June 2015

There were 35 posts published in June 2015 (this is page 3 of 4).

A Look Inside Reynolds Renovations | NC State News

Here’s a fun look at the hidden history of Reynolds Coliseum, recently brought to light by the university’s renovation work. Andy Williams! Ermahgerd!

There have been a few surprises. Nothing completely out of the ordinary, of course, though the decades-old box of uneaten peanuts kind of threw the contractors off for a few seconds.Three months into the first major renovation of Reynolds Coliseum since it opened in 1949, everything is on schedule. Ductwork in the hallways of the upper concourse has been removed, prepping for the first permanent air-conditioning system the old building has ever had.

More than 3,000 original seats have been removed from the north end, and are currently on sale as souvenirs through the Wolfpack Club.

There were a few interesting finds in the old air ducts: newspapers from the 1950s, receipts from Ice Capades shows and an Andy Williams concert in the 1960s, a program for a gay and lesbian rally in 1979 and a few more current ROTC brochures.

Source: A Look Inside Reynolds Renovations | NC State News

Glorious Church building meets less than glorious end

Glorious Church gets demolished

Glorious Church gets demolished


By the time you read this, there will likely be nothing left of the old Glorious Church, the building at the corner of Glascock and N. State St where Bishop Spain’s Apostolic congregation met for years. Demolition crews are whacking down wall after wall, turning it into a pile of bricks and memories. I snapped a few photos yesterday morning of the building while it was still intact, not knowing that hours later it would be demolished.

I’m somewhat sad to see the church go, actually, though the loud services often flared the tempers of surrounding neighbors. The building has been a church since the 1950s, as far as I can tell, and now the building is rubble. It was uninsulated and not much for beauty but it served as the home of a loving congregation. I don’t feel bad about the congregation, though, as I’m sure the sale price has provided them with money to build a new church, finally completing their dream interrupted years ago by what I heard was a dishonest contractor.

The Glorious Church building is an empty shell now

The Glorious Church building is an empty shell now


I knew about the building’s fate months ago through some real estate friends. Their plan is to raze the church building and the vacant daycare building just north of it and build three luxury homes in their place. The expected asking price for these homes is lofty and will certainly boost our property values but it will also accelerate change the surrounding neighborhood. In the end, though, I look forward to welcoming more good neighbors to the area.

Microsoft acqui-hires, shuts down startup BlueStripe – Business Insider

Microsoft has acquired a startup called BlueStripe Software today and shuttered it. It will take BlueStripe’s technology and add it into some of Microsoft’s major enterprise products like System Center.Most of the small BlueStripe team will be joining Microsoft. Microsoft would not confirm the number of employees involved, but according to LinkedIn, about 25 people worked there. When we asked for details, Microsoft sent us this statement:

“Core members of the BlueStripe team will be transferring to Microsoft. Microsoft is not sharing further details on BlueStripe personnel. BlueStripe brings both a talented set of personnel and a strong set of products.”

Source: Microsoft acqui-hires, shuts down startup BlueStripe – Business Insider

Stepson of Stuxnet stalked Kaspersky for months, tapped Iran nuke talks | Ars Technica

A fascinating, in-depth account of how security firm Kaspersky was infected by (and later discovered) one of the world’s most powerful hacking tools.

“These guys are so confident to develop their entire platform based on this zero day it means if they get caught and this zero day is patched they probably have another one they can use, which I would say is a pretty scary thought,” he said. “Nobody develops an entire malware platform based on just one simple assumption that this zero day will work forever, because eventually it will be discovered and patched. And when it is patched your malware is not going to work anymore. I think that’s also very scary and quite impressive.”

Source: Stepson of Stuxnet stalked Kaspersky for months, tapped Iran nuke talks | Ars Technica

Iceland put bankers in jail rather than bailing them out — and it worked – Vox

Yesterday, Iceland’s prime minister, Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson, announced a plan that will essentially close the books on his country’s approach to handling the financial crisis — an approach that deviated greatly from the preferences of global financial elites and succeeded quite well. Instead of embracing the orthodoxy of bank bailouts, austerity, and low inflation, Iceland did just the opposite. And even though its economy was hammered by the banking crisis perhaps harder than any other in the world, its labor didn’t deteriorate all that much, and it had a great recovery.

Source: Iceland put bankers in jail rather than bailing them out — and it worked – Vox

Cheap Thoughts: God and consumerism

It occurred to me this evening that God and consumerism are diametrically opposed in at least one way. God tells that we’re perfect just as we are, while consumerism tells us we need that new car, house, or shiny new toy to be complete.

Funny how when we do get that new car, house, or toy, there’s always another car, house, or toy that will really complete us. Anyone whose God is the almighty dollar is doomed to be perpetually disappointed.

Stepping aside as PTA president

I decided a few weeks ago to complete my term as PTA president of Ligon. Leading a PTA is an enormous amount of work and a good deal of stress, in addition. Right now I need to be reducing the stress in my life, so I opted to hand the reins over to someone else.

Was I a perfect PTA president? Hardly. I made a lot of mistakes and learned some hard lessons in the process. Still, I was the best PTA president Ligon had. I was willing to step up when no one else did.

Overall, it has been incredibly rewarding to do the job, though. I might not have heard much from the parents but I did get a huge round of applause from the Ligon staff today during their staff luncheon. The assistant principal told me he’s seen a lot of PTA organizations during his career as an educator and Ligon PTA’s by far the best he’s ever seen. It meant a lot to hear that!

I leave the PTA leadership in good hands with the incoming president, Terri Hart. I wasn’t able to pull off a PTA election at the end of the year, so I’ll stay on as the official president until the first meeting when we can make it official for Terri. She will hit the ground running over the summertime, though, with me showing her the ropes.

I also plan to continue playing a role – after all, how could I not? We’ll have both kids at Ligon next year and I will continue to play a role in the education of my kids and their classmates.

Volunteering gets into your blood, you know. It’s not easy to give it up.

How Joe Biden learned to work with Jesse Helms, who should’ve been his nemesis – Quartz

This May 17, vice-president Joe Biden address the graduates of Yale University at their Class Day. He spoke about the personal tragedies in his life, losing his wife and daughter to a car accident at age 30, which has been covered following the news of his son Beau’s death less than two weeks later. Beau and his brother survived the crash, and Biden almost resigned his newly won Senate seat before being talked out of it by Ted Kennedy, among others. Biden instead turned into an Amtrak commuter, coming home from Washington to Delaware every night to care for his sons as they recovered, and then to raise a family with his new wife, Jill.

But Biden also spoke about how he learned to work with someone who should have been his nemesis, the conservative senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina.

Source: How Joe Biden learned to work with Jesse Helms, who should’ve been his nemesis – Quartz

How Obama wooed back Merkel – Edward-Isaac Dovere and Matthew Karnitschnig – POLITICO

Chancellor Angela Merkel got on the phone with President Barack Obama with a message that was coldly blunt: We cannot go on like this.Her government had just sent the CIA chief packing after German intelligence uncovered a spy in its own ranks. It was the second big shock to the relationship after the Edward Snowden document dump disclosed that the U.S. had been spying on her cell phone. German media was filled with daily pronouncements about the worst rupture in the U.S.-German alliance since the Iraq War.

Source: How Obama wooed back Merkel – Edward-Isaac Dovere and Matthew Karnitschnig – POLITICO

Travis leaves elementary school

Travis gets emotional at his fifth grade graduation

Travis gets emotional at his fifth grade graduation


Yesterday was Travis’s 5th grade graduation ceremony. True to form, it was emotional for me and Kelly. Conn has been the only school he has known. He walked the halls long before he was enrolled there, tagging along with Hallie to and from school. Somehow time flew by and he has just one day left before he’s a middle schooler.

The ceremony included singing, photos from the students as babies, speeches, and plenty of awards. Travis took home a haul of these certificates. Indeed, we laughed when we looked at the “activities” page of the school yearbook and Travis’s face was in all but two pictures!
Continue reading →