Election 2008: My Background
October 18, 2007 | 1 Comment
As I live in NH, I get the opportunity to meet a number of presidential candidates and form an opinion using first hand experience. I find that my opinions of candidates can sometimes change in retrospect, so I intend on chronicling my experiences and meetings going forward. However, there is some history I’d like to get out so I have a starting point.
The first national election I paid attention to was the 1992 primary. I was merely 12, but I can remember supporting Tom Harkin in a formal grade school debate. Bill Clinton went on to win that primary and later the national election. During the national election, I was quite curious about Ross Perot. His concise, non-politician sounding, talk was intriguing. His platform was clear and I was a bit torn before finally siding back toward my liberal roots with Clinton.
Eight years later in 2000 I was finally of age to participate. As a college student in NH, I was able go out and meet candidates. Out of the blue I took the opportunity to meet George W. Bush in Lebanon, NH. What stuck out for me most was his odd spin on how to reform education. More mandatory standardized testing and tax credits for enrolling students in private schools seemed insane to me. Later, I saw John McCain speak and realized that not all Republicans were crazy. With this in mind and Al Gore a sure thing on the Democrat ticket, I’d oppose Bush in any way possible way. This led to me voting for McCain in the primary, which he ended up winning in NH, even though he would go on to lose nationally.
By the time the election came around, I was uninspired by Al Gore and had lost faith with the two party system. I then dipped my toe back into the third party concept and threw my support behind Ralph Nader. When the election was eventually awarded to Bush, I felt somewhat bad about not having supported Gore, when he was electable and superior to Bush. With this in mind, I was more passionate in my opposition of Bush and certain that in the future I would only support candidates I feel are electable.
In the 2004 campaign I met Howard Dean. For the first time, I had found a candidate who truly resonated with me. I vowed to do anything possible to help him get elected. This was the first time I got involved in helping a candidate’s campaign. Beyond participating in the campaign, I took the opportunity to see him speak two additional times before the election, each time reassuring me that this was the strongest person to lead America. When his campaign imploded, I remained faithfully hopeful, but was heartbroken to see his hopes of the White House dwindle. The primary was eventually won by John Kerry.
This left me forced to put my support behind John Kerry, in continued resistance to Bush. Without a doubt this was a better choice than George W Bush and I would not make the mistake of refusing to choose the lesser of two evils in a close election again. Of course everyone knows how this election eventually turned out, Bush getting four more years in Washington.
This leads us to Election 2008… With George W Bush out of the equation, I feel like any candidate will be an improvement, leaving me very hopeful for the future. This also has the side effect of me needing to look at each candidate equally, on both side of the aisle. Over time, I’ll post my impressions of each that I get to see. Of course keep in mind… I’ve never supported any candidate who has gone on to win the presidency…
Tags: 1992, 2000, 2004, 2008, america, bill clinton, Bush, clinton, college, dean, election, george bush, george w bush, harkin, howard dean, john kerry, kerry, new hampshire, nh, politics, primary, ralph nader, tom harkin
Man Commits Suicide With Homemade Guillotine
January 4, 2006 | 10 Comments
I’m all for do-it-yourself projects, but this is ridiculous!
A guy in Belmont, NH built a homemade guillotine which he used to commit suicide. This guy was pretty serious though as he setup a fairly intricate “bomb” setup with 12-16 ounce bottles and gasoline as an apparent failsafe. According to descriptions, the device was intended to detonate using electricity. This “bomb” was built to burn down down the place, not for explosive purposes.
According to The Citizen:
[Belmont Police] found the man dead in what appeared to have been a homemade guillotine — a device designed to behead its victim.
Authorities said the man had been dead of the apparent suicide for some time.
… subsequent investigation turned up bottles of gasoline that had been placed into the walls of the home with electrical wires coming out of each — a discovery that prompted police to call the fire department.
Authorities cut power to the home after determining that the device inside was designed to detonate using electricity.
Of course Sara says this guy needs props for his creativity. She said “heck, they hardly ever put gunshots in the paper anymore!”
Tags: belmont, bizarre, bomb, bomb squad, DIY, do it yourself, guillotine, homemade, new hampshire, nh, suicide, the citizen
Hot Buttered Democracy
October 21, 2005 | Leave a Comment
Emmons took this picture of a sign in a store window in Concord, NH. I don’t understand what the deal is, but I love it. Bring on the hot buttered democracy!
Tags: buttered, concord, democracy, hot buttered, hot buttered democracy, new hampshire, nh
Lipstick Lesbians Trash P-Hop
September 14, 2005 | 1 Comment
They then ran to their car, squealing away.
When asked for comment, the quotable local
The following account is a
(Co-authored by [Co-Author Name Removed By Request].)
Tags: additional expletives, Approximately, blouse, booth, crime, deviant behavior, enraged, exhibition, exhibitionist, explicit, gender mix regardless, hands, hollering, horizontal, inappropriate, innumerable expletives, jealous, Jenny Sweedler, laid waste, lesbians, lipstick, lipstick lesbians, loudly, mammary, man, man woman combo, Monday, mouth, new hampshire, nh, P-Hop, paraphernalia, plymouth, Plymouth House of Pizza, proprietor, restaurant, shirts, spouting, strip, true story, twitchy, two women, vacate, violently
World’s Tallest Bridges
August 30, 2005 | 33 Comments
When I had an incoming search for “World’s Tallest Bridge” I was excited at the prospect of doing some research on bridges. For years I have been fascinated with all shapes and sizes of bridge, a definite side effect of living in Pittsburgh, PA. There are enough bridges in that city and county that they have a whole website dedicated to them. According to that website:
Pittsburgh has 30 river bridges with an additional 29 river bridges within Allegheny County for a total of 59. Then you may start to add the many others which cross streams, ravines, roads, railroads, etc. The typically cited a figure of over 2,000 in Allegheny County apparently doesn’t include railroad bridges owned by the railroads, and only includes those over 8 feet in length.
By some counts they have the most bridges in the world, but apparently Paris might have more or less depending on how you cont. While I’m still on that topic, here are my Pittsburgh favorites:
- Fort Duquesne Bridge, nicknamed “The Bridge to Nowhere” because from 1969 to 1986 one end hung in mid-air due to complexities in attaching it to neighboring expressways and bridges.
- Roberto Clemente Memorial Bridge, Seventh Street, and Ninth Street bridges nicknamed the “Three Sisters Bridges” (more pictures)
- Smithfield Bridge
- Homestead High Level Bridge
OK, moving on from PIttsburgh to the main event, the world’s tallest bridges.
The world’s tallest bridge is France’s Millau Viaduct spanning the River Tarn. The bridge stands at an impressive 341m tall and 2,460m long. This is in fact 30m taller than the Eiffel Tower. Construction completed in late 2004. Also, the roadway of the bridge is only at 270m, while the Royal Gorge Bridge in Colorado has a deck at 321m.
Although, it seems this is in fact only the world’s tallest vehicular bridge, I cannot find any sources naming any other sort of bridge that is in fact taller. If someone knows, I’m dying to find out.
More on the Millau Viaduct:
Official Site
BBC: France shows off tallest bridge
MSNBC: World’s Tallest Bridge
According to Wikipedia, the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge (1,991m) in Japan is the world’s largest suspension bridge and this is also the longest bridge span. It seems the Millau Viaduct is longer, so I’m not sure why they haven’t updated. The Messina bridge in Italy is supposed to be completed in 2011 and will have a span of 3,300m, blowing this record clean out of the water.
But what about longer bridges that aren’t suspension? Well the Second Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in Louisiana is 38,422m long and crosses Lake Pontchartrain. That’s a lot longer… but doesn’t have much height.
To add one more level of complexity, the Tsing Ma Bridge in Hong Kong is the bridge with the largest rail carrying span (1,377m). So this one is really big and can handle lots of weight.
Finally, being from New England I must touch on covered bridges. The longest covered bridge crosses the St. John River in New Brunswick, Canada and is 390m. Plymouth, NH claims to have the world’s strongest bridge, Smith Covered Bridge, but I think they just made the claim and no one has challenged it…
More bridge resources:
The World’s Greatest Bridges
BridgePros
HowStuffWorks.com “How Bridges Work”
A couple other bridges I can’t resist:
- San Diego’s Coronado Bridge - I love it because it is big, high, and has a huge curve in it.
- Prince Edward Island’s Confederation Bridge (Official Site)
- Boston’s Charles River Bridge
- Plymouth, NH’s New Bridge (unnamed to the best of my knowledge) This brige is still under contruction/destruction, but will significantly change the initial view of Plymouth.
Tags: akashi-kaikyo, allegheny county, boston, bridge, bridges, canada, causeway, colorado, confederation bridge, coronado bridge, covered, covered bridge, fort duquesne bridge, france, ft duquesne, homestead high level bridge, italy, long bridge, longest covered bridge, ma, messina bridge, millau, millau viaduct, most bridges in the world, nh, pa, pennsylvania, pittsburgh, plymouth, pontchartrain, prince edward island, river tarn, roberto clemente memorial bridge, san diego, smith bridge, smith covered bridge, smithfield bridge, suspension, suspension bridge, tall bridge, tall bridges, tallest bridge, the bridge to nowhere, three sisters bridges, viaduct, wikipedia, word’s tallest bridge, world’s largest suspension bridge, world’s longest bridge, worlds strongest covered bridge
Millenials, Retirement, and Harry Potter
August 27, 2005 | 2 Comments
Over the last three days I have found myself in a lecture hall each morning, each for different reasons. First it was because of my adjunct faculty duties, next as a general employee, and finally as a member if ITS.
On Wednesday it was to watch the Plymouth State “Faculty Day” keynote presentation by William Strauss titled “Millenials Go To College”.
According to his website, here is a brief explanation of this generation:
The Millennial Generation (Hero?, born 1982-?) first arrived when “Babies on Board” signs appeared. As abortion and divorce rates ebbed, the popular culture began stigmatizing hands-off parental styles and recasting babies as special. Child abuse and child safety became hot topics, while books teaching virtues and values became best-sellers. Today, politicians define adult issues (from tax cuts to deficits) in terms of their effects on children. Hollywood is replacing cinematic child devils with child angels, and cable TV and the internet are cordoning off “child-friendly” havens. While educators speak of “standards” and “cooperative learning,” school uniforms are surging in popularity. With adults viewing children more positively, U.S. test scores are faring better in international comparisons.
The Millenials are a generation in his “Hero” archetype. Here is a brief summary of this archetype:
We remember Heroes best for their collective coming-of-age triumphs […] and for their hubristic elder achievements. […] All have been aggressive advocates of economic prosperity and public optimism in midlife; and all have maintained a reputation for civic energy and competence even deep into old age.
Overall, Strauss presented a fascinating topic and did it well. I left with hope for the future generation and excitement about helping in my small way to bring them to greatness.
More resources on Millenials:
Pedablogue: Millennials Go to College
Millenials Rising Book Site
William Strauss Books on Amazon
On Thursday, all employees at Plymouth State were called together by President Wharton. We did not know what he was planning to tell us. The big announcement was his planned retirement, effective June 30, 2006.
From Plymouth State Office of Public Relations:
Dr. Wharton is in his 13th year as president and is the 13th president at Plymouth State. He has been the steward of significant changes at the institution, including the transition in 2003 from Plymouth State College to Plymouth State University.
[…]
Under Dr. Wharton’s leadership the Plymouth State campus has changed significantly—adding new buildings such as the Hartman Union Building, Lamson Library, the Draper Maynard building, Prospect Dining Hall, and most recently the Boyd Science Center. In addition, the demolition of the old power plant and associated buildings and construction of the co-generation facility created more green space and the conversion of town streets to campus walkways. This past spring the University broke ground for the new Langdon Woods Student Housing Complex, which will add 347 new beds to campus housing in an effort to have a larger percentage of students reside on campus.
Finally on Friday all of Information Technology Services gathered for some inspiring words from CIO Dwight Fischer. The new group of student staff was introduced and hopefully made to feel at home. After giving a list of of things causing us all stress, it became clear, this was also a list of the great and innovative things we are doing on campus: deploying McAfee Virus Scan and ePolicy Orchestrator, increased integrated services, further deployment of multimedia classrooms, and more. Fischer then made some insightful comparisons between IT and Harry Potter, though sadly the only one I remember is “we learn good spells to counter the ever growing number of evil ones.”
Overall, as a week to ramp up for the beginning of another semester in higher education, this was an inspiring one.
Tags: donald wharton, dwight fischer, generations, higher education, millenials, nh, plymouth, plymouth state university, retirement, speeches, strauss, wharton, william strauss
744th Coming Home!
February 2, 2005 | 2 Comments
Update: My brother is finally home safely.
The following are links related to his unit returning. As more articles come in I’ll post them here:
The 744th is coming home to Hillsboro - Concord Monitor
Danger tempers joy of return - Union Leader
Another NH Guard Unit Prepares To Leave Iraq - WMUR
. . . and another is on the way home - Union Leader
Cheers, tears for returning Guard members - Seacost Online
From Battle Comes New Perspective - Union Leader
At ‘home’ at Camp Anaconda - Union Leader
More NH troops back on US soil - Nashua Telegraph
Tags: 744th, iraq, new hampshire, nh, philip tirrell jr, troops, war