Yesterday, I had some fun revisiting a favorite site of mine, the Internet Ray Tracing Contest. It’s a site to which people submit their ray-traced creations for voting. There are many mind-bending submissions, all of which were created entirely via computer, and some of them breathtakingly realistic.

One of my future hobbies (always in the future, alas) is to learn how to become a ray-tracing artist. For now, I’m just a ray-tracing groupie.

Spend some time clicking through the site. You won’t be disappointed.
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I’m looking for some audio editing tools for Linux to do a little work on a fun project. If you’ve got some pointers for me, please post them with comments. Thanks!

Dang it! I hate it when I get a good idea, but due to my laziness I don’t ever do anything about it. Someone will actually ACT on something I also thought up and then I feel like a stoopid-head for not implementing it myself. Happens all the time.

This time, my idea for a government-only auction site has made headlines in the N&O. A site called GovDeals.com has recently signed up many municipalities, stolen my thunder, and rained on my parade, to boot.

Both of my faithful MarkTurner.net readers know I’m a junkie for government auctions. I can be found about once a month over at the N.C. State Surplus Property Warehouse on Chapel Hill Road, looking for (and usually finding) bargains on computer parts and whatnot. While I’m always happy to walk away with a $5000 printer for fifty bucks, I can’t help but feel that there must be a better way for the state to get better prices for its surplus equipment. That’s where my idea of a auction site began.

When most folks and businesses need to unload stuff, they head to EBay. Governments can’t do that because of the stigma associated with EBay. Yet an EBay-type site provides just what government auction needs: a larger number of bidders than their current auctions can provide. This equates to higher bid prices, which means the government gets more of its money (and more specifically, YOUR money) back.

I’m glad GovDeals.com is in the game. I’ll be watching them closely to see how they implement this. I only wish I had gotten off my keister and done it myself.

One day I’ll learn the difference between “creating an idea” and “creating the thing the idea represents.”

Uncle Fred just can’t keep out of the headlines! His obituary ran in yesterday’s New York Times. The same story also ran in this morning’s News and Observer, on page 9B of the City and State section.

Also, here’s an Associated Press article about Fred. Check out the quip from him in bold below. Typical Fred!

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Published Tuesday, November 25, 2003
W. Fred Turner, attorney in landmark Gideon case, dies; he was 81

The Associated Press

PANAMA CITY, Fla. W. Fred Turner, the attorney who successfully defended Clarence Earl Gideon in a U.S. Supreme Court mandated retrial in 1963, has died. He was 81.

The case began at a pool hall in 1961 when a patron told police he saw Gideon, then 50, steal change and cases of beer, wine and Coke before leaving in a cab. Gideon repeatedly asked for a court-appointed attorney, but a judge denied his request.

After writing a petition that he should have had a lawyer to the Supreme Court, the justices ruled in Gideon v. Wainwright that criminal defendants are entitled to legal representation even if they cannot afford a lawyer. The case resulted in the creation of public defender systems across the nation.

Turner won an easy acquittal in the second trial because he could research evidence in a way that Gideon was unable to in jail. He asked jurors how Gideon could have made off with several drinks cases when the cab driver testified he had nothing with him.

“What if I had lost the Gideon case?” Turner said in May. “The Supreme Court would have to say, ‘We forgot to say competent counsel. That redneck from down in Panama City done messed up our argument.'”

During events marking the 40-year anniversary of the case this year, Turner – who said he tried 109 murder cases over his career – recognized how influential the Gideon case would be on his own legacy.

“When I die, they’ll probably put over my grave, ‘Here lies Gideon’s lawyer,'” he said.

Turner was born in Millville on April 17, 1922. He joined the military after high school, and was involved with the Flying Tigers during World War II. He rose to the rank of captain before leaving for the University of Florida. He graduated in 1948 and returned to Bay County to practice law.

Turner worked as a private attorney until 1979, when he was elected to circuit judge. At age 70, he retired from the bench in 1991.

Turner, whose wife Helen died in 1997, was found dead Monday inside his Kings Point home.

Funeral services are scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday at Wilson Funeral Home.