Mark Turner

Crazy week

It’s been a crazy week for me, to be sure. I spent most all of my free time doing whatever I could to keep a cable TV monopoly from locking out competition. That had me making lists, working the phone, keeping score, and generally making as much noise as I could. So far it seems to have been successful, though my guard isn’t completely down. I still feel compelled to make this go away for good, and that’s what I intend to do.

Then there was the speech I gave last night, and all the time I spent blogging about everything, which is not an insignificant amount of time. Sometimes I catch myself in the middle of a week like this and wonder how I got here. Then I remind myself that life is for living, and if I spent my time sitting around bored I would not be happy.

Now if I can keep myself from working too hard this weekend so that I can actually relax for a change.

Naaaaah!

East Coast Greenway planning meetings

Planning is being done on a mega-greenway spanning the east coast. Called the East Coast Greenway, it aims to provide a bike and walker-friendly path from Maine to Florida. Part of this trail will be going through Raleigh by way of Falls Lake and alongside the Neuse River. It will enter town at the north by way of the CSX railroad tracks, which is also the proposed Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor.

NCDOT is holding a series of meetings to gather input on the part of the proposed trail that will run alongside the track. Most of these meetings are in towns north of Wake County but one is being held in Wake Forest. The meetings are to gather input as to which side of the rail corridor would be best for the trail, among other things.
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Cussin’ In Tongues

Cussin’ In Tongues (YouTube) (band MP3)
Th’Legendary Shack Shakers

Way back yonder where the gravel road ends
Fourth holler over, plum up to the head
On an AC tractor reapin’ reefer on a hill
Got an inverted cross of lights on his grill
Shape-note singin’ ’bout whiskey and sin
With an amplified bible cranked up to ten
He’s a preacher,
He’s a teacher,
He’s a demon in disguise,
Red checkerboard pattern in the whites of his eyes.

And you can tell by the sound of his cussin’ in tongues
It’s best you boys just a-run along.
Best you boys just run on along,
Before the cock crows three times tonight.
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H&R Block keep spamming me

A few years ago when I got sick of Intuit’s disregard for its TurboTax customers, we opted to file our taxes using H&R Block’s TaxCut software. Ever since I’ve been on an H&R Block email list that I can’t seem to get off of. I’ve followed H&R’s unsubscribe procedures multiple times and even wrote the company a direct email saying ‘knock it off.’ There was no response and still the emails keep coming.

I’ve just called their support number to see if they could help me but so far no go.

Leadership Institute

I was asked to speak yesterday to the city of Raleigh’s Citizen’s Participation Leadership Institute class. Never one to turn down a chance to speak to an audience, I joined two city staffmembers and a fellow volunteer boardmember to describe my role as CAC chair and a member of the Parks board.

Though I arrived a bit late, spoke for too long, and had to leave early, I greatly enjoyed the chance to talk with some of Raleigh’s finest citizens.

Hurricane Hunter at RDU

I left work a bit early yesterday to check out NOAA’s Hurricane Hunter WP-3D Orion that was visiting RDU Airport. This is the aircraft that NOAA uses to fly right into the heart of hurricanes, measuring the storm and conducting experiments.

When I arrived at the general aviation terminal around 3:45 PM, the line to see the plane was stretched out to the sidewalk. A staff member explained that due to the approaching thunderstorm, tours of the plane had been halted. I waited for a bit on the sidewalk as lightning from the storm zapped ever closer to the airport and buildings. Eventually the staff ushered everyone inside, though the tours were still on hold.
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S.1004 study bill text

Here’s [PDF] the text from the today’s committee substitute for S.1004 (the “Level Playing Field Act.”). Note the commercial incumbent-friendly language.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2009
S D
SENATE BILL 1004*
PROPOSED COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE S1004-PCS55370-RL-33
Short Title: Level Playing Field/Cities/Service Providers. (Public)
Sponsors:
Referred to:
March 26, 2009
1 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
2 AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE REVENUE LAWS STUDY COMMITTEE TO STUDY
3 LOCAL GOVERNMENT OWNED AND OPERATED COMMUNICATION SERVICES.
4 The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
5 SECTION 1. The Revenue Laws Study Committee shall study local government
6 owned and operated communication services. The Committee may propose legislation, if
7 appropriate, to regulate the operation of local government owned and operated communication
8 services. In making this study, the Committee shall consider:
9 (1) The private and public costs and the benefits of providing communication
services through a private communication services provider compared to a
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Online stories of the broadband backwater fight

Fast Company: Time Warner’s Antics in Wilson, N.C. Give Another Reason to Snip the Cable
Alternet: Suck It, Telecoms! Public Broadband Gets Reprieve in North Carolina
Zeropaid: Major Opposition Mounts By Eve of Municiple Broadband Vote
Independent Weekly: Anti-muni broadband bill will go to study committee
Loobin the Tubes: The Playing Field (excellent analysis of the issues and the bill)
Metafilter: The Playing Field
Best Broadband: North Carolina Broadband Bill Shelved – For now — State will study bill’s impact in more detail…
Salisbury Post: Bill to restrict cities’ broadband services sent to study committee
Greensboro News and Record: Municipal wireless bill and studies
Mobilejones: Time Warner Targets North Carolina in War on Consumer Broadband