StarFighters76's Blog

Okay first of all I wanna say, I've never been to the Hereford House on 20th and Main but I am aware of the historic significance behind it, and it saddens me that such a thing has happend to it. I only hope it can be rebuild.

Now, I'm sure you all heard about the ruling for the explosion was arson. I honestly hope whoever did it will be caught. But here's what I'm confused about. What was it, an hour or so prior, there was two bomb threats called in, that happend at two nearby gas stations (the locations escape me, but they were close). Now, from what I understand, the police or whoever said that those bomb threats are not related to the explosion at the Hereford House. Isn't it a little odd, that two bomb threats were called in, which proven to be duds, yet Hereford House was blown up? I'm not trying to say the Bomb & Arson Squad was wrong, but, it's just too much of a coincidence to say they weren't connected. I honestly think the other threats were some type of diversion, while the culprit went after the real target.

It just doesn't rub me the right way for some reason. I mean, three incidents, somewhat similar situation (two bomb threats, and one explosion), yet unrelated? I think they should check it out a little more carefully. Something doesn't seem right, especially given the close proximity of the three locations.

In the last few years, I've noticed something rather odd. When it comes to severe weather during the warm times, it seems that more often than not, all the storms tend to happen on Thursdays, sometimes every Thursday for a few weeks. Sure it may look like an odd coincidence, but I gotta ask, why does these storms happen more often on Thursday than any other day of the week?

This is gonna sound weird, but hear me out. I've studied and drew maps for 20 years as a hobby, and amongst that, I studied up on stop lights and weather. Now in my many years of studying stop lights, I came across one recently that made me go O_o.

The location is in North Kansas City, along Burlington Road (the main strip). I can not recall the cross street, but I do know it's located south of Armour/210 & Burlington and that it's at a 4-way intersection. The stop light is located as a right turn stop light, but it's design was what caught me off guard. It's what I called a 6-stacked stop light. Basically it's got: Red, Yellow, Green, Yellow Right Arrow , Green Right Arrow. Here's the catch, there's an additional stoplight ontop of the Red Light. If anyone who knows the area, does anyone know what that additional light is for?

Have to go into rant mode now!

I live out here on the central east side of Indepdence, and I'm able to take two buses to get to the Square. The problem is, one bus runs every other hour (thank goodness for the Green Route running every hour). The reason is because the city was trying to cut back on the buses because they "can't afford it". They could afford it, they had no problem building lots of other stuff, why not fund to keep the 6 buses seperate? They built a transit center but they can't keep the Red and Yellow Routes sepeate? I went to the meeting in July about the bus situation, and it didn't seem to do any good honestly. The speaker there (one of the head people from the KCATA) seem really understanding about the situation that us bus riders have, and wish something could be done. The city however will not budge on anything involving improving the bus system. Contacting the city won't do much good, watch on City 7 when people spoke up about it, it's as if there was no care.

And now I hear a rumor (a pretty big rumor) floating around the buses that the city wants to terminate the entire bus system come early next year. Why the hell for, they just built that transit center? If this is true (which from hearing it on City 7, it is not), don't they realize the money they'd be wasting from building the transit center? I've heard people threw out ideas on how to save and expand on the buses, but the city has turned them down without giving it a looksee. I'm sure many people who post blogs have rode the buses out here, so they know what I'm talking about. This is nuts and we shouldn't have to take this anymore. We need our buses as much as the city wants to try and look good (in comparison to other cities). Why should we have to suffer for? Some people have to work and use the buses to get their jobs. And when those people get paid, they have to pay city taxes? What do those people that uses the buses to get to their jobs so they can get paid and pay the city get in return?

Now this question may seem a bit off the wall, but hear me out lol. I live in Independence, and I look forward to severe storms, the crazier the better. Don't misunderstand, I wouldn't want the city to be torn apart (my condolenses to those of Greensburg, KS), but the sheer excitement of the dark clouds and sirens blaring just gets me going so much (I'm weird I know lol). My question is, how come Independence never gets hit by tornadoes? I study/draw/read maps as a hobby for 20 years and in that I study the weather (I feel it helps me with my map studies). Anyways I would notice that tornadoes would go around us, that is, through Raytown to Lee's Summit, Blue Springs then east of town, or north through Liberty then east. I never understood why it doesn't go through Independence though. In 2006 I was surprised to hear the sirens go off twice out here due to storms.

So why don't Independence get anything like that? I tend to believe it has to do with how Downtown is setup (tall buildings) and that's why it don't come this way because we are directly east of the Downtown. Thoughts?

So Saturday morning the tickets went on sale for the big concert. To be honest I was worried about if I was gonna get any tickets. I was down at the Sprint Center on Grand Blvd getting tickets, and if anyone was there, they know it was crowded. However when tickets did go on sale, the line was moving along rather quickly, which was a fairly good sign. So I get up to the window, and paid $165 for 6 tickets, and the guy asked me if tickets for the 3rd show would be acceptable, which of course it would be. I was already excited because I got tickets, but the real excitement came when I was seeing what seats I had. It said "Row C/Section FLR A" which to me meant "3rd row on the Floor Level". I was walking up to the bus stop at 11th and Grand, and was calling everyone I knew telling them about it. Talk about being lucky,  I'm gonna be close to the stage!

I listend to Garth Brooks (as well as country music) back in the 90s, and while I stopped listening to it in 1998, I do listen to what I have. I really love his music, all of his songs are just awesome.  And seeing him perform and knowing the charities he's helped, just makes him much better in my opinion. I went to his concert back in 1996, and I never thought I would be going to another concert of his. I can honestly say that I am looking very forward to this concert, more than anything.

I've heard talk about how he pretty much wants to "scalp the scalpers", by putting on these sold out shows, and well I think it's funny. That is, I think it's funny that the scalpers and brokers got severly owned by him. I must say though, this will be interesting to see him pull off 9 shows in November.  But seeing how well he performs, I have no doubt that he can pull it off perfectly. Here's hoping to hear some of my favorites like "Friends In Low Places", "We Shall Be Free", "Ain't Going Down Till The Sun Comes Up", "The River" and many many more.

To all those who didn't get tickets, I really feel sympathy for you. I mean, I understand how disappointed you all feel, and while I'm not trying to rub it in your faces, I truly hope you can get tickets, whether by winning them on the radio or by other methods. To all who are going however, time to make some noise!