Cheap solar
Untitled Document Solar power has not historically been very cost-effective. What will bring costs down to make solar competitive with other energy sources? The relatively low price of oil and the high cost of developing new technology have prevented the widespread adoption of solar power. At a current cost of 25 to 50 cents per…
The Great American Novel
Untitled Document THE$5 MAN Chapter 1, page 1. The Spinster Goode Hatbrow raised pigs instead of children. She . . . Page 102. The man with all his parts replaced is tethered to Harry Wonder III by feeding tubes. They’ve just escaped Bob Walnut Hospital No. 6, and they’re heading south down Route 55 in a…
Deviled Easter eggs
Untitled Document Easter was a big deal when I was growing up. There were the church services, which for a number of years included a sunrise play at Lincoln Memorial Garden, directed and produced by my mom (she also made the costumes and set, a.k.a. the tomb). It was pretty impressive to see that figure…
Parting shot
Untitled Document Anyone hired by the city of Springfield would have to live in or move into the city limits if an ordinance proposed by Ward 2 Ald. Frank McNeil passes. The ordinance should be on first reading April 3, and on the council’s agenda April 18, which happens to be the last meeting for…
Letters to the Editor
Untitled Document We welcome letters. Please include your full name, address, and telephone number. We edit all letters. Send them to Letters, Illinois Times, P.O. Box 5256, Springfield, IL 62705; fax 217-753-3958; e-mail editor@illinoistimes.com. HERE COMES THE GOVERNOR It may be an over-dramatization, but I understand what Paul Revere must have been thinking. I feel…
Line in the sand
Untitled Document If you’ve ever lived in an actual city, you might not think of Springfield and the term “urban sprawl” in the same sentence. Or the same paragraph. Or even the same series of paperback mysteries. Springfield’s urban sprawl is like Springfield’s “rush hour” or its nightlife — it does exist but in a…
“Goosebumps”
Untitled Document Last Friday night, more than 250 people found their way to the Springfield Jaycees Activity Center, tucked away down a dead-end road near Bunn Park, to support Doris Chambers and the seven children she took into her home a year ago, after their father died and their mother was sent to prison. The…
The health-care monster returns
Untitled Document Like the Creature from the Black Lagoon, the health-insurance monster has returned, creeping back onto the public stage. After President Bill Clinton’s jury-rigged pen to contain the monster collapsed in 1994, it never really went away. Political leaders tried to ignore the beast or deal piecemeal with its ravages, but it pushed more…
Chico and the enchilada
Untitled Document Chico was just some guy I had heard about through my friend Karla. An Aztec dancer living in San Francisco, Chico had blown into Washington for a night, bunking with our mutual friend. I stopped by to say hello to Karla, and Chico and I met as he was waking from…
The giant who changed Illinois politics
Untitled Document William Russell Arrington — best known as Russ — was a familiar face and factor in the Illinois General Assembly from 1945 to 1973. Moreover, he was one of history’s most dominant legislators, with ideas that influenced state government, especially the Senate, for decades. Many of the state’s elected leaders have since honored…
Christmas for lobbyists
Untitled Document Two major tax-increase proposals are competing for support in the Legislature. You’ve probably read about both, but you may not know the whole story. The governor has a huge tax-hike proposal on the agenda. It’s called a gross-receipts tax, and it basically means that every dollar a business brings in the door is…
Hard pressed
Untitled Document Illinois newspapers are lining up against Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s controversial gross-receipts-tax plan, a stance the governor’s office blames on pressure from “big business.” The boards of directors of the Illinois Press Association, which represents about 600 newspapers, and the Illinois Press Foundation last week voted unanimously to oppose the tax plan, which the…
Sacre bleu!
Untitled Document The French cinema certainly looks a lot different today than it used to. The country that many Americans have deluded themselves into believing is a nation of wimps and cowards has been producing a steady stream of action and violent movies. The turning point may have been the success of Luc…
Davlin vs. Strom
Untitled Document On taxes . . . Whenever Mayor Tim Davlin wants to make a point about his administration’s record on taxes, he trots out a bar graph showing that Springfield has some of the lowest municipal taxes of similarly sized central Illinois towns. His critics don’t quibble with those numbers; instead, they point out…
People’s Poetry
Untitled Document aroundthecosmospoem #5 do you know an asteroid willcome so close to earth someforty years from now that there’scollision concern bloggers arerecommending ways to avertthis catastrophe so we won’t allgo the way of the dinosaurs some recommend places for impactone writes “if it comes to it wecan just send up a great shieldof…
Christian extremists go nuts
Untitled Document Just when you hoped that extremist Christian political leaders might have learned a lesson from November’s elections, here they come again — nuttier than a pecan forest. What’s got them jumping out of their shells is all the fuss about global warming. In particular, they’re upset that so many evangelical ministers and churches…
Do the time warp again
Untitled Document Although it comes as a blow to our national pride, we should probably just admit it: The best soul album of 2007 may very well be a product of Britain. Meet Amy Winehouse, a 23-year-old white Londoner whose alarmingly skinny frame seems incapable of supporting her huge bouffant hairdo, much less the mountains…
Treading familiar territory
Untitled Document Meet the Robinsons Running time 1:42 Rated PG-13 ShowPlace West, ShowPlace East Even after dominating the field for years, Disney still doesn’t seem to know which way to turn when it comes to cartoons. The Mouse Factory’s latest foray into this genre is Meet the Robinsons, a futuristic computer-generated little film that has…
Climbing Thornhill
Untitled Document The road to musical success has been long and winding for singer/songwriter Tina Thornhill and her band Thornhill. The group just released its first CD, Center of Town, and Tina is euphoric. “It’s amazing. We’re flying high,” she says. “I hold the disks in my hand and can’t believe what I’m…
Garbled translations
Untitled Document The only D grade I got in college was in my French class. I should have received an F, but the professor probably feared that if he failed me I might take his class again. So I’m in no position to criticize anyone who’s trying to grapple with foreign-language translations. Therefore…
