. Surely, they can be locked in a closet safely for the time it takes to go out for a meal. I mean, come on, people...as a smoker, I'm consistently getting marginalized into fewer and more inconvenient spaces...why don't restaurants have No Children sections?

Perhaps the most annoying part of the whole ordeal was that one of the little girls in the booth behind me was singing the "Which one of these is not like the other" song from Seasame Street. Given that she was behind me, I was unable to see what items she was comparing, so now I'm going to be tortured by the fact that I never managed to figure out which one was not like the others.