Those of us in Minneapolis got to take advantage of the 2009 Annual Delta Block Party today and there were some fun things that were going on. Below are a few short videos of some of the things that went on. I've also got pictures up on my Facebook account that are cool as well. Enjoy!
The first few are of a gymnastics/trampoline group. They are made of not only gymnasts but also of some X-Games champions and Olympic snowboarding and skiing competitors. Really cool stuff.
The next two are from a performance from Gin Blossoms. They were the headliner act for the block party. I was impressed at how good they still sounded.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
The Mosque In Morgantown
http://www.themosqueinmorgantown.com/
Working in Pakistan after September 11, 2001, former Wall Street Journal reporter Asra Nomani faced a double shock. First came a surprise pregnancy and abandonment by the Pakistani man she thought would be her husband, then the murder of her dear friend and colleague Daniel Pearl at the hands of Muslim extremists. Still reeling and with a son to raise, she returned to her hometown in West Virginia and discovered the mosque had been taken over by men she saw as extremists. THE MOSQUE IN MORGANTOWN chronicles what happens when she decides to fight back — unexpectedly pitting her against the mosque’s moderates. As the film unfolds, it tells a story of competing paths to social change, American identity, and the nature of religion itself.
This Web site seeks real transparency and honest participation. The issues are too important to remain confined to the world of the film and its characters. Consider the floor open for debate.
Please take a look around. Learn more about THE MOSQUE IN MORGANTOWN’s story, characters, and director. Watch clips from the film and from the cutting room floor. Check out the soundtrack. Find out how to host a screening. And most importantly, visit the FORUM. There you’ll find original critical essays on the film and its major themes – and you’re invited to join the discussion!
Quote of the Day
From Joe Bageanet and www.alternet.org
"It don't matter who gets to warm his butt in the White House chair," says a West Virginia trucker. "The top dogs eat high on the hog and the little dogs eat the tails and ears. That's what them bailouts is all about, and that's the way it is no matter who's president. So you might as well vote for the guy who looks like the most fun because you gonna be watching his ass on television for the next eight years."
"It don't matter who gets to warm his butt in the White House chair," says a West Virginia trucker. "The top dogs eat high on the hog and the little dogs eat the tails and ears. That's what them bailouts is all about, and that's the way it is no matter who's president. So you might as well vote for the guy who looks like the most fun because you gonna be watching his ass on television for the next eight years."
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
My letter to Macy's informing them that I'm done with them.
Dear Sir or Ma'am,
Upon receiving my new statement in my email today I have been forced to make a decision that I didn't want to have to make. I simply will be refusing to pay my bill and I won't be shopping your stores again.
From the time I was young, Macy's has represented a level of customer service that other companies strode to achieve but my experience with your company has been far from that. I opened a Macy's account in October and almost immediately was hit with deceptive credit card practices that seemed aimed at not being convenient for the consumer but to line the pockets of Macy's. From a short billing cycle the first month that my account was opened, to cutting my credit limit when I missed a payment because of that short-cycled billing which was also coupled with a slow "verification" process ( a process that took days for your system to complete, rendering an on time payment impossible) of your online payment system on the initial setup and the total failure of the system to accept the payment and now, to what just happened this past billing cycle has left me with nothing but disdain and disgust with your business practices. The original problems with billing and questionable late fees led me to close the card just a few months after opening it and this recent event has led me to take further action.
I received a bill with a due date on May 11th and made a payment through the online payment system on the night of May 9th but was still hit with a late fee because your system didn't process it until the 12th of the month. Your failure to process my on time payment should not result in late payments. If I needed to pay my bill by the 9th then the bill due date should be the 9th and not the 11th. I have done my part to pay on time and use the vehicles you give me yet your system is designed to punish people even when all rules are followed.
int
So, this brings me back to my decision. I simply will not be paying the remaining balance on my card. Nearly the entire remaining balance on that card is unwarranted late fees and interest accrued on those late fees, not purchases I made. I'm done. I'm walking away very disappointed with Macy's and choosing to take my business to a competitor. I will also be posting this on my blog so all my readers can understand what your business practices are.
Good Bye from a former customer,
Upon receiving my new statement in my email today I have been forced to make a decision that I didn't want to have to make. I simply will be refusing to pay my bill and I won't be shopping your stores again.
From the time I was young, Macy's has represented a level of customer service that other companies strode to achieve but my experience with your company has been far from that. I opened a Macy's account in October and almost immediately was hit with deceptive credit card practices that seemed aimed at not being convenient for the consumer but to line the pockets of Macy's. From a short billing cycle the first month that my account was opened, to cutting my credit limit when I missed a payment because of that short-cycled billing which was also coupled with a slow "verification" process ( a process that took days for your system to complete, rendering an on time payment impossible) of your online payment system on the initial setup and the total failure of the system to accept the payment and now, to what just happened this past billing cycle has left me with nothing but disdain and disgust with your business practices. The original problems with billing and questionable late fees led me to close the card just a few months after opening it and this recent event has led me to take further action.
I received a bill with a due date on May 11th and made a payment through the online payment system on the night of May 9th but was still hit with a late fee because your system didn't process it until the 12th of the month. Your failure to process my on time payment should not result in late payments. If I needed to pay my bill by the 9th then the bill due date should be the 9th and not the 11th. I have done my part to pay on time and use the vehicles you give me yet your system is designed to punish people even when all rules are followed.
int
So, this brings me back to my decision. I simply will not be paying the remaining balance on my card. Nearly the entire remaining balance on that card is unwarranted late fees and interest accrued on those late fees, not purchases I made. I'm done. I'm walking away very disappointed with Macy's and choosing to take my business to a competitor. I will also be posting this on my blog so all my readers can understand what your business practices are.
Good Bye from a former customer,
Some Clarification on FAA rules...intertwined with a rant.
In light of the investigation into the Colgan Air/Continental Connection plane crash in Buffalo I wanted to take some time and explain some of the truths (and some falsehoods) of the airline industry.
The biggest truth coming out of this investigation is that it is very common to find pilots and flight attendants working for days at a time suffering from sleep deprivation. Another truth is that the FAA and the airlines are in cahoots about it and the biggest FALSEHOOD is the fake "shock" that the Congresspeople are showing over how pilots (and flight attendants) are forced to live. These are rules and regulations that the FAA has had in place for years and pilots and f/a's have been up in arms about it for decades.
While the move is on to blame the pilot and first officer for not following company policy and sleeping in the crew room the reality is that airlines (all of them) participate in this "wink, wink, nudge, nudge" game with the full support and realization of the FAA. The unfortunate truth is that the captain lied about his qualifications and that is not good but the other part of that paints a far darker picture and one that is scarier.
Pilots and F/A's work days are governed by the FAA and Union contracts. Sometimes the unions are able to negotiate better work rules than the FAA standard but in some cases they are not. This article shows the length that airlines went to overturn an FAA ruling on crew rest. Some airlines actually objected to an FAA ruling forcing airlines to give pilots 8 hours of rest a day.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0UBT/is_22_16/ai_87073652/
In 2006, most US airlines (minus NWA and Delta) sued the FAA to stop the implementation of higher rest requirements for pilots flying "long haul" flights over 16 hours. The FAA capitulated and rescinded their rule change.
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE50449N20090105
And here is another reality. 16 hour duty days are the STANDARD in the industry. A single trip for inflight crews can last five days for domestic trips and can go to eight days (or more) for international trips at NWA. A five day domestic trip at NWA can result in a pilot being "on duty" for 5 days for 16 hours a day, or 80 hours and fly as much as 35 of those. That would almost certainly result in serious sleep deprivation by days three, four and five. From the Buffalo News below is a look at some realities of this standard of scheduling.
From the Buffalo News:
All of these are huge issues on their own but compounded together the results do cost lives. The FAA has been in the pocket of US Airlines for far too long. The truth is that if forced to change their policies, airlines will and since all airlines have to play by the same rules, costs associated with those changes would be competitively applied and no airline would have an advantage about it.
It is time that we turn the heat up on our air safety system and make some fundamental changes in how the industry is regulated and make it safer for everyone.
The biggest truth coming out of this investigation is that it is very common to find pilots and flight attendants working for days at a time suffering from sleep deprivation. Another truth is that the FAA and the airlines are in cahoots about it and the biggest FALSEHOOD is the fake "shock" that the Congresspeople are showing over how pilots (and flight attendants) are forced to live. These are rules and regulations that the FAA has had in place for years and pilots and f/a's have been up in arms about it for decades.
While the move is on to blame the pilot and first officer for not following company policy and sleeping in the crew room the reality is that airlines (all of them) participate in this "wink, wink, nudge, nudge" game with the full support and realization of the FAA. The unfortunate truth is that the captain lied about his qualifications and that is not good but the other part of that paints a far darker picture and one that is scarier.
Pilots and F/A's work days are governed by the FAA and Union contracts. Sometimes the unions are able to negotiate better work rules than the FAA standard but in some cases they are not. This article shows the length that airlines went to overturn an FAA ruling on crew rest. Some airlines actually objected to an FAA ruling forcing airlines to give pilots 8 hours of rest a day.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0UBT/is_22_16/ai_87073652/
In 2006, most US airlines (minus NWA and Delta) sued the FAA to stop the implementation of higher rest requirements for pilots flying "long haul" flights over 16 hours. The FAA capitulated and rescinded their rule change.
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE50449N20090105
And here is another reality. 16 hour duty days are the STANDARD in the industry. A single trip for inflight crews can last five days for domestic trips and can go to eight days (or more) for international trips at NWA. A five day domestic trip at NWA can result in a pilot being "on duty" for 5 days for 16 hours a day, or 80 hours and fly as much as 35 of those. That would almost certainly result in serious sleep deprivation by days three, four and five. From the Buffalo News below is a look at some realities of this standard of scheduling.
From the Buffalo News:
16-hour days questioned
The pilots union thinks that 16- hour duty days are too long and that schedules should reflect whether the pilot is flying during the day, or at night, when the body expects to be sleeping. Pilot concern stems from the duty time when a pilot is in uniform, not necessarily behind the controls.
“Even though you’re not allowed to go over eight hours,” Edwards said of the FAA maximum flight time, “you can take 16 hours to fly that eight hours.”
Edwards, unlike most commercial pilots, is not afraid of losing his job if he goes on the record and uses his name. He was fired from Gulfstream International Airlines in Florida because he refused to fly a plane that he said lacked an important piece of safety equipment. He has filed a lawsuit to get his job back, and the case is pending in Broward County.
In his nine years in the cockpit, Edwards has flown for three regional airlines and, despite living in Phoenix, commuted to work in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Dayton, Ohio, and Charlotte, N. C.
The commute, he said, is another grind that adds to fatigue. Flight 3407’s captain, Renslow, lived in Florida, and first officer Shaw commuted from Washington State.
Edwards points to a number of situations with regional airlines that cause pilot fatigue:
• Airlines schedule pilots for the maximum they are allowed to fly in a day. They don’t account for delays caused by weather, mechanical problems or traffic.
• Brief layovers, followed by another ultralong day.
• Some regional aircraft do not have autopilot, and manual flying fatigues a pilot much quicker.
• Lack of food. “The flight schedules don’t allow a crew to stop and eat a sit-down lunch.”
• Multiple aircraft swaps during the day.
• Lack of adequate crew room facilities. “Many crew break rooms have two or three chairs and numerous crew members standing or sitting on the floor.”
“In my mind,” Edwards said, “crew fatigue, particularly at the commuter-regional level, is very dangerous and very real. I’ve personally felt the effects of it at times during my career. The problem is, it tends to creep up on you. Usually, we get away with it.”
All of these are huge issues on their own but compounded together the results do cost lives. The FAA has been in the pocket of US Airlines for far too long. The truth is that if forced to change their policies, airlines will and since all airlines have to play by the same rules, costs associated with those changes would be competitively applied and no airline would have an advantage about it.
It is time that we turn the heat up on our air safety system and make some fundamental changes in how the industry is regulated and make it safer for everyone.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)