July 2009

There were 56 posts published in July 2009 (this is page 1 of 6).

NC-540’s days as free road are numbered

When the NC Turnpike Authority cashed its $1B in loans yesterday, it also set the clock ticking for turning the section of NC-540 between I-40 and NC-55 into a toll road.

From http://www.ncturnpike.org/projects/Triangle_Expressway/

“Northern Wake Expressway (NC 540) is the portion of the Outer Wake Expressway that extends from NC 54 to NC 55. This 2.8 mile long segment, which recently opened to traffic and was constructed by the DOT with
STIP funds, is being transferred to NCTA in support of the project. This section will enable Triangle Parkway and Western Wake Freeway to function as a contiguous toll facility.”
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I’ve made it to the end of the Pandora rainbow

Pandora-end-of-rainbow
I finally got to the end of the Pandora rainbow yesterday after delightfully chewing up my 40 free hours per month. There wasn’t a pot of gold there but instead a polite request for $0.99 to keep listening for the rest of the month (i.e., today). After entering a few credit-card details I was on my way and the music kept playing.

Pandora-end-of-rainbow-thanks

Thus I’ve spent my first $0.99 on Pandora. More to come, I’m sure!

Daniel Boyd terror plot

Seven men were arrested in North Carolina on charges of being a terrorist ring, the leader of which is said to be Daniel Patrick Boyd.

These are very serious charges, and deserve to be heard in court. While it may be true that these gentlemen may be really bad men, they should not be tried and convicted in the press by the statements of the Justice Department. Spokesmen for the U.S. Attorney’s office and the FBI paint these guys as Osama Bin Ladens, and went on and on congratulating themselves for arresting them.

Then in today’s news where Boyd’s wife protests his innocence, U.S. District Attorney George E. B. Holding declined to respond to Boyd’s version. “I am sticking to the four corners of the indictment. We try our cases in court and won’t go back and forth before then.”

Oh, so now you try your cases in court, after you’ve already convicted them in the press.

I’m a supporter of law enforcement but I’m also a supporter of our justice system. I’d like to see the feds keep mum about these gentlemen until everyone has had a chance to hear the evidence.

New media scoops old media again

Here’s another case of new media scooping old media. From the Los Angeles Times:

At 5:09 a.m. Pacific time, nearly an hour before the official news releases went out, “American Idol” host and celebrity interviewer Ryan Seacrest hinted on Twitter that something big was about to go down: “Some biz ent news going to break this morning that will impact shows and stars. It will have impact one major network immediately.”

Twelve minutes before NBC e-mailed reporters the news about the departure of Silverman, who is launching a new production company with IAC/InterActive Corp. Chief Executive Barry Diller, Seacrest reported on Twitter: “guy that runs nbc- put office biggest looser [sic] etc on is leaving to launch a new studio. Bringing together most creative stars and producers.

“This means better shows from our favorite stars in u.s. and around the world. Ben Silverman just filling me in. This is big news in hwood.”

It was another example of how Twitter is fast becoming the go-to news site of the new media age.

Lance and team still fuming about Alberto Contador

220px-Alberto_Contador_Paris-Nice_2007Looks like things aren’t settled between Alberto Contador and his Astana teammates. Contador has amazing legs and an ego to match. He has thumbed his nose at his team throughout the race.

Says Lance Armstrong on Twitter just now:

Seeing these comments from AC. If I were him I’d drop this drivel and start thanking his team. w/o them, he doesn’t win.

hey pistolero, there is no “i” in “team”. what did i say in March? Lots to learn. Restated.

Lance then quoted Axel Merckx, who said:

A champion is also measured on how much he respect his teammates and opponents. You can win a race on your own not a grand tour.

Another CFL bulb stops working

Yesterday we lost yet another of our supposedly long-lasting CFL bulbs. This one was an interior floodlight made by Bright Effects and sold by Lowes. It apparently got hot enough to crack the bulb’s base. Yes, bulbs that hang upside-down do get hotter at the base but bulbs designed to hang upside-down should be designed with this in mind, and CFLs operate cooler than incandescent bulbs, anyway.

These bulbs are supposed to last seven years but this one made it just 15 months. I’m going back to Lowes again to complain. This is the third bulb from that batch that’s died early.

New media vs. old media

All day Friday, this wedding video kept being posted to Facebook by my friends and relatives. I got around to seeing what the fuss was about and immediately posted it myself. It’s the video from Jill and Kevin Heinz’s June 20th wedding in St. Paul, Minnesota, when they danced to Chris Brown’s Forever instead of the usual heavy formal wedding march. In the span of about 24 hours, that video was viewed a million times.
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MT.Net outage from 3 PM to possibly 9 PM

MT.Net’s provider will be performing work on our server this afternoon beginning at 3 PM and will be down until possibly 9 PM. The expected outage is two hours, so MT.Net expects to be back by 5 PM or sooner.

This would be a good time to watch wedding videos.

Slice

I guess I was due for a good finger-slicing since it had been a while since I had one. This morning, Kelly asked me to hand her the bagel slicer from the cabinet. I agreed, and bragged about how I use one of these every week at work.

The next thing I know, I’m fumbling it and then blood is spouting from my thumb. I’m still not sure how it happened.

After putting a band-aid on it and finishing breakfast, I headed over to my local doc-in-a-box (a.k.a., the urgent care practice) to see if it needed stitches. Though it took some time to get seen, the helpful doctor said I was good to go. It was a big relief!

Also, I was happy to learn that the urgent care practice can take your number and call you right before its time for you to be seen. This cuts you loose from the waiting room so you can do something more productive than read outdated magazines.

Q+E Photos

I blogged about these before but wanted to share some of my Q+E software photos again:

QE_Support-1QE_Support-2QE_Support-3QE_Support-4

If you know/remember who’s who, drop a comment and I’ll try to get everyone labeled.