Between "creepy-man-in-black-watches-you-here" and "pedophile-lives-in-this-house", I'm really at a loss. Is it a modern anthropocentric bus stop sign? Could it be a warning of local sex offenders? Maybe it's a way for singles to advertise: "What's missing in my life? A man, that's what!" But lastly...look where that bolt holds the sign to the post--OUCH!
The [Twin Cities] area has managed to attract enough talent to support [UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH), the country's biggest health insurer], as well as such legacy companies as industrial conglomerate 3M Co. (MMM) , food heavyweight General Mills Inc. (GIS) , insurer Travelers Cos. (TRV) and financial powerhouse U.S. Bancorp. (USB)Much like Columbus, Minneapolis has a wide array of industries that aren't going anywhere (unless people stop eating.)The Twin Cities are also home to retail giants Target Corp. (TGT) and Best Buy Co. (BBY), medical-device makers Medtronic Inc. (MDT) and St. Jude Medical (STJ), and big private firms Cargill and CHS. Cargill has replaced Kansas chemical maker Koch Industries at the very top of Forbes' rankings of the nation's biggest private firms.
Many of the region's companies are home-grown and have thrived in the environment. UnitedHealth, for example, was started in 1974 and now boasts $80 billion in annual sales.
Other companies have deeper roots, such as Traveler's in St. Paul, which got its start in 1853. It's been sustained in part by a highly ranked school system and the network of higher-education providers in the region.
"It's a very educated workforce," said Andy Bessette, Traveler's chief administrative officer. "The people here, the school systems, are very good."
I am not gay. I have never been gay. I likely never will be gay.Well said, Tistoo. :-)
I'm also not married. Never have been, never expect to be. It's not my thing.
The truth is, I find marriage to be an archaic construct set in place long ago by organized religion in order to create fear of sex and sexuality so that said organized religions could then swoop in and say 'but if you have this ceremony, under our auspices,of course, then it's okay for you to have sex; otheriwse it's sinful and you'll burn in Hell'.
MY opinion and I don't demand that anyone agree with me. It's just what I think.
Does this mean I'm anti-marriage? Hell no. I think people should find joy and happiness wherever they can, as long as it doesn't hurt anyone on purpose. If marriage floats someone's boat, then I say go for it.
Does this apply to 'gay' marriage, as well?
Absolutely.
I never have and never will understand any person, religion or political structure trying to administrate what 'kind' of love is acceptable and deserves to be recognized.
Should two men who've been together for years and who have built a loving, stable and permanent relationship have the same right to marry as a straight couple who met during a drunken night in Vegas and headed to a chapel ten minutes after that fateful meeting?
Hell, yes. In fact, a case could be made that straight people should have to prove their willingness to be committed and devoted to each other before they're ever granted a marriage license.
Now, let's consider that for a moment. Marriage License.
A document issued by a representative of a State's Government which declares that Joe Blow Straightguy and Jane Doe Straightgirl are legally entitled to enter into a binding contract which joins their lives forever... or until it gets 'too haaaaard' and they divorce. The only requirement for this license is that the people applying pay the fees, sign the paperwork and be of opposite genders.
There is no stipulation that the people thus applying even know each other, in some places.
And yet, take a gay couple-- male or female-- who have been together through thick and thin for decades. Maybe they even have kids, through whatever means. They CAN NOT marry because it's 'wrong' in the eyes of people who have likely been married more than once and sometimes don't want to take responsibility for the kids they have themselves.
Yes, that is an incredibly broad generalization. I'm aware of that. But it's still true, in some cases.
Now, some people say 'it's an abomination; it says so in the BIBLE! Marriage is between one man and one woman'.
Okay, this is a point. However, having read the Bible, it actually says marriage is between one man and however many women he can support. Homosexuality is an abomination, according to God, they say... but so is eating shrimp. And wearing linen and wool at the same time.
Call me crazy if you must, but linen and wool? A fashion nightmare, possibly, but an abomination? God says YES.
Enjoying a plate of Scampi? Well, clearly any Christian who's done that is going to Hell.
MY point is, if someone is going to fling about Bible passages in order to support their homophobic stance and determination to keep something like marriage 'theirs-theirs-theirs', it might carry a bit more weight to me and people like me if they actually followed ALL the rules set out in God's very own Handbook of Right and Wrong.
These people don't like gay marriage. Well, it isn't for them. It's for gay people, and it's not a threat to the 'sanctity' of straight marriages that rarely last in the first place.
But maybe that's the truth underlying all the overly dramatic outrage. The fear that if gay people are allowed to marry, they just might prove to be better at it than their straight counterparts.
Let's face it. Gay people aren't trying to REPLACE straight marriage with gay marriage. They're not saying 'oh, you cute little straight folks... now you have to marry people of your own gender even though you're not attracted to them'. If they did, the entire country--and maybe the world--would be up in arms and fighting a much more open and honest war than the one going on right now, which is composed of sly digs and proudly displayed ignorance on the parts of many people, both in the private and public sectors.
And yet, that's what we-- the Goverment as well as private and loud citizens-- are saying to gay people. We're basically saying 'well, you can get married, but not to anyone who isn't of the opposite gender, so nyah-nyah-nyah. Now, off with you. Shoo!'.
Gay people aren't telling the rest of us to turn gay. They're merely asking for the same rights as straight people to live and love and be happy while having the same RIGHTS.
This country, the United States, was founded upon the principle of SEPARATION of church and state. This says to me that making legal decisions, on a Federal or State level, based upon religious beliefs, is outside the charter of what this country is supposed to be all about.
Life. Liberty. The pursuit of happiness. That's in the Declaration of Independence, right?
I don't remember any part of that document that says 'We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal... unless, of course, they happen to be gay, in which case we can treat them like idiot children or maybe pets, and throw them crumbs from the table but never share the full meal'.
It DOES say that all men are 'endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights'.
It seems-- again, to me-- that if ALL men have certain UNALIENABLE rights and straight people can marry while gay people can't...?
Somebody's rights are definitely being denied.
Mondays. So what if the week just started? You're hungry and you want a beer. The best place to hit? Swing by The High Beck in German Village. They offer free pizza on Monday! Heck, you don't even need to order the beer. Just stroll in and eat it up! However, if you're thirsting after a good pitcher of beer, they're pretty darn cheap. A Miller Lite Pitcher runs $6.75, and the rest of their draft--ranging from Blue Moon to Killians--are all available for $9.00. Cheap!
Tuesdays. Can it get much better than $1 Burgers? Not that I'm aware of! Over in the Park Street/Arena District, Bar Louie offers $1 Burgers starting at 10 and going until close. The crowd is casual yet the ambiance is relaxing. I'm not aware of any drink specials, but I'll forewarn you that they have a ridiculous amount of Beer. I'm sure you'll be quite satisfied!
Wednesdays. Call me prissy, but I hate eating wings. It's so much work! I'm far too lazy to have to eat around a bone. (Oh, wow, I can think of so many innuendos...anyway!). However, if your thing is wings, on Wednesday's Brothers has 10 Cent Wing night! Only requirement is that you have a student ID. Snag your friends, and order up a ton of wings! You'll be full for less than $2.00. And since domestics are only $1.00, you could walk out full, fat and drunk for less than $10.00! Nothing could be more American. Show your country pride and go to Brothers!
Thursdays. If you're a lady who loves to be surrounded by men who will shower you with praises, then Thursday is your best night to go out. Union Station in The Short North has $3 Long Islands all night and thus the place is packed. Gays for days! However, if you want to start the evening off with a little class, dress yourself up and head to Martini Modern Italian. From 4 -6 they offer incredible cocktails at only $3 a pop, plus they have half-price appetizers. The interior is gorgeous, so dress to impress. And ladies, if your self-esteem still hasn't peaked, finish the night off at Skully's for Ladies 80's! I personally don't care for the place, but then again I can't dance and I'm probably doing everyone a favor from abstaining. But still! Ladies get in free, and I'm sure with the crowd you'll continue to be fawned upon by men who will never want you. Success!
Fridays. Hyde Park and Eleven . Two of the most beautiful restaurants in town, both which offer a great happy hour. On Friday the gays invade Hyde Park and it's full 'til close. They offer $4 martinis and half-price appetizers, which is exactly what Eleven offers as well. And luckily the two restaurants are right next to each other, so in this cold weather you won't have much of a walk! These two happy hours runs from 4:30 - 6:30, but luckily Bristol Bar's goes from 6 - 8! Stop on in for $2 cocktails, drinks and shots.
"Tom Cruise is to merge his family with Victoria and David Beckham’s in a special ceremony. The ‘Valkyrie’ actor will hold the bizarre service – during which the families vow to be brothers and sisters and exchange heartfelt speeches - at his wife Katie Holmes’ New York town house. The gesture serves as a Thanksgiving present from Tom - who has two adopted teenage children, Isabella and Connor, with ex-wife Nicole Kidman and a two-year-old daughter, Suri, with Katie - to the showbiz couple. A source said: 'Tom and David have been friends for years and they and their families spend a lot of time together. This year Tom wanted to make a special gesture that would show how much he appreciates their friendship and he thought this would be the perfect way.'"And just like any good celebrity living a life of luxury, the soon-to-be-family were spotted over the weekend eating pizza on a horse carriage. Gosh, I'm so jealous.
The mayor of Minneapolis is looking to join [European] cities' ranks and embrace [Minneapolis'] rising status as a bike-commuting town by dropping 1,000 bicycles into Downtown, Uptown and the University of Minnesota campus next spring.I don't think I've ever been so happy to have been wrong.
Industry experts say technological advances have paved the way to make bike-sharing programs a reality. In Minneapolis, bikes would be secured in solar-powered docks, and bikes would be unlocked by a subscriber's key card.
The bikes Minneapolis would use were designed by Stationnement de Montréal, which, oddly enough, is Montreal's parking authority. The agency manages Montreal's paid on-street parking and public parking lots, and the company designed a bike-sharing program inspired by European programs already in place. Time magazine ranked Montreal's "Bixi" bike one of the 50 best inventions of 2008, and Montreal's program will also roll out next spring.
The Minneapolis bikes would have covered chains and gears internal to the hubs, so it's less easy for bikers to damage the three-speed mechanics. The broad frame is designed to be easy to clean and it has a large adjustable seat, a basket and a unisex design. Electric generation powered by movement of the front wheel would automatically light up rear lights on the bike.
Riders could take out the bikes for a half-hour at no extra charge. Annual subscriptions would cost $50–$75. The bike program is designed for quick one-way trips that are about one to three miles. Riders could check online to make sure bikes are available at the nearest dock, and when they arrive at their destinations, 1,500 more dock points than bikes should ensure there is space for bike returns. (In Barcelona, trucks redistribute bikes throughout the day to ensure adequate supplies.) Stations would be positioned about 400–500 meters apart so people theoretically wouldn't walk too far to reach their destinations.
The cost to install 1,000 bikes at 75 docks is estimated to be $3 million, and city officials have applied for a series of grants to pay startup costs. The City of Lakes Nordic Ski Foundation, the organization that runs the annual Loppet skiing event around the Minneapolis lakes, developed a nonprofit model that Minneapolis could use for its bike-sharing program.
Exact locations for bike docks aren't yet determined, but they would be movable. Consultants on the project say that will make our bike-sharing system a lot less expensive than the one in Paris, which has bike stations permanently entrenched in the ground. Minneapolis' bike stations would be removed during the winter.
Brain exercises, such as those taught to thousands of schoolchildren or advertised on television to adults as a way to prevent dementia, are a waste of time and money, a neuroscientist has claimed.
An award-winning Scottish professor says measures such as breathing through the left nostril, drinking water to increase oxygen supply to the brain, drinking red wine to fend off dementia or listening to classical music to boost performance are little more than myths. Sergio Della Sala has done more than 20 years' research on the brain.
The Professor of Human Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Edinburgh will next month attempt to expose many of the most common myths in a speech at the university's inaugural Christmas Lecture, when he will become the first recipient of the Tam Dalyell Prize for Excellence in Engaging the Public with Science.
'There are all kinds of myths that surround the brain. Some are passed on in good faith, some are funny and have been made up by pranksters, while others are designed with commercial reasons in mind - these are the most dangerous,' said Della Sala.
He is especially critical of exercises taught to children, which he claims have no bearing on how the brain works and won't improve students' performance.
'Despite how ridiculous many of these exercises are, this is no laughing matter,' argued Della Sala. 'Some of the exercises are so simplistic you wonder whether we have lost our capacity for critical thinking when it comes to education. One of the exercises involves asking kids to breathe through the left nostril so that the air goes up into the right hemisphere and stimulates the right side of the brain to make the kid more creative,' he said.
'A tiny problem in this thinking is that air goes down to the lungs rather than up to the brain. So I think it is safe to say that you can't stimulate the right side of your brain by breathing through your nostril. Besides the idea that the right side of the brain is the creative side is utter nonsense.'
While the brain does have two hemispheres that do different things, the professor said there was no scientific reason to believe that one side is more creative than the other.
He said another popular misconception that had become accepted as fact was that the drinking of water stimulates the brain by allowing it to absorb more oxygen.
'Luckily enough, water never goes up into the brain because if it did we would die,' said Della Sala. 'As for classical music making you cleverer, there is no evidence, and yet it has become a fact in the minds of people.' The professor says his aim is to encourage the public to hold up false statements to proper scrutiny.
'There are advertisements for games which claim they can make your brain perform like a younger person's or you can prevent dementia by gulping down gallons of red wine. Unfortunately these quick fixes just aren't true.
'Another typical myth is that we only use 10 per cent of our brains. Logically that means we can afford to lose the other 90 per cent, but if that was true people who suffer a stroke or head injury wouldn't have any problems. We send teachers on courses to find out how to teach preposterous exercises to children based on flim-flam evidence at a cost of thousands of pounds.
'A lot of these myths take a little bit of science to the extreme, so that the logic disappears. Sometimes this happens in good faith, sometimes it's for fun, and sometimes it's because people make money. Neuroscience has become a popular way for people to make wild irrational claims, and I'm looking to have a go back at these lies.'
Have any of you ever tried silly things to make yourself smarter? Back when I was a Christian I certainly tried praying, but I've noticed the reverse effect. When I prayed in High School, I graduated with a terrible GPA; now that I'm in college and I have never once prayed for assistance, I'm in one of the highest ranked Logistics programs in the country and frequently breezing by my classes. Turns out that studying does a lot more for me than praying!
Under state law, God is Kentucky's first line of defense against terrorism.
The 2006 law organizing the state Office of Homeland Security lists its initial duty as "stressing the dependence on Almighty God as being vital to the security of the Commonwealth."
Specifically, Homeland Security is ordered to publicize God's benevolent protection in its reports, and it must post a plaque at the entrance to the state Emergency Operations Center with an 88-word statement that begins, "The safety and security of the Commonwealth cannot be achieved apart from reliance upon Almighty God."
State Rep. Tom Riner, a Southern Baptist minister, tucked the God provision into Homeland Security legislation as a floor amendment that lawmakers overwhelmingly approved two years ago.
As amended, Homeland Security's religious duties now come before all else, including its distribution of millions of dollars in federal grants and its analysis of possible threats.
The time and energy spent crediting God are appropriate, said Riner, D-Louisville, in an interview this week.
"This is recognition that government alone cannot guarantee the perfect safety of the people of Kentucky," Riner said. "Government itself, apart from God, cannot close the security gap. The job is too big for government."
Nonetheless, it is government that operates the Office of Homeland Security in Frankfort, with a budget this year of about $28 million, mostly federal funds. And some administrations are more religious than others.
I'm pretty sure my wall just put in its two week notice. "This is NOT what I signed up for!"
Acid attacks and wife burnings are common in parts of Asia because the victims are the most voiceless in these societies. Naeema Azar, above, was attacked by her husband after they divorced. Her 12-year-old son, Ahmed Shah, looks after her.
This month in Afghanistan, men on motorcycles threw acid on a group of girls who dared to attend school. One of the girls, a 17-year-old named Shamsia, told reporters from her hospital bed: “I will go to my school even if they kill me. My message for the enemies is that if they do this 100 times, I am still going to continue my studies.”
When I met Naeema Azar, a Pakistani woman who had once been an attractive, self-confident real estate agent, she was wearing a black cloak that enveloped her head and face. Then she removed the covering, and I flinched.
Acid had burned away her left ear and most of her right ear. It had blinded her and burned away her eyelids and most of her face, leaving just bone.Six skin grafts with flesh from her leg have helped, but she still cannot close her eyes or her mouth; she will not eat in front of others because it is too humiliating to have food slip out as she chews.
“Look at Naeema, she has lost her eyes,” sighed Shahnaz Bukhari, a Pakistani activist who founded an organization to help such women, and who was beginning to tear up. “She makes me cry every time she comes in front of me.”
Ms. Azar had earned a good income and was supporting her three small children when she decided to divorce her husband, Azar Jamsheed, a fruit seller who rarely brought money home. He agreed to end the (arranged) marriage because he had his eye on another woman.
After the divorce was final, Mr. Jamsheed came to say goodbye to the children, and then pulled out a bottle and poured acid on his wife’s face, according to her account and that of their son.
“I screamed,” Ms. Azar recalled. “The flesh of my cheeks was falling off. The bones on my face were showing, and all of my skin was falling off.”
Neighbors came running, as smoke rose from her burning flesh and she ran about blindly, crashing into walls. Mr. Jamsheed was never arrested, and he has since disappeared. (I couldn’t reach him for his side of the story.)
[snip]Acid attacks and wife burnings are common in parts of Asia because the victims are the most voiceless in these societies: they are poor and female. The first step is simply for the world to take note, to give voice to these women.
Since 1994, Ms. Bukhari has documented 7,800 cases of women who were deliberately burned, scalded or subjected to acid attacks, just in the Islamabad area. In only 2 percent of those cases was anyone convicted.
For the last two years, Senators Joe Biden and Richard Lugar have co-sponsored an International Violence Against Women Act, which would adopt a range of measures to spotlight such brutality and nudge foreign governments to pay heed to it. Let’s hope that with Mr. Biden’s new influence the bill will pass in the next Congress.
Disgusting. I have no compassion nor tolerance for a culture where men behave like this--I say kill every last man. They're absolute trash. And the only thing to do with trash is to dispose of it.
The Des Moines metropolitan area was one of 28 areas nationwide to see its median home sale prices climb in the third quarter, squeaking 1 percent higher to $155,400, a National Association of Realtors report showed on Tuesday.Well go Des Moines! At least some cities are doing well.
Median sale prices fell in Cedar Rapids, Council Bluffs-Omaha, Davenport, and Waterloo-Cedar Falls. In all, 120 metro areas nationwide saw price declines. Four had no change.The report also showed that sales of Iowa's existing homes for the third quarter fell 16 percent, more than double the national decline.
Iowa's sharp sales drop has some real estate leaders wondering whether the Iowa housing market has hit bottom.
"We're at a turning point in a number of markets," said Paul Bishop, the association's research managing director. "There are a lot of uncertainties in the economy, but it looks like we could be along the bottom."Nationwide, home sales fell 7.7 percent to 5.04 million, with declines in 32 states.
Somewhere on this blog I said I should start a Google church. Turns out, it's already happened.I guess I'll have to switch to, "Google damnit!" and "Oh, Google!" and "Google Bless you!". I'm ok with that, I'll support it. Praise Google! At least she's done more for me than Jesus ever did.» PROOF #1
Google is the closest thing to an Omniscient (all-knowing) entity in existence, which can be scientifically verified. She indexes over 9.5 billion WebPages, which is more than any other search engine on the web today. Not only is Google the closest known entity to being Omniscient, but She also sorts through this vast amount of knowledge using Her patented PageRank technology, organizing said data and making it easily accessible to us mere mortals.
» PROOF #2Google is everywhere at once (Omnipresent). Google is virtually everywhere on earth at the same time. Billions of indexed WebPages hosted from every corner of the earth. With the proliferation of Wi-Fi networks, one will eventually be able to access Google from anywhere on earth, truly making Her an omnipresent entity.
Google answers prayers. One can pray to Google by doing a search for whatever question or problem is plaguing them. As an example, you can quickly find information on alternative cancer treatments, ways to improve your health, new and innovative medical discoveries and generally anything that resembles a typical prayer. Ask Google and She will show you the way, but showing you is all She can do, for you must help yourself from that point on.
» PROOF #3
--Robert G. Ingersoll
In my planning classes I've always found this hilarious. I cram into a room of 60 students, learn about the importance of reducing our carbon footprint and living green, then watch as 59 other students walk out of the class, across the street...to a parking lot. Although funny, it's concerning that even those who are well-educated in the perils of the oil crisis, the coming effects of global warming, the horrors of car-living and suburban sprawl still cannot give up their cars.Almost daily, I promote smart growth - alternative transportation choices, reduced greenhouse gases, increased housing densities.
It's my business to help Canadians understand and adapt to a future that is different from the past. I am a 21st-century city planner.
Along with fellow futurists, I advocate less vehicle travel, more cycling and transit use, smaller cars and sensible energy consumption. The terms "eco-density," "high-occupancy vehicles" and "environmental footprint" are common currency.
By day I'm committed to radical societal change. But my lifestyle is suspect because I really like to drive. Mostly by myself. Pedal to the metal. Wide-open spaces. No boundaries. Zoom, zoom, zoom.
It doesn't matter whether the vehicle is turbocharged, comes with a GPS or has leather seats. It just needs to be peppy and have a tight turning radius. It's about the essential pleasure of driving, regardless of make, model or colour.
I understand the disconnect between the extravagant past and our frugal future. My lifestyle is unsustainable and I need to change my patterns. But I subtly resist the shift. Perhaps it's the curse of the baby boomers. For our generation, driving has been a lifelong love affair, one that isn't easily surrendered.
My formative years were spent cruising small-town Ontario on sweltering summer nights in my mother's flashy turquoise convertible. A few years later, I was circumnavigating North America in a Volkswagen "shagging wagon."
As a responsible adult, driving became shuttling giggling, gossiping children to preschool, dance lessons and soccer tournaments in an all-purpose passenger van. But whenever possible it also meant navigating 16-lane California highways. Zipping through European roundabouts. Pushing through Albertan blizzards. Always plotting the next trip, whether 200 or 2,000 kilometres.
The question arises: Can the city handle it? Can millions of people fit downtown?Or, could there be another Meltdown of '76?
That year, a million spectators were expected on the Mall to celebrate the Bicentennial. Transit officials urged people to take public transportation and promised special service. But there was nothing special about the Fourth of July traffic jam, which stranded cars and buses for hours.
District and federal officials blamed a flawed and smaller mass transit system for the 1976 embarrassment. They expressed confidence that they can handle this January's events. At the same time, they know that Inauguration Day 2009 will be one of a kind.
Explain to me why we invade a country, spend over $1 Trillion on an unnecessary war, rebuild their Government and now we have to watch them introduce subways into their cities?! Here in The United States, the Chicago El routinely has trains derail, Cleveland's Rapid is thirsting for people to ride it, commuter trains crash in LA, Minneapolis has to fight to get a second light rail line approved, Columbus won't even let a $100 million Streetcar be built...and yet Baghdad can pull it off. BAGHDAD! The city that years ago was in utter turmoil, the city that today still has frequent bombings and mass-murder in the streets, the city that has thousands of troops planted there just to maintain the peace, the city that for quite some time didn't even have running watter. THEY can pull it off yet America can't?BAGHDAD – Iraq plans to build a subway in Baghdad to help cut pollution and ease traffic on the city's chronically clogged streets.
Baghdad Mayor Sabir al-Issawi said in statement released Monday that Iraq's Cabinet has earmarked $3 billion for the project.
The subway is the first in Baghdad and will have two lines.
One would run 11 miles from Shiite-dominated Sadr City in the east to the predominantly Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah in northern Baghdad.
The second line would be cover 13 miles and link the mixed neighborhoods of central Baghdad to the primarily Sunni western suburbs. Both lines will have 20 stations.
Al-Issawi did not provide a timeline for the project.
I bike about 50 miles a week and I'll be the first to say I don't always obey every law. Just like drivers who break the speed limit, there are some bike laws that I simply can't always follow. For example, some stop signs really just means "slow". I'm so sorry, but I will not come to a complete stop while I'm biking through campus at 1 in the morning. It literally is a pain in the ass.
Tyson's Corner, Virginia is what planners call an "edge city". An edge city is defined as having 465,000 square feet of office space, 600,000 sq. ft. of retail space and consists of more jobs than bedrooms. It's basically like a glorified office park with a big mall. I'm an avid critic of these concepts as they only promote auto-dependency, stress on the environment and in no way can complement a high-quality of life. The residents who do live there are bothered by incessant traffic during the day and nothing to do at night. The people who work there spend around one-to-two hours a day commuting to a sea of parking spaces and an office life void of character. It's really terrible.A lunchtime shuttle? Props to the planners for introducing a solution, but this problem shouldn't even exist in the first place. It's amazing how one can go to London, which is one of the world's largest metropolitans, and yet experience no problem like this whatsoever. You can thank General Motors and our policy makers of the 1950s for willfully destroying many public transportation systems throughout the country and thus putting us into the car-dependent society we live in. Today, as GM is asking for a multi-billion dollar bailout, I'm desperately hoping they don't get a cent from the Government.Having so many of the approximately 115,000 Tysons workers on the road, often driving less than a mile to grab a sandwich, is complicating construction plans for a Metrorail extension and Capital Beltway toll lanes that will rip up the streets around the area. An analysis of traffic counts shows more than 23,000 vehicles on the major Tysons thoroughfares, routes 7 and 123, between 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m., surpassing the morning rush by 24 percent.
Things are so bad that traffic planners are introducing a lunchtime shuttle to try to get some of the vehicles off the road.
Alcohol significantly affects judgment and reaction. Not all students choose to drink before the event, and that is a decision that should be respected. The more you have to drink, the greater the chances that you will:
Mirror Lake is cold and dirty and the depth varies greatly from one end to the other:
Other tips
This Saturday, all over the nation, in every major city in America, there will be a protest held against the passing of Proposition 8. This is your chance to stand publicly amongst your community (even if you're not gay! You support us, you're family!). This is your time to tell Ohio that you are not ok with an entire class of Americans standing as separate and still not equal. This is an incredible time to be gay in America.
He taught me how to slow-dance. He took me out to dinner. We would lie around for hours talking, staring into each other's eyes. We would walk through the park singing, holding hands. When we would gather with friends the energy would spread rampantly throughout the room. When it was just the two of us, I could feel the Earth slowing down just to give us a few extra minutes before the sun would set.
Sometimes I wonder what I would be like if I still lived today so free from inhibitions. I am so far removed from loving another that when I say goodbye to someone, it’s almost as if they were never there in the first place. I live with no concern but for my own. And yet sorrow over an ordinary love affair clings to me stronger than almost any other memory in my vast repertoire of experiences.
His eyes. Oh, it was his eyes for certain. I yearn for the time when eyes alone could love me, mold me, complete me…and destroy me. I yearn for just one more time when I would allow myself that most unusual predicament called love. Just one more time.
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