February 02, 2008
Groundhog Day
It's funny, but whether I'm on AM at 620 or FM at 88.3, I'm always at the low end of the dial.
I'm in the shallow end of the gene pool, too.
Here's a clip from today. "Enjoy."
Groundhog Day interview, WRCT, Feb. 2, 2008 (MP3, 3.9 MB)
. . .
By the Way: That's a close-up of the dial on my circa 1967
Scott Stereomaster 382-8, which is my workaday stereo at home. I've got a Panasonic DVD player and some other gear connected, and it will do whatever I want, including play MP3s.
Here's a consumer tip for you: If you're looking for a really sweet-sounding stereo set-up at a low price, bypass the overpriced, plastic "home theater" stuff at Best Buy and Circuit City, and scour the thrift stores and flea-market for vintage gear. I bought a nice 1960s H.H. Scott tuner-amplifier years ago at Eastland Mall's flea market, and it turned me onto the bargains available in vintage audio iron.
I'm not talking about the real "high end" vacuum tube powered stuff for which golden-ears audiophiles pay hundreds of dollars. I'm talking solid-state, American-, German- and Japanese-made hi-fi equipment that you can usually get for $20 or less.
Buying mid-1960s and early 1970s Scott,
Fisher, Marantz, Rotel and Pioneer hi-fi equipment (in working order) will give you a high-quality, easy-to-use sounding stereo system for not a lot of bucks. Some of the early '60s Magnavox stuff is nice, too. (Avoid 1960s and '70s consumer-grade hi-fi equipment, like RCA, Zenith, Westinghouse, GE, Emerson, etc.)
Of course, by buying vintage stuff, you lose out on features like remote control and digital tuning. But you gain AM and FM tuners that sound better than most modern stereos, along with extremely simple controls.
Plus, most of the brands that were considered "high end" in their day will support things like multiple sets of speakers and inputs, just like the expensive new stuff, so you can easily connect CD or DVD players or a TV with audio output.
If you can repair minor electrical problems, you're in excellent shape, because these beasties rarely need more than a thorough cleaning and maybe the replacement of a capacitor or a solder joint. Otherwise, there are plenty of people on the Internet who work on vintage stereo equipment; some better TV-radio repair shops will even take a shot at it. It's not terribly complicated to repair (though admittedly, some parts are becoming difficult to find, especially certain transistors).
Wow, was that geeky enough for you? I think I better quit while I'm ahead.
January 31, 2008
What Kind of Kids Bring Cyril Hot Dogs?
In retrospect, signs like that one should have been a tipoff that
something was amiss:
The chief forensic investigator for the Allegheny County medical examiner's office once had to go on a hot dog run to Giant Eagle because wieners for a political event for Dr. Cyril H. Wecht's son didn't arrive on time.
Edward Strimlan also told the jury on the opening day of Dr. Wecht's federal criminal trial yesterday that he and other deputy coroners often had to participate in what they called "Wecht details" that were regularly recorded in Allegheny County logbooks.
In response, Wecht's attorneys said, "So what, do you wanna make a federal case out of it? ... Oh,
right, sorry."
No wonder Wecht's
peeved. The mayor gets to borrow a
Homeland Security SUV to ride to a Toby Keith concert, but the feds bust Cyril's chops over a few
Sugardale wieners.
Some people say that U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan just relished the chance to grill a prominent Democrat in a hot, juicy trial.
Though a few suspect Wecht of pork-barrel spending, even they admit he'd never send employees on an assignment that wasn't kosher.
OK, I'll stop now.
Posted at 10:00 pm by Jason Togyer
Filed Under: General Nonsense, Pointless Digressions, Politics | two comments | Link To This Entry
January 30, 2008
Three Thousand Words
Things are a little busy right now, so I'm offering up three pictures in lieu of 3,000 words, and wow: I just had a terrible vision of a 3,000-word Bread song.
Remember? Years ago, David Gates and Bread whined, "If a picture paints a thousand words, then why can't I paint you?"
Let's quit before we start discussing Walter Egan ("Magnet and Steel"), Eric Carmen ("All By Myself"), Dan Fogelberg ("Leader of the Band") and Chicago.
Man, that's the soundtrack of my earliest years on Planet Earth. Imagine all of the tiny children, born in the mid-1970s, who grew up listening to nothing but soft rock.
No wonder my generation can't seem to muster any self-determination. We were listening to "Wild World" by Cat Stevens in the womb. If that doesn't rob you of ambition, I don't know what would.
. . .
City-based Blueroof Technologies was the subject of a feature story by Tonia Caruso on WQED-TV's "On Q" newsmagazine.
You may have seen Blueroof's "model cottage," located on Spring Street just off of Walnut Street.
It's a "smart house" designed to showcase technologies that allow senior citizens and the disabled to live in their own homes and remain productive. Many of the devices were designed at Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh.
Besides showcasing "smart house" technology, Blueroof's work includes training high school and college students, health-care workers, and others to install, maintain and design devices that can help seniors remain self sufficient.
Watch the full story here.
And a tip of the Tube City hard-hat to John Bertoty, executive director of Blueroof, for sending along the link.
. . .
Meanwhile, photographer/historian John Barna sends along these photos of the former
St. Patrick Roman Catholic Church in Alpsville, South Versailles Township.
This tiny parish was established at the end of the Civil War in what was then a bustling railroad and coal mining community. Unless I miss my guess, this also was the parish that future Steelers owner Art Rooney Sr. would have attended when he was growing up in Coulter, which adjoins Alpsville.
When the mines played out, the population moved away; in 1955, St. Patrick became a "mission church" of St. Denis Parish in Versailles Borough.
By 1993, with population declining across the Mon-Yough area and only a handful of people still attending weekly Mass at St. Patrick's, the church was closed and then sold.
John remembers attending the last service, and says that the building probably seats fewer than 50 people in two rows of pews. It also has a tiny "choir loft" that's more of an elevated platform.
The first St. Patrick's Church on this property burned in 1924, and was replaced by this structure. It's now
privately owned by Bigley Family Cemetery Inc., a small North Huntingdon non-profit corporation which also maintains the accompanying graveyard.
According to news reports (none of them appear to be online), the church is in danger of demolition because the cost of upkeep is outstripping the meager income generated by the cemetery.
January 28, 2008
It Flows Downstream
Years ago, the Youghiogheny River used to be navigable at least as far as Boston, thanks to a series of locks and dams. You can still see the footings in the summertime, when the water levels get low.
Maybe McKeesport and Versailles should rebuild the dam under the Boston Bridge and keep Elizabeth Township's sewage where it belongs.
. . .
As you know by now, the township has been dumping millions of gallons of raw, untreated sewage into the Yough (pronounced "Yuck") since last year ---
6.3 million gallons on Dec. 16 alone,
according to the
Post-Gazette.
It's hard to imagine 6.3 million gallons of sewage, so visualize this: Experts say that if you took 6.3 million gallon milk jugs, filled them with sewage, and stacked them on the field at
Warrior Stadium, the smell would be appalling.
"We don't understand how someone would not know there is a problem," a spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Protection told the newspaper.
. . .
I'm with her: This isn't accidental, and it isn't an isolated problem.
According to the
Valley Independent, the DEP and Allegheny County Health Department say that discharges of untreated sewage by Elizabeth Township into the Yough have been happening for more than a year. They've documented 73 separate incidents.
There have been no public health problems reported (yet), and
the city's water treatment plant (which draws drinking water from the Yough) has not reported any problems.
But imagine how many people who swim or boat in the Yough during the summer have been drinking that sewage? Maybe you or your family.
This represents gross (and I do mean "gross") negligence by Elizabeth Township's "sanitary" authority, for which people should be
fired,
en masse, immediately.
Treatment plant supervisor John Pecora and chairman Robert Similo "could not be reached" for comment by the
Post-Gazette. Maybe they were busy updating their resumes.
. . .
It's not just happening on wet, rainy days, either, when storm water gets into the sanitary lines and causes them to overflow. It's happening on
dry days, which tells even an ignorant layman (like myself) that something is drastically wrong.
Elizabeth Township contracts operation of the plant out to the world's largest operator of municipal water treatment plants, Veolia Water, a French-owned conglomerate. Its parent company reported 10 billion Euros (about $14.8 billion) in
revenue in 2006 and
earnings of 2.13 Euros per share (about $3.15) in its most recent financial statement.
Apparently, the money they save is returned to investors ... and they pass the urine and feces onto you!
Veolia's
website boasts about the benefits of privatizing municipal facilities, including "clean, quality water and improved customer service ... tremendous costs savings and rate stability ... (and) environmental compliance."
This particular case is not a good example of privatization in action. (Or should that be "inaction"?)
. . .
Unfortunately, the people who are going to wind up paying for this are --- quite literally --- homeowners in Elizabeth Township and businesses connected to the sewerage system. The township sanitary authority is going to be liable for thousands --- probably hundreds of thousands --- of dollars in fines.
I expect the authority will wind up suing Veolia. But in the meantime, any legal costs and expenses will be eaten by ratepayers of the Elizabeth Township Sanitary Authority. Get ready to dig deep, folks.
. . .
If I lived in the township, I'd sure say that something stinks. But the smell is coming from the municipal building, not the river.
Shame on the sanitary authority's board members for ignoring this problem --- and shame on the township's
elected commissioners for not conducting better oversight.
The Elizabeth Township Sanitary Authority next meets at 7 p.m. Feb. 5. That's next Tuesday. The commissioners meet the day before, at 7 p.m. Both meetings are at the municipal building on Rock Run Road. Residents and taxpayers should be there to ask hard questions and
demand hard answers.
There is no excuse for this. None. Period.
Published weekdays (usually), except holidays (and when we have something better to do) at McKeesport, Pa., by Tube City Online LLC, P.O. Box 94, McKeesport, Pa. 15134.