Links to cool places or things.
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On WTVD’s evening newscast tonight my friend Mandy Reid talked about the organ donations of her husband and my friend, Gerry Reid. It was a reminder of all the lives that were powerfully changed by his passing. It was tough watching it but it really is a story that must be shared.
I am an organ donor and so is Kelly. I hope those of you reading this will also choose to become an organ donor. One day you, too, could become a hero like Gerry.
This makes me happy.
America’s neighborhoods became more integrated last year than during any time in at least a century as a rising black middle class moved into fast-growing white areas in the South and West.
Still, ethnic segregation in many parts of the U.S. persisted, particularly for Hispanics.
Segregation among blacks and whites fell in roughly three-quarters of the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas as the two racial groups spread more evenly between inner cities and suburbs, according to recent census data.
Black segregation in US drops to lowest in century :: WRAL.com.
A few weeks ago I unearthed a videotape I made while I was a sailor aboard the USS Elliot (DD-967). Taken one night in 1991 while the ship was in port in San Diego, the tape was meant to give my parents a virtual tour of the ship.
The quality isn’t the best as I had owned a videocamera for all of 6 hours, but I still found the video to be a fun look into the past. Careful viewers will see what I looked like when I had a full head of hair and big, dorky glasses. I’m also not sure what’s up with the Kermit the Frog-style narration, but it is what it is.
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One early spring morning this year I was walking the dog on State Street when we stumbled upon three deer across the street from us. The deer made a well-worn beeline to a hole in the fence of the St. Augustine’s campus and bounded into the woods. In July I had another morning sighting, with deer standing near the edge of our front yard.
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My late friend Gerry was an organ donor at the time he died in a car wreck. Through the gift of his organs and tissue he gave four people he never met new life.
His wife Mandy and their families got a chance to meet one donor recipient earlier this month: the recipient of Gerry’s lungs. UNC Health Care created a profound video and story of the meeting, showing how Gerry’s gift changed the recipient’s life. Watching Gerr’y’s mom Pat as she listened to Gerry’s lungs brought tears to my eyes.
What an amazing gift of life from an amazingly generous friend.
Photo by Gray Watson
There is good news today for homeowners who’ve been considering adding solar panels to their homes. Progress Energy received approval today [PDF] from the N.C. Utilities Commission to provide up to $10,000 in rebates for residential solar power installations. The program would begin January 1st and provide a $1,000 rebate per kW of solar capacity, up to a $10,000 maximum. According to the N&O’s John Murawski, a 10 kW solar installation that would normally cost $75,000 could be bought for $35,000 after the rebate and state and federal incentives are included.
I’ve been waiting for this program to materialize since fall of last year, so I’m finally glad it’s been approved. As for our home, I’ve been thinking a 6 kW system would be about right for our needs, though our large, southern-facing rooftop could host quite a bit more. I think 2011 will be the year to finally go solar!
I was doing some Internet searches to come up to speed on some satellite TV technology when I came upon this amusing Chinglish description for an amazing set-top box. It combines many of my interests: amusing, over-the-top Chinglish; Linux; and DVB-S satellite set-top boxes.
DreamBox DM7025 is one of the latest in the serials of wares from Dream Multimedia System. It is highly advanced and scientifically ongoing digital satellite catcher which is obtainable at exceedingly low-cost and sound monetary values from the cyberspace. The device has the fullest and greatest capabilities than some other electronic device from the very same make. Continue reading
Sports Illustrated’s latest issue brings news that head injuries don’t have to rise to the concussive level to cause brain damage. Purdue researchers have shown that the smaller, more frequent hits can actually do more damage than a concussion.
The mounting evidence suggests that some people—perhaps a lot—simply cannot play these games without being damaged, concussion or no concussion. “You can break something by hitting it hard once,” says Katie Morigaki, a Purdue graduate assistant athletic trainer who worked on the study, “or you can break it by hitting it softer many times.”
If the test scores were accurate, the researchers had inadvertently documented, in real time, a new classification of high school athlete: a player who was never concussed, was not verbally impaired and was asymptomatic even as far as his parents could tell, but whose visual memory was more impaired than his amnesic, headachy, light-sensitive, concussed teammates.
After reading this last night I woke up worried about how doomed I am with all the hits my head has taken, not from football but from falling out of bed as a kid, banging my head against the wall (also as a kid), and other misadventures. I’m not letting my kids play football, that’s for sure. The fewer brain-damaged members of the family, the better!
I laughed this morning when a neighbor retracted her recommendation of a handyman she had been using for years. It turns out the handyman, Lee Pope from Precision Plumbing and Cooling, had switched from handyman work to robbing banks, becoming known to the FBI as the “Repeat Robber.” Pope was arrested Monday on suspicion of robbing over a dozen banks in the Triangle. It’s sad when a good guy turns bad. Perhaps the handyman trade wasn’t working out for him.
Before his arrest Pope drew praise for his handyman work. Said one customer:
We have been using Lee’s company for years now. He has replaced our furnace, AC, fixed pipes and we are getting ready to have him redo all the plumbing in our house. He is excellent and reasonable.
Once news broke of his arrest, the customer changed her tune:
I would like to retract this recommendation. For the past 6 years he did close to $10K worth of work for us and was always here when it was icy or 110 degrees and something was broken that needed fixed, fixed our friend’s AC for free, etc., I guess he hit bad times and went rogue.
I wonder if Pope had anything to do with the rash of copper thefts from AC units in the area. Hopefully police are following up on this, too.
Wikipedia tells me that it was five years ago this month that I became a Wikipedian. I’ve focused my Wikipedia work with a few of my interests. I began by editing the entry for the USS Elliot (DD-967) as I had found a press release about its sinking. Then I went on to add bits to many of the Raleigh-area entries. I’ve also taken many photographs of Raleigh-area landmarks and added these to the appropriate pages (including the page for Raleigh itself).
Though I’ve slowed down lately with my Wikipedia contributions I still greatly value this amazing, free resource.
Here is an official list of my Wikipedia contributions, formatted in especially-hard-to-read geek format. Here’s a list of the photographs I’ve taken and donated to the public domain through Wikimedia Commons.
