Hodge-Podge

I thought I would throw together a hodge-podge post about somethings that are croppin' up in the ol' skull.
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Paid Newspaper websites

First off we have the Messenger-Inquirer.com website switching over to a paid site last month. I exclusively read that newspaper online just like every other newsaper I read. My reasoning behind it is that you'll never overlook something. When the headlines are simply stacked on top of one another, you rarely miss one.

They tried to do this a few years ago and I was younger at the time and just quit going all together. In about a month it was free again, if memory serves. Now it looks like they aren't backing off of this one and want 7 bucks a month to view it. The incentives are that you can look at all the pages in PDF form and see all the display ads.

My thoughts are, if I wanted to download the paper everyday and see the display ads, I'd probably just get the actual paper and save the download time. I read it online because it's easy to skim over the tons of the crappy AP stuff they put in and find the stuff that relates to me.

I might end up caving and paying the 7 bucks, but I'm going to give it a while to see if they can stand a third of the web traffic they used to have. Either way, I have a free copy I can read every single day anyway.

So there.
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Who was the most angered by last night's football game?

Michael Vick of the Atlanta Falcons. Why? Because Vince Young scrambles and runs just as effectively as Vick, but was also the most efficient passer in all of college football this year.

Vick is a tremendous athlete, but quarterbacks have to be able to pass to keep defenses honest. There's already a running back and a full back on the field to run the ball anyway.

Young will struggle in the beginning like all young QB's do, but like I told Sivart, Young will fix his flaws and learn quicker than Vick will learn to pass because Vick has been in the NFL for a while and shows no signs of changing.
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West Virginia coal miners

I realize this was a horrible situation and the families are devastated, but in a few days I hope the relatives of those miners that died realize that no one intended for the wrong information to get out claiming that they were alive. It was just a misunderstanding. It was terrible the way it came out with all of the newspapers running with the story, but while people are going to lose their jobs over this, it was simply a misunderstanding. No more, no less.

The governor of West Virginia spoke of relatives and friends who were in a terrible mining accident back in 1968. In fact, he probably has friends that are still in that mountain. Of the 78 or so miners that were trapped, 19 were never found before the mine was sealed. He feels their pain.
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Bill Gates unwraps Windows Vista.

Bill Gates showed off all the new cool features of his new Windows operating system with the new look and new search functions and new TV and music functions. Of course Mac OS X does all of this better and will undoubtedly have fewer problems still after the new Windows finally pops up. And the difference is that Apple's OS X has been around for over 2 years.

But more importantly, I haven't had to dig around in an operating system to fix any problem since I switched to Macs. I suggest you do the same.
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One last thing from a local perspective.

I read an editorial yesterday from the Messenger-Inquirer about the building of an "advanced technology center" in the Owensboro area. They have been given about half of what it will cost to build this place and are going to have to lobby for the rest. The reasoning behind wanting this place is because they want to educate students for high tech jobs in this area. Hopefully, getting them to stay in Kentucky and more importantly, in this region.

Here's my argument.

How many "high tech" companies are in this area? None. When this technology center is built in the next few years, how many "high tech" companies will be here? None. In five years how many graduates from this techology center will have to leave this region or state? Roughly all of them if they want to make real money.

The editorial wanted to see tech centers moved ahead of everything to be funded because if they are built, they believe that it will attract high tech companies.

The $13 million dollars that was given to Owensboro would have paid for the regional sewer system we need to expand the Bluegrass Crossings Industrial Park. But for some reason, despite 5 counties looking to benefit from this project, we can't get any funding here.

When that sewer system is finally funded and finished, this county and region will see economic impact almost instantly since we'll now be able to recruit factories with high water needs. You just hide and watch. We already have 2 companies with 3 factories built there and this project will help a wider range of people than just those who attend a technology center.

The M-I thinks that technology centers being built will attract high tech companies. Well, we already have industries looking to build here now. Unfortunately, they can't move in because water is needed for their manufacturing process and without this regional sewer system, it simply can't be provided.

This sewer system will explode this region and it costs half as much as a single techology center muchless all of the techology centers that the M-I thinks should be completely funded ahead of everything else.

As Mom would say, we might have to march on this.