Recently in In The News Category

Ahmet Ertegun, founder of Atlantic Records, passed away at 83 years old yesterday. Atlantic Records has brought us music from artists like Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, the Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin. He has done the world a huge service with his label, and his legacy will live on forever.

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The Burlington Free Press posted an article noting that Comcast has completed the purchase of Adelphia here in Vermont. This is great news for any Vermonter with cable because, quite frankly, Adelphia has been extremely sub par. It's going to take some time before the merge is complete and all, but at least it's a step in the right direction. And one more nice thing mentioned in the article: nobody working for Adelphia is being fired; Comcast is retaining all existing employees.

Does anyone remember why KFC stopped calling itself Kentucky Fried Chicken? I surely don't, but one day we woke up and it was just plain KFC. It looks like something similar has happened with AOL. Apparently there was confusion about whether AOL stood for America Online or American Online. Did you just roll your eyes? So did I. Of all the excuses to change a company's name, this one is just sad.

[via CNET]

Okay, I don't smoke but there are so many people out there who do that this just makes sense. Vermont has made it law that all cigarettes sold in the state are Fire-Safe. Apparently the paper used to roll these somehow doesn't allow air through it so the only way to keep them burning is to suck air through the tobacco, theoretically by actively smoking them. I know some absent minded smokers who go through a pack in a few hours just by putting one down in an ash try and forgetting and watching it burn down. I'd imagine that this will save them some money.

That all sounds great, but the only real question is how this is done. All paper is porous, isn't it? So how do they treat it to stop it from being breathable? I suppose the answer is that they probably added something akin to plastic or something because, hey, you're killing yourself smoking anyway so why not add a little more?

That raises another fun issue, too. The idea here is to reduce - and hopefully stop - fires caused by burning cigarettes dropped on furniture, floors, or even dry leaves outside. So riddle me this - is it worth adding something that potentially makes smoking even worse for you to avoid these fires? You tell me, since I don't even know that that's how these things work.

Anyhow, this law, rule, or whatever it is, goes into effect on the first of May. More details on this stuff in the article that I got it all from.

I'm sure this is all over the web but since it took me a while to hear about it I thought I'd write a little something.

The United States Postal Service has increased the rate for first class mail to $0.39 from $0.37. The Burlington Free Press has as good a summary as any about what it means here, so I'm not going to bother writing more than that. Just remember this come time to mail in your bills!

"Nobody will be without fuel," says Human Services Secretary Michael Smith. The Douglas administration responded to yesterday's shock at unprocessed heating aid requests by saying additional workers - workers we were told weren't available - will be devoted to handling the requests.

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According to the Burlington Free Press, the Agency of Human Service admitted to, in my opinion, a major failure. As temperatures were approximately 30º around the state, the Agency announced that they didn't have checks ready for people who applied for heating assistance. They say they've had seven staffers working overtime, say their other staffers are too busy to be shifted, say it would take three weeks to train new staffers. Meanwhile, people all over the state are going cold.

What makes this especially stunning in my eyes is the fact that this is Vermont. I've been shocked at the unseasonable warmth we've experienced this late into November. It's almost Thanksgiving and this morning was the first I woke up with visible snow on the ground here in South Burlington. A year ago today I was attempting to snowboard for the first time. And this is the first we're hearing that they don't have the checks ready. It's disturbing that they didn't see the lack of man power and seek help. Three weeks ago they could have started training people.

Here's a hint to business owners and governments: if your employees are working overtime, something is probably wrong. You should probably check in with them and see if they really think they can meet their deadline, and if so why they're so rushed. Something could have been done weeks ago, but now, as we usher in the cold, we're first starting to think about it.

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Bob Denver passed away last night. Like scores of others, I've gotten entertainment from his role as Gilligan in Gilligan's Island. So incase there isn't enough death being reported due to the hurricane, allow me to put another one on the list.

I've seen and heard an excessive amount of complaining that the world does not care about hurricane Katrina's damage and victims. A lot of "Nobody has offered us any sympathy," and, "When something bad happens to someone else we're expected to provide aid, where's ours?" So many people with such vast resources would rather piss and moan than verify their facts. So I did the work for you.

World leaders offer sympathy, aid (CNN - Sep 2, 2005)
World mobilises to aid US victims (BBC - Sep 2, 2005)
Foreign aid pours in to help Katrina victims (NewKerala - Sep 3, 2005)
Scores of countries promise U.S. hurricane aid (Washington Times - Sep 3, 2005)
More than 50 nations offer aid (Suburban Chicago News - Sep 3, 2005)

Do I really need to keep going? Sure, plenty of countries don't like us for political reasons. But this poor us routine is annoying. There are plenty of ways you can actively help the situation instead of sitting around whining about things that aren't even true.

That felt great.

Iraq declares martial law. Thank you, President Bush, for starting my Sunday morning off right.