August 2013

There were 27 posts published in August 2013 (this is page 3 of 3).

Wrapping up as Parks Board chair

CASL synthetic field dedication

CASL synthetic field dedication


Sunday afternoon I gave a speech at my last park dedication before I hand the Raleigh Parks Board gavel to another boardmember. For over three years (two as chair, one as vice chair) I’ve been representing the board at ribbon cuttings, dedications, groundbreakings, and other events. It’s been wonderful practice in public speaking, including how to research, write and deliver a speech. As Parks chair, I’ve attended more of these events than any single city councilor and even the mayor herself so I’ve had quite a bit of practice.

Sunday’s event was the dedication of new synthetic fields at CASL’s WRAL Soccer Complex. There were more staff, friends, and family there (including Kelly, the kids, and my parents) than there were members of the public but that was fine. I was glad that my parents could get a chance to see me speak while I was still chair.

Someone who’s heard my speeches before told me he liked my speeches because I usually have some numbers in them. My kids said they like how I include some humor. I think including some facts and jokes can help make a speech memorable.

The Board chair election is next month, so September will be the last official meeting I’ll lead. I’ve got one more year left to serve on the board but I’ll do so as a regular member. After that, who knows that the future will bring? It’s sure been fun being chair, though, and I appreciate the tremendous opportunity it’s provided to lead.

North Carolina’s plank roads

I was researching the new railroad that is leasing the tracks near my home and stumbled upon information on North Carolina’s first road improvement project, the plank road. It is what it sounds like, a road paved with wooden planks ranging from 8 to 30 feet wide. Plank roads were an affordable alternative to building railroads, if not as long lasting.

Below is a good summary of plank roads from RootsWeb. I’ll also reformat the text from the North Carolina Historical Commission’s 1939 story on plank roads and post it.

The Greenville and Raleigh Plank Road

Many people have noticed the historical marker for the Greenville and Raleigh Plank Road on Dickinson Avenue and wondered what it was all about. With the increased commerce and agricultural interests in North Carolina in the 1840’s, transportation became a problem. The use of plank roads in northern states had proved successful and they began to be introduced in North Carolina as the answer to its transportation difficulties.
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Egypt aflame

The Egyptian military had cracked down hard on peaceful protesters supporting ousted President Morsi. Hundreds have been killed.

It will be hard convincing Islamists that the legitimate way to power is through the ballot box.

NSA, DEA, IRS Lie About Fact That Americans Are Routinely Spied On By Our Government

This is an astonishing development in the U.S., a nation that, until recently, carefully restricted the power of its domestic spying agencies by forcing them to submit narrow requests for spying authority to a court, which would issue a warrant if the government showed probable cause to believe that the surveillance target was engaged in some sort of wrongdoing. At this point, it’s clear those limits are gone. The United States is now a mass surveillance state.

via NSA, DEA, IRS Lie About Fact That Americans Are Routinely Spied On By Our Government: Time For A Special Prosecutor – Forbes.

Email service used by Snowden shuts itself down, warns against using US-based companies | Glenn Greenwald

I didn’t know about Lavabit until they pulled their own plug yesterday, but I deeply respect its owners’ refusal to play along to the NSA’s excessive and unconstitutional spying.

A Texas-based encrypted email service recently revealed to be used by Edward Snowden – Lavabit – announced yesterday it was shutting itself down in order to avoid complying with what it perceives as unjust secret US court orders to provide government access to its users’ content. “After significant soul searching, I have decided to suspend operations,” the company’s founder, Ladar Levinson, wrote in a statement to users posted on the front page of its website. He said the US directive forced on his company “a difficult decision: to become complicit in crimes against the American people or walk away from nearly ten years of hard work by shutting down Lavabit.” He chose the latter.

via Email service used by Snowden shuts itself down, warns against using US-based companies | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | theguardian.com.

The NSA Leaks Put Our ‘Methods’ At Risk, But Bragging About Monitoring Al Qaeda Emails Doesn’t? | Techdirt

Techdirt points out the obvious: how can the entire legislative branch be crowing about detecting an imminent terrorist threat through intercepted emails and not be divulging sources and methods? Snowden pointed out that the NSA is spying on millions of innocent Americans but government leaders can tell Al Qaeda and the world that we’re reading their emails and it’s somehow okay?

Anyone else get the idea that the American public is being played for fools here?

The intercepted conversations last week between Ayman al-Zawahri, who succeeded Osama bin Laden as the head of the global terrorist group, and Nasser al-Wuhayshi, the head of the Yemen-based Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, revealed one of the most serious plots against American and other Western interests since the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, American intelligence officials and lawmakers have said.

So… revealing that we collect data on everyone somehow turns Snowden into a traitor, while having officials in the government tell the NY Times that we directly intercepted emails between Al Qaeda’s top leaders is somehow perfectly fine? How does that work?

via The NSA Leaks Put Our 'Methods' At Risk, But Bragging About Monitoring Al Qaeda Emails Doesn't? | Techdirt.

Hertz rips me off again

At the end of our recent vacation to Wisconsin we dropped off our Hertz rental car at the Minneapolis airport and gathered our belongings. The Hertz attendant smiled as he approached.

“Good afternoon, sir,” he said. “Our receipt print-out takes a while. If you want you can get a receipt at the desk.”

“Ok,” I responded and let him do his inspection, thinking nothing of it. We left the city without a receipt for our Hotwire-paid car.

I should have known better. Hertz socked us with a gas bill of over $90, in spite of filling up the car only minutes before.

This is the second time Hertz has ripped me off by charging me for a phantom tank of gas. Hertz is a lying, dishonest company and I won’t be giving them any of my money ever again.