Might as well “leave this one standing”

Via:  Ace

“Well, so much for that...!” Dept:

Elsewhere:
LATER:
Senator Shelby Channels Charlie Brown (HT: Cicero):

...The top Republican on the Senate Banking committee, said he has assurances that Democrats will adjust his banking regulation bill to address concerns that it perpetuates bailouts.

“Assurances.”  Su-u-u-u-u-re he does!

Previously.
(Explanation of the title below the break.)

more...

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 16:08:14 GMT | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Sell! Sell! Sell!

Overheard at Slashdot:

Re:McAfee botching damage control (Score:4, Informative)

by CountZer0 (60549) on Wednesday April 21, @03:48PM (#31929832) Homepage

I work in the financial industry, and this issue caused significant disruption to trading floors throughout Wall Street.  Traders are generally quite upset with McAfee right now, so it makes sense that their stock is dropping :)

  Re:McAfee botching damage control (Score:5, Funny)

by Cro Magnon (467622) on Wednesday April 21, @04:07PM (#31930170) Journal

You think it's dropping now?  Just wait until more of the traders get their computers working!

Certainly seems possible.

Elsewhere:

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 02:57:53 GMT | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Whatzit - answer

You guys are too smart for me.

Two minutes after I put the post up, Crucis came up with the right answer.  Yes, it’s a former drive-in theater (or “Twin Theatair,” as this one called itself).  While its official address was 2463 Hoyt Avenue (the street bordering the property on the north), the patrons entered from Prospect Street, to the right of the top-right corner.  The foundation for the two-sided screen is visible at the center, as are the foundations for each side’s projection booths/concession stands, halfway up the contours to the east and west.  (Nobody would build a drive-in with this configuration today: Two separate staffs are more expensive than two screens.)

Opened in 1950.  With a capacity 1800 cars (900 per side), the Twin was billed as “the world’s largest drive-in.”  Probably true at opening, although by 1955 there were five bigger, with capacities up to 2100.  The Twin operated into the 90s, the screen tower burned down in 1996.

The site won’t look like this much longer.  The property was acquired by Citizens Energy, and, as part of the redevelopment associated with the closure of the adjacent coke plant, will be converted to an amateur sports complex.

Elsewhere:

Related:

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 22:52:01 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Blog•Meet Whatzit

For context and background, read Looking East (and the comments), then Roberta’s April BlogMeet report.

Long story short: Roberta X’s second tower tour post included this long-distance photo of an example of our city’s industrial past...

...and a request for help in identifying it.  In her post she helpfully linked Google’s aerial view of the site.

This long-time Indy resident recognized the plant immediately (answer in the comments), but when I looked at the aerial view I was amused to notice another item in Indianapolis lore.  Thinking it might be fun to see how quickly people could identify it or discover its purpose, I printed off some copies and took them to Sunday’s BlogMeet.  It took less than five minutes for our astute panel to figure it out.  How about you?

Here’s the image of (most) of the site.

What’s that very different space in the upper left-hand corner?

Closer up:

Of course, you could probably go searching for the answer, but IMO it’s more fun to figure out what it is from the image alone.

No clue?  You’ll find some hints below the break.  Answer coming tomorrow.

more...

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 19:17:18 GMT | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Hey Republicans, here’s how it’s done

newjerseynewsroom.com

Gov. Chris Christie is taking $65 million, the entire allocation, from the state’s global warming fund, and $5.9 million, from the toxic waste site cleanup program, to help close the over $10 billion deficit in his $29.3 billion 2010-11 state budget, the state environmental protection commissioner said Monday.

Zero-funding a politically-correct “solution” to an imaginary problem, so you can spend the money on real ones.  Works for me.

Via:  Ace

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 19:02:46 GMT | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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“Do Repubs fear #teaparties? I should hope so.”

Tweet quoted by Sissy Willis (via Glenn Reynolds).

Related (via Veeshir):

For many a year now, officeholders of both major parties have worked hard to earn the distrust of ordinary Americans. It appears that they finally have succeeded...

The Democrats fear them because they see through the left’s empty promise of utopia in exchange for freedom. The Republicans fear them because they're pushy and because they’'re loyal to their principles rather than to a party.

They make everyone uncomfortable. That’s healthy.

-----
LATER (100414 17:25): Meanwhile, Indiana Republicans appear poised to pick as their candidate to replace Evan Bayh a beltway insider who has spent more of the last 12 years lobbying in Washington than showing his face in Indiana, and who would likely turn out to be another Dick Lugar if elected.  That’s not good enough.

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 15:22:11 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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No Jane (you ignorant slut), it’s NO “myth”

Jane Fonda wonders why people just won’t moveon™:

...why it is that 300 people went to North Vietnam, people, many people before me, why me, why have they created this [“Hanoi Jane”] myth?  You know, when I came back from North Vietnam, there was maybe a quarter of an inch of media about it in the New York Times. Nobody made any big deal out of it...

It was created... by right wingers. ...people who are like stuck there, you know, they’re still stuck in the past.  I always want to say, “Get a life...”

Yes, I’m aware that Fonda has issued apologies (a couple of times).  And I imagine it’s likely that drug-induced gormlessness played a (big?) part in her decision to go to Hanoi.^[1]  But there’s a big difference between, “I was young, stoned, and stupid, doing stupid things, and now I’m sorry” and “I didn’t do any harm, and it’s all made up anyway.”




Elsewhere:

Via:  Og  (Thanks for ruining my morning, buddy!)
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Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 17:40:03 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Glenn Reynolds tries making lemonade

The United States Code -- containing federal statutory law -- is more than 50,000 pages long and comprises 40 volumes.  The Code of Federal Regulations, which indexes administrative rules, is 161,117 pages long and composes 226 volumes.

No one on Earth understands them all, and the potential interaction among all the different rules would choke a supercomputer...

While we rightly fear a too-powerful government, this regulatory knowledge problem will ensure plenty of public stumbles and embarrassments, helping to remind people that those who seek to rule us really don’t know what they’re doing. - “Progressives can’t get past the Knowledge Problem,” Washington Examiner, April 4, 2010

Well, maybe.  A more than equally likely scenario is that of corrupt or offended bureaucrats making their targets’ lives miserable by hauling out, and enforcing, obscure or nonsensical regulations.

Thus we move from a government of (generally understood and accepted) laws to a government of (arbitrary and capricious) men.

Which doesn’t rule out “stumbles and embarrassments” a-plenty, although IMO governments that believe their legitimate functions include giving great-grandmothers criminal records for selling goldfish to underage purchasers, charging teenagers who IM nude pictures of themselves with distributing child pornography, or warping traffic laws to prey on the public are beyond embarrassment.

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 16:06:47 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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If they mean to have a war...?

“Gene” from Greenpeace India:

If you’re one of those who have spent their lives undermining progressive climate legislation, bankrolling junk science, fueling spurious debates around false solutions, and cattle-prodding democratically-elected governments into submission, then hear this:

We know who you are.  We know where you live.  We know where you work.

As do we.

-----
Oh my, lots of hey-he-didn’t-mean-it walking-back at the Greenpeace link, but IMO that’s only because they’re upset that the mask slipped.  The coerciveness of the varoius “progressive” movements is fundamental to their nature, and anyone who denies it is either a naïve fool or a fellow traveler.

(Via Small Dead Animals, via Instapundit)

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 14:40:49 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Gettin’ close...

Posted by: Old Grouch in Dear Diary... at 22:10:27 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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