Musings

General-purpose musings

There are 781 posts filed in Musings (this is page 53 of 79).

Raleigh led the way on daylight saving time

Think Raleigh flubbed the recent disposal ban? That was nothing compared to the controversy Raleigh had in May 1932.

According to David Prerau’s book Seize the Daylight: The Curious and Contentious Story of Daylight Saving Time, in May 1932 Raleigh became one of the few Southern cities to adopt Daylight Saving Time. Like a lot of decisions both past and present, the city held a public hearing when it began studying the matter. The meeting was packed with DST supporters, many of whom touted the recreational benefits of the time change. Local businesses got behind the plan, and shortly afterward city commissioners overwhelmingly approved the move to DST. On May 1, 1932, less than two days after the vote, Raleigh moved its clocks ahead for the very first time.
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View-Masters

I was wondering this weekend why in a world where HDTV is considered viewing state-of-the-art why designers still think people have only one eye. Imagine if we were all still listening to monaural music and stereo didn’t exist, for instance! Why don’t we exercise our wonderful depth of field perception and create three-dimensional images to watch?

That got me thinking about the old View-Master viewers which displayed discs of 7 stereoscopic images through the use of hand-held viewers. A simple concept – invented in 1939 – yet we’re still looking at a flat, two-dimensional screen for almost everything. It was so far ahead of its time, it seems.
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Calm after the storm

There’s something quite soothing after a storm. Its not simply that its no longer raining, or that its just like it was before the storm. A storm reorders things somehow. It fixes something we may not have even noticed was broken.

Soyuz: Russian for “falls like a rock”

I was thinking today about the recent wild ride the returning International Space Station crew received last month when their Soyuz capsule went ballistic. This crew was lucky to be alive, after their Soyuz burned through the atmosphere facing the wrong way. The explosive bolts that normally separate the modules did not fire, pointing the capsule’s heat shield away from the Earth.

Seems that has been happening frequently, subjecting its passengers to G-forces of up to 8 times gravity. A normal landing puts a far more manageable 4.5 Gs on the cosmonauts inside.

The problem is that – flawed as it is – Soyuz is the only option between the time the Space Shuttle fleet is retired and NASA’s new Orion vehicle is ready. In the meantime, please watch for falling (and smoking) astronauts.

Crack house

The house behind our home just went on the market after a few weeks of renovations. According to the MLS ad, this 1530 square foot, 3 bedroom house is listed for $329,900. It sold in March for a mere $155,000, according to Wake Tax records.

And they say there are no crack problems in our neighborhood.

Why two car garages are bad for the neighborhood

Kelly and I were discussing neighborhood traits last night. I’ve always thought the thing that brings neighborhoods together is the sidewalks and front porches. This creates interaction, where you see your neighbors.

Kelly pointed out something that I never before considered: that two-car garages inhibit neighborhood interaction.
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If walls could talk

I said goodbye to 8321 Hobhouse Circle tonight. I went over to mow the lawn before our Friday closing and couldn’t help but walk through it one last time. It looked good. once I mowed the overgrown yard, anyway.

The backyard was just as friendly and inviting as ever. The playset sat waiting for its new owner. The Japanese Maple tree I nurtured from a deer-devastated foot-high stick now towers five feet tall. The “Provider” tree – a sweetgum I opted to keep – once again sang my praises as I brushed by it. It was a more somber song than I usually get.
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