Gas Shortage in Western North Carolina

Western North Carolina is one of the hardest hit area's of the nation when it comes to the gas shortage, but you would not know it if you watch the national news. City services are being scaled back, schools are closing, business's can't run because people cannot come to work, activities and school meetings are being postponed because parents and teachers can't find gas to attend, there have even been fights and shots fired in gas lines that have been reported over two miles long in some parts of the mountains. Store managers are having to direct traffic and on some highways, the traffic jams are so bad that cars have to pass in the oncoming lanes to get around them which is creating a public hazard.
Last week, some stations started charging over five dollars a gallon before the Governor's of South Carolina and North Carolina warned that the state's would prosecute anyone caught price gouging.
Local officials have tried to contact the major oil companies to step up shipments but they are not returning phone calls. Some leaders are even talking about a State of Emergency because even the police and fire departments are going to have to cut back on non essential services such as training, non-emergencies and public services.
Anytime that there is a gas truck at a filling station, word gets out and the lines form and the gas is gone in hours. The gas that Western North Carolina receives comes from Spartanburg, SC and that is where the shortage begins but Tennessee, South Carolina and Georgia are also seeing mass shortages.
Mid-State shortages are now being reported in Charlotte but officials say that shipments will not be diverted.
This shortage affected a small percentage of the population, but what if this had happened further north like Washington, DC, New York, Boston or Detroit? Or further south affecting Jacksonville, Orlando, Miami, Tampa, Houston, Dallas...? This was a small hiccup in the supply line and was caused by two hurricanes hundreds of miles away. This kind of shortage was not even seen after Katrina or other more powerful storms that did even more damage.

Glass Unicorn Being Made

Very fast

clipped from zwamneus.punt.nl

Steve Jobs - 61st out of the 400 Riches Americans

The co-founder of Apple, the previous owner of Pixar and the top shareholder of Disney.

clipped from www.forbes.com #61 Steven Jobs The 400 Richest Americans Jobs dismisses health worries, but shareholders fret his pancreatic cancer has returned after gaunt pictures of the King of the iGeeks surfaced in June. Stock up more than 100% between January 2007 and January 2008; now down 16% as the market reacts to health concerns. Launched new iPhone 3G in July. Sleeker, faster gadget sells for $300, half the price of the original; sold one million units on first weekend. Original iPhone took 74 days to reach millionth sale. Founded Apple in garage. Created Macintosh 1976, fired 9 years later after power struggle with chief exec John Sculley. Bought Pixar for $10 million, transformed firm into animation darling with hits Toy Story, Finding Nemo. Sold to Disney 2006 for 7.3% stake in the company—now worth $4.3 billion. Returned to Apple 1996. A third of Apple's $24 billion annual revenues are from iPod. Tweaked iterations introduced last month.

Another Google First

Google can now take it's own pictures from space.

clipped from gizmodo.com Google Military-Controlled Satellite Reaches Orbit, We Don't Feel Lucky Of course, there's nothing new here until you notice the huge Google logo on the rocket, signaling the fact that Sergei and Larry own the exclusive rights to the GeoEye-1 images. Yes, no other company will be able to access this information, only Google. And they will be there, available for the public in Google Maps and Google Earth.

Acclaimed Journalist Amy Goodman Arrested

On Labor Day, Amy Goodman was arrested, detained and held accused of "obstruct[ing] a legal process" and "interfer[ing] with a peace officer"[11] while fellow Democracy Now! producers were held on charges of "probable cause for riot".[12] Some sources have criticized the arrests of the producers as unlawful and a violation of the freedom of the press.[13] She and her colleagues were later released, but they still face charges stemming from their arrests.[14]

source: Wikipedia

clipped from seattlepi.nwsource.com Government crackdowns on journalists threaten democracy AMY GOODMAN SYNDICATED COLUMNIST Nicole was videotaping. Her tape of her own violent arrest is chilling. Police in riot gear charged her, yelling, "Get down on your face." You hear her voice, clearly and repeatedly announcing "Press! Press! Where are we supposed to go?" She was trapped between parked cars. The camera drops to the pavement amid Nicole's screams of pain. Her face was smashed into the pavement, and she was bleeding from the nose, with the heavy officer with a boot or knee on her back. Another officer was pulling on her leg. Sharif was thrown up against the wall and kicked in the chest, and he was bleeding from his arm.