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Major Ice Storm Predicted from Dallas Northeast to Saint Louis

If you know anyone in a line from roughly Dallas to Saint Louis – please IMMEDIATELY contact them to rush their preparations to completion. If this occurs as predicted, this will be a major event that will paralyze the region for several days, if not weeks. Worse, people will be in an almost complete news blackout as to what is going on.

How nasty can an ice storm be? Just look at these power towers that collapsed under the weight of the ice in Quebec in 1998! Power was not restored fully for months.
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You rarely see a more frightening weather forecast than this one from the NWS Dallas/Fort Worth (I truly hope that it’s wrong):

Today: Periods of freezing rain. Some thunder is also possible. High near 31. North northwest wind between 10 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Total daytime ice accumulation of 0.2 to 0.4 of an inch possible.

Tonight: Periods of freezing rain, mainly after midnight. Some thunder is also possible. Low around 31. North northeast wind around 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New ice accumulation of 0.5 to 0.7 of an inch possible.

Sunday: Periods of freezing rain. Some thunder is also possible. High near 31. North northeast wind between 10 and 15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New ice accumulation of 0.5 to 0.7 of an inch possible.

Sunday Night: Freezing rain and sleet likely. Cloudy, with a low around 24. North northwest wind between 15 and 20 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.

Preepare for the worst, hope for the best.

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“CTA riders are in for a rail mess” per Chicago Tribune

The CTA is creating a real mess with it’s rebuilding of the north side L tracks.

They are planning a severe reduction in service during peak hours. It can barely operate now in a satisfactory fashion, how can the CTA honestly say your travel time may double and not offer alternatives? Where are the increases in:

1) Non-peak service?

2) Clark, Halsted, Ashland and Western buses?

3) Extra shuttle bus service to get people to Lake Shore Drive express buses? Or buses that go from certain stops to downtown to take pressure off the trains?

To not plan alternatives is both irresponsible and shows the complete lack of customer service focus. Why haven’t the alderman of these wards demanded a better alternative plan? Why didn’t the CTA think of this themselves.

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Bill Hanekamp talk about Microsite.com

Jason Jacobson at the Chicagoland Entreprenuership Center invited me to see a presentation on Microsite’s this morning by Bill Hanekamp. I left the conversation believing that microsites are an underutilized tool that help enable potentially viral and social media content. They are underutilized most in the B2B world where you do some interesting things to build traction with prospects of long-sales cycle and complex products and services.

Thanks for inviting me Jason!

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Fred Wilson Dislikes the Techcrunch Dead Pool – Too Bad!!!

Fred Wilson doesn’t like the Dead Pool over at Techcrunch.

A friend of mine communicated a better idea for him and other venture capitalists. Why not spend more time looking at original ideas – real detailed business plans with actual revenue models? The dead pool would be a lot smaller if people did hard work instead of chasing “existing businesses” which are little more than a web site with some content. So why not spend more time looking early stage companies that have real, independent, revenue producing business models with strong strategy? You’ll find your industry default rate will go down. Don’t know where to find these fledgling companies? Just ask me (my referral fees are quite reasonable).