http://ellensmith.org/blog Mon, 05 May 2008 04:36:23 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Chalk this up to the lighter side of website ownership... While marking some spam e-mail for deletion, curiosity led me to open up a message that started out "I was looking at websites under the keyword Oak Ridge office phone systems and came across your site http://ellensmith.org. I see that you're ... http://ellensmith.org/blog/2008/05/04/reading-my-unsolicited-e-mail/ Visitors to the Oak Ridge Welcome Center, currently located at the Midtown Community Center, are catching a glimpse of early Oak Ridge history when the stop in for information brochures. Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association volunteers have decorated a room, visible from the corridor through a large window, ... http://ellensmith.org/blog/2008/05/02/secret-city-serendipity/ Time passes, and retirees from DOE's Oak Ridge facilities continue to watch their buying power erode, with no hint that they will ever see another pension increase. This whole community is hurting as a result, since the people who are being denied an increase are solid citizens who are now less ... http://ellensmith.org/blog/2008/04/30/injustice-for-oak-ridge-retirees-and-the-whole-community/ I missed the notice in the newspaper (and can't find it anywhere on the Oak Ridger website), but it's household trash pickup time in Oak Ridge -- a once-a-year event. According to the city website, pickup started yesterday on the west side of town. My street is on the schedule for ... http://ellensmith.org/blog/2008/03/25/annual-household-trash-pickup-in-oak-ridge/ There's a lot of conflicting information "out there" on the results of traffic cameras. Whatever conclusions you want to support, you are sure to be able to find a study that supports that conclusion. Oak Ridge (and any other community considering cameras) needs to "proceed with caution" in making a ... http://ellensmith.org/blog/2008/03/23/proceed-with-caution-on-red-light-cameras/ If you attempted to visit this blog in the last day and were greeted by the mysterious message "Your PHP installation appears to be missing the MySQL which is required for WordPress," you will know what I mean when I say "back in operation." Apparently a new installation of PHP ... http://ellensmith.org/blog/2008/03/23/back-in-operation/ The proposed ordinance to authorize use of automated cameras in traffic enforcement was passed by Oak Ridge City Council on first reading. Several citizens made thoughtful comments before the vote. Among other things, they commented on the "Orwellian" aspects of this monitoring, the difficulty in slowing a semi-trailer in order ... http://ellensmith.org/blog/2008/03/18/cameras-traffic-and-cash/ The Oak Ridge City Council will soon decide whether Oak Ridge should start using cameras and electronic devices to enforce traffic laws. It's a complicated issue -- there is a diverse variety of pro and con arguments regarding red-light and speed-enforcement cameras. At the City Council meeting on Monday, March 17th, ... http://ellensmith.org/blog/2008/03/16/red-light-cameras-for-oak-ridge/ In yesterday's Oak Ridger, Sam Suffern told about 3 reliable reports of cougar sightings here in Oak Ridge. The cougar thus joins the coyote as a large predator we need to worry about in our backyards. (I'm not aware of black bear sightings here, but it's possible for them to ... http://ellensmith.org/blog/2008/03/11/cougars-and-coyotes-and-bears-oh-my/ Tonight's the night to "spring forward" -- set clocks ahead one hour for the beginning of Daylight Savings Time. I like Daylight Savings Time in the summer, when it extends the hours of daylight after work or school, but I dislike the fact that it causes people to get up in ... http://ellensmith.org/blog/2008/03/08/time-to-spring-forward/