North Carolina has one of the worst (if not the worst) annexation laws in the country, making it ridiculously easy for cities to gobble up unincorporated areas over their residents’ objection. The nearest town to me, Midway, exists solely for the purpose of avoiding annexation by Winston-Salem or, more likely, Lexington. The WS Journal, which has long been an unapologetic apologist for this oppressive policy, reported yesterday on a “reform” that barely survived an early procedural vote, and may or may not ever actually become law. The upside to the purported “reform” is that in some rare instances, residents might actually get to – gasp – vote on whether an annexation will or will not occur. The down side is twofold. First, the process for getting the referendum is onerous, requiring 15% of registered voters not just from the area targeted for annexation, but among existing city residents, as well. Second, if that threshold is ever met and a vote finally does occur, the annexation will be upheld by a simple majority of city residents and residents of the targeted area combined, no matter how overwhelming opposition may be within the area targeted for annexation.

By that logic, maybe the U.S. should be allowed to annex Canada. And it’s 100% legit, as long as all Americans and Canadians are allowed to vote on the matter, and as long as a majority of people who are either American or Canadian vote “yes.” Meaning, if my math is right, that the measure need only obtain a 56% majority in the States to pass even if 100% of Canadians vote against it. That’s about the way I see any annexation vote going under this new “reform,” assuming such a vote is ever held in the first place. Why on earth would any city resident oppose annexing just about anything (or at least anything their own city council would have wanted to annex in the first place)? This thing strikes me as a phony “reform” that is actually designed not to work.

I spent the past weekend in Connecticut, courtesy^* of Delta Airlines, which thinks Atlanta is on the way from everything to everything else. On Friday I flew from Greensboro (GSO) to Atlanta (ATL), and from ATL to New York LaGuardia (LGA). On Sunday, I returned from New York JFK to ATL, and from ATL back to GSO. Today I received credit for my frequent flyer miles from Continental, which is still partnering with Delta but not for long. Credit was as follows:

Note that Flights 5099 (GSO-ATL) and 6474 (ATL-GSO) both have the same number of miles: 306. That kinda makes sense since you’d figure that Greensboro is the same distance from Atlanta as Atlanta is from Greensboro. Now compare the mileage credit for Flight 18 (ATL-LGA) vs. 1499 (JFK-ATL). Possible explanations:

1. JFK is 381 miles from LGA.
2. The pilot on Flight 18 took a really circuitous route to NY, but the pilot on Flight 1499 took a more sensible one.
3. The business class section of the plane travels 381 miles farther than coach.
4. ???

^*As compensation for last year’s disaster, this flight would have been free if I hadn’t originally booked it for this coming weekend and then had to re-book. As it was, it was very cheap, and I was allowed to check a bag for free since I had technically “bought” the ticket a year ago. And taking the free flight got me just enough miles on Continental to qualify for another free flight. Cool, eh?

If you’re in the Triad and want to win an easy prize, call WSJS tomorrow morning when you hear the chime around 7:50. The answer to today’s question, which no one got (and will therefore roll over to tomorrow) is 1959, the year The Gypsy came out, and the year Irene Cara and Sheena Easton were born.

Here’s an oldie but goodie from my favorite dropout and his Offspring:

It’s too bad they don’t show more of the crowd. There had to be some pothead among them proudly yelling “mota!” between tokes while remaining blissfully oblivious to the fact that Dexter and the gang were ripping him to shreds.

‘Cuz without it, some people might get denied life-saving treatment. Oh wait…

How many more of these will it take before L.A. Mayor Antonio Villar goes back to his maiden name, or at least changes his name to something more honest like “Antonio Villarwhoeverthehellihappentobebangingthisweek?” It’s not like Ms. Raigosa is anywhere near him these days.

Not sure there’s a right place for convicted cannibals, but if there is one, it sure as hell ain’t the same village where you got in trouble the first time.

Yahoo links to a Match.com article purporting to tell people how to deal with their almost-perfect, but annoying in one particular way, mates. Some of their advice seems reasonable enough, but their first item is suspect:

Rule #1: Be gentle
You can’t stand the way she stirs sugar into her coffee, how she stirs for a full five seconds, then says “ahhhh,” and taps the spoon on the rim. No one blames you for your feelings. Really. But you will be blamed if you say, “What’s wrong with you?” Or, “What is your problem?” Or, “I can’t stand the psychotic coffee-stirring anymore; it’s just sugar, pour, stir, drink, don’t you understand that?”

No, the better way is thus: “Sandra, I have so much fun when I’m with you and I look forward to our times together. And I hope it’s OK, but I’d like to share some of my quirky side. Yeah? You don’t mind hearing it? OK, well, I don’t know why, but when people stir coffee for a long time, I just get bothered. It puts me on edge. I’m sure you had no idea this bothers me and I know this sounds a little crazy, but do you think you could stir your coffee a little less?”

My guess is that this recommended approach won’t go over too well unless your wife or girlfriend’s name happens to be Sandra. Then, maybe.

If you’re thinking of grabbing some coffee at Starbucks today, don’t forget the free pastry.

It’s true. Flying with US Airways annoy the everloving crap out of you, but it probably won’t kill you.