Recent Articles

You are here:

You are here

Home / Pages / Recent Articles

'Rescuing Power' - The Subtle Landscape

on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 20:49   by Anonymous

September 28, 2009 by bgierke

Knee hurts, so instead of running early AM I’ve been riding my bike lately. Trouble is it’s now fall and dark. Oh well – the better… Upon the razor’s edge once again. More juice. Might coast from time to time, but better not drift mentally till sun-up.

Right turn and 50 yards out of my drive I drop down a steep hill. Feel like Batman falling off a lofty ledge Gotham dead of night. Shirt flutters, cool air streams by my face, I use my night vision to search for potholes.

Zoom through intersections and by homes asleep to another steep hill the climbing of which has me off the seat, pounds my heart, and puts me into oxygen debt. Just near the top, a light goes on in house on left. Kitchen. Lady. Uh, sweet!

Iowa DNR refutes MidAmerican 'cap and trade' claims

on Thu, 09/24/2009 - 20:43   by Anonymous

September 24, 2009 by ggackle

In a stinging rebuke to MidAmerican Energy's opposition to federal "cap and trade" legislation, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has labeled the utility's cost estimates of the proposed carbon reduction bill "inappropriate and greatly inflated."

The Iowa DNR testimony before the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) August 27 points out MidAmerican's cost estimates of the legislation attributes both its wholesale and retail emissions to only its retail customers, thus inflating the cost to Iowa electric customers by more than $125 million.

In coming up with its impact on utility customers, MidAmerican also used a carbon price double what is estimated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Protection (EPA). The numbers cited by MidAmerican also do not reflect allowances provided by the bill for the benefit of low-income customers, the Iowa DNR pointed out.

'Cuckoo' - The Subtle Landscape

on Mon, 09/21/2009 - 21:33   by Anonymous

September 21, 2009 by bgierke

Here is Thomas Eakins’ "The Agnew Clinic." Similar to his picture below, this honors a retiring surgeon also emphasizing his service as an educator. The roiling factor here though is more subversive.

Eakins thought that there was nothing more beautiful than the human body and went to great lengths to provide his students with the benefits of his talents, including once disrobing for a young coed to show a real male body in motion.

On several occasions he allowed mixed gender life drawing classes. Such disregard for the mores of the time brought trouble upon him and he was released from his position. His choice of subject matter in the Agnew Clinic – a partially nude woman undergoing a mastectomy – was his retort.

Craigslist vs. QCA newspaper online classifieds

on Fri, 09/18/2009 - 19:11   by Anonymous

September 18, 2009 by ggackle

A recent article on wired.com about craigslist, the hugely popular online classified advertising site, prompted a revisit to craigslist quadcities to see how it's faring versus the two local online newspaper sites.

Craigslist quadcities has attracted a significant number of classified ad listings, but both qctimes.com and qconline.com have rolled out competing "free" online ad listings to try to stem the flow of listings to craigslist.

The Subtle Landscape - 'Gross'

on Wed, 09/16/2009 - 00:47   by Anonymous

September 11, 2009 by bgierke

From the early days of the republic through the antebellum years, the American zeitgeist had been ebullient, dynamic, and filled with ambition and wanderlust. Lewis and Clark, The Oregon Trail, Santa Fe, etc. The War Between the States, however, catalyzed a wrenching change in its trajectory.

Six hundred thousand lives were lost during the horrible conflict that followed our nation’s youthful exuberance – over 1 percent of the population. That’d translate into an incomprehensible 3 million today. Impossible for that not to be transformational, but the nature of the impact was not reserved to society’s human fabric. As Lewis Menand wrote in his 'The Metaphysical Club': “… the United States became a different country. The war alone did not make America modern, but the war marks the birth of modern America.”

Bi-state air quality group ignores 'elephant' in living room

on Wed, 09/09/2009 - 01:46   by Editor

A year ago, Bi-State Metropolitan Planning Commission officials and a group of local politicians - including Moline Mayor Don Welvaert - flew to Washington to urge the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency not to designate the two-state area as "non-attainment" for fine particulate pollution.

Today, as the issue of leaf-burning - a major generator of such pollution - rages in Moline, Bi-State and its air quality task force have yet to find their way to the Moline City Council chambers to urge an end to the practice.

Bi-State chief Denise Bulat says the commission provided the city with information on the issue last year and is "hopeful" Moline aldermen will vote to end open burning of leaves this year.

Google adds street views of QCA

on Fri, 09/04/2009 - 20:51   by Anonymous


September 4, 2009 by ggackle

The Google-mobile must have cruised through the Quad Cities last fall judging from the street-view images of Bettendorf/Davenport now appearing on Google Maps.

The Google camera-car imaged most of the main streets in town including Devils Glen, 53rd Ave., Middle, Crow Creek, State/Grant, Valley Drive, Kimberly Road and parts of 18th Street. CLICK HERE for the image of I-74 and downtown Bettendorf.

Pages

Go to top