| Cuts could halt courts, judges warn
Traffic court would stop. Abuse cases and child-custody hearings would be postponed. Banks would face long delays getting foreclosed homes back on the market. And alimony, divorce and commercial litigation hearings would come to a halt. That's what will happen, the state's top judges warned lawmakers Tuesday, if the Legislature's proposed budget cuts for the current year go into effect. The dire predictions are the latest alarm sounded in Florida's growing budget crisis as Gov. Charlie Crist and legislative leaders say they need millions in new budget cuts by June 30 to balance the 2007-08 budget and another $3 billion in cuts next year. JUDGES' PLEA The chief judges of the state's 20 circuit courts and Fred Lewis, chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court, paraded before lawmakers to urge them to spare the court system and allow them to make alternative cuts that don't affect the administration of justice.
The Totally Coolest Candidate Ever
Berkeley, I made a couple of comments about the use of Chelsea as a prop for controversy-free photo ops when her parents dropped her off for her first semester of college at Stanford. Scraping for something to say about the upcoming football game between Cal and Stanford, I criticized my school's rival for pouring resources into the circus surrounding Chelsea's arrival, suggesting that they were more concerned with maintaining a pristine, photogenic student body than educating as large and diverse a population as possible. I then encouraged Berkeley students to share our less refined ways by trashing the campus, including Ms. Clinton. Sure, my line "show your spirit on Chelsea's bloodied carcass" was over the top and poorly chosen. And then the AP wire snipped my column's line, "Chelsea Clinton represents the Stanford ethos of establishment worship which must be subverted and destroyed," into "Chelsea Clinton … must be destroyed." (The column is no longer available online.) The comments made their way to Mrs.
Music this week
Trans-Siberian Orchestra: If you're a fan of grandiose "classical rock" bands of yore, you'll relish the pomp and circumstance of this troupe, singing and telling their own rock opera "legends" of XMAS. Wachovia Center, 3601 S. Broad St. 3 and 8 p.m. Saturday, $39.50-$50.50, 215-298-4200, www.comcasttix.com Hot Tuna: They blew out the longstanding Thanksgiving eve concert tradition this year, but better warmed over Tuna than two week old turkey. Keswick Theatre, Easton Road and Keswick Ave., Glenside. 8 p.m. Saturday, $29-$34, 215-572-7650, www.keswicktheatre.com RRIICCEE: Vincent Gallo has won acclaim as an actor, writer and director of films like "Buffalo 66" and "The Brown Bunny." He's also had a musical career going on the side - with solo albums and as part of the no-wave musical group Gray (a collaboration with the late Jean-Michael Basquiat.) Now he's aiming to break on through to the other side with RRIICCEE, an experimental, spontaneous quartet collaboration co-fronted by Erick Erlandson, the former guitarist and founding member of Hole.
KCI airport closure stuns travelers
With Kansas City International Airport closed down in Sunday's bad weather and many people stuck there, John Heitshusen of Lawrence found that the most convenient chair around was a wheelchair in a baggage claim area. Heitshusen, delayed on a trip to a convention in Las Vegas, made some phone calls and watched the time during the five-hour, 40-minute closure, perhaps KCI's longest ever. The effects of the closure are still being felt today. .
Solar Variability Most Likely Not the Cause of Global Warming
Northern Hem doesn't have the H2O buffer to handle that, but different theories propose glaciers/Ice age vs real desertification/drought at lower latitudes. Name your poison. Les Burzycki.org - Tech and Interesting Facts Says: February 21st, 2008 at 5:33 pm […] Solar Variability Most Likely Not the Cause of Global Warming February 21st, 2008 | Category: Astronomy, Contributors The gradual increase in global temperatures is getting harder and harder to pin on the Sun and its energy output variability. The Sun has a variation in how much energy it outputs but this variability is only about one tenth of one percent. The pattern of atmospheric heating since the 1960s is showing an increase with the increase in human activity (industry, transportation, power generation) and neither are showing signs of slowing down… (more…) […] Forester Says: February 21st, 2008 at 5:41 pm I feel you may have inadvertantly misrepresented the case for Solar influence.
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