News Cut: September 25, 2008 Archive
What are you doing to prepare for the economic collapse?
Posted at 7:36 AM on September 25, 2008
by Bob Collins
(29 Comments)
Filed under: Economy
"Without immediate action by Congress, America could slip into a financial panic, and a distressing scenario would unfold," President Bush said last night. "Our entire economy is in danger."
"Is this the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression?" CBS' Harry Smith asked former President Bill Clinton this morning. "It could be," Clinton responded.
OK, it's bad. We know it's bad when conservatives are racing to empty the U.S. Treasury, expand the role of government, and set us on a path for massive tax increases to pay for this mess.
Is the bailout the way to go? Does it matter in the big scheme of things? In the big scheme of things, we can pretty well figure a lot of us are going to lose our jobs, a chunk of our nest eggs, and any sense of financial security. We know that because economies don't race to the edge of a cliff and then bounce back to the economic equivalent of the Era of Good Feeling.
The politicians are telling us it's going to hurt if the bailout doesn't pass. But common sense tells us it's going to hurt even if it does. Face it, that's the fear behind our anger.
But denial, fear, and anger are not a plan for hunkering down and preparing for tough times and -- unlike the people of the Greatest Generation -- ours is not a civilization that is all that keen on personal sacrifice. But here we are, needing to prepare for whatever is coming.
So how are you preparing... personally speaking? What are you cutting out or preparing to cut out.
Yesterday I cut my cellphone plan to $19.95 a month for 60 minutes of time, and called the newspaper to cancel it (they always offer you a half-price deal when you call to cancel). Still, somehow I don't think that's going to be enough.
How about you?
Boom states vs. bust states
Posted at 10:44 AM on September 25, 2008
by Bob Collins
(2 Comments)
Filed under: Economy
Another hour, another grim piece of economic news. The number of jobless claims filed last week was the highest in 7 years.
I'm not exactly sure what the value of this map is but it's interesting to look at nonetheless.
The Economic Policy Institute has a state-by-state map which displays unemployment trends in the country. One thing it does tell me is times are pretty darned good in the nation's breadbasket. In fact, it appears to be positively "boom times" for our neighbors to the west.
(h/t: MinnesotaBudgetBites.org)
The smoking ban -- One year later
Posted at 12:34 PM on September 25, 2008
by Bob Collins
(4 Comments)
Filed under: Health
I'm generally suspicious of polls that are put out by groups with a special interest in the results, but a poll out today from ClearWay Minnesota provides the basis for an ongoing discussion on the smoking ban in Minnesota.
The poll says that one year after the beginning of the Minnesota smoking ban, 77 percent support it.
From the looks of things, a year of living under the smoking ban hasn't changed many minds. Those who were against it, may still be against it. Those who were for it, are still for it. The 2006 State Fair survey, for example, found about the same level of support for the ban (71%). Another poll in 2007 found 77% favoring some form of smoking ban.
This latest poll didn't ask how people think the law is working and only 17% of the people surveyed were smokers. (Download poll questions in Word format). One wonders what percentage of the 23% who don't favor the ban, are the 17% who smoke?
Is that number going down as a result of the smoking ban? It's too early to know officially. According to the Minnesota Medical Association, 17% is the percentage of Minnesotans who smoke, citing the Minnesota Adult Tobacco Survey.
The survey found that Minnesota's adult smoking rate has declined to a new low of 17 percent. That figure is down approximately 5 percentage points since 1999 and represents 164,000 fewer smokers. Minnesota's declines are impressive compared to national trends, where smoking rates appear to have stalled at about 20 percent since 2004.
However, the reduction in smoking cited in the survey had nothing to do with the smoking ban (and so far there's no indication the ban has led people to quit smoking) because it used statistics through 2007.
Has the smoking ban had any effect on you or your business?
Keep the ball!
Posted at 2:25 PM on September 25, 2008
by Bob Collins
(4 Comments)
Filed under: Sports
A few months ago, Star Tribune writer Patrick Reusse wrote one of the most important columns ever written in the history of baseball. It revealed why we do stupid things:
"You have the ball in your hands for one second, and there are 100, 200, I don't know how many people, hollering in unison, 'Throw it back, throw it back,... I always said, 'I would never throw back a ball,' but the approval of the crowd is irresistible, I guess."
It was a column about Chris Fink of Minneapolis who threw Alex Rodriguez' 526th career homerun back on the field because the peer pressure was too much to resist. It's time expand the DARE program to Twins fans.
I've been a baseball fan as long as anybody, but throwing a homerun ball back as a sign that you're a real baseball fan is about as illogical as it gets. A real baseball fan has an appreciation for the exploits of its best players.
The thing is: it happened again last night. Ken Griffey Jr., who, if it weren't for injuries, would be the all-time home run champion in baseball, hit his 611th career home run.
Griffey is 38 and is, for the most part, finished. That home run may be the last one he ever hits, and it puts him in 5th place on the all-time home run list.
And somebody threw it back.
People, this isn't even a Minnesota tradition! It's a Chicago Cubs tradition. Throw a fish back! Better still, rip off one of you kid's T-ball "homers" and when you catch a ball tonight, throw that one back instead.
Your kid will never notice. And neither will anyone else in Section 112 212.
Time Waster: Fixing an airliner in 2 minutes
Posted at 2:53 PM on September 25, 2008
by Bob Collins
(1 Comments)
What happens when someone dents an airliner at an airport? It need to get taken apart and fixed. For one of the more unsung jobs on the planet, there are 500 applications for every opening.
The Smithsonian's Air & Space Magazine is out today with a story about how that happens, and a Boeing video that reduces it to a couple of minutes.
Some of the feats the Boeing AOG operation has performed are commercial aviation legends. In 1988, a 747 aborting a takeoff bellied into a mud flat adjacent to New Delhi airport. Fully 70 percent of the airplane required AOG repair or replacement, at a total cost of $75 million. Then a mechanic, Testin worked 126 days straight in a circus-size tent dubbed the New Delhi Dome. Boeing returned the resurrected jumbo as pristine as one just off the assembly line. Two decades later, it's still flying.
If you don't want to read the story, you can go right to the video.
Friday's debate-watching party
Posted at 3:11 PM on September 25, 2008
by Bob Collins
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Politics
Tomorrow night (Friday), MPR is hosting a debate-watching party for the first presidential debate (Don't RSVP, we're full up.). This, of course, assumes there is a debate.
We've assemble a small panel of undecideds and after the program, MPR's Jeff Horwich will be asking them to help analyze the performance and positions of Sen. Obama and Sen. McCain.
I'll be live-blogging the event here on News Cut and I encourage you to engage in a discussion here starting at 8 p.m. Friday night. I've also set up a page on Twitter (@mpr_debates to follow those of you who may be posting your thoughts on Twitter during the debate.
If that describes you, please follow @mpr_debates on Twitter and we'll be sure to display your thoughts during the party.
The next big thing?
Posted at 4:58 PM on September 25, 2008
by Bob Collins
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Sports
College and professional sports franchises are trying to wring every last dollar from their stadium deals, what with naming rights and seat licenses and all.
Here's a trend we're hoping doesn't catch on. The University of Georgia boosters are unveiling an official team cemetery on Saturday:
"Bulldog Haven," a designated area of burial plots within famous Oconee Hill Cemetery next to Sanford Stadium reserved in death only for those that have worn the uniform, their coaches and their families. Now a Bulldog can come full circle," said Mack Guest, Letterman's Association president and one of the conceptual founders of the project.
Music downloading revisited
Posted at 5:08 PM on September 25, 2008
by Bob Collins
(1 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice
It took a lot of tries for the recording industry to get anywhere in the courts trying to stop the downloading of music. Now they've lost its only big jury-decided win. A federal judge in Minneapolis has had a change of heart on the way he instructed the jury, and has ordered a new trial for the Brainerd woman who fought the industry.
The judge has now decided that the recording industry does have to prove that Jammie Thomas not only downloaded music from a file-sharing site, but that she also distributed the music, according to Wired Magazine.
The RIAA, which is the music industry's lobbying and litigation arm, fought hard to keep Jury Instruction No. 15 in play. The group told the judge that copyright infringement on peer-to-peer networks is implied, and that it shouldn't have to provide proof of an actual transfer -- because it's impossible.
"Requiring proof of actual transfers would cripple efforts to enforce copyright owners' rights online - and would solely benefit those who seek to freeload off plaintiff's investment," RIAA attorney Timothy Reynolds said in a court filing (.pdf).
It'll be a tough thing to prove. According to an MPR story during the trial, Thomas replaced her computer's hard drive after the sharing was alleged to have taken place.
But if you think you're clear to download and distribute if you just erase your hard drive every now and then, think again. Another federal judge, this one in Arizona, ordered a man to pay more than $40,000 for infringing copyrights on 54 songs.
U.S. District Judge Neil V. Wake declared victory for the labels earlier this month after experts for the recording industry reported that Jeffrey Howell had erased his hard drive.
| September 2008 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
| 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 |
| 28 | 29 | 30 | ||||
Master Archive
Recent Entries
- The Quiz: Bears, dead dolphins, Clint Eastwood, and bowling
- Videos from here to there
- Weekend forecast: Partly to mostly eelpouty
- The victims of the vaccination debate (5x8 - 2/10/12)
- Tribe sues beer makers over alcoholism
- Constitutional amendment proposed to limit constitutional amendments
- Bear bill hibernates at Capitol
- Who smokes synthetic pot?
- 'Stand your ground bill' advances at Capitol
- White people debating racism (5x8 - 2/9/12)
Categories
- Add category
- Art or Eyesore?
- Arts
- Aviation
- Bridges and roads
- Coffeeshop Chronicles
- Crime and Justice
- Disasters
- Economy
- Energy
- Five by 8
- Floods
- Floods 2011
- Fresh Eye on the Radio (with Mary Lucia)
- Health
- History
- Icons
- Life
- Marketing and advertising
- Media
- Music
- News
- News Cut on Campus
- Northwest Airlines
- People doing good
- Politics
- Race
- Regional history
- Religion
- Schools
- Science
- Sports
- Surveys and trivia
- Tech
- The jobs we do
- The political conventions
- The Quiz
- The Unemployed series
- Things that are puzzling
- War
- Weather
- What's the Story Here?
- When people do good
- wildlife
- You Should Meet...
Services
In The Spotlight
-
Sound Learning
Looking for ways to ensure your students are doing quality research from credible sources? Sound Learning is a launching point to Minnesota Public Radio's content on the Web. -
The Current Music Blog
Your daily note for good music, news and pop culture. With attempted jokes.
- Become a Member
- Member Connect Accounts
- Leadership Circle
- Sustaining Members
- Member Discounts
- Become a Sponsor
- Tax Information
- Planned Giving
- Vehicle Donation
- Donate Stock
