Musings

General-purpose musings

There are 780 posts filed in Musings (this is page 20 of 78).

Lorum ipsum spam?

When one receives a spam email, one expects some sort of offer such as “MAKE MONEY FAST,” or “MALE ENHANCEMENT” or the like. This morning I got a particular spam email which included only the boilerplate lorem ipsum text:

From: “Deal Amazon” info@gocdidong.info
Subject: Deal of the Day – Offers – Deals & Promotions
To: “markt” markt at rules the universe dot qrz
Date: Sun, 8 Apr 2012 00:06:43 -0700

Please enter your message here

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Are spammers really so lazy now that they can’t even be bothered to add their own text to their spam?

New Belgium lands in Asheville

Yesterday the rumors that craft brewer New Belgium was considering building a brewery in Asheville came true when the company and politicians announced the decision. I don’t live in Asheville but I do consider myself a beer connoisseur. I’m thrilled that New Belgium joins Sierra Nevada in making North Carolina a beer destination.

I remember finding out in the mid-90s about the Pop The Cap effort to change the state law, allowing higher-alcohol-content beers in North Carolina. Many of the Bible-thumping representatives didn’t want the change to happen. Then-Governor Hunt, a teetotaler, was also reluctant to make the change. The bill went nowhere.

Then out of nowhere (and after another questionable start), the Pop The Cap bill passed in 2005, bringing better beer to the state. Before long I was enjoying high quality, high-alcohol beer here at home.

Since 2005 the sky hasn’t fallen. Instead we have a whole new industry moving into western North Carolina, providing not only much-needed jobs but also a promising future. It’s wonderful to see how far we’ve come!

Treyvon Martin and what we don’t know

I’ve been thinking of writing about the Treyvon Martin tragedy. Then I realized that no one cares what I say.

No one cares because everyone has already made up his mind. This is exactly what many accuse George Zimmerman of – of being judge, jury, and executioner of Martin. It reveals the level of mistrust that still exists in America, and how everyone’s prejudices are brought out without those that harbor them even realizing. It’s a huge wound that has once again been ripped open.

I may one day write more about this sad incident but for now I choose to remain unswayed by the emotion raging on all sides. I want to see the facts first – to get as close to the truth as I can – before I make up my mind.

That’s supposed to be how justice in America works.

Young Americans not driving? Why would they?

I was mulling over the last post about young Americans not feeling the need for cars and I think I have one idea why.

It used to be that if you were a kid curious about the world we live in, you’d have go out and explore it. This usually required a car of some sort. Things are radically different now. Through the magic of the Internet (and 500+ channel cable/satellite TV), the world now comes to the kids! Kids nowadays can find out far more information on places and people than I ever could as a kid growing up. Outdated, dead-tree encyclopedias and magazines only take one so far.

While there’s still no substitute for actually being there, technology today can get one pretty close. With so much exploring available at their fingertips, kids can take their time deciding where they want to go.

Nighttime bad weather and accidents

The commute has been a challenge the past few mornings, with several accidents making a mess of the roads. I can’t help but think that perhaps the many nights of slow-moving thunderstorms have been disturbing people’s sleep and making them more prone to accidents. The weather at the time of many of these wrecks is fine, so you can’t say it’s due to road conditions.

Of course, there are a million distractions confronting today’s driver, so it’s hard to say for sure if there’s one cause. Certainly a restless night caused by thunderstorms can’t be good for one’s concentration the next day!

Equal pay doesn’t exist

Shortly after my employer at the time imploded and closed up shop, I got to talking to one of my former coworkers. He and I had done the very same job. We were peers and had similar qualifications. Somehow, though, he was getting paid about 40% more than I was! Losing my job smarted, of course, but finding out how I was getting screwed really added insult to injury.

I think about that experience whenever debate comes up about how women should be the paid the same as men for doing the same work. The truth is that almost no one gets paid the same as anyone else. Your boss will pay you whatever amount she thinks you’ll accept, you’ll work for whatever amount you’ll accept, and rarely will anyone else be the wiser.

In today’s workforce, with nearly all gender barriers gone, women and men are now equals. That means women workers can now be as grossly undervalued or overpaid as their male counterparts.

Home sales are hopping

Home For Sale


I’ve been watching from my window this afternoon as car after car of prospective homebuyers drive through my neighborhood. A few days ago I Tweeted that nearly every home that’s been on the market in my East Raleigh neighborhood have been snapped up within the past few weeks. Some of these homes were vacant for many months and now they’re occupied. It’s been stunning to see how quickly things have taken off again.

The News and Observer reported last week that home sales in the Triangle have jumped 35% over last year. My real estate agent friends have confirmed the brisk sales. It’s great to see all the new neighbors coming to Raleigh!

A high bar for refinancing

Kelly and I recently decided to jump on the recent (and absurdly low) 4% mortgage rates and started the process to refinance our home. Though we have sterling credit, this is the third home we’ve owned, and would be our fifth mortgage, by the hoops we’ve had to jump through you’d have thought we were clueless about the whole process.

Certainly this isn’t the go-go 2000s, when I could buy a house without having a job (while erroneously having my brother’s mortgage on my credit report, too!), but the due diligence of the mortgage broker has been remarkable. We’ve had an appraisal of the house done, supplied far more financial documentation than ever, and had employment verification calls done on our behalf. I was even asked about a business the former owner of our home used to have here, possibly because it showed up on some report.

While the one we’ve been working with has been pleasant throughout the process, it seems mortgage brokers are going out of their way to make this as challenging as possible. It made Kelly ponder that if we have great credit and it’s this hard for us to get a loan, just who exactly are they lending money to?

Open records and city boards

I’m a big fan of open government, having seen what closed government gets us. When I was chair of the East CAC, I offered streaming video of our meetings so that as many people as possible could see them. But some in the CAC became concerned last year when City Attorney Tom McCormick’s deemed that CAC chairs’ email are public records.

I’ve blogged before about how I thought Mr. McCormick was wrong about CACs, but I agree with him (and the N&O editorial page) that new social media technologies present a challenge to the Open Meetings Law. Do I think the law can ever keep pace with technology? No, not a chance. So what is one to do?
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Encouraging volunteerism

On my way out of the municipal building yesterday, I passed Cindy Trumbower, volunteer coordinator of the city’s Parks and Rec program. She told me she just got back from a volunteer event where a bunch of students from Michigan State University had painted a city gymnasium as part of their Spring Break service. These kids didn’t hit the beach and stay drunk and rowdy for a week (even being from a chilly place like Michigan) but instead gave their time to help others. How cool is that? I thought that was just awesome and asked if she could provide the Parks board details at our next meeting.
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