Category: News

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Casino Smoking Ban Bill Advances

A bill to expand the smoking ban in the state of Colorado has advanced through the state house and now moves on to the state senate. House Bill 1269 would ban smoking in casinos in Colorado.
When the smoking ban was passed last year, casinos were one of the few exemptions where smokers could still smoke and it has created controversy ever since. It cleared the state house with relative ease with a vote of 36-29.

Last year when the bill was passed, I was amazed that this exemption was in there but you have to remember the strong lobby that the casinos have. The smoking ban has been good for employees in the state and for all of those non-smokers who visit those establishments. Casino ownes are trying to scare the legislators saying that the tax revenue will go down 20% – 35% if this ban goes into effect. But I doubt that this will happen.

Contrary to what those business owners and casino owners are saying the smoking ban will reduce business, more people are going out and revenues are up. The city of Boulder has seen an increase in revenues since the smoking ban went into effect. Revenues were up 3.14% from January 1997 to October 1997. You can read more about the economic impacts of smoking bans at BREATH, the California Smoke-free Bars, Workplaces and Communities Program. With this and the other improvements in other states, the reveunes will not go down.

The non-smoking workers in casinos have taken health tests and most of them test like they smoke two packs a day. That is crazy. The state must do more to protect them and the patrons who are non-smokers.

I hope the Senate comes through and passes this to.  If not, I expect to see a petition on our next state election to enact this ban.  If the legislators can’t do it, then the people will.

You can read more in the Rocky Mountain News.  Link… 

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Upgrade Your WordPress

Someone gained server level access on to one of the servers that powers WordPress and put some code in a couple of files that could cause them to run some remote PHP execution.  You can read more about this on the download site for version 2.1.2.
They WordPress team has reset the files.  But if you downloaded verstion 2.1.1 in the last couple days, you need to update immediately.

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Army Ignores Walter Reed and Injured Soldiers

I can’t believe that the US Army let Walter Reed go the way that it did. These are soldiers who served their country and were injured in the line of duty. We need to be doing everything that we can to support them and give them the best care that we can.
But the leadership in the Army listened to complaints and knew something was going on but didn’t do anything. The Washington Post broke this story and had a good one on Thursday, “Hospital Officials Knew of Neglect“, that explains how the leadership in the Army knew what was going on and they had been hearing complaints for years.

I think the best, most compelling statement in the story is:

… (Lt. Gen. Kevin C.) Kiley, his successive commanders at Walter Reed and various top noncommissioned officers in charge of soldiers’ lives have heard a stream of complaints about outpatient treatment over the past several years. The complaints have surfaced at town hall meetings for staff and soldiers, at commanders’ “sensing sessions” in which soldiers or officers are encouraged to speak freely, and in several inspector general’s reports detailing building conditions, safety issues and other matters.

This is unacceptable.  Kiley was the Commanding Officer at Walter Reed for a while and he is now the top medical officer in the Army.  His house is across the street from Building 18 where most of the problems are.  And he denies that there are that many problems.  But the proof is there.

This scandal has already cost two people their jobs, Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey and Walter Reed Commander Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman, who had only been there for about 6 months.  The problem is that before he was fired, Army Secretary Harvey replaced him with Kiley who has been aware of the problems and has done nothing.  This is what lead to him losing his job.  This was someone’s sick joke.  I can’t believe that Harvey did this.

I just hope that the Army can get it together and do something for our troops who are fighting for our country in a foreign land and getting injured.  They deserve the best, nothing less.

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Whole Foods buying Wild Oats

Is this good or bad? I don’t think that it can hurt. Take a look at the coverage in Bloomberg and Rocky Mountain News.
I like both Whole Foods and Wild Oats. They provide good food, many items that you can’t get anywhere else, and good service. But the one thing that hurts them is the fact that they are so expensive.

The two chains built their business on selling organic food when it was tough to find organic food. Now that everyone is selling it, mainly Safeway. Safeway has come out with a line of organics that is a lot cheaper than products that are similar at Whole Foods or Wild Oats.  They are even pushing them on their website.

Another store, that is not in Colorado, is Trader Joe’s. They offer similar products and organic food at a lot lower price than Whole Foods or Wild Oats. I bet the competition is quite fierce. I would love to have Trader Joe’s move into the Colorado market.

I may have to check out Vitamin Cottage. These tend to be smaller stores but apparently have good service and prices. That is what Al Lewis of the Denver Post thinks in his blog post this afternoon, “Whole Foods announces plans to swallow Wild Oats whole“. They may be worth a try.

This acquisition can only benefit the two chains. I hope it works. The have a good product and hopes that it gets better.

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Hilary’s In

Hilary Clinton has posted on her website that she is in for a 2008 Presidential run.
Read CNN’s story.

Read the Washington Post‘s coverage.

The field gets more crowded and the major contenders are coming in.

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Well DHL Finally Delivers Package

DHL finally delivered the package that I have been waiting for, 21 days after it was shipped.
It has been sitting in Denver since December 26 and after DHL gave it to a courier to deliver, who couldn’t manage to do that, and took it back to deliver themselves.

These shipping companies, mainly United Parcel Service and DHL, need to better manage their delivery of packages during storms.  From what I am hearing, people have had nothing but problems.

You would think that these companies would be better prepared and if I was a shareholder I would be concerned.

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Mac Geeks Go Crazy Over iPhone

Apple made a revolutionary announcement yesterday when Steve Jobs unveiled their iPhone. This phone is the best phone that has ever been designed and it is less than a 1/2 inch thick.
The user interface is amazing and incorporating a wide screen iPod that automatically switches between portrait and landscape is revolutionary. To be able to control the device with my finger and scroll through all the information is crazy. The multiple sensors that are in the phone that keep track of where it is and automatically turns off when it gets close to your fact to take a call.

The iPod part of is amazing. The scrolling with the finger and then clicking on the song or album that you want to listen to really improves the interface. The scroll wheel is now history.

The phone part of this device is crazy. I think the coolest option was in voicemail where you don’t have to listen through all your voicemail, you can just listen to the voicemail that you want in the order that you want.

For the internet surfing portion of the iPhone, the ability to surf the web in full and not reduced for the mobile device is the big draw for me. The widgets and maps are a great addition especially if the iPhone will interact with GPS.

One of the drawbacks on the phone will be fingerprints on the device. There were already fingerprints on the device from Steve Jobs’ presentation. A minor drawback is that is on Cingular. Cingular Wireless is one of the worst wireless companies out there and their EDGE service is a lot slower than EVDO.

Another negative is that the price points combined with only 4GB and 8GB of storage may be a limiting factor for people. But if you realize that you have a phone, iPod, and PDA in one device, it will be really cost-effective.

To read a good review of the iPhone, take a look at this Time article, “Apple’s New Calling: The iPhone“.

Also, something that hasn’t really been discussed or spoken about is that the trademark of iPhone is held by Cisco, but only in the United States. Apple holds the trademark outside the United States. Apparently they have been in negotiations, but that may have been broken down when Apple was sued today by Cisco for trademark violations as reported by the Mac User Blog. The Wall Street Journal also had an article today on the lawsuit, “Cisco Suit May Snag Apple’s iPhone Plans“.

David Pogue of the NY Times had a good column on the iPhone. He should know, he is one of the only people outside of Apple to spend considerable amount of time with the device. The article “Apple Waves Its Wand at the Phone“, summarizes the device better than those out there. He discusses many items that were not covered in the demo.

If I have some extra money, I will be looking at this device. It is amazing.

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Avalanche Traps 8, Only 1 Admitted to the Hospital

According to the Rocky Mountain News, only one person was admitted to the hospital in the avalanche that occurred on Berthoud Pass today.  The avalanche happened on what is known as the Stanley run.
There are many avalanche paths that cross Highway 40, but it is unusual for avalanches to come down uncontrolled in this area.  The Colorado Department of Transportation regularly inspects and does control work throughout the whole highway.

But it appears that the wind that came up this morning loaded the starting zone before anyone realized what was going on and could stop traffic and do control work in the area.

I am glad that no one was killed or seriously injured.

Read the complete Rocky Mountain News Story, (No one else trapped; eight taken to hospital)

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More Information on Avalanche in Berthoud Pass

It is now being reported that the avalanche occurred in the biggest avalanche area on Berthoud Pass, the Stanley Run.
It is located on the east side of Berthoud Pass, just south the top of the pass.

Apparently CDOT has been doing control work in the area through the storms and was last done on Wednesday. This morning the conditions were fine, but there was a lot of wind that has come up and depositing snow in those avalanche runs and this may be the cause.

This is all from the spokesman from the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.

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Avalanche Buries Hwy 40 Over Berthoud Pass

Various news stations are just reporting an avalanche over Berthoud Pass, about 35 miles west of Denver. There are reports of cars being trapped and buried and maybe even some cars being pushed over the side of the road.
This is a major highway for people to access Winter Park Ski Area. With all the new snow we have had and it being a Saturday, there were a lot of people heading to the mountains and skiing.

Highway 40 is a two to three lane road with many switchbacks and numerous avalanche runs coming down and crossing the highway. It is a pretty step valley. Usually, the Colorado Department of Transportation does control work in this area, so it is amazing this has happened here.

The drainage where this avalanche took place has been influenced by the last three storms that have hit the Colorado area. These avalanche runs also receive a lot of wind deposited snow from the west. It is a dangerous area when there is a big deposit of snow and wind with those storms.

I hope the rescuers are able to get to everyone in time.

Read Denver Post Story (Avalanche Traps Cars, Closes US 40)

Read Rocky Mountain News Story (Avalanche buries cars near Berthoud Pass)