Let’s start off a new week with the promised open thread.
There is some very sad county news. Details to follow.
I hear Bob Fitzsimmonds has posted that he is running for state senator again. How many times has this guy lost already? He is not a mainstream candidate. I expect Senator Colgan will have to hang in there even longer if this is going to happen.
35 Thoughts to “Open Thread Monday 6/7/10”
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Here’s an oddball request to start off an open thread. (It is an open thread after all.)
The Formerly Daughter is taking on a summer job of sorts. At the encouragement of her Old Man, she’s wants to learn more about business and micro-startups, so she has set a goal to write and publish an iPhone app by the end of the summer. Her problem is that she doesn’t have a good idea of what to write for an application. She’s looking to major in BioChem when she goes to college so most of her ideas aren’t very mainstream and she’s looking to do something with more mass appeal.
So, I figured I’d open it up to suggestions here. Has anybody with an iPhone been in a situation where they said “I wish there was an app for that.”? Preferably something that a high schooler could do in three months. (I’ve offered her some suggestions, but she wants to see some other ideas before she picks a project.)
Formerly,
I will check with the teens in my house on an app. to see if they have any ideas.
I hate to be nosey, but is your daughter by any chance a student in PWC and rising Junior or younger. I only ask to make sure that she’s knows about the new Governor’s School at Innovation Park? This is going to be an excellent program, and the first Governor’s School to be working in conjuction with a four year university.
Great idea FA. I don’t have an iphone but I do have an ipad.
I was just wondering if there was a way to send something you wanted printed from an ipad or iphone to a print server or a wifi printer. I don’t think there is but I could be wrong.
A report was recently issued (5-27-2010) by the City of Manassas
Office of Community Development estimates that the 2010 census
will show the community is over 30% Hispanic as compared with
15% in 2000. The White population fell from over 66% to slightly
over 50% in the same period. All other categories kept almost the
same percentages as the total population grew slightly from
35,135 to 35, 648. (It is also estimated that, just behind Manassas Park,
Manassas, by percentage, is the most Hispanic jurisdiction in Virginia).
Now this is plain freaky. Just announced today: HP announces web-connected printers.
http://mashable.com/2010/06/07/hp-eprint/
Poor Richard, PWCS has a minority majority situation. I have no idea about the change.
Strange that there was no change in total population over 10 years.
M-H, MCPS, like every other system in Northern Virginia except Falls Church and
Loudoun is minority majority, but the total city population is still White majority
by less than one percent.
And three cheers for Mayor Hinton and the good people of
Magnolia Springs Alabama for coming up and putting in
their own modified boom system to keep the oil
away from their shores. “We aren’t going to wait for BP
or Unified Command and end up like Lousiana”.
Yesterday the Mayor, along with volunteer firemen and
Explorer Scouts were installing their system.
Lord love them – hope it works.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1993872,00.html
Really great in depth piece on SB1070. I especially liked the last line and the sentence that precedes it. Highly recommend.
@Formerly Anonymous
Why not Google “How to write an app?” or send a request to Microsoft asking for advice. Am sure they will be more than willing to help out.
What did our President do to commemorate D-Day?
Not sure. I hear nothing. If he didn’t, he should have. Our current president and past president overlooked D-Day more than once. It is especially important to observe because WWII vets are dropping at the rate of 1800 per day. Even those who didn’t parachute into Normandy or storm the beaches contributed to the effort. They need to hear it remembered. Had it not been for that invasion, we all might be speaking German.
Both George W. Bush and Bill Clinton went to Normandy, and bless ’em for that. In fact, when GWB is slammed by people for missing out on one Memorial Day event at Arlington, they seem to be unaware that he was actually at a special commemorative event in Normandy that year.
Magnolia Springs, Alabama. Know the place very well. I’ve got Southern kin who come from that place. Good fishing in that river. Kind of figured those good old boys down there wouldn’t sit on their behinds and wait for the feds or anybody else to show up.
Some interesting news from way south of the border. Peruvian authorities have announced that Van der Sloot has confessed to killing that girl in the hotel down there.
Fascinating.
Once upon a time in Afghanistan. Afghanistan in the 50’s.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/05/27/once_upon_a_time_in_afghanistan?obref=obinsite
I’ve seen similar pictures of women in Egypt and Lebanon. What the heck happened that the Middle East lost so much freedom in the 60’s?
I believe President Obama went to Normandy June 6, 2009 for the 65th anniversary of D-Day. Where is his blessing?
He also visited Buchenwald Concentration camp on that trip to not only commemorate those lives lost but also to stand tall in the eyes of the Holocaust deniers. Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Prime Minister Brown also attended the somber ceremony.
I went to high school with kids whose older sister had married a man from Afghanistan. They all hated him because he blew his nose in the kitchen sink. Doesn’t sound so civilized to me. Shudder.
Do we even know that those women in the picture were western women?
What holds back these countries now? Religious zealotry.
I am going to try to move the open thread along each week so it doesn’t get buried.
How about the primaries? Were there any surprised?
I am still wondering how Fimian is going to remake himself, especially with that email from his former business partner floating about. He seems like a special interest candidate to me.
Did he win because of special interest PWC voters or because lots of Fairfax dems voted for him?
Would dems really want to be put on the -R mailing and donor lists for having voted in the primary? While a person’s vote isn’t given out the fact that they voted in a -R or -D primary is of course available from the SBE.
Sorta embarassing for a hard core -D to openly vote in a -R primary…especially if they themselves want to run for office one day.
GO FIMIAN!
Sure. Who cares.
Both parties do it. So you get on a list. You have a trash can.
The WPO reported “On Tuesday, Herrity barely scratched out a win in his home base of Fairfax County and lost by a huge margin in Prince William County.” That does not sound like special interest voting or cross-over voting – there aren’t that many political junkies in either county – money maybe, but not voters. My own view is that once you endorsed Herrity – Moon, I went from a disinterested primary PWC voter to involved and then knew who to vote for.
@PWC Taxpayer
TP, I saw NO endorsement of Herrity by Moon. Why would a private citizen such as Moon, endorse any candidate? Your comments don’t reflect that of one that’s a “disinterested primary PWC voter”. Keep trying to stir the pot, old fella.
I am in South AFrica for the World Cup!
I did NOT endorse Herrity. Holy cow. That is a huge leap. I don’t have a dog in that fight and I know nothing about the race other than who was calling for Fimian.
I read the information about Fimian over on Not Larry Sabato.
Please show me what you THINK is my endorsement of Herrity.
I suppose I am laughing at you. Mostly I am speechless that you thought I was endorsing Herrity, who I know zero about.
@Starry, wow! that is neat. How long did it take to fly there? It seems like about as far away as one can get on a map. How long will you be gone.
Where’s the anti-incumbent rage in Tuesday’s primary results?
In Virginia tonight, the Republican Establishment seemed to fare well against the Tea Party. State Sen. Robert Hurt won the party’s nomination in the Fifth District to face Democratic Congressman Tom Perriello. In the 2nd District, Republican Scott Rigell will face incumbent Democrat Glenn Nye. Both are probably the party’s strongest candidates, though Hurt might be hobbled by an independent Tea Party run.
Still, the bottom line is that the Republicans are now a very homogeneous, conservative party. The Democrats remain a lot less liberal than the Republicans are conservative. If Republicans are to win in November, they need to persuade a significant chunk of moderates and independents — both groups voted roughly 3-to-2 Democratic in 2006 and 2008 — to switch sides. Maybe an angry mood will be enough to get that done. But Republicans are asking moderates to opt for candidates well to the right of where those moderates stand. And to win primaries, Establishment Republicans had to run farther to the right than they would have if they could have kept their focus on winning this fall.
By E.J. Dionne | June 8, 2010; 11:49 PM ET
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2010/06/wheres_the_anti-incumbent_rage.html
Where is all the anger?
I’ll be here a couple weeks. I flew through Paris and stopped over so it wasn’t so bad. Going to the US/England game on Saturday. Listen for the “vuvuzelas”, you’ll know what they are in about a week or so.
Here’s what the vuvuzelas sound like:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/09/sports/soccer/09horn.html?ref=global-home
Starry, that sound makes me want to drive ice picks in my own ear drums.
Cheer for all of us who can’t be there. Did you go especially for the soccer games or did you go for work and are taking in a soccer game or 6 while you are there?
Good news for illegal immigrant apologists in the area. Virginia is STILL a popular state for illegal immigrants to settle in :
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-06-08-immigration_N.htm
Juan Carlos Cruz, an illegal immigrant who has worked in plant nurseries for 20 years, huddled with dozens of relatives over the Memorial Day Weekend in the backyard of his brother’s Phoenix-area home to plot out the family’s next move to avoid what they say will be harassment by police. Virginia and California are the front-runners.
Another interesting story – the teenager shot by our Border Patrol :
First we hear this :
His mother said he was a good student who never got in trouble. He was the youngest of five children, played on two soccer teams and had just finished junior high school, she said.
The boy’s sister, Rosario, told Associated Press Television News that her brother was playing with several friends and did not plan to cross the border.
“They say that they started firing from over there and suddenly hit him in the head,” she said.
The boy’s mother said he had gone to eat with his brother, who handles luggage at a border customs office. While there, he met up with a group of friends and they decided to hang out by the river, she said.
“That was his mistake, to have gone to the river,” she said in an interview with Mexico’s Milenio TV. “That’s why they killed him.”
But now we hear this :
Huereka was charged with alien smuggling in 2009, according to sources who requested anonymity. Further details were not immediately available.
“He is a known juvenile smuggler,” a source told Fox News. He was also on a “most wanted” list of juvenile smugglers compiled by U.S. authorities in the El Paso area, sources said.
Don’t ask me whether I would rather have him shot dead, or have him smuggling with impunity. You might not like the answer.
An exciting night for the Nationals last night with Stephen Strasburg winning
his first major league game and looking pretty good doing it. I’m
glad they are protecting him with reasonable pitch counts and trying to
make sure he won’t burn out early with injuries like so many
“wonders” before him. Go Nats!
He is sort of amazing isn’t he. @ PR
Rick, there is more on that story. Stay tuned. Another version of that story has those same kids assaulting the border patrol with projectiles.
I am in the area for business but am taking in a few games. I travel quite freqently for work.
I am glad you stay in touch. Ain’t technology wonderful!
You do know that we want first hand accounts of everything! @ starryflights
Pictures are welcome also.