A quiet evening at home

I was tired today, so was glad that the end of the workday finally arrived. I bought some more supplies at Target on my way home. I'm glad that I don't have to bother with work tomorrow - perhaps I can sleep in until like 7:30 or so (not if Adira has anything to say about it).

Feel sorry for my friend in San Diego. He was supposed to be home hours ago, but no word yet. Since there's no news of a plane disaster today, I'm just assuming he got held up somewhere. Makes for a long day, and makes me grateful I'm not a frequent flier.

*waaaaa*

Damn CCIT policy. They're going to discontinue being e-mail servers. So I'm going to have to get a new primary address *sigh*

Outbreak! (not in New Orleans)

Here's a summary of the latest disease outbreaks:

Staph bug causes toxic shock syndrome kills three children in Chicago

Yellow Fever in Burkina Faso

Human bird flu in Indonesia

The human bird flu is disturbing, but so far doesn't seem to be easily spread person to person (yet). So if I was a more pessismistic person, I'd say the end of the world is beginning. It would seem that something nasty will get us if it isn't the bird flu.

A Friday on a Thursday

Got some great news this week - Mr. San Diego will actually be back in San Diego this afternoon (originally was supposed to be in Seattle until Monday). So he invited me to come out and visit, and I accepted. So I'll be heading up tomorrow AM.

And we still have plans to meet at his west Phoenix home the weekend after that to work on the damage done to his house by renters. After all, he's been in Seattle since we saw each other three weeks ago. We were pretty good and only raked up about 75 minutes of cell phone calls, and sent a lot of e-mails.

Falling behind???

I came across this image from a publication from MIT (.pdf file) It's fairly interesting how the country's policy on stem cells is in part related to its geographic location.

Countries (white) with no policy or stem cell research is prohibited (red) are mostly eastern european (except Russia). The yellow countries are like the United States policy of "no new stem cell lines are allowed". Most of the countries (purple) are one step above the United States in that stem cell work is allowed, but prohibits nuclear transfer. Only three countries (dark green) allows for nuclear transfer and in vitro work with the transfered cells.

I think that the policy of prohibiting nuclear transfer would be an acceptable compromise for stem cell work. It's what most of our european counterparts allow, and would ban human cloning. I can only hope that most people understand the concept that fertlized eggs is NOT human life, and with a majority of the eggs (technially blastocyst) are disposed of. One can only hope it's a matter of time....

Yet, it's slightly comforting to know that most europeans do not approve of nuclear transfers. While I'm in favor of nuclear transfer on the principle that even a nuclear transfer has a very remote chance of becoming a human clone (consider teleomeres), I know it'll be more popular in europe before it'll be considered in this country.

The Donald takes on Phoenix (and wins)

For everyone else outside Arizona, Donald Trump has had his eye on various development projects in the Phoenix metro area. He was outbid on a development project by the Tempe town lake. So he looked to the Biltmore area. He had planned on a 150 foot tower with condos in the ritzy Biltmore Fashion Park area. Here's the results of the city council vote:

Saying they had the city's overall economic interests in mind, Phoenix leaders sided with high-profile developers who want to build high-rises in the posh Camelback Corridor despite intense protest from nearby neighborhoods.

After a three-hour meeting Wednesday that included testimony for and against the towers, the city council did little more than chop a few a feet off a proposal by Donald Trump and development partner Bayrock Group to build a 140-foot $200 million condominium-hotel near the 24th Street and Camelback Road intersection. The developer was asking for 150 feet.

The 5-4 vote also granted zoning changes to allow mall developer Westcor to put 140-foot towers at Biltmore Fashion Park.

"If we don't start looking at the big picture and taking advantage of the developers . . . we'll find ourselves in a situation where retail is moving out, our residents are following that retail out and we're facing more sprawl," Councilman Claude Mattox said.

Added Councilwoman Peggy Bilsten: "We continue to cut police, fire and library services . . . we have to do something to encourage our city to grow, to have good development."

The decision angered many in the crowd who packed council chambers. City officials had to set up TV screens and chairs outside City Hall and in the basement to accommodate the hundreds of people who showed up.

Despite the divisive vote, it likely won't be the end of the protracted two-year battle, which has pit developers against residents and neighbor against neighbor. Resident groups say they will consider other options, such as forcing a public vote on the issue. It would take nearly 10,000 signatures to get the matter on a ballot, which could be as soon as March 14 when the city plans to ask voters to approve $850 million in bonds for citywide capital improvements. They would have 30 days to collect enough signatures.

Councilman Greg Stanton, who represents the area and voted against the zoning change, said the vote set a bad precedent. Mayor Phil Gordon, Vice Mayor Mike Johnson and Councilman Tom Simplot also voted against the change.

"The corridor is a special place to the city of Phoenix," he said. "It's unique because there's a delicate balance between retail, restaurants, office and residential."

Wednesday's vote will upset that balance, he said, adding that he fears the "high-rise creep" will spread to other areas.

Many area residents oppose the projects, saying they will bring more traffic, mar mountain views in their upscale neighborhoods and tax the area's already overburdened water system.

Other residents and developers from across the city spoke in favor of the projects because of the economic benefits they would bring.

Jason Morris, a Phoenix zoning attorney for Trump/Bayrock, called the vote, which came after 10 p.m., a victory.

"Five years from now, we'll be reaping the economic benefits and we'll see the vitality of the urban core and the truth that Phoenix can build up and not just out," Morris said.

Dana Johnson, a member of the Central City Village Planning Committee, said the council essentially disregarded all the work done by the Camelback East Village Planning Committee.

"Show us the respect that we deserve," he said angrily as he held up planning documents related to his village. "Show us that these documents are worth the paper they are printed on."

Throughout the day Wednesday, both sides worked to hammer out a last-minute compromise, reportedly at the urging of city officials.

Residents said negotiations failed after Trump and Bayrock refused to accept the neighborhoods' proposal for an 86-foot limit on their project. The attempted compromise also reportedly included a complex set of rules for planning in the area.

Morris said that they couldn't live with those restrictions.

"At the end of the day, we couldn't agree to their design," he said.

Alex Tauber, another Camelback resident, presented the council with more than 1,500 signatures opposing the projects Wednesday. His voice cracking at times, he told officials that their vote would not be about city procedures or planning.

"This is about good versus bad," he said, adding that the neighborhoods waged an honest, grass-roots campaign, alluding to allegations that Trump-paid petition circulators misrepresented their cause when gathering 10,000 signatures also presented to council. The Trump camp denied that charge.

After the vote, Tauber's wife, Suzette Tauber, said: "They didn't listen to the community and that's a shame. They listened to money, and the developers won out over the voices of the community."

Morris said his group did its best to work with neighborhoods, noting that some residents support their plans.

He said the site they want to build on is under-utilized and practically vacant. "It represents a black hole in the center of the city's urban core."

The Trump project would be the area's "flagship," he said.

With their decision Wednesday, city leaders reconciled conflicting recommendations from the city's Planning Commission and the Camelback East Village Planning Committee. The commission voted in favor of developers last week. The village committee, tasked with updating the area's growth plan, essentially sided with residents and decided to maintain the 56-foot limit in that area while granting more height farther west along Camelback, closer to Arizona 51.

Westcor was essentially caught in the middle of the fight.

Dave Scholl, Westcor's development chief, said they could have asked to pack the mall site with buildings right up against Camelback Road. Instead, they proposed tearing down buildings on the east and west ends of Biltmore Fashion Park and replacing them with 165-foot condominium towers that would have retail on the ground floor.

The City Council gave them 140 feet Wednesday but said they could ask for up to 165 feet later.

"I'm sad about what happened tonight. I'm scared I'm going to get pushed out of my home," said Camelback resident Fran Baumgartner. "But everyone was treated so much better than at the Planning Commission last week."

This has been contentious for a while now. My dad's parents used to live in the area, and all the homes are single story. Therefore, these big towers will crowd out the older homes and the simple quiet lives these people live.

Perhaps this isn't too far from the truth.

Warning to the privacy minded consumer

Okay, over a year ago (probably around 15 months ago), I signed up for an Albertson's shopper card. At the time, that was the closest store to me, and I resisted for as long as I could. But it was inevitable that I had to get one if I wanted to save some money.

First of all, I'm kicking myself for using my primary e-mail address. I must have done so in a brain dead moment because I have two other addresses that I use for such purposes (one work related, the other non-work related).

Then about three months ago, I'd get an e-mail once every 7-14 days with a reminder "Football season is starting - get your tailgating supplies here" or such crap. Most of that crap, I can't even touch with my celiac, so I don't care to know that I can get Wheat Thins on sale. I'd scroll down to the bottom of the e-mail to find the "Unsubscribe" link. I'd update my preferences to not receive e-mails. I'd then get a page that said "Your preferences have been updated."

I didn't think anything the first time I did this. The second time I did this, I made a mental note. Then low and behold, I got another e-mail from Albertons this AM. Fortunately (for them), below the unsubscribe link was a contact number. Within about five minutes, I talked to a live person and told him to make sure they stop sending e-mails to this address, or it's going to go to a higher authority because I have zero tolerance for "harrassing" e-mails.

There, I now have a record of this in case next week I get a reminder that the perfect munchies for fall sweeps is now on sale at Albertsons.

You've now been warned - don't give up your e-mail address to Albertsons or related stores because it's a bitch to get the e-mails to stop.

It was only a matter of time....

I used to go to Vegas quite often (back in the good old days where you could get an internet airline special on Southwest for $33-39 each way). I haven't been since the weekend after 9/11.

Since we flew most of the time, if there wasn't free transportation, or it was within walking distance, we hoofed it. We made frequent trips on foot between the Aladdin and the MGM as well as the area between the Venetian and Mirage, and other such areas. And yes, I noticed on several occasions, how close we were in walking to the main strip.

So I wasn't too terribly surprised when I read about this accident involving a car running up a curb and mowing down pedestrians. I guess I'm surprised that it took this long for it to happen. The last line of the article is what gets me:

"The speed on this road is just too fast," said Farmer, a police officer in Canton, Georgia.

Even the weekend after 9/11, there was so much traffic on the strip that it's impossible to go very fast. I remember at the worst of it, it could take up to an hour to go from the MGM Grand to Freemont Street.

It's high time the city of Las Vegas invests in some sort of barrier to protect the millions of pedestrians that walk their streets every year.

(Too bad they can't do anything about the dumbass pedestrians that cross streetlight intersections when they don't have the right of way.)