I’ve blogged in the past about rumors and sightings of cougars in and near Oak Ridge. Somebody always debunks the reports, but it’s hard to stop wondering if these big cats are really “out there”. Now here’s a credible tale (DNA-confirmed, even!) of cougars in Wisconsin: Wisconsin DNR News: DNA analysis confirms four cougars in [...]
Posts under ‘Life in General’
YES to household energy efficiency, NO to imposters taking advantage of TVA program
It’s great news for local homeowners that the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is promoting home energy efficiency through in-home energy evaluations and rebates for certain kinds of energy improvements. Details are on the TVA website (and there are also tax credits available for work done this year). I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that unscrupulous [...]
July
Wow, July is almost gone, and I haven’t blogged here even once! I have managed to post a few pithy (or at least I thought some of them were pithy) comments on places like Facebook (Ellen Smith’s Facebook profile) and the Atomic City Talk online forum. I’m overdue to share my thoughts on Fred Childress’ [...]
What’s next now that the “Orange Route” is dead?
It’s true — as the Knoxville News Sentinel predicted Friday morning, TDOT killed the Knoxville Beltway project! This means it’s now up to the region to find creative solutions to congestion on the highways — but it should mean that money that might have gone to the road project will now be available to help [...]
AMSE’s flattop evokes memories for an Oak Ridge visitor
This piece on the Roane Views website is a nice feel-good story about preserving little bits of local history: Number 68 Comes Home
The author lived in a flat-top house on West Outer Drive around 1950, and was able to visit the flat-top that’s now on display at the American Museum of Science and Energy, apparently [...]
UK government report connects with my vacation photos
On Tuesday the UK government released a long-awaited report on its investigation of the “Bloody Sunday” events of January 30, 1972, when British troops fired on unarmed civilian street demonstrators in Londonderry (Derry), Northern Ireland, killing 13 people (BBC news story). We visited the Bloody Sunday sites while on vacation less than a month ago, [...]
Signs too soon and signs too flashy
Traveling around Oak Ridge, I’ve been seeing two disconcerting trends related to signage, one temporary (“signs too soon”) and one more permanent (“signs too flashy”).
The temporary trend is political signs going up too soon. Oak Ridge’s sign ordinance (part of the zoning ordinance) specify that political signs can’t go up until 30 days before the [...]
Eau d’ sewage plant?
On Monday, a west end resident reported that the city’s sewage treatment plant has been emitting an odor lately. He asked if the plant might be overloaded. I asked staff what’s going on. Since the fellow who contacted me probably isn’t the only one who’s been wondering about the odor, I’m sharing the reply I received:
The [...]
Secret City Sounds and Safe Routes to School
Two front page stories in today’s Knoxville News Sentinel make me eager to see similar press releases from Oak Ridge:
1 – The full schedule for the “Sundown” concert series was announced. Oak Ridge will be having another “Secret City Sounds” free summer concert series on Friday evenings in Bissell Park (in [...]
Not sudden unexplained acceleration, after all?
A couple of weeks ago I commented on plans for the “Oak Ridge Gran Prius” and its relation to Toyota safety issues. At this point, it appears that the Gran Prius event might not happen, due in part to nagging safety concerns. Now, however, there’s an op-ed piece in the New York Times telling how [...]