Today's news
Well son of a ...
Some days, the price for taking my news in small doses is that all the bad news comes at me between 11:00 and 11:30 - and even the best of my local news sources has a frustratingly limited scope.
First up:
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffers a massive stroke.
Sharon is certainly a man of controversial decisions, and someone that many love to hate. But with elections in both Israel and Palestine approaching, more upheaval in a region already rife with turmoil isn't going to help matters any.
Next:
West Virginia community devastated as all but 1 miner found dead.
When I turned off the television last night, it was with relief at the breaking news that the missing miners had been found and were alive. I certainly don't know where the breakdown in communication occurred, but fuck! that's one hell of a miscommunication. And even the most humane timeline - at roughly midnight, news breaks that all 13 miners are alive; 12:45, executives receive reports that there is only one survivor, but are suspicious of another mistake and don't want to cause even more upheaval in the community; 2:15, executives receive confirmation of deaths; 3:00, deaths are announced - there's still a forty-five minute delay before announcing, and no indication before that that there might not be cause for celebration.
And finally:
New report indicates that current power output for Michigan will be insufficient for demand by 2009.
Mind you, in and of itself, this isn't likely to be a major concern. Politicians and the media, however, have a habit of blowing things out of proportion, and there are undoubtedly going to be debates about if a new power plant (or plants) should be built, and where, and what type.
Unfortunately, I don't have the funds to go off the grid, and Michigan isn't the best place to do it anyway. But oh, how nice it would be not to have to worry about band-aid solutions and all resolutions that don't satisfy anyone.
Some days, the price for taking my news in small doses is that all the bad news comes at me between 11:00 and 11:30 - and even the best of my local news sources has a frustratingly limited scope.
First up:
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffers a massive stroke.
Sharon is certainly a man of controversial decisions, and someone that many love to hate. But with elections in both Israel and Palestine approaching, more upheaval in a region already rife with turmoil isn't going to help matters any.
Next:
West Virginia community devastated as all but 1 miner found dead.
When I turned off the television last night, it was with relief at the breaking news that the missing miners had been found and were alive. I certainly don't know where the breakdown in communication occurred, but fuck! that's one hell of a miscommunication. And even the most humane timeline - at roughly midnight, news breaks that all 13 miners are alive; 12:45, executives receive reports that there is only one survivor, but are suspicious of another mistake and don't want to cause even more upheaval in the community; 2:15, executives receive confirmation of deaths; 3:00, deaths are announced - there's still a forty-five minute delay before announcing, and no indication before that that there might not be cause for celebration.
And finally:
New report indicates that current power output for Michigan will be insufficient for demand by 2009.
Mind you, in and of itself, this isn't likely to be a major concern. Politicians and the media, however, have a habit of blowing things out of proportion, and there are undoubtedly going to be debates about if a new power plant (or plants) should be built, and where, and what type.
Unfortunately, I don't have the funds to go off the grid, and Michigan isn't the best place to do it anyway. But oh, how nice it would be not to have to worry about band-aid solutions and all resolutions that don't satisfy anyone.