ML King Day thoughts

Anybody else slightly peeved at the way Google chooses to decorate their main search engine page for holidays? Nothing wrong with today's edition commemorating ML King, it was quite tasteful. But the Christmas thing was ridiculous--little animals lighting up the emblem. I have no doubt that for Easter, if Google does anything at all, it will probably be to show a few colored eggs in place of the "O"s or a bunny.

So yes, I'm detecting some reluctance on their part to show anything religious, perhaps in fear of angering certain folks.

I wonder, if REVEREND King were still here, what would he think of that?

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Interstate travelers have long known Memphis to be a gauntlet. It certainly appears that all the engineers were in the bathroom when the highways were mapped out.

Case in point--I-40 was supposed to be constructed through central Memphis to cross the river on the northern bridge at Mud Island. They completed about half of it, then a bunch of connected NIMBYS took over. The remaining 'stub endterstate' was renamed Sam Cooper Blvd, which can dump westbound drivers into a residential area if they aren't paying attention. If drivers successfully make that first ramp, they must then navagate a second one when reaching downtown, lest they end up at Graceland. Hey, maybe...never mind.

Not to be outdone, eastbound drivers are also subject to trickery. Once they roll into Tennessee off the I-55 Memphis-Arkansas bridge they better be paying attention. If they miss the single lane exit ramp they'll end up on EH Crump Blvd, not exactly where you want to stop and ask for directions in the family truckster, especially at night.

Thankfully the TDOT is planning to fix everything. They are currently re-doing the I-40 northern leg, now they are planning to modernize the I-55 southern leg. And yes, they are going to wait for the completion of the northern project before starting the southern one.

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I will admit to not being a crazed NFL fan. But I do worry about the health of some of the hard-core fans after yesterday's Colts-Steelers game. The Colts went from a sure loss to a sure win, to a sure tie, then to a sure loss in the final minute. The goats were changing faster than anyone could keep track. Don't know about you, but the missed field goal was the worse pressure kick I've ever seen, including blocks and miscues, and from one of the most accurate kickers in the game. Condolences to all you Colts fans. Steeler fans, you know it--you just got lucky.

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MORE

I don't believe Reverend King would totally approve of Ray Nagin's speech today.

NEW ORLEANS TO BE KNOWN AS "THE BIG NESQUIK" 1/17/06

This just gets better and better. When pressed by reporters if his comment about making New Orleans a "chocolate city" once again was racist, he answered as follows:

“How do you make chocolate? You take dark chocolate, you mix it with white milk, and it becomes a delicious drink. That is the chocolate I am talking about," he said.

"New Orleans was a chocolate city before Katrina. It is going to be a chocolate city after. How is that divisive? It is white and black working together, coming together and making something special." Before the hurricane, New Orleans was more than 60 percent Black.

What a goof.