Al Gore Video of the week

I can think of a few reasons

Officials wonder why few ride buses

1. They're nasty and the climate control is bad.
2. They don't run as scheduled.
3. The routes often don't make sense.
4. I know of one bus route that only runs once per day in late afternoon.

Get used to it

Residents asked to use less water

That's our new climate, people. You can pretty much bet on hotter and dryer (with the occasional tropical storm) from here on. Enjoy your lawns.

A short play about the Siegelman trial

Jury deadlocks after six days

JURY: We wanna go home!

JUDGE: Well, you can't.

JURY: Aw, come on!

JUDGE: You come back tomorrow and talk some more. I'll reconsider then.

JURY: You know, we might reach a verdict if not for Juror Number Six, hint hint!

This again?

BREAKING NEWS: Bryce patient walks off Tuscaloosa campus - Tuscaloosa

We had an actual homicidal lunatic walk off the Bryce Mental Hospital campus a couple of years ago -- he wound up in Utah. (He didn't kill anyone along the way.) I don't know the details about this one yet. You would think that they would be more careful.

But There No Such Thing As Global Warming

al.com: NewsFlash - Study says Earth's temp at 400-year high

By the way, why isn't the first day of summer the hottest day of the year? Not that it wasn't insanely hot yesterday -- 101 degrees at 4:45 by my car thermometer.

Anyway, what will it take for the Republicans to admit that the Earth is warming? Does Florida have to actually be underwater? Does the entire western half of the country actually have to be on fire? Just tell me, and we'll know when to plan for it.

UPDATE: Make that 2000 years.

In the tank

Inspectors add tankers to priority list

The crackdown --finally -- on trucker legal violations has spread to tanker trucks. Seems like a good idea, what with the two bridges destroyed by tanker explosions. The tankers aren't nearly as bad as the flatbed coil haulers. 120 coil haulers were inspected in the Birmingham area last week. 50 of them were placed out of service.

But truckers are special, holy drivers, who should not be subject to the law.

This is silly

Population loss could cost Birmingham federal money

You would think that the metropolitan population (still by far the largest in the state, and growing) would be more important. So what if Montgomery passes Birmingham in the city population? The only problem is that in a couple of decades they'll have to start thinking about calling it the "Hoover-Birmingham Metropolitan Area".

Children Left Behind

Displaced students' scores exempted

Students who were "displaced" by Hurricane Katrina won't have their test scores examined under NCLB. But what does "displaced" mean? Does it include the entire school that went to half-days? What if your power at home was off for three months?

One of the fun things about my job

Is getting to see lines like this in the catalog:

Beef Cattle, by Roscoe R. Snapp. With A Chapter On Sterility, By Harry Hardenbrook, Jr

It just brightens my day. I mean, I'm hardly one to talk about goofy names, but "Roscoe R. Snapp"?

If you don't like it, start your own religion

Presbyterians to try variations on Trinity:

Okay, I'm fairly nonsexist, but I have my limits. And one of them is when you start messing around with two thousand years of Christian doctrine like this.

"Compassionate mother, beloved child and lifegiving womb"

"Rainbow of Promise, Ark of Salvation and Dove of Peace"

"Speaker, Word and Breath"

"Giver, Gift, and Giving"

"Lover, Beloved and Love that binds together Lover and Beloved"

"Rock, Cornerstone, and Temple"

Sheesh. No wonder the evangelicals are kicking your ass.

Bor-ring

3 days deliberation; no verdict

Come on, people!

If this is like Scrushy's last trial, there are eleven people thoroughly bamboozled by the defense and one person holding out for conviction.

Maybe Bush could do something about this

TIME.com: Olympic Swimmers, Rise and Shine! -- Page 1

NBC wants the Chinese to schedule the prime events of the 2008 Summer Olympics around US TV watching patterns. Basically, this would mean scheduling them in early morning, because China is technically on what we call the other side of the world, so 8 AM there is prime time here. Of course, it's the middle of the night in Europe, but who cares about them?

Alligator shows gratitude by not eating him yet

Livingston man allows alligator to stay in pond - Tuscaloosa

Might as well get used to it. Central Alabama is now hot enough to be a gator habitat.

Bring your own lunch

Cemeteries turn spirited for lunch, driving lessons

I don't know about eating lunch in a graveyard, but there might be certain advantages to teaching someone to drive in its parking lot. Lots of examples.

And it only took twenty years

Trucks will be moved to I-459

Not to mention the numerous fatalities and the millions of dollars in highway damage. But finally the state is going to make thru truckers go around Birmingham. The truckers, no doubt, will complain that they're special and shouldn't have to follow the rules and it's not like all truckers blow up bridges.