If you need a break from the anger, outrage, and general unpleasantness of our politicized modern culture, put this on full screen for a while and remember that there is still beauty in the world:
The Weekly Post prototype (image supplied by The Weekly Post)Some say that newspapers are dying, but a newborn venture in rural Peoria County is defying conventional wisdom.
Starting today, Feb. 21, The Weekly Post will deliver news, features, photos, comics and more for free to 5,000 households in western Peoria and eastern Knox counties.
“There is still a place for a truly local newspaper,” said editor Jeff Lampe, a former Peoria Journal Star outdoors writer and current publisher of the monthly magazine Heartland Outdoors. “People want to know what is happening in their community. Despite the growth of Facebook and Internet blogs, community news is not always readily available.
“Our goal is to provide that local information and to become the news source people for residents of Brimfield, Edwards, Elmwood, Kickapoo, Laura, Williamsfield and Yates City.”
Lampe is enlisting regular contributions from area residents such as three other former Journal Star reporters: Terry Bibo, Keith Butterfield and Bill Knight. The Weekly Post will also feature material from local photographers, writers, businesspeople and students.
Bibo is an award-winning columnist who continues to freelance for the Journal Star, covering Fulton County.
Butterfield was a longtime government reporter before becoming a spokesman for Caterpillar, from which he retired last year.
Knight, who retired from teaching journalism at Western Illinois University in May, also writes a twice-weekly newspaper column for downstate dailies and weeklies and does weekly commentaries for public radio.
“Some people think we are crazy to start a newspaper in this day and age. But I still see successful weeklies across Illinois,” Lampe said. “Those successful papers have at least one thing in common: They print stories and features people want to read. That is our goal. We plan to cover the news of west-central Illinois with a passion.”
In an email exchange with Bill Knight, I learned that the weekly paper is free and will be supported solely via advertising. A companion website is planned for the future, but initial efforts will be focused on the printed paper, according to Knight.
If I told you about a weight-loss program that involves emptying your stomach contents into the toilet before the food can be digested, what would you think I was describing? Bulimia, right?
With Aspiration Therapy, patients “aspirate” (drain) a portion of their stomach contents into the toilet after each meal through an endoscopically-implanted tube, reducing the number of calories absorbed by the body. The tube is implanted in the stomach, and leads to a small, low-profile port at the surface of the skin. Aspiration performed about twenty minutes after a meal will remove about a third of the calories consumed.
Aspiration Therapy System
They call this “minimally invasive,” which is funny in and of itself. But the best line in their promotional material is this: “The AspireAssist is used in conjunction with a lifestyle modification program, and requires careful and comprehensive medical monitoring.” This is equivalent to those 1970s commercials for Sugar Smacks cereal that included the obligatory tagline, “Part of this nutritious breakfast!” Yeah, right. Another of the worst ideas that people have come up with when it comes to losing weight is not to use the best thermogenic fat burner on the internet, all because of fake news and misleading publications.
Don’t let the title fool you into thinking he’s advocating ignorance. He’s not. On the contrary, the core of his argument is that “news” does not make us better informed, and in fact keeps us from being well-informed citizens. He argues against the short, superficial factoids that get hurled at us through radio, TV, and newspapers, and instead advocates reading books and in-depth magazine or journal articles that provide context and deeper understanding.
Take a little time to read and contemplate his arguments. What do you think of them?
Cheers to all this New Year’s Eve. May 2013 bring greater health and happiness to you, and may you succeed in fulfilling all your New Year’s resolutions.
Crises lead to permanent shifts in the tolerable limits of the true size of government. Crises break down the ideological resistance to Big Government by (1) providing occasions for the improvement of command-and-control mechanisms, which renders them less obnoxious; (2) discrediting the conservative domino theory, with its implications that all civil and political liberties will be lost in a mixed economy; and (3) creating opportunities for many people both within and without the government to do well for themselves and hence to look more favorably on the new order.
—Robert Higgs, “Crisis and Leviathan: Critical Episodes in the Growth of American Government”
I was wondering why I didn’t have any phone or DSL service the last two days. The Journal Star answered my question today when I was finally able to log on again:
Illinois American Water said Wednesday that an underground AT&T phone line was cut in the 500 block of Main Street during construction work.
Illinois American spokeswoman Karen Cotton said that information about the phone line’s location was inaccurate, and the line was cut once construction began.
They should have called Julie. My phone/DSL service went out Tuesday afternoon, and AT&T got the line reconnected at some point between midnight and 6:00 this morning.
I was recently on vacation with my family when we stopped at a hotel in Atlanta, Georgia. The front desk clerk asked me where I was from, and I told him Peoria. What question do you think the desk clerk asked me next?
A. “Peoria? Isn’t that Richard’s home town?”
B. “Peoria? Isn’t that the place people like to make fun of?”
C. “Peoria? Do you work for Caterpillar?”
D. “Peoria? Home of Big Al’s?”
E. “Peoria? Is that where they’re building that new Global Immersion Theater?”
UPDATE: The answer is A. The conversation went like this:
“Where are y’all from?”
“Peoria, Illinois.”
“Peoria? Isn’t that Richard’s home town?”
“Yes, yes it is. He wasn’t too proud of his home town, though.”
“Yeah, born in a whorehouse he said, but was that true or just part of his act?” he asked rhetorically. “He was a very multi-talented man.”
I think we would all agree that one shouldn’t run with scissors. It’s dangerous. You could trip and fall and impale yourself, or put out your eye. Worse, the scissors could fly out of your hands accidentally and injure another person. Anyone who runs with scissors does a very foolish thing. That’s a given.
The question is not, “Should one not run with the scissors?” The question is, “Should there be a law against running with scissors?” In other words, should the government make it a crime to run with scissors? Should a bill be introduced in the state or federal legislature making it illegal to run with scissors? Should anyone caught running with scissors in a public place be fined, or perhaps jailed?
Hi all. Sorry I haven’t been blogging much. I’ll be back on the beat soon.
In the meantime, did you see the Cardinals sweep the Cubs this weekend? Albert Pujols hit the game-winning home run two games in a row! Ah, sweet victory. Wish I could have been there.
