Blog – Page 214 – Easterday Construction Co., Inc.

SPAM in Moderation…

November 15, 2008 by

I didn’t have much experience with blogs when I started this. I tried to read up on some of the basics before starting and WordPress recommended that I use moderated comments. Wow! I have been amazed at how quickly this blog was found and assaulted by Spammers. This blog is hosted on our ECC website, so it’s not like we’re out in some public arena. Still, I get spam comments nearly every day. Occasionally one is creative or at least makes a minimal effort to look like a real comment – Something like, “I like your site. – Eric” before adding a link to something inane. Others are nothing more than a jumble of words or letters followed by multiple links to porn sites, cheap drug sites, hair growth sites, hot stocks and wild claims on how to increase your proportions, whether your male or female… In 2004, the Federal Goverment tried to curb spam with the CAN-SPAM law. (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing) While I’m impressed with the catchy acronym, I can’t see that the $11k fine and other requirements of the law have had any effect on my inbox. If you’re interested in more on this law try here: http://www.ftc.gov/spam/

An article I read recently cited a study by an internet security company that claimed that their research showed that Indiana was ranked #7 in unsolicited email with a whopping 88% of email messages being unsolicited junk. Our neighbors in Illinois must be even more gullible as they were ranked #1. A rather dubious honor…

The original SPAM created by Jay Hormel came to being in 1937. According to their website, “After more than seven decades in the marketplace, the SPAM® family of products is still the tasty, high-quality kitchen staple made of 100 percent pure pork and ham that the world has come to know and love.After more than seven decades in the marketplace, the SPAM® family of products is still the tasty, high-quality kitchen staple made of 100 percent pure pork and ham that the world has come to know and love.” Mmmmmm… Mmmmmmm…!!! Anybody familiar with email (and apparently blogging) hears “spam” and thinks first of the annoying avalanche of unsolicited junk that clogs our email inboxesevery time we open them. I’ve been using the spam-blocking options available from my email provider as well as after market add-ons as a secondary defense, but still end up with a phenominal amount of trash.

Internet Spam may have gotten it’s name from the Monty Python Troupe and their skit about a couple trying to order breakfast, but finding that everything offered on the menu has spam in it. The wife loudly proclaims, “I don’t like Spam!” while a chorus of vikings drown out all conversation with their chanting song, “spam, spam, spam, spam…” Still a hilarious bit thirty years later! And wholly appropriate! Unfortunately I don’t know how to embed the video here, but you can find it on You Tube by searching “Monty Python Spam” and for a while anyway, you can link to it here: Monty Python Spam Skit

If you find a miraculous way of dealing with spam, let me know. Until then, I hope you’re not offended that comments will be moderated and I will continue to have to deal with SPAM in moderation… <pun intended>

Kevin

UPDATE: I’ve added a plugin from Askimet that has made a world of difference in the amount of spam I’m having to handle. I only installed it this week, 1/5/09, but I’m impressed so far! It’s a free program and the installation into my WordPress blog program was painless.

Columbus Day

October 13, 2008 by

It’s Columbus Day. Just another Monday and I’m here at work. Easterday Construction Co., Inc. is open. Our crews are working. Most of our clients are working.

Most of the Government Offices are closed, though. Anybody else think something stinks when the majority of us are working today so the people that are supposedly working for us can take a paid holiday?

Kevin

Impervious Pavement Discussions before Culver Boards

September 25, 2008 by

At the Culver BZA meeting on September 18, 2008 there was a variance request for expanding a nonconforming use. The request was to allow an existing two car garage to be expanded to a three car garage. This was an old garage that sat across the setback lines. There was no doubt that the the existing structure should be replaced. The expansion of the nonconforming use in and of itself wasn’t a big deal, but in the overall big picture, it was not only a structure issue, but an impervious surface issue.

Just two days earlier at the Culver Plan Commission meeting, there was discussion regarding the poor condition of the storm sewers in Culver and their inadequacies. That was regarding another section of town that has poor drainage and another project that was adding impervious surface. Even if the solution of adding new and larger storm sewers to correct these issues was economically feasible, it wouldn’t be environmentally appropriate.

What’s happened to Personal Responsibility?

September 13, 2008 by

: Outrage of the Month from uschamber.com – September 2008

It seems that no one has any sense of shame anymore. No one is embarrassed about their actions. No one wants to take responsibility for their actions. Personally, when I walk down the sidewalk and trip over something that isn’t there, I try and look casual about it and hope no one notices my blunder. Too many people today look for ways to push the blame onto someone else. It couldn’t possibly have been their own fault! “Did you see what happened to me? Someone should pay!”

This sense of entitlement does nothing more than serve to keep lawyers employed and to drive the cost of everything up because of the potential liability. Insurance has become a huge expense to our industry (and probably all industries) because of that “what if” potential for liability.

Sand Hill Farm – Zero Lot Line Homes

September 12, 2008 by

Zero Lot Line Homes are one of the things I would like to consider for the Sandhill Farm PUD. There are no provisions for Zero Lot Line Homes in Culver’s current ordinance and it is a missed opportunity on some of the smaller Lots of Record currently platted in town.

Currently there’s not a definition of Zero Lot Line homes on Wikipedia, so I don’t get to cheat and use that reference this time. I did do some searches and found discussions regarding them here, here and for a negative viewpoint, here.

Zero Lot Line Homes are usually placed in zoning districts with higher densities, such as R-2 and R-3 districts, but they are becoming more common as in-fill developments where small undeveloped parcels are subdivided in existing neighborhoods. In a zero lot line development the setbacks are reduced to zero (but not always) on one or two sides of a property allowing the homes to be built side-by-side or back-to-back with a common wall on the property line. Rather than building them in a row, like with multi-family town homes, they will maintain one Side Yard, a Front Yard and often a Back Yard. They can be build in duplex, triplex and quadplex configurations.