Al's Blog-o-Sphere

There’s been a lot of road work going on round here lately.

They have finally finished and opened – without a hint of hoopla, by the way, it just was open one day – the replacement for the Prospect St. bridge. It now runs from the end of Stevens St. at Prospect over the Erie Canal and lines up with High St. at State St. It’s really quite convenient for me and much better trafic flow than the old bridge at Prospect that teed into State St. right in front of the Diamond Bar.

They started working on it last year and we all watched to see any activity for most of the Summer. The steel finally went up and then they worked on it at a snail’s pace for what seemed like forever.

We also have repaving going on on West Ave. They tore up the pavement on one section about a quarter-mile long. Then paved it with the rough under layer. Then they left it. Left the lanes blocked down to one in each direction. And meanwhile started tearing up the next section to the east. I wonder why they leave lanes closed while nothing is being worked on. But today, they are digging up a piece of the just-fininshed section and pulling out some old railroad tracks. Shouldn’t that have been done first?
Continue Reading…

I’ve been following the “podcasting” trend pretty closely of late. It’s an intriguing area, one of those things that is at that spot in time where you can get in and be successful before it gets coopted and corporate-ized to death. It’s still at the point where it is accessible to the ‘little guy.’

But, I think the term “Podcasting” is wrong. Ultimately, it will be bad for it, unless it becomes so generic that it loses it’s association with Apple and I-pods the way Kleenex is accepted as a term for any old tissue. That’s probably what will happen.
Continue Reading…

Here’s something to take your mind off the price of gasoline.

According to an AP article today, Forbes released it’s list of the 400 Richest Americans. Topping the list again was Bill Gates at number one, and Warren Buffett trying harder at second.

Gates’ total worth was $51 billion. Buffett came in at a neat $40 billion. Continue Reading…

I’ve read where NASA has a proposal for a new initiative to go to the moon. The critics are already making their knee-jerk reaction of saying it costs too much and the money is needed for other things closer to home.

Yes, it will cost a lot. Over many years. What do the critics think they do with the money? Load in in a rocket and send it to the moon? Make moonmen rich? No. It all stays right here on good old Earth. In fact most of it here in good old USA. The money goes back into the economy. It makes whole industries run. It pays for materials that someone has to sell. It pays wages that employ people like you or me. It pays for high tech jobs and low tech ones as well. Can you imagine the bill just for sweeping the floors at NASA? Continue Reading…