tfl: The Flatiron Life

The Tomaw Family is headed to Central Illiana tonight. We will be taking Jonah on a grand tour of his relations until January 1st.

I anticipate not being able to blog much over the next 10 days in the vast under connected lands of Hoosiers and Illini. This is my first trip back since I was called a terrorist. I hope I can keep my camera within the law.

I hope to be able to write a Christmas message, but if you ask “is it Christmas?” and the answer is yes. tfl wishes you a Merry Christmas.

The Problem:
I want to keep track of my contacts along with their addresses, phone numbers, and IM names. I would also like to store any other data I might want to track, like birthdays or if they get a Christmas Card. I want to share these contacts with Joscelynn. And as this is Google’s America, I want it searchable by any of these bits of data.

The Ideal Solution:
This is added to Gmail Contacts in, 5, 4, 3, 2, ….

The Hard Solution:
I write this application in my infinite free time. (Have I told you about my new son? :-D)

The Pretty Good Solution:
You leave a comment to a great app for me to review.

I was rather surprised to read this today in my Trib feed,

Chicago could close 10 to 15 public elementary schools in each of the next five years, officials are expected to announce Wednesday, as enrollment plummets on the city’s Near West and South Sides. (my emphasis)

Some of the schools in Chicago are only 50% utilized and a few are only at 30%. The overall elementary enrollment has fallen by 41,000 future Daley voters in the last 7 years.

Warum?

James Dispensa, director of CPS demographics and planning, said it was part of a larger trend nationwide, driven by falling birthrates. The children of many Baby Boomers, meanwhile, have moved on to high school, where enrollment remains strong.

The US birthrate has been of recent interest to me. (Obviously?) I know a lot of people who are pregnant, have given birth in the last year or so, or I expect to have children in the next 2 years. (If your name has an ‘r’ in it I am thinking of you.) It is hard for me to tell if this is part of a larger trend or if I just know a lot of people at the same stage in life who are just the normal breeders.

Scott Adams writes about a Time magazine poll that found less than a third of voters think “Good Judgment” is important in a presidential candidate.

He concludes by asking “Does that worry you?”

Yes, very much so.

Zach sent me this post about free vs. farmed fish in British Columbia. I have posted about oceanic fisheries before.

A new study found that the way fish farms are organized in BC led to a increase in wild fish deaths due to parasites. The BBC story reporting the study describes some changes that can be made to the fisheries in order to reduce this risk.

Are there similar issues with bird farms today? Is this a factor in the spread of Avian Flu?

Do you think the undomesticated brothers of ancient cows, pigs, and goats had these troubles too. Seems likely, as I don’t know of many wild versions of these beasts.

Several folks have been curious how George has been holding up with the baby. I am pleased to say he is doing well. The first few days he was very quite. This was probably due to him thinking we had abandoned him for three days.

He has been curious about Jonah, but not up in his face. George looks into the play yard and paws at it, but has yet to make an effort to get in. Yesterday, Jonah was kicking at the wall of the yard and George seemed a lot more interested. We are going to make sure to place Jonah a bit more centered from now on.

The last couple of days have been the first times I have picked up old Georgie for a while. When I first held Jonah I thought he was heavy. Now that I am used to him, George is huge. You can really tell that he is twice Jonah in nearly every dimension.

The initial quiet period has run out of George. The last two nights he has been back to his crazy self. He is running races back and forth through the apartment and hiding under the Christmas Tree. Aw, the pitter-patter of little feet.

Earlier this week I found myself jiggling and soothing my bowl of scrambled eggs. I also have 1000+ unread items in my reader and I have been stuck in a shameful TV stupor for the last two weeks. I must reconnect with reality and this morning I discovered my new MO. Jonah is snuggled up in his car seat in the dining room, listening to a Chicago Public Radio pledge drive; Fortunately these come around with obnoxious regularity. I take that back. He’s on to Car Talk now and seems equally contented. This morning we’ve had nearly a full hour of both silence and empty arms.

So what have I missed? For all I know, the only important news from the last two weeks involves either *acy Petersen or the weatheriest weather ever.

One of the things I like about Wrigley Field is that it is one of the few privately owned sports venues. Looks like that might change.

Last weekend in the suburbs, Ellen “Treffly” Coyne took her children to Wal-Mart to donate some money to Salvation army. As a result she was arrested.

“My 2-year-old had fallen fast asleep,” Coyne said. “It was sleeting, and I said, ‘I’m not going to risk carrying my kid and falling.’”

Pretty sound thinking if you ask me.

So she turned off the engine, put her hazard lights on, locked the car and walked 30 feet from the car to get a few snapshots of the girls, Coyne said.

“I was always within ear- and eyeshot of the car,” Coyne said. “It was a five-minute affair.”

But that was enough time to get the mother of three in serious trouble with the law.

Coyne said when she turned around, a uniformed police officer was standing by her car and told Coyne, “You’re not going anywhere.”

She was not only arrested for child endangerment but like any reasonable person she resisted being arrested. (Resisting arrest has to be the most prevalent charge in America, right?)

So according to the police officer she was endangering her daughter. How did the agents of the state rectify this?

Officers then went to her car and started the engine with the baby inside — “exposing my child to carbon monoxide poisoning,” Coyne said. She assumed the other girls were in police custody.

She assumed wrong. The great protector of children had …

“…abandoned my other daughters at the Wal-Mart,” said Janecyk, who eventually found them seated on a bench in the Wal-Mart. “I asked them why they didn’t ask for help, but they said the police scared them.”

Is it possible we live in a police state, but generally have not realized it yet?

John Stossel interviews Ron Paul. This is not the hardest line of questioning, but a clear outline of Paul’s ideas.

It’s refreshing to interview a politician who doesn’t mince words. It’s even more refreshing to interview one who understands the benefits of limited government.

This is what I like most about Ron Paul. He is honestly telling you what he believes and why. He is not telling you whatever he thinks you want to hear so you will vote for him.

I also like that his principles can be summed up with this question.

So government creates too many rules, and the wrong ones?

That basically it. Most of the time well-intentioned — but good intentions will not solve our problems.