I don’t have any friends that don’t have a job. All of the restaurants we service are having great years and have told me that over the past 5 years things have gotten progressively better. The malls are always packed.
I don’t see a ton of for sale signs around town on houses like you normally do when housing goes to shit.
So I ask you, do you feel like the economy is horrible based on what you see around you? I’m not talking about the national 8% number I’m talking you personally? Do you feel like the economy around you is horrible?
Leave your comment below this post in the comment section.
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Massive 404-foot (that is FORTY STORIES) Turbines Are Coming!
The city of Gloucester is allegedly going to share in the excess electricity generated by two 40-story turbines, soon to be installed by the Gloucester firm Varian. Unfortunately, the residents of the rest of Cape Ann will have two 40-story structures to look at for the rest of our lives without accruing any of the benefits of the energy allegedly generated. And before people respond by saying how much they love the Earth and turbines, let me state for the record that I am very fond of the Earth myself (I even capitalize the word!) and I’m all for turbines, by which I mean the responsible use of appropriately-scaled turbines as a back up for conventional energy sources — sources which come in handy when the wind doesn’t blow or blows when you don’t need it, which, frankly, is much the case with wind — and why we don’t move freight around the world anymore via sailing ships.
All over the globe (especially in the American Midwest, English countryside and in Australia), there is a race to install massive, utility-scale turbines in what appears to be an effort to make a pile of money from tax credits while taking advantage of the public’s low-grade (or full-throttle) hysteria about replacing conventional energy sources before the polar bears all die. This well-intended, deeply-felt desire to use energy more responsibly is circumventing common sense, and the profiteers have seen an opportunity to make a whole bunch of money, tearing around the planet to install massive turbines and wind farms — which can sometimes mean hundreds of massive turbines placed too close to homes in a scattershot, absolutely inefficient manner — before the public understands anything about utility-scale wind. The facts about utility-scale wind technology indicate that wind is just not viable as a mainstream energy source, utterly unsuitable for mass distribution. The technology, such as it is, lends itself to micro-development. So if someone wants to mount a wind turbine on the top of their house (or a turbine in a fast-moving body of water running through his/her property for hydro power) to offset the cost of their electricity, fantastic. But wind turbines become less efficient the more you scale up, which begs the question: why are the Varian turbines so huge? Would an installation of 1.0 megawatt turbines — more along the lines of 200 feet, and more to scale with Cape Ann’s existing structures — have served Varian’s needs just as well? By installing two 40-story skyscrapers, Varian has irrevocably, for all practical purposes, altered a landscape that belongs to all of us. And land is the ultimate non-renewable resource. Once land is industrialized, it is not easily reclaimed, which is why rural areas are zoned differently from urban areas. And while the area where the turbines will be located is zoned as industrial, I would bet that no one on the Zoning Board in Gloucester understood “industrial” to include skyscrapers when the zoning laws were put in place.
So I’m wondering: how is it that Varian can install two skyscrapers without a period of public comment from their non-Gloucester neighbors? Where’s the nearest 40-story structure? A city, of course. In Boston, 248 skyscrapers make up the cityscape, only 27 of which are taller than 400 feet. But no longer will you have to go to Boston to experience the joys of seeing one of those 27 structures. We’ll have our very own skyscrapers, a view of which we’ll have from practically every window in downtown Gloucester, Lanesville, Annisquam, Rockport and Pigeon Cove.
Another factor is that these two 2.0 megawatt turbines, although in an area zoned for industry, are still potentially located too close to residences. International recommendations for the installation of utility-scale wind turbines vary, but the general consensus in Europe is that industrial scale turbines should not be installed within 1.5 miles of a residence, due to shadow flicker and low frequency vibrations that can cause serious health problems for some people. This is no joke, a fact to which people who have been made sick by living too close to massive wind turbines can attest. This situation may be great for Varian, arguably great for Gloucester (we’ll see if the estimations of energy generated actually materialize), but what about the rest of us?
Ed Collard writes-
Windmill Musings
So the windmills are coming to Gloucester. I am of mixed thoughts on this but I’d have to say that overall I’m in favor of this. With the high cost of energy in dollars, the environment and human lives. I believe that we have to make some changes regarding our energy sources and windmills seem to be a clean, domestic and economical choice. Varian has put in a lot of time and money researching alternatives for their energy needs and would not be spending their money without careful consideration of the return on their investment. We have charged our elected officials, for one thing, to be prudent with our money and they have come to the conclusion that this will save us, the taxpayers on the city’s energy needs. Regarding the visual aspect I for one will look at them knowing that we are being pro-active in our exploration for alternative energy sources. I don’t like telephone polls but I sure do like my phone and cable. There will be many discussions about this in our coffee shops in the months to come but I think we can be proud of the fact that our city is doing something regarding our energy needs.
Any comments that are not civil on this post will not be approved.
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I’m curious amongst our Jew buddies here on GMG, Do you freak out when you see Christmas Trees lit up on town squares or are those just the extremists Jews in the community raising a stink?
Personally I’m more pissed off that we’re gonna have to listen to Christmas muzak starting any day now all the way through January and at “those neighbors who leave their Christmas lights up past Easter”, but then again I’m not Jewish.
I just read the first of the obligatory annual “Jewish townfolk are pissed off because someone put lights on a Christmas tree” story in the newspaper and it struck me as being a bit early for that.
I’d like to know where the middle of the road Jews stand on this issue. Thanks in advance for your comments below.
Here are the results through two days-
and the comments-
lise breen – 15 hours ago
I feel strongly that we should keep any overt religious symbol such as the ten commandments, creches and menorahs out of government buildings and public spaces. But, in contradiction, we do like to watch the Rockport pageant on Main St. with its donkey and girls wrapped in sheets and boys with fake beards and squawky loudspeaker recitation of the nativity event.
I so enjoy the trees and the colored lights. Despite their name, they don’t signify Christianity to me. The lobster trap tree is fun especially since children decorate the buoys.
I would prefer not to be bombarded with recorded religious music in commercial establishments. I enjoy religious music of many denominations in their appropriate sacred spaces or in my own home. Silent Night is gorgeous and best heard sung by local carolers on the street corners during a chilly, snowy Ladies Night.
We are lapsed members of the Give Me More denomination with worship of its Santa Claus deity and elve disciples in store sanctuaries. It seems to be a rite of passage for those with children that is not easily avoided. We have had great times reading the Night Before Christmas and leaving carrots for the reindeer before a piney tree with colored lights with hokey music and giving holiday hugs and eating Christmas cookies. It’s complicated.
Natalie Simon – 17 hours ago
I agree wholeheartedly with Ms. Weinstein. Amen!
Ellen Bevins – yesterday
I find the Christmas/holiday season with all the lights on the trees very uplifting. It does not offend me. I love that the lights are left on throughout the year.
Mark Godfried – yesterday
A jew for 77 years, who has always seen Xmas as a wonderful expression of faith for Christians and acknowledges that historical Jesus existed and bettered mankind. For any of us to do otherwise is disengenuous! Would you not heed Martin Luther Kings words because you are not afro-american! Creches, menorahs, trees, and what-have-you are all welcome! And Joey, you’re right! Let the music start after Thanksgiving!
EPK – yesterday
It doesn’t bother me as long as you don’t bother me about my religion. Live and let live.
I love Christmas trees, I love Christmas lights, I love giving and receiving Christmas presents. I have a tree and a menorah. Any opportunity to celebrate. The tradition is older than the religion it is associated with and I see it as part of an impulse in the dark of winter to create warmth and joy, connection and sacredness with light.
Miriam Weinstein – yesterday
The Supreme Court has been inconsistent about the constitutionality of this, but as a member of a minority, it always feels hurtful and offensive. Saying that a tree is not a religious symbol is disingenuous. And no, I don’t want a menorah displayed next to the creche. The best protection is a separation of church and state.
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I literally gag when I walk by Abercrombie at The North Shore Shopping center and inhale that perfume they pump out into the mall. Does it bother you or do you like it?
I’m trying to gauge if it’s just me or if other people feel the same way. I literally hold my breath after that first gulp of air.
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In light of the shitstorm I thought I’d create these here polls to really access where our readership falls. I have a hard time believing the people that are rooting for the coyotes are nothing more than fringe lunatics who hate people.
It’s one or the other who are you gonna root for?
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You know the last time I gave a shit about the Olympics?
USA v Russia 1980.
I was laid up in bed with a broken leg that I suffered when I fell off the t-bar on my way up the bunny slope to my first ever skiing lesson, my first time ever on skis.
That Olympics was great and I would argue the pinnacle of American pride that I can remember during my lifetime.
But now I don’t know a single person that cares a bit about the Olympics. No one. Well no-one except the athletes themselves and family members I suppose.
The amount of money poured into advertising for the Olympic games and the stadiums built are staggering. I don’t know if it’s worthwhile for these companies or not to spend this much dough on advertising. You would think their marketing teams would know what they are doing at these huge companies but then again think about all the companies that overpay for naming rights to stadiums when they are flush with cash and we only find out a couple years later they go bankrupt. I suppose blowing tons of money on stupid campaigns doesn’t help the bottom line but whatever, it’s not my dough.
As a devout and completely biased homer for all teams that represent our geographic region and USA in the Olympics this isn’t a slight to the athletes, I wish them the best. I just don’t know when the whole allure of the Olympics fell apart for me and I wonder if others feel the same.
Vote for how much you enjoy the Olympics below-
Matty Olson, owner of Surfside Subs just stopped by to pick up his lobsters to make his outstanding lobster rolls and I asked him when was teh last time he cared about the Olympics. his response- “Never” I asked what about the Miracle on Ice?’
His reply he was too young to remember that because he’s 35.
I rest my case.
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Someone needs to clue me in on how you could go to the landscape supply joint and make the conscious decision to buy orange mulch over the nice dark brown (almost black) compost mulch.
I’ll go dark brown mulch all day long over toxic waste neon orange mulch.
It’s just way more aesthetically pleasing.
I don’t know a whole lot about landscape supply costs. Maybe they pay people who opt for the neon orange mulch to take it away from their landscape supply yard. I can’t think of a single other reason someone would choose it over the classy dark brown.
They actually dye it that hideous orange color. You gotta be a savage to get the orange stuff, no?
What am I missing here?
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I was reading one of my favorite websites, www.barstoolsports.com a couple days ago and the genius writer David Portnoy goes on to explain how if you don’t build a nest around the toilet seat that you are deranged. See the photo below of Mr Portnoy’s technique-
Quote-
There is being a tough guy and then there is being an idiot. Not building a force field is just plain stupid
My theory is a bit different. I feel that much more scary and caveman is to not build a landing pad for your turds so you don’t get that dreaded blue splash-back.
You want your poop to land gently on the pad and the half a roll of toilet paper you crumple up at the bottom of the toilet to diffuse the splash so it doesn’t come back and hit your undercarriage. I think the splash-back is one hundred billion times more nasty than sitting on a seat that’s been cleaned several times a day.
Nothing worse than getting that blue stuff that’s all mixed up with god only knows whose poop and pee on your junk.
That’s just plain common sense and that’s why I always go with the toilet bowl landing pad over the toilet seat nest.
I go through about half a roll building my landing pads up but hey I gotta insure there’s no chance that any of that disgustingness ever comes up and splashes me.
Here’s the Joey C Patented Toilet Bowl Landing Pad Half Way Built Up-
What Ya Got?
We Must Protect This House!!!!
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Driving home I see the plastic bags of yellow pages strewn in front of houses up and down the street. I pull in the driveway, grab the white plastic bag containing one of the two or three different versions of the yellow pages we will receive this year and promptly drop it into our recycling bin.
In this day of smartphones and computers is there really any need to chew up the lumber for the paper, ink or transportation costs to produce this thing?
I wonder how many of our readership keeps these things kicking around still or how many of you put it straight into the recycling bin?
Mark Ring offers his perspective on the yellow pages and community phonebooks-
Mark says that they breed like rabbits. You put one on the coffee table and a month later there’s a stack of 5. The odds that you’ll find what you are looking for in the big Boston Metro yellow pages are one in a gazilion. I have yet to ever had any success drilling down for the listing I was looking for in the big Metro yellow pages. The problem seems to be how they have things categorized in the big Boston Metro Yellow Pages. Chances are the listing you are looking for is in there but it’s completely mis-categorized. For example you could be looking for a mattress store and it will be listed under scarves.
The community phone book on the other hand will have every local number listed except for the one you are inevitably looking for. Never fails. Ever.
I’m done. Straight to the recycling bin.
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A certain fisherman of ours used to go crazy for Heidi Watney (her reporting that is). Do you think the Sox upgraded at the sports babe sideline reporter position or downgraded with Jenny Dell?
Heidi Watney
Jenny Dell
strictly talking knowledge of the game of course
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For those of you who participated in the Poll Back on the 2nd of April as to whether the wall of frames someone I may or may not be related to through marriage tastefully attached to our hallway wall would be filled with pictures within two months time, I have an update-
Photo dated April 9th 6:55PM
Photo dated April 2, 2012 below
Easy Money.
These were the results back on April 2nd
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How many times have you gone to see a musician that has a library of 20-40 incredible classic songs, pay huge money for the tickets and then endure over half the songs off the new album they just put out with songs you’d never heard of?
You’re standing in the audience expecting to hear Rosalita and Badlands and three or four songs in a row go by and there isn’t a single song you recognize.
Before everyone jumps down my throat, I completely understand the need to grow as an artist and explore and create new stuff so you can satisfy your own desire to create. I get that. When I feel like the blog has been stagnant and we haven’t come up with new ideas in a while I get extremely irritable and it’s when we break new ground or stories that I feel most satisfied with the work we’re doing.
But what I’m talking about is strictly from the consumer’s standpoint.
Would you as a consumer be willing to pay double for a ticket to a classic band if they promised a complete show of pure top number one hits and nothing new?
Because I rarely go to concerts any more, I would.
Wouldn’t it be great if say Springsteen alternated years where one year he does the classics tour and then the following year he plays a mix of classics and new stuff?
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Lest any of our FOBs think that I, Joey am the man behind R. Duck I would like to clear up that misconception immediately. People have been sending me ducks and I’m not sure why. The official logo is a seagull (homie) and the popular segment where I would feature a seagull with a caption is the”What up Homie?” category here on GMG. You can see the 550 “What Up Homie?” posts here
The wonderfully quirky Mr. Paul Morrison has introduced GMG to the world of one R. Duck. Since R Duck’s introduction I have yet to see Paul Morrison travelling without his trusty sidekick. This includes Mug-Ups, The Blackburn Challenge, breakfasts, and even Wine Dinners at Passports.
Now you, as I, might think that to be a little strange- a grown man lugging a rubber duck around everywhere he goes. But to know Pal Morrison you also know that something isn’t quite right to begin with. His poor wife simply rolls her eyes at a mention of the duck.
So I ask you, does Paul Morrison need a Rubber Duck Intervention?
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This poll is only for people who for one reason or another do not like to use search engines, search boxes or any other type of technology to find the answers to their questions.
Again, this is not a joke, this is just to try to help me understand teh psyche behind this phenomenon.
Please only take this poll if you are the type of person who is unlikely to do a search on the internet for the web results you seek.
Thank you for helping me understand.
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“When should I take my Christmas decorations down?” A surprising number of people search on Google for an answer to this question. I got a startling number of hits on a poll I posted on this topic on my own blog last year. For the many curious people who search for suggestions about this, and to get the opinion of our GMG readership, I am reposting my poll this year with a few additional reflections.
Really, there is no day when you “should” take the decorations down (or put them up). In a place of worship of an organized religion, there are usually rules about decorations according to liturgical seasons, but how you decorate your own house is your own business. Nonetheless, it can obviously be helpful to take cues for these things from the traditions of one’s Church, family, and society. People might look askance at you if you have your nativity scene on your lawn during Holy Week, or an illuminated Santa on your roof in August.
For secular Western society, Christmas ends pretty much at midnight on the 25th, and some stores have all the Christmas decorations down seemingly within hours. Liturgically (at least for Catholics), Christmas lasts until the feast of the Baptism of the Lord (Jan. 9 this year). But when it comes to taking down Christmas decorations, family and regional traditions vary widely. Some people clean house on Dec. 26. Others do so on or immediately after the Epiphany, a.k.a. “Little Christmas” (traditionally Jan. 6). That date, on which we celebrate the visit of the Magi to Bethlehem, is actually the climax of the Christmas season for Orthodox Christians, rather than Dec. 25. Some particularly fervently “Christmasy” people leave everything up until Feb. 2, Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. I even met one man in Boston who keeps his Christmas decorations up until St. Patrick’s day approaches, and his St. Patrick’s Day decorations stay up until Advent.
Personally, I will be taking most of my decorations down on or after the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.
Is there a Gloucester tradition in this regard? When will you be taking down your decorations? Have you done it already? Vote now! And/or leave a comment about why you answer the way you do.
My Christmas tree. All the decorations (except the lights) are origami models. The garland is a string of traditional origami "peace cranes", part of a set of 1000 I folded for an exhibit once...
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Good Morning Gloucester 