Google Clicks Oklahoma For $600 Million Data Center

Google is coming to Oklahoma! A Google employee tipped me off this morning at church.

http://www.okcommerce.gov/index.php?option=com_pressreleases&Itemid=528&id=706

EXCERPT:

“May 2, 2007 — Pryor, OK — Google Inc. has announced plans to invest $600 million to build a data center complex at MidAmerica Industrial Park in Pryor, Oklahoma….

“Google’s data centers are a worldwide network of specialized buildings that contain the computers that support Google services. Google will begin site preparation and construction in the coming weeks. Google plans to begin operation in the first facility within the next 18 months. Another data center building is planned for the site, with construction following the completion of the first building.”

Jobs: http://www.google.com/jobs

Two other helpful articles:

http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2007/Apr/07/google_planning_oklahoma_data_center.html

http://searchengineland.com/070426-104031.php

San Francisco Bay Area Foreclosures by Zip Code (Contra Costa County)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/14/RECONTRA.DTL

Do you still want to live in the San Francisco Bay Area? Bear in mind that this data is four months old. Things are worse now.

Bay Area Foreclosures by Zip Code (Contra Costa County) Jan-Aug 2007

Foreclosures/1000 Homes — Median Sales Price

94509 Antioch 15.3 $379,500.00
94531 Antioch 23.1 $452,500.00

94518 Concord 6.2 $575,000.00
94519 Concord 4.8 $465,000.00
94520 Concord 13.4 $448,000.00
94521 Concord 4.2 $570,000.00

94561 Oakley 12.2 $385,000.00

94565 Pittsburg 11.2 $410,000.00

The Line Starts Here: Service may be Social Security’s No. 1 problem.

Texans were already lining up to get help at the Social Security office in Pasadena, a suburb of Houston, at 8 a.m., an hour before the office opens.

http://www.aarp.org/bulletin/socialsec/the_line_starts_here.html

Do you still think you’re going to get Social Security when you retire? Do you still believe that the government can keep paying benefits out without borrowing more money and devaluing the dollar? Wake up and smell the coffee.

Merry Christmas from Uncle Sam.

EXCERPT:

“This is a train wreck unfolding right in front of us,” says Sylvester Schieber, chairman of the Social Security Advisory Board, an independent, bipartisan body whose members are appointed by the president and Congress to report on the agency.

“People will be alarmed,” Schieber says, “to learn this agency they think they’re going to depend on … doesn’t have the resources to deal with the cases coming its way.”…

And yet this month the first of 78 million boomers, three months shy of turning 62, can begin applying for early retirement benefits they are eligible to receive next year…. At the same time, boomer retirements promise to deplete the already understaffed SSA as well.

Advice to Young Men: Do Not Marry, Do Not Have Children. (?!)

SHOCKING. How do we start looking at problems like this Biblically?

http://www.intellectualconservative.com/2007/11/13/advice-to-young-men-do-not-marry-do-not-have-children/

EXCERPT:

Spreading this message may be the most effective method of saving marriage as an institution.

Marriage is a foundation of civilized life. No advanced civilization has ever existed without the married, two-parent family. Those who argue that our civilization needs healthy marriages to survive are not exaggerating.

And yet I cannot, in good conscience, urge young men to marry today. For many men (and some women), marriage has become nothing less than a one-way ticket to jail. Even the New York Times has reported on how easily “the divorce court leads to a jail cell,” mostly for men. In fact, if I have one urgent piece of practical advice for young men today it is this: Do not marry and do not have children.

Don’t Ignore Your ‘Bio Clock’

On a recently-concluded HBO series, “Tell Me You Love Me,” a married couple in their 30s saw their relationship fall apart because, after a year of trying, the wife finally became pregnant, but then the husband decided that he did not want to be a father.

http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071123/LIFE/711230362/-1/NEWS11&sfad=1

A woman focuses on her career and marries in her thirties and then finds that it will be hard for her to have a child. A man gets into a relationship and stays with the woman for years but is scared of commitment and responsibility.

And we wonder why our current liberated society has a lower birth rate.

It seems that as our standard of living goes up and we have the resources to support more children, we have fewer of them.

Does technological development inevitably lead to a lower birth rate? What light does Scripture bring to bear on this subject? I’d be interested in looking at any resources y’all can point me to on this subject.

Where Do Your Property Taxes Go?

Oklahoma property taxes are due this month. (If your house is free and clear, don’t forget!)

Do you know what your property tax dollar is being used for? Here’s the breakdown from the Oklahoma County assessor’s Web site:

Schools 59%
Tech centers and colleges 13%
Cities and towns 11%
County 9%
City/county library 5%
City/county health 2%

http://www.oklahomacounty.org/assessor/images/Dollar_Break.jpg

By far the largest portion of the money goes to fund public education (72%). Is that something you’re comfortable with? What does this reveal about our voters’ minds when it comes to the priority of families (vs. government) in education?

“Generally, local schools receive the largest share of the property tax. Schools are followed by city bond issues, county government, vocational-technical schools, libraries, and city-county health department. Except for those provided for in the Oklahoma Constitution, millage levies are controlled by the voters.”