inDECATUR

Route 125 may FINALLY be moved off Sycamore Drive

Decatur Dad forwarded a notice to Decatur Metro of hearing regarding moving MARTA bus route off Sycamore Drive, which is residential, to Arcadia Drive and Winn Way.

January 5, 2009
Community Exchange: 6:00 P.M. - 7:00 P.M. - Hearing begins at 7:00pm

Maloof Auditorium
1300 Commerce Drive
Decatur, GA 30030
Walk one block west of the Decatur Rail Station
Bus Routes: 15, 18, 19 and 123

This a a very logical move, which the Decatur Hieghts Neighborhood Association has pushed for years.

If you agree, please attend the meeting and express your support.

Guitar Red gets honorable mention

"Guitar Red Lightnin' in a Bottle – Excellent old-time blues from someone who is known as a street musician in Decatur, Georgia."

Anti-Music

Free sky show tonight

A delightful display of planets and the moon will occur on New Year's Eve for anyone wishing to step outside and look up just after sunset.

Venus, brighter than all other planets and stars, will dangle just below the thin crescent moon in the southwestern sky. It'll be visible -- impossible to miss, in fact -- just as the sun goes down, assuming skies are cloud-free.

Soon thereafter, Mercury and Jupiter will show up hugging the south-southwestern horizon (just above where the sun went down) and extremely close to each other. Jupiter is very bright and easy to spot; Mercury is faint and harder to see, but it'll be apparent by its location just to the left of Jupiter.

Jupiter and Mercury will set less than an hour after the sun, so timing your viewing just after sunset is crucial. You'll also need a location with a clear view of the western horizon, unobstructed by buildings, trees or mountains.

RB | Yahoo Buzz | 12/31/2008

DeKalb Medical hosting job fair 1/15/09

DeKalb Medical Center is hosting a Career Fair on Jan. 15, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m., at the hospital’s Bobbie Bailey Tower, 2701 North Decatur Road, Decatur.

The event is open to all registered nurses, as well as registered healthcare professionals, including physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, medical technologist generalists, registered respiratory therapists, MRI technicians, CT technicians, dosimetrists, and medical physicists.

"If you are a qualified nursing or registered healthcare professional, you can come to the career fair, meet with hiring managers directly, visit your department of interest and potentially get hired on the same day," said DeKalb Medical Employment Manager Sue Dunlap.

On Common Ground

Ask for credentials before opening door for LE

DeKalb County police Tuesday were investigating an early-morning break-in at a home in Ellenwood by men masquerading as law enforcement officers.

The victim told investigators that the suspects flashed badges and claimed to be “special agents” when they entered the home in the 3900 block of Day Trail North and immediately demanded money, DeKalb police spokeswoman Bettina Durant said.

MM | AJC | 12/30/2008

The way things are going, we'll need to install a steel door with one of those small 4x4 inch doors in it, or aan A/V system.

List of banished words

Lake Superior State University "maverick" word-watchers, fresh from the holiday "staycation" but without an economic "bailout" even after a "desperate search," have issued their 34th annual List of Words to Be Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness. This year's list may be more "green" than any of the previous lists and includes words and phrases that people from "Wall Street to Main Street" say they love "not so much" and wish to have erased from their "carbon footprint."

On Dec. 31, 1975, former LSSU Public Relations Director Bill Rabe and his colleagues cooked up an idea to banish overused words and phrases. Rabe distributed the list on New Year's Day. In the following weeks, when nominations for the next year's list came pouring into his office, Rabe said he knew the list would endure. He was correct. The LSSU PR office still receives thousands of nominations every year from people who never seem to tire of talking about words and language.

This year's list comes from thousands of nominations received through the university's website, lssu.edu/banished. Nominations are accepted throughout the year. Word enthusiasts target pet peeves from everyday speech, as well as from the news, education, technology, advertising, politics, sports and more. A committee makes a final cut in late December. Visit the website to submit nominations for next year's list, or write banish@lssu.edu.

On to the 2009 Banished Words List...  (see at link or in continuation)

Notes and open discussion for Wednesday, 12/31/2008

Notes may be added until noon. Comment anytime.

inDECATUR is one year and almost 5 months old (512 days) with 2915 posts (averaging 5.69/day), all searchable in the sidebar.

DECATURadar (looking out at the world from the Decatur Square)

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Tessa @ Drive a Faster Car has many suggestions of places in ATL to spend your NYE.

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This blogger's 7-day average weight is 163.9 (no change from yesterday). Goal weight is 159.

Republicans need to lure Blacks off the liberal plantation

"Despite everything else, blacks vote to stay on the liberal plantation. Pop psychologists would call the relationship between wealthy liberals and blacks co-dependence.

Republicans are wrong if they think they'll win blacks on social issues alone. They need to help blacks understand that limited government provides the economic mobility and opportunity they need and that the welfare, redistribution state does the opposite. They must help blacks gain self-confidence so that they can enjoy the benefits that can only come from freedom.

So far, Republicans have failed to do this. Which is another reason why they now sit on the outside looking in."

Star Parker | Marietta Daily Journal | 12/30/2008

Replay of what Jimmy Carter said in late April

Former US President Jimmy Carter has said that Hamas is prepared to accept the right of Israel to "live as a neighbor next door in peace".

After meeting Hamas leaders last week in Syria, he criticized the US and Israel for refusing to meet the group.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has challenged Hamas to prove its goodwill by renouncing violence.

After Mr Carter's remarks, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal stressed that Hamas would not formally recognize Israel.

But he told a news conference in the Syrian capital, Damascus, that Hamas would accept a Palestinian state on the land occupied by Israel in the 1967 war.

BBC

Since Israel moved out of Gaza in 2005, and Hamas took over what Fatah once controlled, Hamas has never stated nor shown any desire to live in peace with Israel. It has continued to fire rockets into Israel. They are very inaccurate, and don't cause large numbers of deaths and injuries, but they lead to a very uneasy state.

How would you like it if Cuba could fire missiles into the Southeast, with one landing somewhere in the Atlanta area every few days?  What if a building in Decatur got blown up now and then, maybe with the loss of an arm or a leg -- moybe yours, or your kid's?  What if one of those inaccurate rockets killed one or both the twin grandkids of Robert Elrod?

How long would the US put up with that? How long would it be before you were protesting not for peace, but for elimination of the risk and security?

Fatah is even criticizing Hamas now, saying it has brought this disaster down on the poor people of Gaza.

As of this posting, the Carter Center has yet to post an official position by former President Carter on the current conflagration. But, he's probably working on one.

Key to success of Virtual Decatur is awards for achievements

The idea of moving applicable city services online in an MMO-style virtual world is fantastic, and since Decatur’s “achievements” (Game|Life’s word) translate to coupons and discounts at local businesses as rewards for interaction, this might be worth spreading to other cities. Finally, all that time spent navigating the freak parade in Second Life might come in handy!

TechnaBob

Several experts in virtual worlds have said people will not participate unless they can win something.

Perhaps, in addition to finding coupons, a personal get points for everywhere he/she visited, and the top point earners each month could win additional coupons and recognition.