Musings

General-purpose musings

There are 781 posts filed in Musings (this is page 52 of 79).

N&O continues slide into irrelevence

Once again, the Raleigh News and Observer has latched on to a story designed simply to whip its readers into a frenzy. Some poor fool in county government took trips on the public’s dime. While I don’t necessarily approve of his actions, is this really something worthy of stopping the presses?

The guy says he had approval for his trips, and he apparently did. He traveled around doing whatever a recycling program manager does. Frankly, I don’t know what a recycling program manager does but the guy claims it was all for business purposes. His boss agreed, and did so for five years. Maybe its just me, but I’m not quite ready to draw and quarter him.
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City colors

Yesterday’s post on the Raleigh Philosophical Society blog promotes the idea of putting City of Raleigh flags everywhere. It says that in a survey of 150 city flags, Raleigh’s ranked 56th. While that may sound good, the NAVA group which conducted the (unscientific) survey pointed out that two-thirds of city flags got 5 points or below on a scale from one to ten. Raleigh earned 4.48: middle of the road.

The post reminded me of my issues with Raleigh’s city flag, namely its ugly as sin. I would have personally ranked it lower than it was. As NAVA points out in Good Flag, Bad Flag, city seals shouldn’t appear on a flag. Nor should writing. Raleigh should rid both from its flag, in my opinion.

I think the city should redesign its flag, taking these issues into consideration. A well-designed, attractive flag would help the city forge a similar identity.

Carlin: he was funnier than you

I just found out that comedian George Carlin died of a heart attack yesterday. What a shame. He was an incredibly clever, funny guy who could cut through all the BS in the world. Its not often you get comedy that makes you think but Carlin did that. I’m kicking myself for not going to see him the last time he played Raleigh.

In light of the family’s airline debacle, take a look at a Carlin routine that was appeared on my blog a year ago when Carlin takes apart airline announcements. Its masterful, hilarious, and like a lot of Carlin routines, not exactly safe for work.

I bet he’s already got a great routine on dying.

Chief Harry Dolan

I’ve written before about Raleigh Police Chief Harry Dolan, being that he’s eight feet tall and is frequently seen towering over downtown buildings, waiting for Godzilla.

One thing I’ve noticed is that he’s frequently seen. Just like the beat cops under his command, he seems to work out of his car and not an office. So he’s likely to have a good idea about what goes on in the streets. That’s a fantastic trait in a police chief. I can see why he’s such a good leader.

Now if we could only get more pay for our officers . . .

A happy accident

Remember when I said Raleigh’s downtown was becoming a place known for happy accidents? I got to witness one Friday.

As I watched from my office window two people, apparently strangers, met on Hargett Street. When the scruffy, T-shirt-clad man stopped the better-dressed woman, I thought “oh, here goes. Another panhandler incident.”
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Raleigh’s Serendipitous Downtown

Today I was head-down, working on customer issues when my coworker mentioned he was going for a walk and invited us to join him. The next thing I know, the whole office (all four of us today) left the office and took a leisurely stroll around Fayetteville Street in the bright May sunshine.

While we were out walking, I noticed the way I was chuckling at my buddies’ jokes. It’s not because I don’t usually laugh, but my chuckling was almost subconscious – just really from the heart, you know? I realized I was enjoying the walk much more than I had expected.
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Slipping through the cracks

Two years ago I wrote how the picture of little Sean Ford Paddock haunted me. It still does. Kids don’t deserve the kind of abuse this poor kid and his siblings had to suffer. It turns my stomach.

Now the murder trial of Lynn Paddock has begun. I hope that something good can come out of this, that something will change, but I’m not optimistic.

Its such a complex problem. Sean couldn’t stay home because of abuse. He couldn’t stay with his uncle because of the expense. All he had left was Lynn Paddock, the adoptive mother who offered him a loveless home. Where do you go when your parents aren’t fit to be parents?