Don't Back Down

The news in Charlotte has been buzzing lately. It seems that the eagerly anticipated transit system is edging ever closer to reality, with the City Council recently agreeing to spend slightly more than $50 million for 16 new light-rail cars. I'll give them this: The picture of the rail cars makes them look rather nice. And shiny.

In case you didn't know, the Charlotte voters passed a half-cent sales tax a few years ago to pay for rapid transit, which was supposed to cost $1 billion. Recent estimates peg the total cost at closer to $6 billion. When first estimated, the initial rail line was slated to cost $227 million. Recent estimates put that at just shy of $400 million. Much of the work hasn't even started and the first of the shiny new rail cars hasn't even been to the city yet. Does anyone else see a problem developing?

Read "Charlotte Area Transit" »

Did you ever have one of those days where you just can't seem to win? Afraid you'll chop off a finger when using power tools? Have no fear. Your solution is here.

Today we have yet another example of a government gone awry. The State of Georgia has apparently decided to decree mutilation of the female genitals to be illegal. For those who have heard horror stories about children in remote areas who are mutilated, you might applaud. I might even join you on this one.

But in the end, this bill shows just one more time how a government left unchecked will usurp whatever power they possible can. You see, the bill itself wasn't good enough. An amendment was added that also made piercings a part of the list of "mutilations". Moreover, the law will apply to everyone - thus, even adult women who seek the piercings for themselves could perhaps be charged with violating the bill.

When asked about the amendment, sponsor Bill Heath didn't seem to understand that women may seek genital piercings for themselves. While you may not understand this is something that people do, and while you may not agree, the government has no business telling people what they can and cannot do with their own bodies.

Whether you agree with the bill or not, whether you live in Georgia or not, I say it's time to let government know what you think. We're supposed to have a government for the people. Now is the time to let them hear it. If you do live in Georgia, you can even email Mr. Heath directly to let him know!

This is getting ridiculous. As you may recall, we recently started our own consulting business. Well, I finally finished filing the federal forms. Only took a couple of weeks to figure out what they're talking about. I still probably screwed something up. Either way, I'll share the details with you shortly so you can (hopefully) learn from my missteps.

So now I'm on to the local scene. I need to file a form with the state, which actually isn't too bad, except I have to go into their office to do it. Why can't these people do things online? Luckily, not a big deal, as I have to go into the same area of town to make two transactions with the city.

It seems the city has their hand out again. This time, a privilege license. It's just a fancy name for "business tax". They take a percentage of your revenue, well, because they can. Do they offer anything in return? No. Am I suddenly going to be showered with business because I have a privilege license? No. I just have to fork over the cash each year. But that's not all.

The zoning department also has their hand out. I have to get a Cusomtary Home Occupant Permit (or something to that effect) that says I can't have any signs in the yard, no employees, yada yada. Essentially, that my house can't look any different from the outside than it did when I wasn't working from home. In a nutshell, I have to keep things the same and pay them for the privilege. What is up with this? You want to enforce people not doing things like that, fine. I'm all for it. But dammit, I'm not doing anything differently, except now my wallet is lighter.

Am I really the only one who sees the problem with this sort of thing?

So I'm at the Food Lion. I have a grand total of four items, so naturally I look to the express lane. Before I can get there, another lady beats me to the line. No problem, I think to myself: It's the express lane, and thus she won't delay me by much.

First, the guy in the front of the lane discusses the finer points of Skoal long cut with the cashier, repeatedly having her come look for it. Or look to return it because he didn't want it. That wasn't quite clear. I just couldn't get why it was such a big deal while he's already in the line - why not get it prior to standing in line? Even if he had to wait, why pull the cashier over twice, instead of just doing it right the first time?

Regardless, this transaction did give me time to check out this lady in front of me. She had way more than 12 items in her buggy. So while I fume, I try and figure out what she's doing. Apparently separating the piles into two separate transactions, each of which is presumably less than 12 items. Interesting tactic. Not sure how to take this one. If it was two separate people with small transactions, it wouldn't bother me - is it bad that one person makes two transactions to fit under the limit? Not sure. Regardless, it turns out that her second transaction had 14 items, so she would have been busted anyway. Not that she was busted, but she was overloaded. She could have been more considerate.

Where does this madness end? Not at the credit union. Signs are plastered everywhere that you need to fill out a slip to describe your transaction. Does anyone? No. If the cashier even bothers to point this out, they fill it out there at the window instead of out of the way where others might actually get things done. The signs also say you need ID. Does everyone bother to bring ID to the bank? No. A new sign I saw the other day said that the Patriot Act requires proof of identity to open an account. Huh? Like a bank wouldn't want that anyway? Apparently there are enough people who balk to make the credit union think that they need the support of the Patriot Act to back them up.

At the Waffle House, signs say that they don't accept checks. Yet people justify their actions (that is, trying to write a check) by saying that they are honest, and that it's all those dishonest people who shouldn't be writing checks.

And why does all this happen? Because we're so afraid of making a scene? What is the problem with a scene, anyway? Because you call someone on something they shouldn't be doing? If there's a sign posted, and you choose not to follow the instructions of the sign and someone calls you on it, have the decency to stand up and admit you were wrong, instead of acting all offended. If you're wrong, swallow your pride and admit it. Beg forgiveness even. But don't be that person who thinks that the rules don't apply to you. We're all in it together people. Can we maybe try and act like it?

Denise and I once again made our way to a production of the Off Tryon Theatre Company (OTTC) last night. On our last visit, a few months ago, we saw the fine production of Quills. Once again, we were not disappointed.

The show this time was Boy Gets Girl, the story of an all-too-real situation that arises from a simple blind date. As with our last visit, the folks at the OTTC made excellent work of their limited space, dividing the set into two primary sections, adding a third scene on the "sidewalk" outside and a fourth in a small corner of the theatre.

Read "Boy Gets Girl" »

I don't pretend to understand grafitti, the tagging of things with your name, someone else's name, an insult, or perhaps even a URL. It just doesn't make sense to me. Someone other than yourself takes the time to do something, and this somehow gives you the right to plaster whatever you like wherever you like. Does anyone else see the problem here, or is it really just me?

Let's take the recent comment from Freddie McGee:

        Your really stupid!!!!!!

That's it. Nothing more.

"Your", as it is spelled in Freddie's comment, is possessive. So what Freddie apparently forgot to include in this comment is what he (or she) wanted to say about my really stupid <blank>. Perhaps it should have read:

        Your really stupid momma wears combat boots!!!!!!

In which case, I am duly offended and will make sure that she no longer shops at the surplus store and instead heads over to the shelter so that she can get some real shoes at the expense of Freddie's momma. But I digress.

I think it more likely that instead, Freddie meant to say you're stupid, which instead of being possessive is a conjunction of the two words you and are, meaning to say that I am stupid, not that I have a relationship to something stupid. Though to give Freddie credit, perhaps that was to be implied.

Does anyone really think that I, or anyone else, will suddenly realize that I am stupid, and that I must repent for said stupidity?

Regardless of your answer to that question, let's say for a moment that I do feel the need to correct my ways. Why didn't Freddie at least tell me why I am stupid? Then, perhaps this excellent comment could at least serve to help me recover from my stupidity, rather than be forgotten because it was, well, useless.

On the other hand, I may know a Freddie McGee, and call him (or her) up and have a few choice words for what he dared to write on my web site. Perhaps that's what this person is after - trying to pick a fight, while not actually getting into one himself. I'd suspect that we will never know.

Freddie, if you're out there, come back and tell us what we are supposed to do with these words of wisdom!

So you may know that some of David's comic feeds had to come down a while back. Well, it seems that someone else has decided to step up to the plate and give comic feeds a go. Many of the feeds are from they who shall not be named, in case they are on the lookout for these new feeds. And as such, another cease-and-desist letter may make its way to another operator of comic feeds. But in the meantime, enjoy many of the feeds that went missing from Tapestry three months back.

It's official. The most popular tourist destination in North Carolina is... Concord Mills? That's right, compared to all other tourist attractions in the state, a shopping center wins the prize. 15.3 million visitors last year. That's a lot of shopping.

Apparently the stodgy old Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina managed only 13.7 million visitors. How about that. Been around, well, pretty much forever. Created by the forces of time or God or maybe even a bunch of ants over eons. And you lose out by 1.5 million people to a shopping mall.

Something's wrong with this world.

Thanks to Sarah, I found out that Opera was now displaying things strangely. Of course, I didn't have Opera installed. It sure would be nice if the browsers could all display things the same way. At least close. So I installed Opera (v7.23), and back to the CSS I went.

Once I started using primarily Firefox, I noticed that things weren't displaying correctly.

Read "More Moron Compliance" »

This time, I'm sure you'll be surprised to know that it's about another football player. In this case, he seems to think he's missing $6.5 million. Now I don't know about you, but even if I had a contract for nearly $70 million, I'd make sure that extra $6.5 million was included before signing anything. Heck, Denise wanted me to sign something yesterday and I hadn't read the materials I was saying I had read, so I had a problem with it. And that's just a notice - I wasn't receiving any money for the reading.

According to the article, LaVar Arrington's agent initialed every page of the final contract. Now I'm sorry if the team acted unfairly and slipped in a modified contract, but if you (or someone acting on your behalf) signs the contract, it's your problem. Not theirs. Not ours. Get over it, and actually read the thing next time. Or hire a better agent who will do so for you instead of missing a little thing like $6.5 million.