Entries from September 2007 ↓

Click on the photo to see CNN bore us with a Saturday morning “breaking news” headline.

A woman traveling on a motorcycle hit a pallet in the middle of the road at 7000 South and 700 West.

She flipped end-over-end before getting thrown from her bike.

Midvale police say she was not wearing a helmet and speed may have been a factor. She was taken to a hospital with serious injuries.

Police warn drivers carrying large loads to make sure they are secure so these types of accidents don’t happen.

- via KSL.com

I hope she’s okay.

The man credited with founding Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales — known to Wikipedians as “Jimbo” — was a finance major at Auburn University when the Mises Institute’s Mark Thornton suggested he read “The Use of Knowledge in Society,” a now-famous essay written by Austro-libertarian economist and Nobel laureate Friedrich von Hayek. The essay argues that prices in the market represent a spontaneous order that results from the interaction of individuals with diverse wants, allowing them to cooperate to achieve complex goals. According to a June 2007 Reason magazine interview, this insight of Hayek’s is what led Wales to found Wikipedia. The rather lofty vision that inspired Wales? “Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. That’s what we’re doing.”

via Mises.org

The Utah Jazz have openings for what sounds like their game night promotions staff.

The Game Night Team will:
- Assist with giveaways
- Be ENERGETIC, Personable and RELIABLE
- Be able to work ALL JAZZ home games

For details or more information contact West Brown at wbrown@utahjazz.com.

Blake tipped me off to this.

Zrii? Goyin? Seabuck? I got curious and found that every single fruit that is classed as a “superfruit” in Wikipedia has a company in Utah that markets products for those fruits.

Hmmm.

The race is on for those hoping to take over for Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, and the two potential mayors are Dave Buhler and Ralph Becker.

In a surprise upset, Jenny Wilson didn’t make it, but she takes the cake on the “best statement” in the post-primary election article in the Salt Lake Tribune.

Jenny Wilson, who will return to her seat on the Salt Lake County Council, said she will endorse Becker since they have the same constituencies.

Translation. I will endorse Becker because we are both Democrats.

p.s. The guy Rocky Anderson endorsed (Keith Christensen) got smoked in the primaries with a single-digit percentage on the vote tally, and Rocky says he’ll now support Becker (no surprise). What’s interesting is that Salt Lake City hasn’t had a Republican in the running for SLC mayor for 16 years . . . not that I’m endorsing one party or the other, but it probably balances the political climate a little in a state where GOP candidates win the majority of the elections.

Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker? Maybe we should start learning a thing or two about this guy.

Other Salt Lake City Mayor News
- Becker For Mayor - Leadership, experience, and a winning smile.
- Mayor of Salt Lake City
- At the last minute, my endorsement for SLC Mayor

Read this first.

Apparently a producer with the O’Reilly Factor emailed Mark Cuban wanting his comments on a film called Redacted that HDNet Films produced.

His response (which he posts online with the original email from the producer) is a breath of fresh air. Cuban takes the opportunity to call Bill O’Reilly to the carpet instead of responding to the loaded questions posed by the producer. I’ve bolded a few of the assumptive questioning tactics that are often used by journalists that are into sensationalism.

The Factor:

The Factor will be doing a segment this evening on Redacted…which, as you know, depicts US atrocities in Iraq. The director says the depicted rape is “the reality” of what is happening in that country. Of all of the schools that are being built, the medical care being supplied, and the security that our soldiers have been providing to Iraqi neighborhoods…do you agree that a few random and horrific crimes represent the norm of what is going on in that newly liberated country? and what exactly was it about the film that made you want to produce it?

It seems harmless on the surface, but it’s the way Cuban’s words would get twisted by answering statements that can be misconstrued (intentionally) as questions. So, he pretty much just said what he wanted to say. “His (O’Reilly’s) command of the facts is truly abysmal. What other lies has Bill spread that I can dispel?”