KT[0];

Nice, this just in on NPR, California has on its ballot a $45 billion proposal to build high-speed rail, or as I'd like to call it, 新幹線. Of course, who's getting in the way? Let's see:

• People who believe the Earth has an infinite supply of energy or that the Sun will be enough to provide their heavy cars the energy to move their fat lazy asses
  
• The airline industry
• The automobile industry
  
• Republicans who still don't understand macroeconomics or microeconomics*
  
• The ghost of Robert Moses

Now this is supposedly on vote in other states too, such as Ohio...but what makes this one more important is that it connects cities that matter. Sorry Cleveland, you guys don't really contribute to the economy as the globe thinks of it.

* This is a logical or. That means they could understand one but not the other, or neither. The latter is of course more likely. -- But, let's be fair. Trickle down exists as much as trickle up. It's called the banking system, and retail sales. Money doesn't flow in only of the two directions, it flows in both. Infrastructure building helps everyone, people, small businesses and the large ones.

http://gothamist.com/2008/10/24/subway_shooting_suspect_says_he_sho.php#comments

So, if you're from the New York area, you might have heard about a shooting at the 21st-Queensbridge station on the F in Queens. Now check out what the guy said, and I quote:

I should have kept shooting, but the other cop shot me and broke my leg.

What the fuck? Are you serious? Look, I know you guys, and some of my friends, are gung-ho for gun rights. And you know what? You guys are right. This is a damn good example of where a good samaritan could've just blasted that a-hole away. But remember, we need some mf'ing strict rules to make sure these d-bags don't get guns.

Offbeat "News" for October 23rd-24th, 2008

Five for today! Okay, really four...the fifth is a follow up for the 4th.

0. Damnit! So close to possibly closing one of the worst chapters in Knicks history. Maybe next time we'll be luckier... [gothamist]
1. Maplestory taken seriously. That's so freaking sad. [BBC]
2. Hm, I don't think I'd risk this with my laptop, unless that's one strong coathanger. Then again, he did bend it... [engadget]
3.0. USD, JPY. Tell me I didn't say 'I told you so'. Well, seeing as how this blog hasn't been around that long, I can't see how I could have. [nytimes]

Man I'm bored. So here I go. KT0 in the hizzouse.

Oh by the way, Movable Type...you guys rule, and you guys suck. Way to fail at releasing a stable version of your software, eh? Thanks for the perl errors. Open source quality control ftl.