Godspeed

At one point the entire northridge area was beautiful and technically like a subburb, but that is all changed now, and you couldn't pay me to stop at any of the stores as I pass bye. Pssh... I shop in that area all the time and never remotely had an issue. It may not be what it once was, but the paranoia regarding its current state is way out of line with reality.

But back in the 60s they were eminent domaining the hell out of a lot of people. Better to do it then when that area wasn't so built up. The 12/24/69 article states that they would have been displacing around 10,000 middle class residents. Is that as high of a number as it sounds? That's like obliterating the entire city of St Francis, plus an extra 1,500 people. I mean, all of those freeways would have been a little ridiculous considering MKE's population didn't increase like Chicago's did, but a bypass has been a necessary part of a modern city since the 50s and 60s. The question is, what would a north/south bypass brought more of: economic progress or exurban sprawl.

"It's Duke Silver!"

Agreed. The ending with Jim going back to his normal interaction with Dwight was a welcome return.

Yeah, I believe Silver Spring goes under Green Bay Rd, Teutonia Ave, Sherman/43rd St & 76th ST, but you're still talking about displacing lots of residents in between. Logically, the Stadium Freeway really should be connected to the Fondy Freeway, but you have the same issue there and still no easterly connection to I-43 except via I-94.

I can agree to this to a point, but opposition against the destruction of the city for the convenience of suburban commuters is perfectly valid in my opinion. Eminent domain can get kind of personal. For the sake of discussion though, a northern bypass would have fit better running somewhere between Florist Ave (6000N) and Mill Rd (6400N) from the Fondy Freeway (Hwy 145) to Green Bay Rd (Hwy 57) and then southeast through Glendale until it meets up back w/ Silver Spring rather than sticking strictly with Hampton Ave (4800N). Much of that route is cleared for rail usage (not sure how much use it gets, if at all), so it's pretty visible in Google maps. I guess I'm not all too upset a northern bypass wasn't built. One thing I'm particularly not upset they didn't build was the extension of the stadium freeway north into Ozaukee County. That thing would've been 3 or 4 blocks from my present-day house. Probably wouldn't have bought here though, so I guess it's a moot point... It ain't no burden to me to drive the 5 minutes to I-43 on Brown Deer Rd or the 8 minutes to US-45 on Good Hope Rd, but I do work from home so my exposure to traffic is always self-inflicted. Milwaukee's population decline is evident in many rust belt cities, only the fallout in Milwaukee hasn't been nearly as dramatic as some. Recent census estimates for Cleveland is at 50% of its peak population. Milwaukee is at about 80% and might be seeing an increase once the 2010 numbers are released. The '08 estimates had them back over 600k after dipping to 596,000 in 2000. Milwaukee is very interesting to me too. EDIT: This 9/25/1969 Milwaukee Journal article kind of echoes my thoughts on the opposition and the alternative: http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LtwjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=QSgEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7312,3398900&dq=milwaukee+baw-freeway&hl=en EDIT 2: This 12/24/1969 article confirms that they dropped the plans for displacement reasons, not spending: http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=KwMqAAAAIBAJ&sjid=PCgEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3647,1718718&dq=milwaukee+baw-freeway&hl=en

Paul: http://www.wisconsinhighways.org/milwaukee/bay.html Bruce: http://www.wisconsinhighways.org/milwaukee/system_map.html

Once again, the NFL tries to please everybody with the halftime show and ends up pleasing pretty much no one. I like the Who, they sound great on the remastered CD version of Who's Next, but that's just it... it was 30+ years ago. Not so much in their current incarnation and advancing age. I don't want to see a bunch of saggy-skinned, half-assing has-beens (sweet... 3 hyphened words in a row) on stage for a moneygrab featuring the same music I you hear every waking hour on WKLH and every other major market in the US. And it's not just the Who, I feel the same way about the Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney being asked to perform, too. It's just so out of touch it's comical. And this is coming from someone who is a reasonable appreciator of classic rock in moderation (although I avoid it like the plague on the radio dial due to the sheer redundancy of the format). That said, no younger band is going to do the trick either, and that boyband/classic rock montage CBS tried with Britney Spears/NSync/Aerosmith/Nelly in 2001 was downright embarrassing as well. It's lose/lose situation, so really, why try? Why not just go back to a traditional halftime show with a marching band like they started off with? It's not necessarily my cup of tea, but I'd watch. And if they're covering classic rock songs, it ain't too much different than the remaining 50% of the Who doing the same thing. The creative genius may not be present, but the passion for the performance certainly would be. As an added bonus, maybe a marching band playing on the field wouldn't necessitate a 30 minute delay between the halves to prep the performing area.

I liked the VW commercial with the Grizzly Bear song and Stevie Wonder & Tracy Morgan at the very end. Stevie Wonder sight gags always get me, as does Tracy Morgan's feigned (or not) incredulousness. EDIT: forgot to mentioned how much the Bud Light AutoTune commercial bothered me. Two of the bigger evils of mediocrity joining forces...

Dude, you're just not getting it. Robert's point is your and other's steadfast refusal to trust the experts while placing your own partial skepticism above all else does not make for effective discussion nor reasonable debate. This is an attitude prevalent on all forms of talk radio, from political to sports. No political undertones are necessary or inherently implied.

The Milwaukee County Federated Library system has 6 different Stereolab titles available.

I thought Michael was solid in this episode when his behavior has usually been the show's weakness. He had a couple of good moments. Other than that, yeah, plot advancement. The Christian Slater cameo in the Sabre video would have been so much better had NBC not decided to inexplicably add it in to the promos that aired @ 7:50pm. A few things bothered me about that promo: it's not in any way pertinent to the episode and ruined the surprise element, that in and of itself is not enough to entice anyone on the planet to watch99.9% of the people watching Parks & Rec would watch The Office no matter what (although I'm slowly beginning to wonder what's the point...)I also thought the Desperate David Wallace was a nice touch. P.S. my wife got knocked up a few weeks after the last episode of Season 5 when Pam found out she was pregnant and is now about 3 weeks from her due date. How much longer can they possibly drag this thing out?

thebruce44 --- I just want to let you know that your input & perspective on this topic has been appreciated. EDIT: also regarding the "flexibility" one gets from their car, how flexible is it in snowy weather or traffic jams or construction detours, etc.? Rail is an effective and consistent alternative in these scenarios.

Parks & Rec has earned a much deserved (well, creatively if not ratings-wise) renewal for season 3. I am pleased.

There is just so much terrible television in the leading Nielsen numbers. I can't sit through an episode of Grey's Anatomy without laughing. Private Practice is somehow worse. Two and a Half Men and Big Bang Theory are simply exercises in comedic cliches. I seem to recall the crime procedurals getting sufficiently skewered in Saving Sarah Marshall, but maybe that's just David Caruso's "acting" (rightfully) taking the fall. Paint by numbers television just ain't for me. And all reality shows do for me is showcase humanity at their worst. Granted, this all comes from a guy who only intentionally watches about 2.5 hours of primetime network programming a week, but I feel it's for good reason.

Yeah, I knew it was. I just put the '?' there because his presence in there was just so surreal. Then again I probably should've put one in there for Billy Gibbons too.

And wow, the most odd Will Ferrell appearence ever... him dressed up as a even more hillbilly Ronnie Van Zandt belting 'Free Bird' with the Max Weinberg 7 backing him up along with Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top, Beck (?), and Conan on guitar. I love it and I don't even like Free Bird. Godspeed, Conan.

Great rendition of 'Long May You Run' by Neil Young, too.

count me in with the disappointment over the clip show. plus clips are kinda pointless when the series hasn't been on the air that long, and so the "remember when's" are from only a season ago. At first I thought the clip show was a very odd choice to air at this point, but I guess it works well symbolically with the transition from the decline of Dunder/Mifflin into whatever's next. But while it's nice to take a look back, isn't that a bit redundant in the DVD age? I know I've seen some of those clips a good 10 times. I think Community is pretty hit or miss, but Parks and Rec has been the funniest show on the Thursdays by far this year. I found it really boring the first season but I'm glad I gave it another shot - it's great now. Agreed. I've been beating the drum pretty hard for the creative re-birth of Parks & Rec and yesterday's episode was yet another winner. The show is just so much fun. Yesterday I saw a preview for the "new" episode of the Office was coming up and almost winced at having to watch it (not even knowing it was a clip show). They're just being outclassed every week by its sister show that airs in the preceding timeslot. And yeah, a lot of it has to do with how they treat the main character. As Michael Scott continues to devolve into a live-action Homer Simpson, they continue to mold Leslie Knope into everything he's not. But to be fair, I really enjoyed the last Christmas episode, so there's still hope. I'm pretty ambivalent on Community. I like it, but I've missed their last 2 episodes and hardly feel complied to immediately catch up on Hulu. Gotta wait for a slow day at work I guess. 30 Rock hasn't been as good this year imo. The episode last week with James Franco was top class, but in general, I think it's become too stale. For the past few years, I've gotten into this habit of only watching 30 Rock on DVD. Not sure why. When you watch them all together, you really notice a creative lag around the middle of season 3 (or at least I did). On the whole, season 2 was definitely their apex so far. I have caught a few episodes this year, but never noticed anything that would change my opinion of that.

Yeah, The Kentucky Derby winner wearing a mink snuggy (a snuggy for a horse, nonetheless) while watching NFL programming was great.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ZAhTnF3JL._SL500_AA240_.jpg Spoon - Transference

Many people are. I am one of them. His lack of integrity in dealing with all this offends me just as much as what he tries to pass off as "humor". People feel sorry for Conan because he got his dream job taken away by someone who's proven time and time again to be a complete and utter douche. And clearly he wasn't afforded the same support by the network or his lead-ins that his predecessor got. The amount of money either of them is making is irrelevant, but since Leno is reportedly earning upwards of $30M a year (about double what Conan's deal allegedly calls for), I guess no one should feel bad if the Brewers were to lose the World Series to the Yankees. After all it's about the same ratio of salary, and who cares, both teams brought in more last year than many of us will ever see... Leno shouldn't quit "because he has plenty of money". Leno should quit to prove that he has a modicum of personal integrity and/or reverence for the show he claims to care for. Going along with the 30-minute show idea that would have bumped the Tonight Show into "tomorrow" on the east coast proved he has neither. Or he should quit because he's just plain horrible. Either one works for me.

Brilliant!

Leno's Ego.

I never understood the appeal of Jay Leno. His signature bit is reading typos of others. How absurd. I tried his primetime show once and couldn't stomach the banality. Couldn't give it more than 3 minutes. I've been a been a longtime fan Conan on Late Night and an a relatively occasional viewer of the his on "The Tonight Show". Conan is absolutely making the right decision here. By walking away from "The Tonight Show" at 12:05 (a time not even "tonight" on the East Coast...), he preserves the show's legacy and his own. He's always been a class act and this is no different. I really hope he brings out Little Jay Leno tonight though. NBC can't possibly have been this stupid though, right? By proposing a jumbling around of the time slots, they had to have wanted Conan to leave. I'm not sure what they're afraid of in letting Leno go. His viewers will die off and dissipate a lot sooner than Conan's.