Thursday, July 16, 2009

Not running, no hitters and sweet, sweet sugar

Just cleaning out some stuff that didn't really warrant stories but might be interesting:

• Utah County Commissioners went to San Francisco recently to get bonding approval for their portion of I-15 reconstruction. First of all, Larry Ellertson and Gary Anderson should know better than to fly directly into SF. You fly into Oakland, save $150 in taxpayer dollars, and take transit or your rental across the bay. Second of all, the three commissioners decided to take in a Giants game while they were there. It was, of course, Jonathan Sanchez's no-no. Lucky.

• Jason Chaffetz and the rest of the congressional delegation released fundraising dollars for
the quarter. The 3rd District rep still has a little of that Utah sugar beet in him, or at least the industry's money. He picked up $500 from the Snake River Sugar PAC, $1,000 from the
Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Co-op PAC and $5,000 from the
American Crystal Sugar PAC. (It was part of a freshman event organized by Texas Rep. Mike Conaway. But I argue Chaffetz has a deeper understanding. See, in America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the something something.)

• UVU police still aren't releasing what the white powder was that caused a massive shut down. We know it was a powdered food product and that police are still examining video in the case.

• Steve Turley isn't running for Provo mayor. There were a lot of rumors floating around about the councilman's ambitions and at least one animated discussion with one of the candidates outside a local restaurant.

Night Shift Thursday!

These are PSAs. From ourselves. From the future.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Clever


1. Ask public for questions to use at Sotomayor hearings.
2. Send them to your campaign site instead of your Senate site to do it.
3. Collect donations for being the tough conservative.
4. Profit!

Sen. Hatch, you sly devil.

(I was one-thumb posting this with a baby in the other arm. Hat Tip: DailyKos.)

Left hand, meet right

E-mail today from the Utah Transit Authority:
In celebration of the 19th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Utah Transit Authority will host its annual “I choose to use UTA” awards ceremony. Three UTA riders with disabilities and three staff will be honored. UTA staff will also report on key accomplishments of the past year in developing a diverse public transit system that is accessible and inclusive for all riders. (Emphasis mine)
I wonder if those accomplishments include the near miss to increase fares for paratransit riders despite continued bonuses, Segways and trips to Europe.

Monday Cup o' Joe

It's Monday, and what better way to celebrate the first day of the rest of your life than to read up on someone who is actually doing something with hers?
"This isn't politics -- this is your country and the quality of your life," she said. "If we don't participate, we've lost." -- Claire Geddes
• The culture wars are in full swing, and the weapons of choice are lips.

• In Pignanelli and Webb, we get a fresh bit of information: Sen. Liljenquist as Lt. Gov.?

• The Trib got it a day ahead of everyone else, but I explore whether Chris Cannon the person
can be sued because his campaign owes someone money. It doesn't look good for creditors.

• Looking to wind as coal plant plans are dropped. Cap and trade makes coal less palatable (though it's not mentioned in the story.) I wonder if nuclear gets a boost, i.e. Aaron Tilton and Co.

And if none of that interests you: Unscientific America, read it and
weep.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Just an "Lt." away

Let's just go straight to the e-mail from, well, someone's office:
The content held within the body of this email is the same as the attached document.
Lt. Governor Gary Herbert
Schedule
July 8 – July 17, 2009
*The Governor’s schedule is subject to frequent change. (My bold.)
Did someone get confirmed ambassador when no one was looking? Yeah, it's small and dumb, but I'm working the night shift tonight and I've already written the story about the Stadium of Fire not really burning that flag.

And if that doesn't interest you, maybe printing your own plastic goods will.

Two things

Thing 1:
Reposted from Taylor.A.Smith in the comments of SB81 post:
I find it interesting that we will be celebrating the greatest act of illegal immigration in a couple of weeks- after all, on July 24, 1847 Utah was still part of Mexico, and Brigham and the Saints didn’t have permission to be here…
Thing 2:
Terms and Conditions:
1. Marriage must last a minimum of 5 years.
Big props for creativity. (Jeep pictured, click link for the rest.)

Mom! Gehrke's copying me!

With no prior coordination, the Trib's Robert Gehrke and I came up with the same piece on the public employees' retirement system looking to stanch the bleeding. (You may have wanted to use "staunch" there. Don't do it.)

Anyway, his and mine. (To be fair, apparently his got held a day though he always says that.)

URS director Robert Newman used a phrase that should always make it into a story though I failed this time, thus failing you, gentle reader. Referring to the stock market, he said the upswing we're seeing right now could simply be a "dead cat bounce."

Wikipedia gives us: It is derived from the notion that "even a dead cat will bounce if it falls from a great height."

If it's still not clear, see graphic representation below.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

[UPDATE] Heads I win, tails you lose

Story today about "Selling Chaffetz" in which I explore a former marketing exec turned congressman and the love affair he and the press are having. (No, it's not lost on me that I'm the press.)

From the Dnews comes a piece about Chaffetz "considering" a run against Sen. Bob Bennett.
"I don't have any intention of doing that (running against Bennett)" now, he told the Deseret News. "But I guess I like to keep my options open. Never say never."
So which is it? He's currently on a plane back to D.C., but we sent a few texts back and forth last night and he had this to say:
My quotes are accurate, but the headline suggests more than reality.
I would like to know how much more than reality. If I get through, I'll update. It should be noted that he posted both stories on his Facebook page with this comment:
I mean it when I say, "I have no intention of running for the U.S. Senate." I am 100% focused on being the best Representative possible. I enjoy it in the House and I think I am making a difference.
Of course, "no intention" is to political answers as "a fork and warm Jell-O" is to putting food in your mouth. I'll update when I get a chance to speak with him.

(Photo boosted from Jadydangel at Flickr.)

UPDATE
I think Tommy Burr (Facebook friends!) over at the Trib did it best:
For the record, Chaffetz says he is also not closing the door on running for president, governor, chairman of the Republican National Committee or for a pundit spot on Fox News.

Monday, July 6, 2009

iPhone impressions

It's been a couple of weeks since I purchased the new 3G S and I have to say I'm pretty happy.

A few things still nag:
• No Pandora while using the phone for other things. Apple has resisted calls for true multitasking, and for the most part I haven't had a problem with it. But the music streaming service is the cat's meow and cutting out whenever I leave the app just plain sucks.
• Speaking of sucks... The still photo quality is really bad unless the light is really good. No flash has me looking at options like BetterPix to see if it can help.
• Speaking of Flash... I know that popular browser plug-in is a horribly bloated, memory leaking, resource hog. But it's everywhere and that makes it frustrating when I can't access something that billions of other can.

Things I love:
• The video quality is pretty remarkable for a phone.
• The virtual keyboard has been much easier to get used to than I feared it would be. The corrective typing quality is just shy of brilliant.
• Games. I didn't think I'd be playing them much, but I enjoy a few Time Wasters like FlightControl, Galcon (pictured), Glyder, and Hero of Sparta.

Installed (non-game) apps:
• Google
Stanza
• Google Earth
• Dictionary
• Remote
Shazam