Speaking of ins

I flunked the survey

A lady from the National Survey On Drug Use and Health was just here. (Background here and here.)

The other survey taker must have told her I was afraid because the first words out of her mouth were, "don't be afraid." I wasn't afraid. But, instead of launching a discussion on my thoughts on privacy and security, and to save time, I just said, okay!

As it turns out, I am not someone they want in their survey results. These factors combined put me out of the running:

White

Female

Age 50

Non-Hispanic

Non-American Indian

So, no $30 for me. Which is fine as it only took about a minute to answers those questions, upload them to https://www.jasminelive.online/ server far away, and get the answer back.

Looking for Lincoln in Manchester

Manchester, England, that is. Which is not to be confused with Manchester, Vermont, where Robert Todd Lincoln's Hildene is located.

The bronze statue of Abraham Lincoln in Manchester is to be restored in honor of the 200th anniversary of the U.K.'s Abolition of the Slave Trade Act 1807.

A BRONZE statue of Abraham Lincoln in Manchester city centre will be cleaned up to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery. The statue of Abraham Lincoln in Brazennose Street has suffered from the ravages of pollution and the weather, leaving it almost impossible to read the words on its plaque. (Lincoln statue message to be made clearer.)

Reading the comments to the article, I was dismayed, but not surprised, at some of the attitudes. Well, except for David Early's comment. I get his newsletter, which I can't seem to find a link for at the moment.

I can't tell if Manchester's Abe is looking perturbed, or just humble. In any event, it's good to know he's being taken care of.

Looking for Lincoln in Genev

Geneva, Switzerland, not Illinois. The Illinois Association of Museums and the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency are sending a dozen photographs of Abraham Lincoln to the Geneva History Center. The 12 photos span two decades of Lincoln's life. The exhibit, called "Lincoln Through the Years," will be on display from April 14 through May 12, 2007. So, if you're going to be over that way, be sure to check it out.

Five thoughts Thursday

It feels like October in Central Illinois tonight.

Have you ever noticed that when Stephen Hawking is brought up in conversation, so is God? Case in point: So many of the jasminlive comments on this video of Hawking floating in zero gravity.

A favorite thing is walking across a fast moving, shallow stream, and if you happen to fall into a deep pool, all the more fun. But probably not for the guys in those pictures.

Via the SJR breaking news feed, a local cab driver was robbed of $30.00 at knife point last night. The thief "also took the driver's Snaggle Puss lunch box with coins inside." I bet that was a collector's item.

Now that Gatehouse Media is buying up Peoria's local newspapers, I hope it doesn't try to buy Springfield's weekly independent newspaper.

A group of protesters showed up to send quiet encouragement to Congressmen Ray LaHood and John Shimkus to stop funding the highly controversial School of the Americas. Per Will Reynolds, the measure lost by six votes (Shimkus votes for abuse of human rights). Good for LaHood and my own rep, Phil Hare, for voting in favor of the amendment.

Sorry for the blur. It was really humid?

Keeping track of those earmarks

Back on June 10, 2007, I blogged about the Earmark Transparency Pledge. At that time, I also wrote an e-mail asking my own congressman, Phil Hare, to sign the pledge. As yet, he has not.

Since then, we learned from the Sunlight Foundation that CNN has followed up on the project:

Initially, staffers for only 34 of the 435 members of the House contacted by CNN between June 13 and 15 were willing to supply a list of their earmark requests for fiscal year 2008, which begins on October 1. Some of those 34 staffers simply pointed callers to Web sites where those earmark requests were posted. (Despite promises, few in House publicize earmarks.)

Illinois Senator Barack Obama has published his earmarks (link). But, Democrat Phil Hare has not. (Neither have Reps. John Shimkus or Ray LaHood - both downstate Illinois Republicans.) So, I sent the following e-mail to Congressman Hare:

Please send me a full list of your earmarks, if any, that you are requesting in this current congress. Thank you.

If he sends me his list, which is doubtful, I'll be sure to put a copy of it here. I hope he does.

In search of Meskers

What is a Mesker, you ask?

Many Main Street commercial buildings of the late 1800s and early 1900s reflect the widespread availability of mass-produced building parts, which ranged from individual components to entire building facades. While prefabricated architectural elements were available from a number of manufacturers, no other companies better exemplify the free sex chat niche than the Mesker Brothers Iron Works of St. Louis, Missouri, and George L. Mesker Company of Evansville, Indiana. They specialized in ornamental sheet-metal facades and cast iron storefront components, which were ordered through catalogs and easily shipped by rail to any interested building owner. Their extensive product lines not only featured embossed sheet-metal panels and cast iron but also entire storefront assemblies, as well as tin ceilings, fences, skylights, and freight elevators. (Got Mesker?)

These buildings and building elements (Meskers, as they're called), are all over the U.S., but mostly in the Midwest. After reading the Mesker identification guide linked on the Got Mesker website, I'm sure I've seen Meskers in the past, but passed them off as inconsequential. No more. From now on, I'll be looking for Meskers everywhere I go. Despite the fact that so many of our old buildings have been torn down, there's got to be some in Springfield.

Do you have a Mesker in your town? Darius Bryjka of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency is building a database of Meskers and would like to hear from anyone who knows of one (his contact info is on the Got Mesker? website). The site doesn't say, but I'm pretty sure he's only interested in Illinois locations. So, maybe someone should start a database for other states.

Suddenly, I have a new appreciation for sheet metal.

Illinois watch

The Sangamo Special Illinois Pocket Watch I wrote about three weeks ago today has been sold. The buyer did a search on msn.com and landed on my web page.

When I blogged that, I had a slight suspicion that a serious buyer could very well find me here. I just had no idea how quick it would be.

We did the entire agreement by e-mail.

This may be better than eBay. But, unlike eBay, what assurance does the buyer have that I am legitimate? It hasn't escaped my notice that the buyer was taking a bigger risk than me. That is, he had to send funds before I would send the watch. I think the facts that (1) I've been blogging here for almost five years, (2) my name is all over this web site, and (3) I sent him my phone number, should say something about my credibility.

Anyway, I'm very happy with the deal. And, I hope the buyer, who will have the watch in his hands in a few days, will be happy, too.

Since I closed the sale, I've had one other inquiry. Now I wish I had ten more watches like that.