LinkedIn Spam
Written by Nexcerpt on August 28th, 2012 in Patterns & News.
Tags: linkedin, spam, startup, startup weekend
I recently joined a LinkedIn group for Startup Weekend. I was astonished to see the posts dominated by spams and scams, so I posted a note to the Group Moderators: “Startup Weekend” is quickly being overtaken by (obviously) scam promotions, posted by (likely) bogus profiles.
Piano Quality
Written by Nexcerpt on September 27th, 2011 in Patterns & News.
Tags: engineering, music, piano, quality
The finest pianos in the world were built about a hundred years ago. Due to evolution in engineering, exhaustion of raw materials, and flagging business standards, we will never see their like again. Some people may build very good pianos; new forms of the instrument may exceed (in narrow ways) the magnificent machines built a few decades either side of the year 1900. But, from a musical perspective, there will never be a “better” piano than the typical concert grand of a century ago.
Passport to Lunacy
Written by Nexcerpt on April 28th, 2011 in Patterns & News.
Tags: passport citizen document conspiracy
[Sigh] OK, left-leaning conspiracy theorists — and you know you’re nearly as common as Birthers — I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but the State Department has not gone batshit insane, no matter how many mouths have already frothed over the notion.
Debra Romer Sings
Written by Nexcerpt on December 2nd, 2010 in Life & Lessons.
Tags: debra romer, kalamazoo, music
Debra Romer is herself a phenomenon — and she just created another. At five p.m. today (01 Dec 2010), she launched a Kickstarter pledge campaign to fund a new Debra Romer CD / EP. She asked pledges of $3,000, thinking she’d need sixty days to raise it. Instead, she had $8,000 in pledges by midnight… in less than seven hours.
Note: If you [Share] this on Facebook, but don’t see a thumbnail image, try sharing this short link instead: http://bit.ly/gTUr7Q That solved it for me! Some disagreement there between FB and WP; troubleshooting my WP plugins now 
More…
Snyder’s Oversight
Written by Nexcerpt on March 12th, 2011 in Patterns & News.
Tags: amendments, bankruptcy, community, economic, education, legislation, Michigan
We have yet to realize the worst effects of Michigan Governor Rick Snyder’s union-bashing, democracy slashing power grab for Emergency Financial Managers. This of course refers to the far-reaching “local government and school district fiscal accountability act,” Michigan House Bill 4214 of 2011 unified with Michigan Senate Bill 513 of 2011.
Writing for Fox News in Detroit, Charlie Duff (“no liberal by any stretch of the imagination, but also no conservative”) wrote:
In Michigan, the emergency manager will have total power of the purse: with absolute authority the emergency manager will be able to sell assets like the water department, undo union contracts, abrogate collective bargaining agreements without discussion including those of police and fire. More worrisome still, the emergency manager will be able to dissolve local governments.
You needn’t have progressive DNA to find the bill horrifying. Still, the worst may be what was nearly mistakenly (or truly intentionally) left out.
Harbor Shores
Written by Nexcerpt on April 20th, 2011 in Patterns & News.
Tags: development, golf, Michigan, wetland
Watching the Benton Harbor takeover escalate recently — in particular, the devious private agendas of Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, Michigan Representative Fred Upton, and their cronies — I was reminded of the relentless misrepresentations in early development proposals for the Jack Nicklaus “Signature” golf course at Harbor Shores.
Below are my comments on Harbor Shores’ first wetland permit request, as I submitted back in 2005. Unfortunately, all the worst has come to pass.
Dumb Critics
Written by Nexcerpt on January 22nd, 2012 in Life & Lessons.
Tags: critics, dumb, newsweek, obama
Right leaning bloggers are in a frantic huff over the Newsweek cover story for 23 Jan 2012, entitled “Why are Obama’s Critics So Dumb?”
Rather, most are in a huff over one word on the cover: “dumb.” That’s dumb.
And, they’re wailing about it across social media — an “Occupy Dumbness” movement — thus increasing sales and traffic for Newsweek, which they claim to hate with a vengeance. That’s incredibly dumb.
It’s even more dumb than it sounds — because most of them obviously didn’t read the article.
Hot Weather?
Written by Nexcerpt on March 27th, 2012 in Wildlife & Wetland.
Tags: climate, forecast, temperature, weather
This is no longer about “weather.” Pretending this is merely “weather” is dangerously stupid.
Here in Southwest Michigan, I watched the “weather” forecasts for 21 March 2012 (according to the Android App “News and Weather”) for the week leading up to 21 March. This is how the high temperature forecast progressed:
Legal Ruling
Written by Nexcerpt on July 24th, 2012 in Life & Lessons, Patterns & News.
Tags: antwerp township, cirino, ruzick
Antwerp Township Supervisor Dan Ruzick has been cleared by Van Buren County Prosecutor Juris Kaps, of all allegations made against him by Harold Cirino, former Township Building Inspector.
Conard Line
Written by Nexcerpt on May 6th, 2012 in Patterns & News.
Tags: conard, economy, romney, wealth
In this month’s New York Times Magazine, Adam Davidson does a heroic job of hiding his contempt for Edward Conard. For this, Davidson deserves considerable praise: Conard seems a truly contemptible character.
At the moment, Conard is pushing a new book, based on the startlingly tone-deaf premise that super-wealthy people make life better for the rest of us — that having billionaires (about 400 in the US today) tends to keep life nice for the little people.
Unfortunately for Conard, the conclusion he perversely chooses to believe contradicts best practices of wealth management. More on that after some orientation to Conard’s ultra-privileged world.
