dusting in the wind
Friday, March 10th, 2006Why should cleaning be
limited to springtime when
homes are dumps year-round?
• • •
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Archive for March, 2006
Burnt offerings
Friday, March 10th, 2006
Drive out to the country, and you’ll find … a whole lot of nothing. Long winding roads, open fields, dense forests, an occasional farmhouse.
And churches.
Unlike citified America, where some McMansions of God dot the thoroughfares alongside strip malls and car dealerships, country churches are often the hub of rural life. It’s not that they depend on God more, just the connection among worshippers disconnected by distance.
It took arsonists only a couple of thrill-seeking evenings to torch those “networking hubs.” Federal agents arrested three Birmingham college students this week for the crime.
Perhaps saddest of all isn’t the loss of these buildings, but the loss of lives. Yes, no one was killed in the fires, but if found guilty, these typical suburban brats didn’t just incinerate churches, but their chance to better themselves.
Heads and tales: Small spectacles
Friday, March 10th, 2006
A tourney falls in the woods: Birmingham is host to a basketball conference championship. Right now, hundreds of fans are watching the SWAC tourney at the BJCC Arena, but likely more fans watched the practices of high school teams last week there. The Ratings Percentage Index ranks the SWAC as the worst basketball conference. And it has the fans and players to prove it. Saturday night’s champion will advance to the NCAA tournament … sort of. The team must fight for the 64th spot in the play-in game on Tuesday, a game that the SWAC team has never won.
• Far From the Limelight and Far From Successful [New York Times]
Here’s the kickers: This weekend’s Vulcan Cup soccer tournament will bring in hundreds of soccer kiddies and their families from a dozen states … and an estimated $4 million to Birmingham. Hold on. Craig Depken, an associate professor of economics at the University of Texas at Arlington, calls foul on that seemingly absurd figure. He says that each visitor would need to spend $333 a day to reach $4 mil, without the multiplier effect, and that using the multiplier can be “easily abused.” No kidding, but we swear that the SWAC tourney has already brought in $11 kazillion dollars.
• For local economy, soccer tournament expected to kick in extra $4 million [Birmingham Business Journal]
Jesus, take the wheel: The money pit known as City Stages has announced the first signed acts. Hank Williams Jr., the Allman Brothers, Marty Stuart. Excited yet? We know some people still think of the June music festival as a bragging point for a sometimes lackluster city, but why exactly? Seeing new music? Williams and the Allmans have been to Birmingham plenty of times. Well-planned festival? It’s still nearly a half-million dollars in debt, and after 17 tries, they still don’t know how to place stages or manage costs (ticket prices are at an all-time high for fewer acts). But at least the name still means something: the Waldrep, Stewart & Kendrick City Stages Presented by Lanny Vines & Associates. It gets better: Nashville is so desperate to save its flailing festival scene, it’s looking to City Stages for ideas.
• Hank Jr., Allmans to play City Stages [Birmingham News]
Also:
- Spring planting begins with disheartening review of barren yard
- Forest Park crone asks neighbors to turn down ‘wi-fi racket’
- Car plant moves to Alabama, only to driven off by truck klan
• • •
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sartorial kryptonite
Thursday, March 9th, 2006Heads and tales: What have you done for me, latex?
Thursday, March 9th, 2006
Hard to conceive: Alabama ranks fourth in providing contraceptives, according to a study by New York-based Guttmacher Institute. The acting president of the Montgomery chapter of the National Organization of Women and the president of the Alabama Pro-Life Coalition praised the ranking. We never use contraception — and sadly, it’s exactly why you think. Sigh.
• Study: Alabama ranked 4th overall in providing contraceptives [Associated Press]
Planning a Big Dance: Pure madness. SEC Commissioner Mike Slive and SWAC Commissioner Robert Vowels left Birmingham for the heavily guarded 15th floor of an Indianapolis hotel with just one thing on their minds: hoops. They’re part of the NCAA selection committee, designated to select by Sunday the 65 men’s teams for the championship tournament. No cell phones, no voting on your own conference, no second chances. Pure madness.
• Slive, Vowels climb into NCAA ‘bunker’ [Birmingham News]
Whose network is it anyway?: As previously reported, The CW is replacing The WB and UPN, meaning Sinclair-owned Birmingham stations WTTO and WABM would be stuck with an unknown sixth-place network and the other would languish in indie obscurity. Fret not! Now, they’re both with crazy startup networks. A new Fox-created network, MyNetworkTV, is signing up affiliates, including WABM (since WTTO will be The CW affiliate). What will it show? Nothing but telenovelas! Well, not exactly, but two hourlong soaps every weeknight for 13 weeks. It launches Sept. 5, and we swear, if they fold before episode 65, we’ll launch a vicious letter-writing campaign.
• MyNetworkTV Signs 17 Sinclair Stations [TV Week]
Also:
- City council puts meeting videos, bickering sound clips for sale on iTunes
- Teens contract social networking disease
- Church bulletin’s swimsuit issue completely sold out
• • •
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lyrical horror
Wednesday, March 8th, 2006Just for Hicks: Eight men on
Wednesday, March 8th, 2006
Taylor Hicks not only sang a scorcher live tonight, but also danced … sorta. At least his “American Idol” missteps were from the ankles down and looks golden for the Top 12.
Recap after the jump …
Updated with video, eliminations.
Heads and tales: Off-off-off-campus activities
Wednesday, March 8th, 2006
From left, Birmingham college students Matthew Lee Cloyd, Russell Lee DeBusk Jr., Benjamin Nathan Moseley were arrested today in connection with nine Alabama church fires.
We don’t get the punchline, either: “Three college students accused of setting fires at nine small churches in rural Alabama began the arsons as a joke that escalated out of control, according to federal agents who said key evidence came together only hours before the arrests Wednesday. Benjamin Nathan Moseley and Russell Lee DeBusk Jr., both 19 and students at Birmingham-Southern College, and Matthew Lee Cloyd, 20, a student at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, were charged in the rash of church fires last month.”
• Agent: Three college students say church arsons started as joke [Associated Press]
Almost infamous: “Russ DeBusk and Ben Moseley, both amateur actors, had dreams of becoming stars as they performed in campus plays at Birmingham-Southern College, appeared in a documentary and began putting together an independent film.”
• Two church fire suspects known as pranksters, aspiring actors [Associated Press]
All you have to do is ask: “On March 8, 2006, Bureau of ATF and Alabama State Fire Marshals Office investigators interviewed Russell Lee DeBusk Jr- DeBusk stated that on the night of February 2, 2006, he, Matt (Cloyd), and Ben (Moseley) traveled to Bibb County, Alabama and were shooting deer. DeBusk stated that they were in Matt’s 4Runner. DeBusk admitted being present at all five Bibb County church fires. DeBusk admitted to kicking in the door on two of the churches. DeBusk stated that approximately two weeks later Ben told him that he (Ben) and Cloyd did four more church fires.”
• Criminal complaint against Cloyd, DeBusk, Moseley [U.S. Department of Justice]
Also:
- God: ‘Three college kids walk into a jail cell …’
- Pastors encourage forgiveness among smoldering ruins
- Muslims: We told you it wasn’t us
• • •
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echoes of the post
Tuesday, March 7th, 2006Gone Hollywood, part 2
Tuesday, March 7th, 2006My first film, “The Last Fish,” premiered Friday night at the Carver Theatre. As you may know,
I spent 36 hours making it for the latest Sidewalk Scramble competition.
Did it win? Nope.
That’s OK. I’m still proud of my effort. And it did make festival history (watch the movie for a hint).
Check it out, then see what the jurors had to say after the jump.
‘The Last Fish’
“Fishkind is doomed, thanks to aliens, but who’s next?”
Heads and tales: Two steps forward or back
Tuesday, March 7th, 2006
Graduated success: Auburn’s football team is ranked No. 3. But not in the BCS or the AP, but the APR. That’s the Academic Progress Report issued by the NCAA, avoiding possible scholarship penalties. Only Stanford and Boston College ranked higher among the six BCS conferences. But not so fast: Columnist Ray Melick raises questions about the “improvements”: How did these schools make this kind of drastic improvement? Was it due to really hard work in the classroom by the athletes on the teams in question, or did advisors steer student athletes into easier classes? Has the purpose of college now become doing whatever it takes to make minimum APR score, or is it to graduate students? Well, duh, it’s B.
• Auburn football academic rank is 3rd best in nation [Birmingham News]
For whom Ma Bell tolls: What will AT&T’s $67 billion buyout of Bellsouth mean for Alabama employees? Across the company, it means 10,000 jobs cut. Bellsouth’s Alabama president Thomas Hamby says, “The majority of our 7,000 jobs in Alabama are service-related. While there may be some small reductions, my guess is that about 95 percent of our employees will not be affected.” OK, that’s one way to put it. The other way: a possible 350 jobs cut. But good spin, nonetheless.
• BellSouth’s Hamby says 95% of employees won’t be affected [Birmingham Business Journal]
To have and have less: Alabama is low. How low is it? It’s so low, it’ll tax any family making $4,600 and up. That’s $88 a week. That’s low. So low, that Alabama is the worst state in gouging the poor. The next worst is West Virginia, which doesn’t start taxing until the income level is $10,000 for a family of four. The Washington-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities put out the study.
• Alabama remains top taxer of poor [Birmingham News]
Also:
- Old online dating profile haunts Southside single
- Mulga plant prepares workforce with viral video on forklift safety
- Bad boss believes she’s actually a good boss
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