August 2008

There were 65 posts published in August 2008 (this is page 4 of 7).

Carolina Beach

I can’t let the night go by without telling about our beach trip, so here goes.

We arrived Wednesday afternoon, leaving home right after my meeting was done. It rained on us from Raleigh to Carolina Beach, so rather than checking in immediately we drove further south in an effort to visit the aquarium. Big mistake! More than half of the vacationers in the area were at the aquarium. We drove around jam-packed parking lots before throwing in the towel and heading back to our condo.
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The ultimate MythTV box?

My experimental MythTV server has been deemed a success. In fact, its a necessity! We watch so little live TV anymore that it took until Wednesday to notice the cable connection I put on our main TV a few weeks ago is bad!

Now that my surplus MythTV backend server has proved its mettle, its time to plan the next Myth setup: one for HDTV. So, let me put it out to my readers: how would you build the ultimate MythTV frontend and backend systems?

As for me, the backend’s only requirement is the ability to house multiple tuner cards. It should use PCI-E slots for this. I’m considering AVerMedia AVerTVHD MCE A180 HDTV PCI cards for my tuners.

I’m a little pickier about the frontends. I want both analog and HDMI connections so I can drive both analog and HDTV sets. I also want them to be quiet and unobtrusive. What would you use for these?

Fay to the rescue?

Western North Carolina is so dry now. During last week’s vacation, we stirred up huge clouds of dust as we drove up gravel-covered mountain roads. We failed to find any critters on Chimney Rock’s Nature Adventure trail. In fact, the only critters we saw during the whole trip was perhaps two deer, one bat, and one hummingbird. Nature up there is hurting right now.

That’s why I’m glad to see Tropical Storm Fay on a course that will take it over our mountains, especially since the winds that accompany it should be weak enough not to cause much damage.

Dog-cloning lady: fact or fiction?

Does anyone else get the idea that Joyce McKinney, the dog-cloning lady, is playing the press? This just has to be some kind of publicity stunt.

McKinney gets worldwide press when she allegedly clones her dog, but provides reporters with a bogus address. Then word gets out that in the 1970s she allegedly kidnapped a Morman man to be her sex slave. Oh, and she’s wanted in Tennessee for allegedly talking a teenager into breaking into homes so she could use the loot to buy a leg for her three-legged horse.

Come on, this lady is a walking punchline! She can’t be for real. Somebody’s being played here, I tell you.

F-street parking

I think Raleigh officials botched the parking layout of Fayetteville Street. The city should’ve made its parking spaces angled. There’s all this wide, unused sidewalk, another four or five feet of which could’ve added a huge number of parking spaces to this area of downtown. The sidewalk wouldn’t have even missed it.

While I’m a pretty big tree-hugger and no fan of the concrete behemoth that used to be the “pedestrian mall,” inadequate street parking limits the growth of downtown business. If one wants a vibrant city core, good parking is a must. There’s enough room on F-street for plenty of parking and sidewalks. What we have now is the result of a botched decision.

Media stickiness

The problem with deadline-driven media is that once one’s printed “all the news that fits” there is precious little room for follow-up stories. Media outlets will chase each others’ reporters around town, hoping to scoop each other on the next breaking story, while few newsrooms provide updates on the stories that aren’t breaking. There are exceptions, of course, such as the Duke Lacrosse case or a notorious murder trial. In general, though, once a story gets bumped off the front page (or the metaphorical front page for broadcast news organizations), it tends to be forgotten.
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Volunteers needed to go to the moon

A local company is seeking volunteers to go to the moon. the volunteers won’t themselves go the moon, but they will help in the effort of local group TeamSTELLAR to win the Google Lunar X Prize by being the first private company to land a rover on the moon.

TeamSTELLAR is made up of a number of local businessmen and N.C. State engineers. The group is seeking volunteers to assist in a number of tasks, including administrative, fundraising, legal and engineering roles.

If you’d like to find out more, TeamSTELLAR will hold a presentation from 7 to 9 PM Tuesday, August 19th, on the first floor of Engineering Building II, Centennial Campus, N.C. State University (map here).

You’d have to be looney to pass up this opportunity.

New flag for the City of Raleigh

A few days with my toes in the sand made me realize the perfect new flag for the City of Raleigh was right under my nose. Or in my hand, more specifically. I held a water bottle from the Raleigh Parks and Recreation department, and on the side was Parks and Rec’s distinctive, cool logo:
Raleigh Parks and Recreation

Why not make this the official city flag? Imagine this oak tree logo emblazoned on a white-and-green flag (with no text, of course, as befitting a proper flag). It would be so much more attractive and distinctive than Raleigh’s current, tired old flag.

Home again

We are back again after three days at Carolina Beach. Our beach house was great except for two things: the blinds in the master bedroom leaked like a sieve and there was no Internet access.

I’ll post a more complete update over the weekend. For now its time to get my book and relax.