July 2011

There were 38 posts published in July 2011 (this is page 1 of 4).

Happy birthday, Miss Ruth!

Miss Ruth


Oh, I wanted to share a photo of our amazing neighbor, Ruth Gartrell. “Miss Ruth” is an amazing woman, posessing more energy at 80 than some people half her age. She has such grace!

This weekend she celebrated her 80th with a big birthday party at her home, and we were truly honored to have been invited. She said a few things about us at the party that were so sweet they put a lump in my throat, to be honest, but we’re as happy to have her as a neighbor as she is to have us!

I’ve said that the folks in my neighborhood are some of the friendliest in town, and our Miss Ruth is proof!

Keeping dogs calm during thunderstorms

Rocket


The N&O wrote about a new product to calm dogs during thunderstorms. Called the “Thundershirt,” it professes to soothe a jumpy pooch during thunderstorms and such. My neighbor bought one for her Labrador and swears by it.

This got me thinking about other proposed solutions. Kelly said she had heard people express success by rubbing a sheet of fabric softener on the dog, the idea apparently being that this would remove the storm’s static electricity from the dog’s coat. So, during the next storm I thought I would give it a try.

The other night a storm approached. The dog got nervous again, panting heavily and pacing around. I fetched a sheet of fabric softener and dutifully rubbed it on the dog. Sure enough, he seemed to calm down. But was that from the fabric softener or was it because the storm had come and gone? I can’t really say. After a second storm came by I tried it again. This time I didn’t see much of a difference.

The verdict? Sheets of fabric softener will indeed help keep your dog calm during storms, but only if you stuff them into your dog’s ears!

CERT disaster drill

A goner


Saturday was a long, busy day for the Turners! Wake up was an unheard-of 6:15 AM so that we could get the kids off to their 7:30 AM (ouch – it hurts just to write this) swim meet at Optimist Pool. Kelly took the kids to the meet while I got ready for an event of my own: yesterday’s CERT disaster drill at 9 AM.

The drill was designed to show us a little of what it would be like to experience a disaster rescue. We had had a few hours worth of training up to that point as well a thick binder of information so it wasn’t like anyone felt like an expert. At least I didn’t! But as Scott Adams’s Dilbert points out, one is always promoted to one’s level of incompetence. When our instructor Marc Duncan asked for a volunteer to lead our team (acting as the “incident commander”) I raised my hand. I guess in four years of Navy life I never learned the old joke that Navy stands for “never again volunteer yourself!”
Continue reading →

Ultimate neighborhood compliment

In the midst of a challenging day at work today, I was delighted to find that my neighborhood received the ultimate compliment today. A police officer is looking to move into the neighborhood. Why is this a compliment? Because cops know crime and they don’t want to live near crime.

We as a society ask an awful lot of our men and women in uniform. Our officers work long hours for low pay and frequently get no thanks for what they do. As they like to say, if an officer visits you you’re usually having a bad day. Also, their work can be intense. And dangerous. They deal with dangerous people every day so the rest of us don’t have to.
Continue reading →

‘Pilots could have saved’ Air France plane

A new report on the Air France 447 crash confirms that the pilots did not take proper action to recover from a stall, pointing the nose up when instead they should’ve pointed it down. Even beginner pilots know how to recover from stalls.

Again, there’s still no clear idea why the pilots didn’t follow this simple procedure.

The pilots of an Air France plane that crashed into the Atlantic in 2009 ignored repeated stall warnings and failed to follow textbook procedures, French investigators have found.

The updated account confirmed an earlier finding which said the crew responded to stall warnings by pointing the nose up instead of down.

“It seems obvious the crew didn’t recognise the situation they were in, for whatever reason, and more training could have helped,” said Paul Hayes, safety director at UK consultancy Ascend Aviation.

An aerodynamic stall — not to be confused with stalled engines — is a dangerous condition that occurs when wings are unable to support the aircraft. The textbook way of responding is to point the nose downwards to capture air at a better angle.

via ‘Pilots could have saved’ Air France plane – Europe – Al Jazeera English.

When is a parking violation not a parking violation?

My neighbor Mike Stenke runs a food truck business, Klausie’s Pizza. Recently there’s been a battle between the food truck operators and some downtown restaurants, who want some rules put in place on operating food trucks on public streets.

While I can sympathize with the restaurant owner’s arguments, I find it curious that no one’s raised a stink about the hot dog vendors that operate around town. I figure if a hot dog vendor can operate his food establishment on a public street, why not a food truck? Also, why should a required distance be placed between a food truck and a restaurant when no rule would keep a brick-and-mortar restaurant from opening right next to an existing restaurant? Do the existing restaurant owners want to legislate buffers between all potential competitors? If a restaurant owner is going to have a competitor, one would think he would prefer a competitor that could go away once in a while.

Anyway, the City Council heard the issues in a session last week and Stenke, because his livelihood depends on it, was also present for the discussion. After the meeting, though, someone pulled a dirty trick on Stenke, calling the cops about how his truck was parked.
Continue reading →

Airlines Raise Fares as Federal Taxes Expire

Our dysfunctional Congress blocked the re-funding of the FAA, and as of Sunday now our already rickety, abysmally-underfunded air traffic control system is losing $25 million per day. Meanwhile, greedy airlines (almost all of them) are quietly pocketing the same 7.5% of ticket prices that has been set aside to run the FAA.

Our nation’s air traffic control system is shockingly antiquated as it is. If more people knew just how bad it is, no one would set foot on a plane again. And I’m just talking about the equipment here: there’s a whole other world of problems with the FAA’s staffing.

So, why starve the FAA of even more money? To break the unions, of course.

House Republicans are playing chicken with our nation’s air safety. When do the grown-ups get to drive the country again?

Let’s talk about taxes. Wait a second, come back here! I mean airfare taxes.

The subject comes up because of what Congress just did — or, rather, did not do — and what the airlines did in response.

On Friday, Congress failed to approve the extension of a bill to keep the Federal Aviation Administration running. Among other things, that meant the agency no longer had the authority to impose the various federal taxes that airlines add to the price of each ticket.

So as of 12:01 a.m. Saturday, the federal government began losing an estimated $25 million a day in tax revenue.

via Airlines Raise Fares as Federal Taxes Expire – NYTimes.com.

Seeing eye dogs

I had another of my CERT classes this evening. This time, though, I had the pleasure of sharing my class with a charming blind woman named Leah and her seeing-eye dog, Ralphie.

At the end of the session, I chatted with Leah about Ralphie, a yellow Lab. Leah expressed some mock frustration when I commanded Ralphie to sit and he instantly did it.

“My boyfriend got Ralphie to sit the very first time he met him, “she said. “It took me over two weeks to get Ralphie to sit on command!”
Continue reading →

Butch Davis gone

Wow. UNC football coach Butch Davis finally gets canned. Is there anyone outside of the UNC administration who didn’t see this coming? Months ago? I can’t help but wonder what precipitated this change.

I feel sorry for the folks over there who still play by the rules. Those who choose to cheat, though, deserve their just punishment. It’s refreshing to watch UNC own up to its mistakes.

After more than a year under the NCAA microscope, Butch Davis has been fired as the head football coach at the University of North Carolina.

“To restore confidence in the University of North Carolina and our football program, it’s time to make a change,” said UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp. “What started as a purely athletic issue has begun to chip away at this university’s reputation.”

via Davis out as UNC coach – WRALSportsFan.com.

Peace College Goes Co-Ed | New Raleigh

It’s clear that the New Raleigh blog has good taste in pictures. They followed the Raleigh Downtowner’s lead and illustrated it’s Peace College story with my public domain Wikipedia pic.

Peace College announced in a press release today that, beginning in the Fall 2012 semester, it will admit male students to its day undergraduate programs for the first time in its over a century and a half existence.

via Peace College Goes Co-Ed | New Raleigh.