September 2011

There were 42 posts published in September 2011 (this is page 2 of 5).

Neutrino particle traveling faster than light?

Every now and then, a scientific discovery delivers to us smug mortals a healthy kick in the head: reminding us that for all our bravado we still don’t know squat about how the universe really works!

Neutrino particle traveling faster than light? Two ways it could rewrite physics.

European scientists are shocked by an experiment that showed neutrino particles moving faster than light. The result, if confirmed, could challenge Einstein’s signature theory on relativity or point to a universe of more than four dimensions.

via Neutrino particle traveling faster than light? Two ways it could rewrite physics. – CSMonitor.com.

Smartphone speed-detecting apps

I was walking the kids to school the other morning when I saw a few cars driving faster than they should’ve been driving through the school zone. It made me wonder if anyone has written a smartphone app that can calculate the speed at which a car is traveling via the smartphone’s video camera.

Another app I thought would be useful (or not) is an app which uses the internal gyros, accelerometers, and/or GPS to detect when the phone is in a moving vehicle. It could then either activate “car mode” or, to become more restrictive: locking the keypad so that texting could not be done while driving.

The latter app would’ve been useful had it been on the phone of a driver in front of me on Wade Avenue this morning!

R.E.M. calls it quits

R.E.M. called it quits today after a three-decade run as a band. The band had this statement on their website:

“To our Fans and Friends: As R.E.M., and as lifelong friends and co-conspirators, we have decided to call it a day as a band. We walk away with a great sense of gratitude, of finality, and of astonishment at all we have accomplished. To anyone who ever felt touched by our music, our deepest thanks for listening.” R.E.M.

In their own words: The guys share their thoughts on why now.
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Raleigh #1 Best City in Businessweek.com ranking

Businessweek.com ranked Raleigh the #1 Best City in America. It’s just one more in a long list of accolades for my city.

I had to laugh when the article referenced Raleigh’s “attractive pedestrian mall” downtown, siting an obviously outdated city bio in Frommer’s. We got rid of that concrete abomination back in 2006.

Businessweek.com spent months working with data that would help us to identify the best cities in the U.S. We looked at a range of positive metrics around quality of life, counted up restaurants, evaluated school scores, and considered the number of colleges and pro sports teams. All these factors and more add up to a city that would seem to offer it all. When we began the process we had no idea which cities would come out on top. The winner? Raleigh, N.C.

via Which Is America’s Best City? – Businessweek.com.

Update 5:21 PM: Businessweek.com has since removed the reference to Raleigh’s defunct pedestrian mall. Now the only remaining questions are where are the 51 museums, 867 restaurants, and 110 bars cited in the story? Can anyone name them all? I think those stats might apply to a wider area than just Raleigh, though I’d be surprised if even the entire Triangle had 867 restaurants.

St. Aug’s stadium

This afternoon, the Raleigh City Council unanimously approved St. Augustine’s College’s special use permit for a 2,500 seat stadium. While some neighbors continued to oppose the stadium, I had concluded that the conditions the school was applying to the permit mitigated most of the impact the stadium would have on the community. My home is very near the main entrance to the parking area, so I am one of those who would be most affected by traffic and parking.

One thing that bothered me (and still does) is the way school president Dr. Suber played the victim card in her mailing to supporters. There’s no way a 144-year-old college could possibly be bullied by the neighbors, yet she made it sound that way in her appeal for support:
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Eliza Greenough


Congratulations to my friends Erin and Scott Greenough on the birth of their beautiful daughter, Eliza!

ACC expansion

I miss the days when an away game in the ACC was an easy drive.

Retail follows rooftops

Earlier this week I had to make a trip up to the car dealership to pick up a part for my car. This used to be an easier trip for me but the dealer recently moved a few miles further up Capital Boulevard, adding about 10 more minutes to the trip. As I drifted through traffic heading up Capital, I wondered what sense it made for the dealer to move farther away from the city center.

Was it because of the need for more land? Not likely, it seemed. Capital Boulevard is littered with plenty of former dealerships surrounded by plenty of available expansion space.
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WakeMed’s battle for survival

I and other leaders of Southeast Raleigh were invited to a luncheon today at WakeMed’s Heart Center with CEO Dr. Bill Atkinson. We were given a brief presentation on the New Bern Avenue Corridor makeover to start with before jumping into the heart (no pun intended) of the matter: WakeMed’s proposed takeover of Rex Hospital.

We were given a lot of facts and figures (including a hefty binder) and I’m still sorting through it all, but it was only this evening did I really hit upon the underlying point they were trying to make: this is a battle for WakeMed’s very survival.

I hadn’t gotten that from news stories I’ve read and I had to really sift through what we were told today to get to this understanding, but that’s how it seems to me.

WakeMed is a valued member of my community. Both of our kids were born there and our oldest owes her life to the outstanding care she received as a preemie. It’s hard for me to overlook all of this. I think WakeMed has brought up some pretty good points which deserve to be looked into.

Music to a parent’s ears

Yesterday, Kelly met with the kids’ teachers and got feedback on their performance thus far in the school year. Hallie’s teacher took note that she is “a very strong leader.” Travis’s teacher told Kelly “I love having him in my class. I wish I could clone him.”

If I get nothing else accomplished in this world, I will be happy to have helped raise two outstanding kids.