MY BLOOD MERCURY LEVEL???
"Albacore tuna, according to recent testing by the FDA, contains 3 times as much mercury as does chunk light. You should avoid albacore tuna if you wish to keep your blood mercury level low. There are exceptions, however. Some companies sell albacore that is troll-caught. These fish are younger and therefore contain lower levels of mercury. According to a recent study from Oregon State University, troll-caught albacore mercury levels are similar to chunk light levels (on average 0.14 parts per million as compared with 0.358 parts per million for older longline-caught albacore). Data for troll-caught fish in the mercury calculator is from the OSU study. Cans of chunk light tuna typically contain skipjack tuna which is a smaller species of fish and therefore contains lower mercury levels (on average. 0.123 parts per million). You can compare the mercury levels between the two in the mercury calculator above."
via Calorie Restriction Society newsletter
Related waves
[Pure Land Mountain]
Monday, February 28, 2005
Staying dolphin free is not enough...
When you buy your tuna now, you need to know how it was caught?
Speaking of Social Security...
Funny how TIME magazine picks up a story that the Republic (and all other local media, save for ASU's State Press) did not:
At a town-hall gathering at the Madison #1 Middle School in Phoenix, Ariz., G.O.P. lawmaker John Shadegg faced a crowd of 280 people, 30% of whom by his estimate were there to voice angry opposition to tinkering with Social Security. "They rushed to the microphones," says Shadegg.We knew about the town hall before it took place because Mr. L, my co-conspirator, subscribes to Republican email blasts. You didn't know about it beforehand because Shadegg's people didn't tell the media. Read between the lines -- they wanted supporters there, not doubters.
Still, the doubters came. Nice work.
[Arizona Congress Watch]
Thought I should pass this along...
Sign up to attend a large rally for Social Security at the Phoenix Civic Plaza at 10 AM on Saturday, March 5. Congressman Grijalva is organizing buses from Tucon to this event. Organizers are trying to arrange a bus to the event. Congressman Grijalva will [Blog For Arizona]
This is a warning to all you women that expect to out live your husbands...
You still have a margin of 5 years, but it's shrinking...
AP - Declines in death rates from most major causes — including heart disease and cancer — have pushed Americans' life expectancy to a record 77.6 years. Women are still living longer than men, but the gap is narrowing. [Yahoo! News: Most Viewed]
A virdict for freedom?
I think so. No matter your view if you are an American you should stand up and cheer this decision that says that as a citizen you must be given certain rights and due process.
You, as a citizen, cannot be held for an indeterminate amount of time with out being charged with a crime. Now I hope the administration will do the right thing and charge this man with a crime (or let him go if they don't have the evidence).
You, as a citizen, cannot be held for an indeterminate amount of time with out being charged with a crime. Now I hope the administration will do the right thing and charge this man with a crime (or let him go if they don't have the evidence).
AP - A federal judge ordered the Bush administration Monday to either charge terrorism suspect Jose Padilla with a crime or release him after more than 2 1/2 years in custody. [Yahoo! News: Most Viewed]
Now we can get an insurance card that really does something!
AFP - A Japanese firm has developed a plastic chip half the size of a business card which it said could detect a number of diseases, including cancer, within 30 minutes. [Yahoo! News: Reader Ratings]
I've always suspected...
That those at the top didn't really know what they were dealing with or how it worked. Now we have proof that CEO's are over paid!
The former WorldCom chief executive said that he knew little about the technology that WorldCom sold and even less about the company's accounting. [NYT > Home Page]
Someone plug the gravity leak!
Perhaps this wasn't really discovered?
SPACE.com - WASHINGTON, D.C. - Scientists may not have to go over to the dark side to explain the fate of the universe. [Yahoo! News: Most Emailed]
Rabbit, another "White Meat?"
AP - Rabbit farms are multiplying rapidly across the South, but their products aren't necessarily destined to be sold as Easter bunnies. [Yahoo! News: Most Emailed]
Jef Raskin, Macintosh Creator, Dies at 61
Thought I should mention this...
Jef Raskin, the lead designer of the first Macintosh computer and a pioneer in the development of user interfaces, died Saturday at age 61. He had been diagnosed recently with pancreatic cancer, his family says in a statement.
Raskin joined Apple Computer in 1978 as employee number 31 and headed the company's Macintosh development team from its founding in 1982. He named the project after his favorite type of apple, changing the spelling for copyright reasons.
He is credited with significantly advancing the design of user interfaces, which in the early 1980s were largely text-based and required users to memorize complex commands. Raskin convinced his peers at Apple that to reach a wider audience, the Macintosh needed an interface that was elegant and easy to use.
"Up to that time, at Apple and most other manufacturers, the concept was to provide the latest and most powerful hardware, and let the users and third-party software vendors figure out how to make it usable," he wrote later on his Web site.
Raskin left Apple in 1982, two years before the Macintosh went on sale, but he continued to influence the design of computers through his writing, lectures,and consulting work. Soon after leaving the company he founded Information Appliance, where he designed the Canon Cat computer for Canon USA, although the product was not a commercial success.
His consulting clients have included Intel, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, and many other big names in computing. In 2000 he published a book, "The Humane Interface," that is widely assigned at universities.
Recent Projects
Raskin was currently at work on a project called Archy, where he hoped to put many of the ideas expressed in his book into software. Archy uses simple commands for common operations in word processing and e-mail, but "doesn't work like anything else on this or nearby planets," meaning users wouldhave to learn it from scratch, he wrote on his Web site.
His son, Aza Raskin, will continue to develop the project, a preview version of which is due out later this year, his family says in the statement.
Raskin's interests were not restricted to computers: He taught the recorder, harpsichord, and music theory at San Francisco Community College in the 1970s, and his family described him as an orchestral soloist and composer. He also founded a company that designed and sold radio-controlled model aircraft.
Along with Aza, he is survived by his wife, Linda Blum, and his other children, Aviva and Aenea. Raskin lived most recently in Pacifica, California.
More information about Jef Raskin is available at his Web site, www.jefraskin.com.
More information about Archy is at www.raskincenter.org.
[Yahoo! News: Most Viewed]
Is anyone else having flashbacks to the end of the cold war?
Lebanon's prime minister says he and his government are quitting amid pressure from opposition and protesters. [BBC News | World | UK Edition]
HEH
Microsoft's Bill Gates criticized the American school system on Saturday, saying that they do a poor job of educating students. Gates added that one of the major problems with today's high schools is that the technology they use is obsolete. Hmm... could that possibly be because operating systems and applications like Microsoft Office are so goddamn expensive? Source
[Regurgitated News]
I don't know if I agree, but I've never heard this said before...
This is your must-read blog post, over at An Old Soul:Read this entire speech, given back in 1997 by David Stratman, and then you can decide whether to be blown away or hide your head in the sand.It has the ring of truth, doesn't it? [The Sideshow]Stratman dared to pull all the pieces together about what's going on in public education policy almost 8 years ago. I think the whole picture he paints makes complete sense as we see that some of the strongest cheerleading and unconditional love for NCLB comes from the corporate Dems, the DLC.
The reason that public education is under attack is this: our young people have more talent and intelligence and ability than the corporate system can ever use, and higher dreams and aspirations than it can ever fulfill. To force young people to accept less fulfilling lives in a more unequal, less democratic society, the expectations and self-confidence of millions of them must be crushed. Their expectations must be downsized and their sense of themselves restructured to fit into the new corporate order, in which a relative few reap the rewards of corporate success-defined in terms of huge salaries and incredible stock options-and the many lead diminished lives of poverty and insecurity.I think this goes back to what BushCo said in a debate once, another era ago: NCLB is a jobs program to better prepare workers for the 21st century jobs. Yes, I see, I see.If my analysis is correct, it means that you - public educators, every person in this room, and all the staff and colleagues you have worked with these many years - you are under attack not because you have failed - which is what the media and the politicians like to tell you. You are under attack because you have succeeded-in raising expectations which the corporate system cannot fulfill.
[...]
There is a world of difference between raising our "expectations" for students and raising "standards." Raising our expectations means raising our belief in students' ability to succeed and insuring that all the resources are there to see that they do. Raising standards means erecting new hoops for them to jump through.
[...]It's to better prepare us to work at all those slave drudgery jobs, so that we the sheeple will unquestioningly live our lives of insecurity and poverty for generations to come.
If you haven't seen this yet, check it out... LOL
Health Care Guidelines for Michael Jackson: "Health Care Guidelines for Michael Jackson
After Michael Jackson halted jury selection for his child molestation trial to be treated for the flu, a hospital memo was discovered detailing the guidelines for his care."
Bblog has a nice piece on historic Phoenix canals...
This just makes me want to learn more!
Saturday I went to take a tour of the Park of Four Waters at the Pueblo Grande Museum. The site, located perhaps a half mile south of the museum, isn't open to the public except for one guided tour on the last Saturday of the month when it's cool. I've wanted to attend one of these tours for the last several months but something always came up. I'm glad that I finally went because it was quite a memorable experience.
I'm kind of a nerd when it comes to history: I can get really excited about very mundane things. For example, I've spent twenty minutes looking at and contemplating head of the Old Crosscut Canal that joins the Grand and Arizona Canals. I studied it from a variety of angles, took in the adjoining land, and imagined the people designing, building, and maintaining it. I then spent several hours researching this one particular canal. Water is such a vital part of Phoenix history that I bristle when people act like it's unlimited or can't appreciate the struggle that the early settlers went through to make the desert hospitable.
The Park of Four Waters is a small section of land where two ancient Hohokam canals are preserved. The Hohokam dug approximately 500 miles of canals. Their extensive canal system inspired Phoenix founder Jack Swilling to start his own canal project to irrigate the Salt River Valley. The canal he dug with his employees—known as the Swilling Ditch or the Town Ditch after he left Phoenix—is located not far from this place underneath one of Sky Harbor's runways. This, and the fact that many of Phoenix's early canals were made from widening and deepening Hohokam ones, is a testament to the sagacity of that ancient people.
The two canals we saw were actually considered two channels of a single canal. One channel was cut like a V so that water would flow faster and farther; the other was cut like a semicircle, which kept the water moving rather slowly so that it wouldn't decimate lateral canals. One wouldn't be faulted for missing the significance of these two ditches since they looked like rolling hills. The fact that they have lasted for at least 600 years in much the same condition was awesome.
Near these two Hohokam canals was a modern canal of uncertain origin that looked to join the Grand at the point of the Old Crosscut. It was fairly wide and deep but entirely made out of concrete. It followed the same line as the Old Crosscut would have if you continued it down to the Salt River bank, but the Old Crosscut would never have followed that route since it strictly joined two canals. That's why I'm not sure of when it was made, what it was called, or even who built it.
Its origin is suspect because it was likely built by the Salt River Project though it would have gone right through the Tovrea stockyards and could have been a private canal. This, of course, merits further research. I will also post a gallery of the hundred or so pictures I took since the Web is a veritable desert when it comes to the Park of Four Waters.
[bblog]
Corperate blackmail!
Semiconductor kingpin Intel Corp. is sending a not-so-subtle ultimatum to state lawmakers: Give the company a tax break or risk losing out on the chance for a $4 billion production expansion at its Chandler campus.I think more than a chance would be necessary before any consideration should be made.
Intel, other technology advocates and the Greater Phoenix Economic Council are pushing hard for a change to the state's tax code that would result in a $100 million break for large manufacturers.What does the state get out of this deal?
The Silicon Valley-based chip-maker, as well as defense and electronics firms, would benefit from the so-called "sales factor." That tax cut would benefit large manufacturers by allowing them to calculate their corporate income taxes based on in-state sales instead of the current, more expensive formula that also takes into account property and payrolls.
Intel is considering its Chandler semiconductor plant for a $2 billion to $4 billion expansion that could result in 500 new high-tech jobs. The lure of that expansion is being dangled in front of state lawmakers who have failed to pass sales factor proposals in recent years.According to this, the state gets nothing.
Critics argue that the sales factor is corporate welfare that does not offer the economic development or job stimulus promised by supporters.
They point to sales factor states such as Illinois, Missouri, Massachusetts and Iowa, which have lost manufacturing jobs in recent years to offshoring and corporate consolidations despite having the business tax benefit.
Elizabeth Hudgins, vice president of the Children's Action Alliance, said the sales factor's $100 million price tag would jeopardize spending on key programs related to health care and child abuse prevention.It looks like this is part of a larger agenda and not related to the decision to expand here.
"It's very expensive, and this is a state with a plethora of neglected priorities." Hudgins said.
Michael Mazerov, an economist and tax expert with the Washington, D.C.-based Center on Budget & Policy Priorities, contends the sales factor is not a big determinant in company site selection and has not resulted in manufacturing or high-tech jobs gains in the states where it has been enacted.
Mazerov said state and local taxes make up only about 2 percent of corporate expenses and income levies only 10 percent of that total. [Arizona - BizJournal]
I don't understand this...
They started building this freeway over 20 years ago, shouldn't they have gotten permission then?
Gila River Indian Community members may vote as early as spring on whether they would allow the South Mountain Freeway (Loop 202) to be built there. [azcentral.com | news]
Winslow wins 7th state title under Don Petranovich in 12 tries since 1977
Winslow High School has won a second 3A state title in a row. Coach Don Petranovich has won his 7th in 12 tries since he began coaching at Winslow in 1977 (he didn't coach the entire 1986 season for health reasons).
Among Petranovich's impressive accomplishments are having participated in the most well attended games in Arizona history. The largest crowd was an impressive 16,010 at America West Arena for the 2000 semifinal against Monument Valley which also happens to be tied with the best attended Boys Basket ball games of all time the 1996 5A and 2000 3A Championships. The championship brings Petranovich's career to 648 wins with 133 losses.
Winslow game plan turns Seton inside-outThe size of the victory is a testament to the level of competition in the northern conferences and what a team effort can do when playing against "...the greatest player that ever played in Arizona history," (Seton coach Karen Self referring to Christina Wirth).
The Winslow girls basketball team repeated as Class 3A state champion with little trouble Saturday night thanks to a two-pronged strategy that it executed nearly to perfection.
Winslow beat Chandler Seton Catholic 61-35 at Glendale Arena.
Among Petranovich's impressive accomplishments are having participated in the most well attended games in Arizona history. The largest crowd was an impressive 16,010 at America West Arena for the 2000 semifinal against Monument Valley which also happens to be tied with the best attended Boys Basket ball games of all time the 1996 5A and 2000 3A Championships. The championship brings Petranovich's career to 648 wins with 133 losses.
Another good Idea!
When I saw the headline for this article, I was ready to be upset and go into a rant. "This was never listed as a possibility on the literature for the transportation bill we voted on las fall. If it had been I would not have voted for it."
Turns out that that is not what this is. This is the passing of savings from a simplification of administration to the public. My favorite part of this is the change from $1.25 to $1 for the bus fare. In a place where no change is made it's a good idea to keep the fare from requiring change!
There is more to this but, you'll have to read the article.
Turns out that that is not what this is. This is the passing of savings from a simplification of administration to the public. My favorite part of this is the change from $1.25 to $1 for the bus fare. In a place where no change is made it's a good idea to keep the fare from requiring change!
There is more to this but, you'll have to read the article.
Valley Metro may cut bus fares
Prices on everything from food to fuel seem to go in only one direction: up. [azcentral.com | news]
Sunday, February 27, 2005
Has it been 10 years?
I went online with Netscape 1.0 in the fall of 1994 on a p486-50 machine with a 350 Megabyte hard drive, 16 Megs of memory, and a 16.6 modem. I had a 17 inch monitor that was the envy of everyone in the dorms! I started using Yahoo in 2005 and I still remember the Snowball Cam, the Coffee Pot Cam and U-Roulette...
AP - Co-founders Jerry Yang and David Filo parlayed Yahoo Inc. from a college hobby into a full-time job 10 years ago, but the Internet icon was never quite comfortable with the happy-go-lucky mood of the dot-com boom. [Yahoo! News: Reader Ratings]Times have changed, but the net is slower than ever! I want my gopher server back!
Arizona is not one of them...
Arizona has decided to go the other direction and has started by trying to remove passing the AIMS test from the graduation requirement.
AP - A coalition of states confirmed plans Sunday to require tougher high school courses and diploma requirements, changes that could affect one in three students. [Yahoo! News: Most Viewed]
I was going to write about this but it's just too confusing...
Tracking what happened to $175,000 contributed by two Indian tribes to a political group called CREA leads from a disgraced lobbyist to an elusive environmental organization spawned by Gale Norton before she became Secretary of the Interior. [azcentral.com | news]
Lisa at the London Fog took a post I did yesterday and ran with it...
It's worth the time to read so read the original here and then go check it out...
Pssssst - I will give you a $100 for a gram of salt!A consumer group sued the federal government on Thursday, saying that salt is killing tens of thousands of Americans and that regulators have done too little to control salt in food....
Hat tip: AZ Perspective and Junk. [The London Fog]
Saturday, February 26, 2005
The Gates, first hand accounts from Citygurl [HAVE YOU SEEN MY SHOE?] and Jon Mandle [Crooked Timber]
Additional Photo's from Citygurl:
Let's talk about The Gates. I was reserving judgment until I actually saw them myself, and I know it's ridiculous that it took me two weeks to actually go see them, particularly because I live two blocks away from central park. So today, my first free day in a long long time, I decided that the only things on my list of 'things to do' would be to go see The Gates.
And of course take some photos.
Some background for you art enthusiasts (I stole this from here):
Christo and Jeanne-Claude developed the concept for The Gates in 1979. On January 22, 2003, the City granted permission to the artists to realize their vision. They paid for the whole thing themselves.
There are 7,500 gates, 16 feet high with a width varying from 5 feet 6 inches to 18 feet will line 23 miles of footpaths in the park.
The free-hanging, saffron-colored fabric panels will be suspended from the top of each gate and hang down to 7 feet above the ground.
The Gates will create a visual golden river appearing and disappearing through the bare branches of the trees, highlighting the shapes of the footpaths.
The luminous moving fabric will underline the organic and serpentine design of the walkways, while the rectangular poles will be a reminder of the grid pattern of the City blocks around the park.
Now, there was a lot of hype about this and I was skeptical, but I had to see for myself…I was not disappointed, it's really damn cool. I know the park like the back of my hand and walking through it today was a completely new experience.
Here is a link to their other work:, they really have done some enormous astounding things. I am their newest and biggest fan. I only wish I got to see The Umbrellas in person.
Here is a link to my photos (these and a few more) below; these aren't the best photos out there of The Gates by any stretch of the imagination, but if you want 'em, go for it.
my photos. [HAVE YOU SEEN MY SHOE?]
gates 4
gates 5
gates 6
reservoir
Additional thumbs up from Jon at Crooked Timber (excerpt, click the link at the end to see his pictures and read the rest):
Count me as a moderate supporter. It’s hard to talk about The Gates – the Christo and Jeanne-Claude installation in Central Park – without sounding pretentious. Like this: “Our memories of this experience are how the artwork changes us — perhaps the most powerful force of art, that the changes made are not in the site, but in us.” I can’t really say that I’m so different than I was a week ago. Sure, I guess they made me think, but that’s something I try to do anyway.... [Crooked Timber]
Expect another "Mexico is safe for tourists" article in the coming week...
Reuters - The burned body of an unidentified person showing signs of torture was found in Cancun, the latest in a series of gruesome murders that have plagued the popular Mexican holiday resort in recent months. [Yahoo! News: Most Viewed]
Murder soap opera surrounding Tucson's Dr. Stidham continues
The defense attorney for Bradley Schwartz, the doctor accused of hiring a hit man to kill his former medical partner, is indicating he may ask a judge to throw out the indictment against Schwartz.My Last Related Post:
A motion filed in Pima County Superior Court this week suggests that attorney-client privilege should have protected Schwartz from being incriminated by statements of a former girlfriend.[Tucson Region]
The murder investigation saga of Dr. Stidham continues: 4 more county lawyers leaving
Related Articles:
3 prosecutors' hearings public
Fired officer withheld, leaked info, reports say
Dispatcher accused Hunt of harassment
Pinal to prosecute Schwartz, Bigger
Suspect in murder had been potential witness for county
Stidham case leads city move to fire cop
Hit-man tip came through cop
Suspended aide at odds with LaWall
Something to think about
From KVOA in Tucson:
Easter is America's second-largest candy selling holiday, but, before you bite the ear off your bunny, Southern Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva, a Democrat, says consider, "The labor that produces this is child labor and, many times, exploited child labor."Chocolate comes from cocoa and 70% of cocoa comes from West Africa, which critics say uses young slave labor to harvest it.
Grijalva says, "I think it is atrocious."
He won't be buying chocolate this Easter.
Suddenly, I have an image of Rush Limbaugh starting an obnoxious "eat a candybar to upset a candyass" campaign. But I'm glad Grijalva is using his position to raise awareness. Child exploitation is a huge problem that is overlooked and underreported.
[Arizona Congress Watch]
Keys and cherry trees is a good read
Enjoy!
Keys and cherry trees
Maybe it's our cynical age. Maybe I'm just getting cranky, or at least crankier. But I find myself less and less sure of things as I get older. More suspicious of those who are sure, who claim some special pipeline to God. And a lot less surprised when something I've known and taken for granted forever turns out not to be true.... [Disorderly Content]
Why not start a Meme
Follow the instructions below and record what you find in the comment section.
The Golden Sayings of Epictetus from Volume 2 of the Harvard Classics
"Short indeed is the time of your habitation therein, and easy to those that are thus minded."
I'll start it off (I can't believe this is the closest book, I need to clean off my desk!).1.Grab the nearest book.[LIFE... or something like it]
2.Open the book to page 123.
3.Find the fifth sentence.
4.Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
5.Don't search around and look for the "coolest" book you can find. Do what's actually next to you.
From Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Needlework:
"A second color can be easily introduced into either pattern by alternating the color of yarn used for the rows."
via Blog d'Elisson via Goose
The Golden Sayings of Epictetus from Volume 2 of the Harvard Classics
"Short indeed is the time of your habitation therein, and easy to those that are thus minded."
LOL
I found this at cbeck's and had to share it. Sorry, but I thought anything this funny was too good to leave on just one site.Oil Change instructions for Women:
1) Pull up to Jiffy Lube when the mileage reaches 3000 miles since the last oil change.2) Drink a cup of coffee.
3) 15 minutes later, write a cheque and leave with a properly maintained vehicle.
Money spent: Oil Change -$20.00, Coffee -$1.00, Total - $21.00.
Oil Change instructions for Men:
1) Wait until Saturday, drive to auto parts store and buy a case of oil, filter, kitty litter, hand cleaner and a scented tree, write a cheque for $50.00.2) Stop by 7 - 11 and buy a case of beer, write a cheque for $20.00, drive home.
[it just get's funnier from here]...
[Wasted Days, Wasted Nites]
I'll have to check this out...
I've been a fan of Steve Earle since I played his music on a little AM country station in my High School days. If you're not familiar with him, its not surprising. He has been on the edge of stardom for decades but because of drugs and other problems he never quite made it all the way. He's played with the likes of Guy Clark, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Townes Van Zandt. If you have heard of him it's problably because of the song Copperhead Road.
I didn't know Steve Earle's younger sister was a recording artist.
Check out Stacey Earle at eMusic:
I like!
And here's her Web site.
[J-Walk Blog]
Anil has run with a post I did yesterday that's worth a read
Democracy and ending poverty The NYT has an editorial on the United Nations proposal to halve poverty by 2015:The strongest, and probably most legitimate, critique of approaches that flood poor countries with money is that many of these poor countries are run by corrupt governments that will stash most of the donor money in private Swiss bank accounts. That has certainly proved true in the past, particularly in Africa, where the poor have stayed poor while a succession of despots have run country after country into the ground. But it is counterproductive to make poor people suffer because they have bad governments.
R.J. Rummel makes a fine point on his blog about how democracy can help tackle these issues:There are tons of websites devoted to famine, hunger, and trying to help the starving around the world. Yet, not one of these good people devoted to this great cause realize that there is a solution to famine at hand, which is practical and much desired in itself. What is this miracle? Democracy. No democracy has ever had a famine.
Why are democracies immune to this greatest of all disasters. Three fundamental reasons. One is that democracies have a free or semi-free agricultural market that usually produces more than enough food and is resilient in the face of local shortages. Two is that democracies have a free press that almost immediately communicates nationally, and especially to elected legislators and administration leaders, dangerous agricultural conditions in one part of the country or another. And three is that these politicians better do something about it, since their political future depends on the rapidity and success of their response.
[via azpnj > dean's world]
Tags: poverty, united nations, democracy, politics [Anil's Doublespeak]
Polydeuces?
A new moon discovered around Saturn has been given a provisional name by the team that discovered it: Polydeuces. [BBC News | Science/Nature | World Edition]
This reminds me of another story
The Old Man and the Sea
AP - Unlike many fishermen, Harald Skoge didn't have to exaggerate the size of his latest catch. The 321-pound halibut was too big for his nearly 29-foot boat. [Yahoo! News: Most Emailed]
Marth Stewart may have some company... ChoicePoint Executives!
AP - ChoicePoint Inc.'s top two executives made a combined $16.6 million in profit from selling company shares in the months after the data warehouser learned that people's personal information may have been compromised and before the breach was made public, regulatory filings show. [Yahoo! News: Reader Ratings]
Today marks an interesting bit of history for the Yavapai and Apache Indians in the Verde Valley
Feb. 26 will mark the 130th anniversary of what would best be described as the low point in Anglo-Indian relations in the Verde Valley.
It was on that date in 1875 that 15 troops from Fort Verde, under the direction of Indian Commissioner L.E. Dudley and led by Gen. George Crook’s chief of scouts, Al Sieber, began relocating the Yavapai and Apache Indians from their reservation in the Verde Valley. [VERDE VALLEY NEWS]
It happened quietly...
Unless you've been living under a rock, you'll recall Phoenix recently had a problem with water. I've blogged on this extensively. The latest chapter in the saga is that the former Water Director has been fired.
Previous Posts:
What the f#@%...
City water advisory
Maricopa County: Safety Measures for the Boil Water Advisory Headlines Wednesday
Phoenix water woe roundup... with links to local bloggers
Update Phoenix water woes...
Phoenix officials fired the city's water director Friday, four weeks after he had been reassigned to other duties in the wake of the city's water scare in late January.This should not have come as a surprise. If you read the transcript below you can see that his superiors were all blindsided when the city was put under a boil water advisory last month. The subsequent investigation showed a slew of problems in the Water Services Department which indirectly lead to the problems.
City managers wouldn't give specifics on why they fired Mike Gritzuk, a 17-year veteran who was responsible for issuing an advisory last month that urged the city's 1.4 million water users to boil water before drinking.
Gritzuk said he is suing to recoup damage to his reputation, adding that he was "flabbergasted" when he was told late Thursday that he was fired as of 5 p.m. Friday. [azcentral.com | news]
>> Michael Grant:Still think Gritzuk should be surprised? This shows he had problems in the past and that they weren't well known by everyone. Now that everything is in the light of day it makes sense that he is fired.
Does this report point a very strong finger at the Water Services Director and fix much of the blame there?
>> Claude Mattox:
What it does is it identifies problems that were within the system. I'm not going to blame any one person. I think overall, the Water Services Department needs to look at their communications process. They need to look at their emergency procedures. They need to practice what's in this book when they have a problem and then we as a city need to look at our overall process in communications and emergency processes to make sure that we don't have a repeat of this problem with other departments in the city of Phoenix.
>> Michael Grant:
Has he been relieved of his duties?
>> Phil Gordon:
He has been relieved of those duties, temporarily assigned on special assignment in another area, not related to water.
>> Michael Grant:
An Arizona Republic investigation of the city records shows the City of Phoenix Water Department received hundreds of state and federal violations costing the city more than $1.6 million since 1988. The Republic found that top water officials gave inconsistent responses to state and federal regulators, down played violations by claiming there was no danger to public health over non-compliance and gave incorrect and false information to city managers. The Arizona Republic also reported that Phoenix Water Services Director Mike Gritzuk was suspended for five days over the way he handled an earlier audit. Councilman Mattox, I seem to recall talking to you about the environmental group report about a year and a half ago. Were you aware of the problems that the Republic discussed?
>> Claude Mattox:
I was not aware of all of the problems at that time. And when we had the conversation, if I remember, we had the director of ADEQ here with us, as well, having the same conversation on it and we were talking about how the report from the natural resources defense -- I can't -- defense committee or something to that effect was basically a report about a report. They were talking about how we weren't -
>> Michael Grant:
Reporting issues, different data sets. Those kind of things. This seems to indicate that the problems were much more fundamental.
>> Claude Mattox:
Well, I'm not going to -- Now that I know what I know at this point, that this was symptomatic of some of the issues that we were dealing with, I was not aware of some of the infractions prior to myself coming on the Council which was five years ago. I was aware of some of the things identified in the republic after the fact, which was the lab issue that Mr. Gritzuk got suspended for five days on. We now know there was a history of things happening in the department that ultimately, I would say, in this particular case the events that occurred on January 24th and 25th brought Frank Fairbanks the city manager to the point where he felt it was necessary to reassign Mr. Gritzuk.
>> Michael Grant:
Was the city manager actively kept out of this loop? A million six should have given some indications to somebody we may have structural problems here.
>> Phil Gordon:
You know, Michael, this report, what it does is create a time line and it shows very clearly that not only the city manager and deputy city manager, senior elected officials were not only unaware of the protocols that should have been followed that the plant had problems as early as Saturday, significant problems, but that until after the process we didn't learn about some of the problems or weren't notified. The city manager Frank Fairbanks, under the charter is responsible for the personnel matters, we're responsible to make sure that it gets fixed. The city manager determined that in order to have a complete and open audit, seamless, that he needed to reassign and relieve the director of his duties. What happens at this point will be up to the city manage on that and any other personnel. I think you asked a question that I would like to address based on my review of the report. There was clearly a culture within the water department that is unhealthy for the safety of our community and that was --
>> Michael Grant:
How so?
>> Phil Gordon:
To keep information within the actual operation and not follow the protocols that were established by the city manager and deputy city manager. Again, not that at 1:30 in the morning somebody should have issued a boil advisory alert or not, but whether city management should have been brought in earlier, certainly whether the elected officials should have been brought in earlier. And also, after that issue was given to the public at 1:30 in the morning, then to contact both the city management team and the elected officials so that we could determine the actions at that point.
>> Michael Grant:
Councilman Mattox, the problem here is that if these problems were systemic, going on for a long time, apparently they date back to at least 1988, okay, you have a problem in the Water Services Department, but doesn't it speak to the level of supervision and oversight that the city manager's office was giving to the water services department? Which I would think would be one of the city's key departments.
>> Claude Mattox:
Absolutely. It's probably, along with our solid waste people expect when they turn the tap on, the water is there, and so to answer your question, Frank Fairbanks is responsible for personnel. What I understand is that when we ran into issues, Frank took corrective actions on those issues. To my knowledge, it was a progression of steps that ultimately ended up with Mr. Gritzuk being suspended for five days. And I can't tell you what specific investigations or reviews were done on Mr. Gritzuk because our charter prohibits City Council getting involved in personnel issues so we have to respect Frank Fairbanks' decision on that.
>> Michael Grant:
But you do have ability to hire and fire city managers?
>> Phil Gordon:
Mike, let me be clear. First off, we have the top city manager in this country, I back the city manager and I know all my colleagues do. The city manager thought he had taken the appropriate action and that was based on all the information he got, you can only make decisions based on what you have, he had corrected that. We learned through this incident that was not the case. When he learned about it, he immediately took the action of getting him out of there. [Horizon Transcripts February 15, 2005]
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