Its only been over three YEARS since they had the option. I blogged about this in August 2008. And millions of dollars have been spent in interest, millions of dollars have been spent in lawyers’ fees, and millions of dollars have been spent in receiver fees.

It sucks. Its not good for anyone. But the alternative is worse. The county has been functionally bankrupt for over 2 years. The loss of tax revenue, thank you very much you greedy, money grubbing pair of lawyers who were only in it for the fees you could get, has removed a third of the previous budget from the table. And JP Morgan, that sorry excuse for a financial institution, has given the county major contradictory signals when it came to trying to negotiate some sort of solution to refinancing the debt. It was willing to forgive Greece billions in its debt owed, but wants to make up any difference on the shoulders of Jefferson county residents. Then the court appointed receiver wants to do the bidding of his corporate overlord, JPMorgan, and hike the sewer rates that have already risen over 300% another 300%. He’s only being paid $500.00 per HOUR to come in and raise the sewer rates.

When the county commission met in September, they were trying in good faith to avoid bankruptcy, and Governor Bentley twisted the commissioner’s arms in executive session to keep them from declaring bankruptcy at that time. The governor said he would get the county’s legislative delegation to come to an agreement about how to help the county raise the money and meet the bond obligations. The local business leaders have been all pissed off cause its going to impact their ability to get a loan, but they’ve done nothing to actually work to create a solution.

Then the county’s legislative delegation refused to come to any compromise on an additional revenue stream for the county. The governor couldn’t get them to do it. They wouldn’t budge. As before, the county tried to work with the banks to come to some sort of equally agreeable decision for both parties. And, as before, the banks tried to get the county to agree to things they had no control over, and forgive less than they first offered. So the county finally pulled the trigger on bankruptcy.

Now the governor is hurt and mad that he was shown as the ineffectual leader that he is. And the sewer receiver is threatening bad things for the county and its residents because his master the bank has been told that it won’t get things that the commission can’t legally give it. This is going to affect municipal bonds all over the state, cause the banks are now going to go into reprisal mode.

Interesting times.

And its all for the want of a nice suit and some cashola. There are currently 5 previous county commissioners that have been convicted of felonies, four of them directly related to this sewer mess. The county is now screwed for avarice of some people and institutions.

My mind was officially blown. I opened up the email and it said “Congratulations, you have been selected.” I came very, very close to sitting on the floor at that point. I read through the email, and re-read it. I was in shock.

Now its a year later. I have met some really incredible folks in the year between. Thank you NASA.

And now I have been given the opportunity to attend another NASAtweetup, this time for the GRAIL mission. I’ll be heading down early next week with several other people in town to speak to the mission specialists and watch the Delta II with the satellites launch. Woohoo! I have truly become a space geek.

I love Seanan McGuire/Mira Grant‘s Newsflesh universe. Its a compelling look at a world where zombies exist, and how you live with the threat of them. They are there, but fighting them isn’t the point of the books. I followed along on her livejournal as she counted down to the release date of the second book at the end of May with a series of posts leading up to the rising. It was a neat look at the world it was becoming the one in the books. This past Monday she announced that she had collected those posts and edited them into a novella that was available online. So I went to the publisher’s link and found a store that said it sold an epub version of the file.

Now, I have an e-reader that is a NON-STANDARD brand. It’s affiliated more or less with Barnes & Noble, but it isn’t a B&N Nook. It reads nook files and it reads EPUB files. I know this, and I know to look for these files when I am searching for additional reading material. I have a number of books I have ALREADY PURCHASED to read on it. I don’t go through B&N though. They require I leave a credit card on file to purchase any ebook through their site. This doesn’t sit well with my idea of security, and I have refused to buy ebooks through them. I’ve already had credit card numbers stolen, why make it easy for someone to steal my number and prove I didn’t actually buy things when it gets used? So I was looking at some alternate sites to purchase the novella.

One of the sites I I went to said they had epub versions of it. So before I plunked my money down, I found a free ebook they had that looked interesting, and paid for my ebook. After paying I got my download link. And then the trouble began.

The free book downloaded as an epub file. I can access it with no problem. But the novella that cost money, it came across in a format I had never see before, ACSM. First I tried to re-download it, thinking it had gotten corrupted or my link was bad. No. Then I looked at the book page to make sure it said epub. The sales page said epub, but it said Adobe epub. uh oh.
I tried to download the file onto my ereader. No dice. I’ll check with the bookstore FAQs and support to see what they may say. No word. and nothing much about it other than reloaded a Sony ereader’s software. Nothing helpful was there. Screw it, I’ll just read something else and deal with it tomorrow night.

Well, its tomorrow night. And I have gotten more and more frustrated as the night has gone on and I have seen just what hoops I have to jump through in order to actually read this ebook I have already purchased thinking I could read it with my existing software.

I googled the file type, and found it REQUIRES a different reader program from Adobe. Adobe Digital Editions is what the file requires to read it. I really wanted to read this on my ereader. That’s why I have the device, dammnit! I downloaded the new
reader software, and opened it up on my computer. Then found out I have to REGISTER with Adobe to get a KEY so I can read a FILE I ALREADY LEGALLY OWN.

Right now I am frothing at the mouth and spitting and ready to tell the entire publishing world that their idea of DRM is about to cost them the any future sales. I will register tomorrow with Adobe so I can get a key to read a book I already have paid for that they are holding hostage. But I will NEVER in the future purchase an ebook in an adobe digital editions format.

I’ve ad the opposite experience with a small publisher’s site. Moira Rogers writes books and publishes through Samhain Press. If you purchase books through that site, you have the option of 3 or 4 different file types. And if you have different kinds of devices, you can download multiple versions of the file. Hello! This is the way to win and keep readers. Otherwise you are driving them to the very thing you don’t want them to do.

Its the last shuttle launch. Ever. And until we get a new vehicle made, it’ll be the last launch of people for the USA.

She knows that I’ve been on twitter for several years now. She’s seen my pictures from the NASA Tweetup, heard about the folks I’ve met and wondered all along about my imaginary internet friends. So she asked again.

This past week I’ve been crazy while on Twitter. With the tornadoes, I’ve been trying to help out however I could. I’ve seen the ability of twitter to make a difference in past disasters and other events. Its able to be a big help to spread the word. Its also can spread rumors and mis-information.

During bad weather, I’ve seen the weather information spread so folks had it. And when tornadoes hit on April 15th, Twitter was a big help in spreading the word about problem weather locations around the state. I’ve passed the word on in previous bad weather occurrences, so I was prepared to do the same on the 27th.

My tweet count prior to April 27th was less than 19,800. In the week since then I have tweeted close to 1,000 times. Most of these tweets have been storm and relief effort related.

So I found a new analogy for my mom. I told her that what I was doing on twitter was similar to what Ham radio operators do during emergencies relaying information on to others. And the Ham radio analogy works on a number of levels. It is identifiable and known.

So why Twitter? Because its a way to connect with people. And because I can help other people with it.

The Alabama Food Bank Association is helping with efforts to feed those who have lost and those who are helping out. You can go to the web site to set up a donation to help in any region.

A local web site for my neighborhood, the 35212, is helping to coordinate volunteer efforts in Birmingham. They are updating regularly with specific needs for items and volunteers.

From Twitter, the Alabama State Bar has a disaster assistance hotline at 1-800-354-6154 to assist folks in storm-affected communities with legal needs.

The Christian Service Mission has a wish list on Amazon of relief supplies that are needed.

One of the local weathermen is continuing to help with storm recovery. James Spann is using his popularity and reach to help spread the word about needs and services available. He is using his facebook page as a clearinghouse for relief information.

Every little bit makes a difference. Thanks for helping out!

Given the expected severe weather, both DH and I were sent home from work before the weather line came through Birmingham. We prepared the basement for a long evening. We made sure that the weather radio was accessible, that we had working flashlights, that there were oil lamps and matches available, and that we had cat treats to keep the kitties downstairs with us.

DH was monitoring the tv, and I had gotten online and was keeping up with twitter. When the tornado in Tuscaloosa started and was caught on the live tower cams, all we could do was watch in horror. Then a bit later as we watched the projected storm track, we made plans for a possible hit to our house by a major tornado. Fortunately for us, the storm cell turned, but that means there are other neighborhoods that have been destroyed.

I tried to be helpful on twitter, passing along information about the weather. I was told that one of my followers was glad to have the information that I helped to share.

The current death toll is 250 for just the state of Alabama. With the efforts of all the meteorologists, it would have been so much worse. Two thirds of the state of Alabama had damage from storms on April 27th. The same system did damage across the entire southeast. Its going to take years to recover from these tornados. Now I can be helpful here.

First, if you have the where with all, please make a donation of some kind to one of the reputable relief agencies. The Red Cross is helping out. You can text “RED CROSS” to 90999 to make a donation of $10.00. Obviously money is the most flexible donation, and can be directed to the most urgent need. Hands on Birmingham is coordinating volunteer efforts in the Birmingham area. In addition to people’s needs, there are a very large number of pets that have been displaced. The Greater Birmingham Humane Society is helping to organize that effort.

There are lots of ways to help out. Keep an eye on my tweet stream. As I get word of them, I pass opportunities along. And please keep us all in your thoughts and prayers. Its incredible what has happened and what the various people have endured.

So NASATweetup v2.0 is on! The original tweetup participants from the fall are invited back to view the launch from the press site. So thanks to the goodwill of my husband, parents, in-laws, and boss, I’m headed back down to watch! Woohoo! No I’m not excited about this in the least, whatever made you think I would be. NOT! I’ve been trying very hard to keep from getting crazy about it, but now that its really immanent I’m allowing myself to get excited.

The launch will be shared online at NasaTV, Spaceflightnow, and hatcam will be live on ustream. Just make sure that you adjust for your local time. The shuttle is launching on Eastern Standard Time. I live in the Central Time Zone, so folks here need to remember that it’s at 3:50 PM. But its on and I’m going back!

Now I need to find another car. I can’t get around just on the scooter, unfortunately. So its time to do the research and see what is out there that is reliable and fuel efficient. I’m looking at another Honda. Mine did a great job, so yeah, I’m going to be looking at them. Another Civic, maybe the Fit. I might get an Accord if it works out right.

I’m also dreaming about the Mini Coopers. They are a fun and sporty little car. I have some misgivings about the little part. And some misgivings about maintenance on them once you get past the 3 year maintenance contract that’s included in the purchase price. I’ve been told that they are basically little BMWs, and that concerns me with long term maintenance costs.

Yikes.

Decisions, decisions, decisions.