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Community Created General
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Written by Staff
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Want to become a PcityLive on the street reporter?
Have you seen something you snapped a shot of and wanted a place to show the world?
Now you can! Simply sign up for a community page (click community button in nav bar)
Once you have an account ...
- Sign In
- Click "Edit My Account"
- Scroll to the bottom to get the email account to send your photo's
- Add it to your phone's contacts
- Send away
We have a number of contests coming up where you will be required to send photos from your phones to win, so jump on board and become a PcityLive on the street reporter.
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Community Created General
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Written by Staff
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I have had just about every smart phone on the market. Most have done about a third of what they promised to do, but they did more than any other flip or brick phone, so they ended up being worth it.
Then the iPhone stepped into the game and everything, and I do mean everything changed.
Today brings the second in what will no doubt become a long line of iPhones. The new beauty boasts 3G technology that has much faster Internet speeds and is much more reliable. Unfortunately, we don't have an AT&T 3G network in Panama City so don't be alarmed when you new iPhizzle isn't any faster than your old one.
Your new phone will be a bit slimmer and if you use it in public it may just work a lot like cologne.
For those of you who braved the early morning heat and dehydration we salute you.
To find out all the awesome new features watch this video from Apple.com.
Note: Please send any photos of you waiting in line, stinky and happy to
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
or upload them to your community page and tag the photos with "iPhone".
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Community Created General
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Written by Ken Caldwell
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 A
couple of weeks ago we looked at our new airport in comparison to other
needs in our community. I'd like to go back to that topic based on the
recent discussion by our airport board.
Unfortunately,
hard lessons learned by industry sectors do not often travel across or
between sectors. Years ago, the auto industry made some huge mistakes
in building more manufacturing capacity here in North America than car
orders demanded. The Big Three, GM, Ford, and Chrysler, took it on the
chin, for many years because they built too many plants and invested in
too much equipment to support a declining business. Foreign auto makers
had intruded into the American market place, and American manufacturers
still struggle today.
Toyota
with their world class production system became the benchmark of the
industry. Their methodology made sense and American manufacturers
scrambled to replicate their methods and procedures. Total Quality
Management (TQM) and all of its subcategories like Quality Circles,
Total Productive Maintenance, Kaizen (Continuous Improvement) events, Production run charting, and the one I'd like to focus on today, Just In Time (JIT) Delivery, have become watchwords in manufacturing of all types in our society.
So what does JIT
have to do with our airport? It seems the Airport Authority has been
asked to consider expanding the new runway from the proposed 8400 feet
to a 10,000 foot length, and perhaps even to 12,000 feet. The argument
goes that we are ahead of schedule and under budget. Couple that to the
notion that "some day", and according to our airport leadership it is
only a matter of "when", we will need to have the extensions anyway. So
the question is, why not go ahead now and commit to at least a 10,000
foot runway?
To
those of us who went through the downsizing process of the auto
industry this argument is all too familiar. We heard the same kind of
rationale in the mid-70's from top executives in our industry. Only
after Billions of dollars were expended did they realize that increased
capitalization of the manufacturing base led to a reduced margin in a
declining market with increased foreign competition. Our competitors,
particularly the Japanese, focused on improving existing operations
without spending capital. They won the American market with better
quality and lower prices. They taught us to only buy what we needed,
when we needed it, and to have it delivered at the specific time of its
use. That was the Just In Time process.
What
the Airport Board is considering is to buy more runway than is needed
today, expending precious capital simply because they have it, in a
declining and threatened airline industry. Could they not consider to
do the runway expansions incrementally on a Just In Time basis, buying
what we need, when we need it instead of "betting on the come"?
Wouldn't
it make sense that we learn from other's mistakes instead of insisting
on making our own? I guess I'd like to hear an airline tell us they
want to land a 737 Wide Body Jet on our new airport before we take the
plunge on building a 1600 foot extension. Making an assumption that
some day the big jets are going to come is a stretch that I don't think
is supported by reason or good business sense in today's economy.
What do you think?
Images provided by inocuo + frischmilch & used by permission via the creative commons license. |
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Community Created General
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Written by Enocha Van Lierop
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 Hard times caused by rising
food and gas prices are hurting everyone, even pets. The Bay County
Humane Society shelter is facing closure if it can’t raise more money.
Catherine Zehner, the marketing director for the Humane Society, says
the lack of giving forced them to use their reserve fund.
“We’ve been living off
that fund, dipping into it as needed, for the last five years,” Zehner
says.
Now the fund is depleted, and
the Humane Society is trying to raise $100,000 before September 30th
in order to keep helping animals in need of homes.
Many people think giving to
the Humane Society of the United States helps all Humane Societies,
but that isn’t the case.
“We’re not affiliated with
the Humane Society of the United States,” says Zehner. Bay County
receives no funds from H.S.U.S.
Donations of food are great,
but Zehner stresses that it takes more than food to run the Humane Society.
The power bill is high because turning off the air conditioner when
the staff leaves for the night isn’t an option. Animals have to stay
cool, too. Plus, workers are desperately needed to keep the animals
clean and healthy, so they look appealing to future-adoptive owners.
Currently, the no-kill shelter,
is full. The shelter has been unable to accept any new animals for some
months. Inside, cats meow and stretch out their paws at people who come
in looking for a new pet. Dogs and puppies, some of them purebreds,
stare out with sad eyes, hoping someone will take them home. The people
running the shelter work hard to keep the animals fed and happy. But
if the shelter is forced to close, Zehner says that will all change.
“If we close our doors,”
she says, “animals will die. If we don’t give them safe haven in
our shelter, they either run at large or get killed.”
It isn’t just the Humane
Society that will suffer. Animals in Bay County will also suffer, but
it doesn’t have to end on a sad note.
To help the shelter, the Humane
Society is asking for monetary donations. You can also shop at the Humane
Society of Bay County’s Thrift & Gift Store on 23rd
Street. For more information, call 628-4048 or visit the shelter at
1600 Bay Avenue, behind the Panama City Police Department.
Images by Desi Gardner
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Community Created General
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Written by Tony Simmons
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 We can't let her go quietly.
Marisa Joy Williams was the light and laughter and love in so many of
our lives that her absence left us devastated and empty in a personal
darkness. She was taken in a single car accident on a rain-slicked
interstate in the wee hours of Feb. 23, 2008. She was 18 years old.
In her memory, we're trying to make art and create smiles and
perpetuate her spirit in the form of a scholarship to deserving
technical theatre students at Gulf Coast Community College. "Project
Joy Boots," created by her friends Katie and Jazma, took one of
Marisa's idiosyncracies and turned it into a fundraising program. You
can learn more about it on the Joy Boots "Facebook" group. The boots
have been displayed and sold at the Spring Festival of the Arts, along
the walls at Strange Brew Coffee Cafe, during performances of
Shakespeare in the Park, and soon in the student gallery at GCCC.Panama
City Centennial artist Barbara Mulligan is among those who contributed
boots to the cause.
We miss Marisa desperately. And we want you to have some inkling of
what you missed by never knowing her. She would have loved you. She
pretty much always did. And you would have loved her too. You couldn't
help it
Check out Marissa Joy's Facebook and Myspace pages to leave love for Marissa and her family. |
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The opinions expressed in this and all articles are those of the
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