Links to cool places or things.
There are 1,530 posts filed in Check It Out (this is page 108 of 153).
Google Maps car
I can’t wait to see the new Google Maps imagery with this crazy old bald guy standing behind a bush with a camera!
Update 7 July 2012: Got it!
N&O photograph by Takaai Iwabu
I was sad to read in yesterday’s News and Observer about a fire at the Gorman Crossing apartment complex in Raleigh. Accompanying the story was a compelling photograph of one of the affected residents, Connie Starkey, being comforted by her father, Fred Starkey.
Connie’s grief screams out of the photo. Her face told me all I needed to know about what happened there – and how I should feel about it. Everyone who sees this photograph knows what this woman was feeling at that very instant. It’s a powerful image.
N&O photographer Takaaki Iwabu captured a masterful photograph. I believe it’s the best photograph I’ve seen in the News and Observer in months, if not years. It’s outstanding photojournalism.
As for Connie, I hope she’s able to recover from this tragedy.
Update 22 July: While Connie lost all of her possessions in the fire, at least her dog and one of her two cats survived. Hooray! See the NCSU Technician’s excellent photos of the efforts to save Starkey’s cat, Sissy.
Update 2: WTVD’s Anthony Wilson spoke with Connie a day after the fire.
It looks like I’m not the only one who’s been going to battle against Microsoft Hotmail’s anti-spam measures. Now Hotmail is rejecting emails from Earthlink accounts. We’ve seen our emails sent there being bounced for the past few days. Here’s the message:
[redacted]@hotmail.com
SMTP error from remote mailer after MAIL FROM:<[redacted]@[redacted]>
SIZE=3777:
host mx4.hotmail.com [65.55.92.184]: 550 SC-001 (SNT0-MC4-F19)
Unfortunately, messages from 207.69.195.66 weren’t sent. Please contact your
Internet service provider since part of their network is on our block list.
You can also refer your provider to
http://mail.live.com/mail/troubleshooting.aspx#errors.
Like many ISPs, Earthlink has its own anti-spam measures. I’ve not found anything on Earthlink’s website that explains the current Hotmail block, however.
Informative look at music industry math.
Recently, the UK government passed The Digital Economy Act which included many, perhaps draconian, measures to combat online music piracy including withdrawing broadband access for persistent pirates. Much was proclaimed about how these new laws would protect musicians and artists revenue and livelihoods. But how much money do musicians really get paid in this new digital marketplace?
My friend Jason had his scooter stolen from his front yard this week. It’s a red, 150cc-size Q-Link Achilles brand and is a 2007 model. Jason says he’s never seen another one like it in town.
If you happen to see this scooter around Raleigh, call 911.
Update 17 Jul: Scooter found and returned. Thanks, RPD!
For those of you who don’t see the value of government regulation, read this. Some companies will happily trade safety for profits.
When you “let the market decide,” good people die.
The owner of the West Virginia coal mine where an explosion killed 29 men last year kept two sets of books on safety conditions – an accurate one for itself and a sanitized one for the government, federal regulators said Wednesday.
Managers at Massey Energy pressured workers at the Upper Big Branch mine to omit safety problems from the official set of reports, said Mine Safety and Health Administration official Kevin Stricklin. Workers told investigators that the company wanted to avoid scrutiny from inspectors and keep coal production running smoothly.
CNN takes a look at the geek vs. nerd debate:
Musical satirist and pop culture icon ‘Weird’ Al Yankovic said he thinks of himself as a nerd in general, but is a geek about a few things.
“To me, a nerd is somebody that would be intelligent perhaps to the point of being a bit socially awkward and a geek is somebody that is not necessarily intelligent, usually they are, but they are usually savant-like experts in a particular subject. I know the standard definition of a geek is a person that bites the heads off birds, but I don’t think that’s been in use for quite some time. But there are certainly nerds that are geeks and geeks that are nerds. There are also pure geeks and pure nerds,” Yankovic said.
Paul Jones, now available email-free!
I’ve been following Paul’s progress on this off and on but I don’t recall hearing of any “finish line” in this particular endeavor. It wouldn’t surprise me a bit if Paul leaves email behind for good. Maybe he has a point, and email is a wheezing relic from the past?
You can follow all of Paul’s “noemail” trials and tribulations (including some insightful commentary) on Paul’s blog.
Here’s an interesting Princeton study. That Big Gulp will kill ya, I tell ya.
In results published online Feb. 26 by the journal Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, the researchers from the Department of Psychology and the Princeton Neuroscience Institute reported on two experiments investigating the link between the consumption of high-fructose corn syrup and obesity.
The first study showed that male rats given water sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup in addition to a standard diet of rat chow gained much more weight than male rats that received water sweetened with table sugar, or sucrose, in conjunction with the standard diet. The concentration of sugar in the sucrose solution was the same as is found in some commercial soft drinks, while the high-fructose corn syrup solution was half as concentrated as most sodas.
Former President Jimmy Carter rightfully calls for the end of the failed “War on Drugs.”
IN an extraordinary new initiative announced earlier this month, the Global Commission on Drug Policy has made some courageous and profoundly important recommendations in a report on how to bring more effective control over the illicit drug trade.
The report describes the total failure of the present global antidrug effort, and in particular America’s “war on drugs,” which was declared 40 years ago today. It notes that the global consumption of opiates has increased 34.5 percent, cocaine 27 percent and cannabis 8.5 percent from 1998 to 2008. Its primary recommendations are to substitute treatment for imprisonment for people who use drugs but do no harm to others, and to concentrate more coordinated international effort on combating violent criminal organizations rather than nonviolent, low-level offenders.
