He and Sara along with my boss Rob Cleveland and another partner have bought Bella Ciao on Liberty St and will be transforming it. Bella Ciao will shut down later this month and then re-open in August as the Grange Kitchen and Bar. Brandon plans to continue the local food effort with a rotating menu based on what is available at different times of the year.

Hopefully with full control this time, things will work out better and the Grange will become a permanent fixture on the local restaurant scene.

By the way if you happen to be in downtown Ann Arbor around lunch time, you might want to hit Kerry Town and check out Monahan’s seafood market where they have a daily special that you can find posted on their twitter feed at http://twitter.com/MonahansSeafood. Sparrow’s meats is also doing sandwiches and salads at lunch now over by the checkout counter.

15 years later we’re still going at and still in love. Happy anniversary Jules! I still adore you! Here’s to many more years.

http://greenfuelsforecast.com/ArticleDetails.php?articleID=708

A new computer supply and repair shop just opened up around the corner from my downtown Ann Arbor office that so far at least is highly recommended. Beagle Brain is located at the west end of Nickels Arcade opposite the entrance to the Maynard parking structure. I’ve been wanting to put a bigger hard drive in my macbook pro for some time but unlike the plastic macbooks, swapping the drive is a more complex procedure. The whole aluminum case has to be opened up with lots of little screws to lose and several connectors. I stopped into the shop last week to see how much they would charge to do the remove and replace procedure, and to my pleasant surprise the price was a very palatable $30. I went ahead and ordered the new hard drive from Newegg and when it arrived I cloned the current drive to an external unit with Super Duper!. I dropped off my laptop when I went into the office and picked it up at lunch time. I plugged in the external drive to clone the data back to the new larger drive and a couple of hours later I was good to go.  If you need some repair work done and you’re in downtown A2 it’s definitely worth checking out Beagle Brain.

These same “conservatives” like to cite Adam Smith and the idea of laissez faire economics. That is the idea of taking a hands off approach and letting the market find its own way. The problem is that to have a free market as envisioned by Smith, there needs to be enough players on both the supply and demand sides of the market equation to prevent manipulation by individuals. This is where Smith’s ideas have fallen apart in the modern world. Over the course of the twentieth century, corporations have grown progressively larger while the numbers of companies in many business segments has shriveled.

As that has happened, those huge businesses have taken control of the market and made it exceedingly difficult to new players to come in. Without someone to call bullshit, huge financial companies have also created a bogus economy that was built on a web of lies. By largely abandoning anti-trust enforcement over the last several decades we have allowed unprecedented consolidation to occur. The result is that institutions with far too much influence on the overall economy have developed. The combination of these over sized players and excess unchecked greed leads to stupid developments. Ultimately this is unsustainable and we have the situation we see today.

If there is one lesson that we must learn from the events of the past year it is that these huge companies should be broken up and never allowed to consolidate to this degree again. There is no reason why companies should be too large to fail. Some anti-trust regulation is a good thing regardless of what Republicans say. Will we learn this lesson? Unfortunately, probably not.

By now you may have seen the commercials for the Snuggie which looks like some old monk’s robe but is actually a blanket with sleeves. Yes it’s a dopey premise, but it makes prime fodder for the talented team that creates “This Hour has 22 Minutes”.

The real issue though is the premise Republicans and anti-tax types like Grover Norquist rely on that cutting taxes for the business and the wealthy will help everyone. It’s old “a rising tide lifts all boats” argument. The problem lies in the fact only the well-off could afford to buy a boat in the first place. Most people here and in Ireland (and elsewhere) ended up treading water as long as they could while housing prices climbed.

An article on Ireland and the crash its economy experienced in 2008 in the International Herald Tribune looks at what happened over the last two decades as tax policies were changed and the economy boomed. Just as everywhere else it seems that whenever economic growth gets particularly aggressive, greed overwhelms common sense and sustainable growth levels evolve into unsustainable bubbles. At the same time that real estate developers were making fortunes in Ireland, there remained stubborn pockets of urban poverty in places like Limerick.

These chronically unemployed, poverty stricken people were “camped on the beach” as that tide came in and never managed to climb into a boat. Developers who were encouraged to help improve the lot of the people in these urban ghettos decided to go where the real money was. Given the option of almost certain, large short term profits or more moderate and vague, longer term returns, entrepeurs typically opt for the former. This was certainly the case in Ireland just as it has been here in the US where the poor typically end up getting isolated and marginalized.

What all this demonstrates yet again is that we cannot simply rely on private business to do the right thing. Certainly there are those who will do the right thing, but they are the exception rather than the rule. Government policies clearly need to make sure that everyone has a “boat” before the tide comes in. That means that everyone needs to get educated, fed and get basic health care. If we can make sure that everyone has some basic fundementals then those people can be in a position to start to take advantage of economic growth. At that point, the growth might in fact start to become sustainable.

I’m all for vastly more efficient and cleaner transportation for a number of reasons. I think burning fossil fuels is unsustainable from both an environmental and political/strategic perspective.  Unfortunately for every person who happily rides to work on their bicycle in 10 degree weather, there are hundreds whose focus is much more self-centered.  The reality is people buy the most car they can afford on the day they buy, without regard to future consequences.  In his latest blog post Darryl explains some of the economic theories behind all of this.

When gas is cheap they buy more powerful vehicles and only when fuel prices go up do they buy more efficient vehicles.  People have now become accustomed to better equipped cars and they expect a certain feature level for their dollar. If gas is cheap they will buy a thirstier better equipped vehicle over a more efficient model with fewer features.  The current economic climate will only make things far worse as increasing unemployment makes people reluctant to buy anything.

As much as people want electric vehicles to be mainstream, batteries are simply far too expensive and heavy to be widely used yet.  In light of this in order to make any progress on reducing fossil fuel use and carbon dioxide emissions, we need to take the most cost effective approaches as well as provide incentives and disincentives.

First up for disincentives we must let go of the idea of cheap gas forever.  Gas needs to taxed up to at least $4-5 per gallon. Since this will disproportionately affect lower income people the tax system needs adjustments to compensate. The upper cap on the incredibly regressive payroll taxes needs to be increased  and the first $10-15,000 needs to be exempted.  As long as gas is cheap increasing fuel economy mandates on manufacturers will only kill those companies because no one will want to buy the cars they are forced to build. We must created demand for efficiency through increased fuel prices. The idea of increased fuel taxes is finally gaining some steam at least online including over at Mark’s blog, although politicians still don’t seem too hot on the idea.

Because of the sluggish state of the general economy not much of anything is selling right now anyway. To compensate for that more positive incentives are needed to stimulate demand.  The extra revenue from the fuel tax could be used to fund rebates for more efficient vehicles as well as public transportation.

We also need to acknowledge the work being done by companies like Ford and Honda. A year ago Ford recognized that in order to make any real dent in fuel use and emissions it was critically important to find the most cost effective solutions. While electric vehicles reduce direct emissions to zero, there are still emissions from the power sources if coal or natural gas is the fuel.  The high cost also means that the numbers of such vehicles will remain for low for the foreseeable future meaning the overall effect on emissions will be negligible.

Ford developed turbocharged direct injection engines that they are labeling as EcoBoost. These engines reduce fuel consumption by 15-20 percent and Ford expects to be selling half a million of these engines annually within a couple of years. The extra cost will be far lower in the near term and have more overall impact in the near term while the cost and capacity of batteries is driven down.  Similarly Honda has developed a cost reduced version of its hybrid system for the new Insight that will debut next year.

Ford already has a full hybrid system in the Escape and Fusion, but those vehicles will only sell 50,000 units a year because of the cost.

Even efforts such as Honda’s hybrid and Ford’s EcoBoost won’t make a difference if no one can afford to buy. With the economy in the dumper, people will simply vote with their wallets and keep driving their existing vehicles and use the cheapest energy available. That means concerns about the environment will evaporate just as fast as SUV sales in the past year.

The latest example of this is an ad for the one laptop per child program.  I think the program is a worthy one where people can donate money to send small, robust laptop computers to kids in developing countries.  It’s entirely possible that if John Lennon were alive today that he might be a supporter of the program.

The problem is that Lennon has been dead for 28 years. To take the image and words of someone that has been dead for nearly three decades and digitally manipulate them to create a message that person never conveyed is simply wrong. For the OLPC foundation and Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono to assume that Lennon would do such an ad if he were alive today is ethically and morally wrong. The fact that the OLPC foundation is a non-profit is utterly irrelevant. Other companies have done similar digitally manipulated ads for commercial products which I consider even more disturbing and abhorrent. It’s time for this to stop.

At long last there is hope for America.

…whatever it is they are smoking. After reading the first few paragraphs of the Detroit News endorsement of John McCain today, it’s clear, their editorial staff is either completely insane or smoking some really good mind altering drugs. After reading the first two paragraphs you might forgiven for thinking the authors were actually proposing a change from the policies of the last eight years. A statement like “Tyrants emboldened by the often heavy-handed and inept foreign policy of the Bush administration have established rogue regimes in every corner of the world to threaten U.S. interests and security” might point to endorsing a candidate who disagreed with that same ineptitude.

Somehow though they have come to the conclusion that the candidate who has voted with those policies over 90 percent of the time is their choice.  One of my personal favorite statements is “The Republican presidential candidate has the character, pragmatism and independence necessary to lead a united America past our poisonous partisan divisions and into a more civil and productive future.” McCain and his running mate Sarah Palin have run one of the most negative and devisive campaigns since the late Lee Atwater got the first Bush into office.

For what it’s worth, the choice of Palin at least gave them pause. However, the choice of such an ill-prepared and unqualified candidate clearly demonstrates that McCain does not have the judgment needed to lead a country.

Fortunately it appears increasingly likely that the American people will demonstrate more sense than the Detroit News editorial board.

It has always struck me as odd that the Republican party has long espoused policies that are most beneficial to the wealthiest people and biggest companies in America and yet the people who have the least seem to be among the strongest supporters of the party.  In places like North and South Carolina, Virginia and Texas, I’ve seen some of the most profound examples of poverty in America and yet they continue to support politicians who seem hell-bent on keeping them in place.

In fact a quick check online of mortgage interest rates shows a 30 year fixed loan running about 5.8-5.9 percent. That’s less than half a point more than the rate we got when we refinanced in 2002 (5.5 percent). Yes it’s higher but not ridiculously higher.

The report then goes on to ask why we should pay to bail out banks because our neighbors lied on their loan applications.  First of all this is not only irresponsible, it’s also a lie!  The reality is that most people didn’t lie on their loan applications, the banks lied to themselves in ignoring the financial resources of borrowers in making the loans.  Banks loaned people way more money than they could afford to repay based on the false premise that prices would continue to climb and they could dump off the risk on unwitting investors in mortgage backed securities.

Why is NBC so desperate to create a financial panic?  Could it have anything to do with the fact that NBC is owned by General Electric? And the fact that a large unit of that company is GE Capital which is heavily into the leasing and finance business?  What is the likelihood that GE Capital is up to their eyeballs in this fiasco and they are looking for a handout?  I’m guessing its pretty high. I would say that after you call your Representative and Senator and encourage them not to bail out Wall Street, your next call should be to NBC to tell them to stop yelling fire in the crowded theater.

More importantly, though it’s clear that McCain is both ignorant and arrogant. The fact that McCain absolutely refused to look at Obama throughout the entire debate was a sign of utter arrogance and perhaps even racism. He seemed to be absolutely seathing with anger through much of the debate. Clearly McCain does not have the temperment to be the leader of anything much less the United States.

Obama on the other hand regularly looked over and spoke directly to his opponent.  This is a thoughtful man who is clearly very intelligent and listens to those he speaking with.  This is man who seems to have the judgment necessary to deal with problems that this country is increasingly facing.

On the subject of the Wall Street bailout McCain unsurprisingly refused to acknowledge that his deregulatory policies were large to blame for this fiasco.  Now he wants to cut another $300 billion in corporate taxes claiming that the US has the one of the highest corporate tax rates at 35 percent. What he doesn’t talk about is that fact that the net tax rate that American corporations pay is among the lowest in the world due to all the loopholes and tax breaks.

Combine all of this with his choice of Sarah Palin as running mate and he has demonstrated that he doesn’t have the judgement needed to be president.

British bank Barclay’s that agreed to buy the bankrupt Lehman Brothers last week has apparently committed to paying out up to $2.5 billion in bonuses to the top 200 staff at Lehman as part of the acquisition.  I’m sorry but anyone who would pay out that kind of cash to the people that created this mess in the first place does not deserve a bailout.

I say if we are going to spend any taxpayer money, the only thing we should do is buy the foreclosed homes from the banks at current market values minus a discount for our troubles and then sell or rent them back to the occupants at a reasonable price and affordable terms.  This would allow people to potentially keep a roof over their heads, keep homes occupied so that communities aren’t abandoned and allowed to rot and allow the government to eventually recover some of the initial expense.

These terms would of course be substantially less than what the banks are currently owed, but that is simply the price they need to pay for their foolish investments in the first place. I wrote about this more than three years ago and I hate to say it but I was spot on.  This whole mess was easy to see coming and completely avoidable were it not for the greed of the bankers and their confidence that the Republicans would bail them out if they messed up.  They need to pay up now, and anyone who was involved in this should be permanently barred from ever working in the finance market again.  Perhaps if we let the geniuses who created this debacle rot on the vine for once future generations will learn a lesson. Or not.

the other day it was this green darner

Then of course there are the wasps that have always been around.

Along with the Daily Show and Colbert Report, the Onion is perhaps the best source of political news in America today. The unfortunate irony is that none of the three are actual news sources. While all three are brilliantly funny, the truths that they tell wrapped in satire reveal the true decay of the mainstream media. With the media asking ridiculous questions about Obama’s choices regarding lapel decorations instead of discussing the travesty that is the FISA bill (giving retroactive immunity to phone companies for warrantless wiretaps), we must count on the Onion to reveal the truth about the disaster that has been the shrub presidency.  It’s still not to late to impeach!

My work colleague Sara Johns and her husband Brandon, recently bought a stake in Vinology.  Brandon was formerly the chef at the Chop House and practises his culinary craft in the kitchen of Vinology. The menu has been drastically pared down and several new dishes have been added.  We went to Vinology for Jules’ birthday dinner the other night and all the dishes were excellent.  The gnocchi with morels that I had was especially good and Jules loved her pan roasted chicken with a whole grain salad.  The asparagus salad with poached duck egg was also a fabulous appetizer. Brandon prefers to use local ingredients wherever possible and the menu will be adjusted periodically to take advantage of in-season produce.

If you’re looking for a great meal and you haven’t been to Vinology since the beginning of June, it’s definitely worth checking out.

What do you suppose the chances are that the media will celebrate this truth teller in the way they fawned over Tim Russert last week.  Unfortunately that won’t happen even though it should.  Carlin provided us with far more reality than Russert ever did.  We’ll miss you George.

On Monday I begin my tenure at ICON Creative Technologies and I’m looking forward to a long and fruitful relationship.   I’m shifting from engineering to being a full-time automotive journalist, a role in which I hope to inform and educate readers on the latest automotive technologies and advancements.  And I’ll be doing it from an office in downtown Ann Arbor!

Over the years I’ve gotten many, many calls from recruiters and none ever felt right. When the company that I worked for decided to unilaterally cut the pay and benefits of many of their best people while at the same time continually increasing the compensation of those at the top, I began to express my thoughts here on this forum. This place became my soap-box, a place to just spout off on whatever I felt like, the good, the bad, the obscene. This little corner that I carved out for myself allowed me to find another part of myself, to use the knowledge I had gathered over the years and to find my voice.

As it happens it also allowed others who otherwise wouldn’t to hear that same voice. Some liked what they heard, others carried on about their lives. After the incident that prompted my set up corner here, another opportunity arose that I meant to pursue, but my response to the message somehow fell through the cracks. A few months later it thankfully popped up again in a slightly different form and I went after it with a vengeance. It worked and my name began to appear on another nascent site related to cars. I began to make some contacts and not long after that opportunity presented itself yet again. My colleague Alex was busy and I was on vacation from the day job. A quick day trip to New York and back introduced me to a remarkable new car and a lot of very interesting people. That quickly ballooned as I talked to those people on a regular basis.

During one of those events I encountered a pair of gentlemen who would soon reappear. In the fall of 2007, barely a year after I stumbled into automotive journalism, the message appeared in my in-box. I called back. We talked and eventually the deal was struck. A new phase of my life and career would begin. I wish to express my gratitude to the clumsy, ham-handed HR department without whose bumbling, this may not have happened. Thanks to Sebastian and John for plugging in the amplifier that allowed my voice to spread to a wider audience. I look forward to continuing to work with you guys for a long time to come. To John, Rob and Scott for giving me a chance to make a left turn against the prevailing traffic. And most of all to Jules, Sofia and Max for supporting me so much as I make this momentous non-trivial change. Sometimes when opportunity knocks you need to respond in the affirmative.

At any rate Brenda made a remark in jest that after all her years in the business, she had come to the conclusion that all automotive journalists were either Jewish, gay or both.  Unfortunately my mental energy level at that point was at  low ebb at that moment and I found myself unable to respond with the same degree of eloquence and wit that I am told I exhibited during a verbal joust with our colleague Ray the preceding day.  For the record Ray (even though I doubt you will ever read this) Nothing personal, I’ve been stuck at the corner table many times myself over the years.  It just wasn’t your turn.

Anyway, back to my belated response to Brenda.  Keep in mind that printed word lacks much of the nuance of the spoken word, especially in person and none of the following is meant to offend, insult or denigrate anyone (except perhaps hypocrites like Larry Craig).  I have friends and colleagues are fall into either or both categories and many others and I appreciate and respect all of them.  Disclaimers aside, henceforth is what I might said to Brenda (who herself is Jewish, although I cannot attest to her other preferences) had I been more quick witted during our encounter.

Being at least partially of Middle Eastern descent, I’m certain that following my lineage back far enough would yield ancestors who were members of the tribes of Israel.  However, in recent decades, to my knowledge none of the members of my family have partaken in Yom Kippur, Passover or hanukkah as an active member of the faith.  I myself having been raised Catholic and becoming persuaded early on as to the futility of all religion am an unrepentant athiest.  As to the other half of the generalization, I am not nor have I ever been gay, although I’m sure when it comes time choose what color to paint the walls my wife would likely appreciate me a little more if I did have some tendencies in that general direction.

Alas these words did not emerge from my sometimes scattered mind until some hours after the fact.  Fortunately I have this little corner in which to record them anyway and perhaps she will someday see them.  Pleasure to finally meet you Brenda!

The Detroit Grand Prix returned to Belle Isle this week and Max and I were able to go as guests of Acura. The weather was perfect and Roger Penske did an awesome job of improving the facility. For next year though, they really need to do a better job of organizing the lines for the buses to get off the island at the end. Check out Autoblog.com for my posts from the event with lots of galleries.

Subject: Cadillac XLR-V Cop Car

The vehicle you saw on this blog site is loaned to our Public Safety Department by a local Cadillac dealer for a special event held up in the Detroit metropolitan area called the Woodward Dream Cruise. This event drew 1.2 million people this weekend to our area featuring vintage and muscle cars cruising down 16 miles of Woodward Avenue. I’m sure you remember cruising down a particular road in your hometown. You might want to check out our local newspapers online to see what this event is all about. The blogger who posted the Cadillac obviously needs to get his facts straight and a life!

Evidently this individual never actually checked out the site and was thus unaware of our extensive coverage of their little event. Perhaps this person is just stressed out from being stuck in traffic all day Saturday on Woodward but he/she might want to learn a little about sarcasm. Oh and get a life.

The problem we had yesterday was that most of the manufacturers display areas were at the north end of Woodward around 15 mile road.  We had our base of operations (including a live video stream) at Royal Oak Ford near 11 mile.   Getting from our base to where carmakers were took forty minutes and the crowds made photography tough.  Max went along with me and in spite of the crowds and periods of tedium he did great.  He took some awesome photos and was never complained.   If we do this next year we’ll definitely have to find a base of operations closer to Birmingham.  As for those million plus spectators I’m at a loss as to what draws them to set up chairs all along Woodward every year.   Plus it’s hard to find anything to eat south of 13 mile.

It sounds like someone in charge has a thin skin when it comes to criticism of their policies and if that’s the case they have no business being in politics.  Whoever made the decision reverse the approval should step forward and explain themselves.  This move is outrageous and the person/people behind it should be removed from office.  If indeed it was the mayor it shouldn’t be a surprise given the dirty politics they play during last year’s campaign.  Perhaps a recall should be on the ballot right next to the tax proposal.

The other problem with Riverside is their tubes are too small for adults to get comfortable on.  They had these funky tubes that had an inner ring in the center that prevents an adult from letting their butt slide down into the tube so you end up sitting up on top of the whole thing.  Aside from that the river was great and it’s an awesome way to spend a couple of hours.  The whole Traverse City area was nice and the beaches there and at the Dunes were wonderful.   We’ll definitely be going back.

1. AT&T. This alone should be all the reason anyone needs to stay away from the iPhone regardless of how good it may be. AT&T has cooperated willingly in the NSA domestic spying program and for that they should be punished by everyone refusing to do business with them. They have also recently announced plans to monitor the data that their DSL customers are sending and receiving so that they can notify the extortionists at the RIAA and MPAA when suspect content is being transmitted.
2. Cost. The 4GB model will be $499 and the 8GB version is $599. These are the kinds of prices usually charged for unlocked phones that can be used with any cellular provider. Usually when you buy a phone from a company like AT&T or Verizon they subsidize the price in exchange for signing up for a one or two year contract. If you leave your contract early you pay a hefty early termination fee. AT&T will be charging the ETF even though they are not subsidizing the phone.
3. More Cost. The phone goes on sale next Friday and AT&T has just released the service plans for the iPhone and they start at $60 a month for 450 minutes.  If you have a family plan you’re SOL, no sharing minutes.
4. If you currently have a GSM phone and plan, you can’t just buy an iPhone and pop in yor SIM card.  You have to sign up for a new two year service plan with AT&T
5. With a regular iPod you can enable disk mode and drag files onto the drive and use it for portable storage.  The iPhone has no disk mode.
6. With most phones today you can drop any mp3 file on the phone and use it as a ringtone.  The iPhone you can’t use your own files as ring tones.  You’ll have to buy from AT&T.
7. You can’t record video with the iPhone camera, stills only
8. You can’t swap out the battery.  If you have a cell phone that you use with any regularity you know the chances of the phone having any useful life by the middle of the second year is slim.  Presumably you can open up an iPhone like an iPod and replace the battery but it’s not trivial.  No one should sell a phone or media player without a user replaceable battery.
9. The durability of the glass face on the iPhone is still a very open question.  I’d wait and see on that one.
10. Finally and most importantly, AT&T is the only service provider. See reason No. 1 above.

     h. Ypsilanti High School Nickname Reinstatement Recommendation (Enclosure #9)

All of us with some common sense need to call Mr. Reiber and tell him that the students have selected a new nickname and it’s time for the adults to start acting like grown ups instead of whiny little babies and get over it.  The kids are.

You can reach Tom Reiber at home at (734) 434-1425 and by e-mail at techtom@comcast.net.  Everyone should come out to the board meeting on Monday night and speak out against this.

I’ve got two kids in the Ypsilanti Schools. My daughter has been in the Ypsilanti public schools for ten years and my son for seven. In that decade aside from ridiculously cursory HIV awareness, they’ve gotten absolutely zero reproductive health education. The fact that this district has failed to provide any comprehensive health education to it’s students is an absolute disgrace. Just because one very vocal opponent has repeatedly spoken up at every single meeting of this board and some administrators may be squeamish about teaching kids about condoms, it’s not an excuse for continuing to stall on a very important element of these kids education.

Earlier this year you saw the results of a survey that was conducted by the Reproductive Health Advisory Board where almost seven hundred parents overwhelmingly said they want comprehensive reproductive health education. Some people may want to just tell kids not to have sex before marriage but the reality is that sticking your head in the sand like that will do absolutely nothing to protect kids. No matter how much you urge kids not to have sex the reality is that it will happen. Not all of them will but a significant number will. They always have and they always will. Believing anything else is deluding yourself.

Given that we need to make sure that we teach kids about healthy relationships, alternatives to intercourse and how to minimize risks if they do choose to have sex. The reproductive health advisory board has spent more than two years evaluating curricula and have chosen a comprehensive plan. They presented it to you and in public presentations. It’s time to stop stalling just because certain members of this administration and a very vocal minority of the population are uncomfortable with reproductive health education. The parents have spoken and the kids need this. We must face the reality that kids will have sex and most parents are just as uncomfortable as you are when it comes to talking about sex to them. Any parents that don’t want their kids to get this education are free to opt out of either the whole program or any individual lesson.

Finally on an unrelated note, this board in a previous iteration made a difficult and correct decision to retire the Braves nickname. It’s just a nickname and people need to get over it and move on. It offends a group within our community and tradition doesn’t make it OK. I urge you not to re-open this issue and not to restore the name. Starting this fall and over the coming years the kids will get used to a new name and within a few years none of them will care about the old name. Meanwhile alumni will always have their memories. Thank You.

In engineering there is an old saying that in every project there comes a time when you have to shoot the engineers and get on with the job. It appears that someone needed to whack Mr. Chase at some point and finish the damn story about four years ago. As the wait time for each season stretched out the result seemed to be that Chase was just trying to jam in too many meandering, pointless story lines. The Sopranos needed some serious editing, but most definitely not the kind the final episode got last night.

By the time we finished watching that final hour last night, it seemed like they had shot three or four hours of footage from three or four separate scripts produced by different writers and then just through threw together randoms sequences from each into a one hour episode. At the end Chase looked at what they had wrought and just said “Aw Fuck It!” and turned off the lights. That was without a doubt the most unsatisfying ending I have ever seen. For a series that brought us so many brilliant performances over the years along with exposing some great but obscure music to go out in this way was a disgrace.

The purpose of property is to better manage the allocation of scarce resources. Since the resource is limited and not everyone can have it, property rights and property law make complete sense for a civilized society, allowing those with rights to the property to buy, sell and exchange their property. This allows for resources to be efficiently allocated through commerce and the laws of supply and demand. It’s a sensible system for the best allocation of scarce resources. However, when it comes to infinite resources, there’s simply no need to worry about efficient allocation — since anyone can have a copy.

Perhaps what we need to do to make some progress in this whole discussion is to change the terminology to words that are more accurately represent what we are talking about. The whole term intellectual property should be discarded immediately in favor of Ideas. Once we are talking about Ideas the tone of the argument changes. When a company like HBO or Disney starts talking about getting a perpetual monopoly (and a copyright or patent is a government granted monopoly) on an Idea, it might start getting average people’s attention so that they stand up and say NO MORE! Check out the rest of Techdirt’s article here.

I don’t know what Tesla Motors was thinking when they allowed such a post on their blog.

To this all I can say is LIGHTEN UP! Some environmentalists are just far to earnest for their own good. Sometimes you just need to relax and smile a bit.

On an unrelated note, I also want to send best wishes to Dr. Maggie Brandt. Maggie is a trauma surgeon and also Steve Pierce’s wife as well as an army reservist and she is heading off to Iraq at the end of this week. Unfortunately it looks like she is going to be very busy for the next few months repairing the physical damage being done to troops over there. Stay safe Maggie.

During the last three Ypsilanti School Board meetings leading up to the resignation of High School principal Layne Hunt, a lot of people including one Lee Tewson (not sure about the spelling) hurled accusations of racism at members of the board, even though no one on the board ever publicly accused Hunt of anything or even called for his dismissal. The accusations were completely uncalled for. During this entire episode the only thing that I think the board did wrong was Amy Doyle’s the motion to accept Hunt’s resignation. I think Andy Fanta was correct in his comments that the board did not need to accept or reject the resignation. Once the Superintendent accepted the letter, it was not rescindable and there was nothing the board could do. I think that this motion was a mistake only from a politcal perspective as it was unnecessary. But that is neither here nor there.

As Eric mentions the irony of this whole thing is that many of the people standing up to accuse the board of racism were the very same people who criticized the same board for dropping the Braves nickname. This is sheer hypocrisy! It appears that many of the people were speaking in Hunt’s defense based only what they had heard from Hunt himself without any knowledge of what was apparently going on at the High School. Kathleen Conat at the Ypsi Courier has evidently done some actual investigating and it appears that the issues with Hunt go way beyond personality conflicts with staff. It appears that many incidents in the building that should have been documented and report to Superintendent James Hawkins were never reported. Hawkins has declined to speak publicly about personnel matters regarding Hunt and rightfully so.

The fact is almost none of us know what was really going on at the school. For anyone to start hurling accusations of racism around without knowing the whole story is divisive to the community and counterproductive. If this is not about racism, and it certainly doesn’t look like it is, it’s like crying wolf. Every time people cry race when it has nothing to do with it, people are less likely to listen next time. You can find a link to the recordings of all the school board meetings on the Ypsi Government Podcasts page at the top of this page.

Update:I removed Amy’s name as it turns out that although she read the motion she did not originate it.  Amy explains the process:

What happens, most times, is that the wording of the motion has already been determined by the superintendent or board president.  Then it is typed up and included in the board packet.  At the time of making that motion, the board president calls upon a trustee to read it.  I was merely called upon; I did not originate it.

My mistake.  Sorry Amy!  I just want to say one more time that I think that both Amy and Cam did a great job during their tenures on the board and dealt with a lot of difficult issues in difficult times.  The Ypsi School District was lucky to have them as active participants.

Manhattan on the other hand seems to have the solution.  Rack mount parking that provides the maximum density of parked cars per area available.  There is little wasted space and it’s probably cheaper to install than a parking structure.  I saw all kinds of these structures during my cab rides between the hotel and Javits Center and the airport.

With my limited time in the city, I didn’t get to really do any sight-seeing.  Manhattan is a very densely populated city with stuff going on everywhere you look and all kinds of noises.  The city is very much alive and an interesting place to visit, but the kind of place I’d want to live.  It seems like the majority of actual moving cars on the streets of Manhattan are yellow cabs, with most of the private vehicles sitting in those racks.  Given the traffic in the city, that’s probably just as well.

Getting out of New York was a real pain in the ass.  The Javits Center is on the western edge of Manhattan island while JFK airport was east of Manhattan in Queens.  Judging from my several cab rides over 48 hours in town plus my previous visit in December, going north-south in Manhattan is pretty straight-forward.  Going east-west on the other hand is anything but.  My ride to the airport involved the cabbie continuously turning norht or south trying to find an east-west route that wasn’t backed up.  The 17 mile ride took about an hour and a half.  It’s a good thing I left with plenty of time.  more later…

The young can become equally befuddled by pieces of equipment with which they have not previously become acquainted. Recently, my son Max had the opportunity to become extremely frustrated by just such a device. Those who are of my age or above, having manage to muddle their way through at least four decades of life may remember an odd little electro-mechanical gadget commonly referred to by historians as the rotary dial phone. At one time the phone company (of which there was only one in those dark days) would lease customers a phone (much as cable companies lease you a cable modem today) and it was hard wired to a wall (this being before the days of a phone jack on every wall in your home). You couldn’t stick these things in your pocket, or even wander around the house with one. If you were lucky you might get one with an extra long cord allowing you to reach across the room while talking to someone.

Our two kids have each had a cell phone since they were about nine years old, allowing them to contact us when needed. When I was that age, we had one phone in the house, I can even remember when the phone company technician came to add jacks to our house, allowing us to get an extension! and we could even move it from room to room! what a concept. At any reate on a recent Saturday afternoon, Max was at the sportsman’s club where he goes to do archery and air rifle shooting. He had left his mobile at home and had finished early while I had left to go run an errand.

When I returned a half hour later he was extremely aggravated and upset at me and I couldn’t figure out why until later. As it happens the only phone in the club house area where he was, was rotary dial phone. Max had previously seen one in a museum, but had never had occasion to actually use one. As a result, he had absolutely no clue about how to operate this seemingly straightforward device. He knew my cell phone number, but was completely unable to determine how to input it into this antique machine. It seems so odd, that something that was so ubiquitous in the earlier part of my relatively brief to date lifetime could seem so utterly foreign to a child who grew up with a computer mouse in his hand.  If something so seemingly innocuous can cause so much frustration for one child, imagine the effects of a one culture invading a completely different one, or the mental anguish that could result if time travel actually were possible.

The band that was chosen is Black Lab and their song Mine Again. Chrisopher Penn of the Financial Aid Podcast has set up a special iTunes affiliate account and all the commissions from purchases through that link will go to the Student Loan Network iTunes account. Black Lab has also committed half of any money they make to the fund as well. So for $.99 you tell the RIAA that they can take a hike, get a great song and contribute to help some kids education. All of this is going to happen on Thursday March 22, 2007.  I’ll add the appropriate link here on Thursday morning so make sure you come back to this post then and buy the song.  thanks

The problem with all of these various tests, whether they are online or in some magazine, ore is that you are relying on the programming of some anonymous developer or writer to tell you all about yourself.  The question is, why would you expect anyone else to know more about what you are like, than you do?  Why do people seem to need to have other people tell them who they are?  I admit that some of these tests can be quite entertaining if they are well done and this particular one was pretty good.  Maybe I’m asking the wrong question.

Does anybody really take a test like this to learn about themselves? or are they just curious to see if the test creator can actually accurately analyze someone’s personality just by asking a series of questions?  In my case it’s the intellectual curiosity.   I certainly hope no one would actually rely on some quiz to tell them something they should be able to determine just by taking a look at themselves.

Now in a further insult to the wounded troops,  instead of addressing the problems at WRAMC, and all the VA hospitals around the country, they have ordered the soldiers living there to be up at 6am every day and ready for inspection at 7am.  In addition they have barred everyone at the facility from talking to anyone in the press.  Don’t fix the problem, just ignore it.

Vice President Dick Cheney was whisked into a bomb shelter immediately after a Taliban suicide bomber struck the main American military base he was visiting in Afghanistan on Tuesday.

Up to 14 people were killed, including one U.S. and one South Korean soldier, in the Bagram Airbase attack which rebels said was aimed at Cheney.

Our legislators must set a high standard for the actions of whoever is in the White House, now and going into the future.   Our constitution must be restored to it’s preeminent place in our nation.  They must move forward now and put an end to the madness that is our military misadventure in the middle East and hold those who are responsible accountable.

Perfectionism is procrastination disguised as quality control

Right now we are looking at what the kids need to learn and be able to do and figure out how technology can make that happen.  We’re also looking at the district’s tech infrastructure needs to determine what will be needed to support that both to optimize productivity and minimize operating costs going forward.  As part of this effort, I set up a special blog at ypsdtech.wordpress.com as a place where anyone who’s interested can participate in the discussion.  We’ll be posting questions on there and looking for the community’s input.  If you have some ideas about how technology can be useful, please feel free to head over there and participate by commenting in response to the questions.  The comments are moderated, and if you have any suggestions about what questions we should be asking, send me an e-mail.

Fortunately, my other writing tasks have been giving me an increasing amount of satisfaction and sense of accomplishment.  That’s something sadly lacking from the day gig as my real income has steadily declined in the past five years while at the same time, the CEO was making more and more.  So without really consciosly thinking about it, I have withdrawn somewhat from politics for a while.  I’m staying involved in school stuff with the school board podcast, and the tech committee, things that I can actually make a difference with.  Bigger stuff is so aggravating that I just need to turn away for awhile to keep from exploding or losing hope.  In the same way, I’ve been meeting people who read my ramblings on ABG and feel like I might just be having a little bit of impact in the area of alternative fuels and transportation.  So I guess want to focus on the areas where I can have some positive impact.   It’s a lot easier to feel motivated when I can see some results of my efforts.

After The Office ended he went on to do his podcast.  The first couple of episodes were funny, but the next ten were almost identical.  Again, by the end,  I’d had enough and when he decided to charge for the second and third seasons, I had no problem at all unsubscribing.  Apparently enough other people felt the same way that almost no one else has tried to charge for a podcast since.

Now he has a show called Extras on HBO that is in its second season.  The first season was pretty funny, but midway through it was becoming clear that there was no second joke.  Now midway through the second season Jules and I have both called enough.  The last two episodes were totally unfunny, and without even a single character to like, we’re done.  I doubt we will bother with any of his future projects either.

Now having said something something positive about Detroit, I must say that Cobo Hall must be demolished immediately if not sooner and replaced with a new convention center.   Cobo as everyone who has ever been in there knows how dark and unpleasant it is, not to mention not that big.  McCormick Place by comparison is huge, bright and just generally a much more pleasant place to be.  If we had a facility like this in Detroit, we might actually atract a lot of national scale events besides the Auto Show and the SAE World Congress.  As it is, the only reason the Detroit Auto Show gets any attention at all is because it’s home to Ford, GM, and Chrysler.  Otherwise, the Chicago show would probably get all the big introductions.