I don't think this article gives the full story on the water lien issue in Greensboro. For one it doesn't mention that Greensboro is the only city in the state that puts a lien on a property for an unpaid water bill. A point the article does make is that landlords feel it's unfair to have a lien on their property for a renters unpaid bill.

The Vatican appears prepared to change its ground rules in order to convert some Anglicans who are ripe for the picking given that they aren't happy with the whole idea of gay clergy: "A newly created set of canon laws, known as an 'Apostolic Constitution,' will clear the way for entire congregations of Anglican faithful to join the Catholic Church. That represents a potentially serious threat to the already fragile world-wide communion of national Anglican churches, which has about 77 million members globally."

The full text of the 'Apostolic Constitution' isn't out yet, but some folks seem to think that they'll relax some of the requirements for priests to enable the (likely un-gay) Anglican priests to do their thing for the Catholics:

"The pope wants to make it easier to welcome these priests as Catholics," he said. "What I don't know is what will happen to future generations" of priests who might be ordained under the new system."

My favorite sentence from this Krugman op-ed in the NYT: "After all, the lesson from the last few months has been very clear: When bankers gamble with other people’s money, it’s heads they win, tails the rest of us lose. "

Lex provides a nice compendium of financial news, otherwise known as depression inducing information.

Every passing week seems to bring more news of political ne'er-do-welling in NC. This time it's news that Gov. Easley's country club got lots of water to keep the greens, well, green during a major drought. Oh, and said club waived dues for the Guvna to the tune of $50k which he never reported.

This article will pretty much tick you off and/or make you feel like you need to take a shower. H/T to Fec for the link.

Piece in the NYT explaining why it's bad that people are reacting with anger to an earlier piece that said something like "rich people are losing sleep too in this recession". Not sure all the lights are on in the NYT writer's attic

Fec points to some interesting pieces/comments that hint at the possibility that Bear Stearns was thrown under the bus by folks at JP Morgan Chase who were trying to forestall their own demise. Interestinger, and interestinger.

Some good news: "The number of foreclosures in North Carolina fell nearly 6 percent in the third quarter from the same period last year, according to data from RealtyTrac Inc."

Tempered by not-so-good news:
"Foreclosure filings, however, rose nearly 29 percent in the third quarter from the second quarter.

Foreclosure filings in North Carolina rose 51 percent in September from the same period last year.

Filings were down 13.5 percent last month from August."

Uh oh.

In some circles this is called holding your nose: "On Capitol Hill, Ms. Bachmann is viewed with disdain by Democrats who see her as a wacky purveyor of outrageous claims and criticisms. Leading Republicans wince occasionally at her appearances on the floor and on television, but they also see her as someone with telegenic appeal who can energize conservatives and aggravate Democrats and they are not likely to rein her in."

"UNC-Greensboro's Serve Center has won a $4 million contract with the U.S. Department of Education for its National Center for Homeless Education, according to an announcement.

The contract will fund operations of the center for five years. The NCHE was founded in 1998 and helps school districts, families and children meet the educational challenges of homelessness."

Godin writes the following:
"Cable news thinking has nothing to do with fires or with politics. Instead, it amplifies the worst elements of emotional reaction:"
Here he provides 12 traits of cable news (one is "Confusing opinion with the truth") and then writes "If I wanted to hobble an organization or even a country, I'd wish these twelve traits on them."

Man do I agree with the basic premise here which I would boil down to "I'd rather have 10% of $100 than 40% of $20."

I still don't understand why people are so fanatical about Apple. Dan points out why Apple is evil, although not "Darth Vader" evil.

When I first heard about this article I thought that maybe Gladwell had gone too far by comparing football and dogfighting. After reading it I found it to be interesting and thoughtful and definitely worth the read.

Looks like rental rates are expected to stay down for a while. From a presentation given by NAA's Doug Culkin:

"The 'shadow market' competition that followed the housing market bust will continue to be felt in 2010, Culkin said, brought on by failed condo projects going rental, foreclosed single-family homes becoming rentals and a continued lack of job growth. For those on the operations side of the apartment market, next year’s outlook will be more of the same, he explained. 'We are looking at pressures on rental rates [to] remain, and vacancy rates are expected to remain higher than we would like.'"

According to Richard Craver's article Pace Airlines had problems before William Rodgers Sr. showed up and put a stake through its heart, but he certainly didn't do anything to forestall its demise:

"He spoke in a folksy, yet brash tone, adding an exaggerated shrug of his shoulders for effect.

'We're going to create jobs, make money and enjoy life, and honor and respect each other.'

Less than four months later, Pace likely has been grounded for good by Rodgers' management."

Google Docs just keeps getting better. You can now organize and share via a folder system. I agree with this Google Docs assessment by Rex:

"The primary reason I love Google Docs is that I like being able to ask several people to comment on something I’ve written (with each of them having their own comment color) more than the Word way of having copy “edited over.” And frankly, I’ve always thought the tracking feature of Word is worse than an editor’s red pen all over a page. I greatly prefer the wiki-like version tracking method of Google Docs (just click on the time of the last edit and you’ll see what I mean)."

"What’s more dangerous: a playground jungle gym or your office chair? As it happens, one in every 3,759 fatal accidental falls starts from a piece of playground equipment. You’re 85 times more likely, meanwhile, to fall to your death from a chair. That’s one of the many odd pairings waiting to be discovered in The Book of Odds, an online statistical encyclopedia launching tomorrow."

WXII has a story about Unilin trying to renegotiate part of their incentive deal with Davidson County: "Unilin Flooring, despite investing nearly $80 million at its Chair City headquarters, has requested that Thomasville officials waive the minimum job creation clause for 2010 in its 10-year economic development contract with the city."

and

“When we broke ground on this plant in 2004, we had planned to have almost 400 employees by this time and be well into the execution of our Phase 3 expansion,” Lauten wrote. “The reality is that we will employ approximately half that number at year end 2009. … Despite the economic challenges, we are still on track to have invested $80 million at this campus by the end of 2009 as we originally planned.”

"Had the busy Dell spoken longer, he might have said, 'We've also got a bunch of North Carolina taxpayer money that we've decided to just, y'know, keep, so that works to our benefit.'"

"Representatives for one of the country’s largest student housing developers will meet with the Greater Glenwood Neighborhood Association on Thursday as neighbors weigh a student housing project in the area."

23 of 30 residential units at 836 Oak Street (an old JG Flynt Tobacco building)have been leased or sold.

From the story: "Alex Lange is a chubby, dimpled, healthy and happy 4-month-old.

But in the cold, calculating numbered charts of insurance companies, he is fat. That's why he is being turned down for health insurance. And that's why he is a weighty symbol of a problem in the health care reform debate."

"The first step: the developer — Dinerstein Cos. of Houston — needs 49 property owners in a targeted 10-acre area of Glenwood to sell. Last month the company sent letters to owners, trying to gauge interest. The move caused a flap when some residents objected to the idea of an apartment-style student housing complex. But Lindsey said there has also been a lot of interest."

Whenever I think I actually have a handle on all the latest offerings on the web I'm usually knocked down a peg or two when I read the blogs of people who really know what's going on. The latest instance is Fred Wilson's post on open subtitles: "The film is in swedish and the download I got did not have english subtitles. But fortunately Boxee supports Open Subtitles. If you are streaming or watching a downloaded video in Boxee, you can simply ask for subtitles and Boxee goes out and fetches them from opensubtitles.org."

That's just amazing to me.

Lex writes: "Also, a lot of people will be making a big deal out of a Congressional Budget Office report that “tort reform” would save $54 billion from federal deficits during the next 10 years — $41 billion in spending reductions and $13 billion in new revenue.

That’s not peanuts … except in the case of what the U.S. spends for health care. We spend roughly $2.4 trillion every year on it. So these savings would be the equivalent of saving a nickel on a $24 restaurant tab."

"As the health care debate moves to the floor of Congress, most of the serious proposals to fulfill President Obama’s original vow to curb costs have fallen victim to organized interests and parochial politics. "

Our town is celebrating 150 years this week and the postmaster is getting into the spirit. "The stamp, in the shape of a wagon wheel with a large "150" in the middle, will be placed on first-class postage during the celebration, scheduled for Oct. 17.

Lewisville postmaster Michael Boone said he filed the paperwork for the special stamp after a suggestion by town officials."

The roots of NASCAR still to be found in Northwest NC, or, White Lightning still to be found in the hills: "'This is one of the biggest seizures of white liquor I've seen come out of the mountains in my career,' Alcohol Law Enforcement Director John Ledford said Friday of the seizure of 929 gallons of moonshine at a home on Shew Ridge Mission Road.

"Just in time for the National Peanut Festival, AP President Tom Curley is sounding nuttier and nuttier:"

From a press release from the Yadkin Riverkeeper: "The Yadkin Riverkeeper® has announced that the cleanup Alcoa performed at the boat ramp access below Narrows Dam on Badin Lake Oct. 10-12 is a direct result of the PCBs discovered and linked to the company’s operations below Badin Lake, which have traveled as far down river as the Falls Dam boat launch."

Where was this research when I was 16?

"University researchers questioned nearly 10,000 15 to 16-year-olds in the north-west of England.

They got into trouble more when buying their own cheap alcohol, rather than getting access from parents, it found.

Carefully introducing alcohol to children may help them "prepare themselves for life in an adult environment dominated by this drug", said the study."