Check It Out

Links to cool places or things.

There are 1,530 posts filed in Check It Out (this is page 135 of 153).

Lions Park: a park born of love

I took a tour this afternoon of Raleigh’s Lions Park with the park director, Mark Wilson. On the way out he handed me a photocopy from a book which tells of how the park came to be.

Reading it blew me away. A huge number of Raleigh citizens and civic leaders banded together to donate their time, money, and sweat to create this park. I truly had no idea. What a contrast to today’s park process: one which has been accused of completely ignoring the citizen involvement.

I’ve retyped the article in its entirety on my East Raleigh blog. Reading it will open your eyes to this jewel in our midst (a midst that was once known as “North Raleigh”)!

MT meets JT

OMG, I just shook James Taylor’s hand. How cool is that?

I saw before soundcheck that his crew walking to Marbles with a carton of coffee so I guessed that’s where he was hanging out. After today’s show (which I’ll blog about soon) I went to the board of elections to vote, chatted with an old friend there, and then wandered back to Moore Square. As I looked in the windows of Marbles, I spotted an eight-foot-tall man in a wide-brimmed hat lumbering up the sidewalk towards the Imax Theatre. A small group of fans were making their way back to their cars and stopped for some photographs with Taylor, who was gracious in the requests.

As he was about to head inside, I thrust my hand out to him and he shook it.

“Thanks for coming, Mr. Taylor,” was all I could manage.

“Thank you,” he answered sincerely in his quiet way, smiling and then posing for yet another photograph. Sadly not mine, though, as I had ditched my camera after the show.

I didn’t get a photograph, or an autograph. But what I got was enough. I shook the hand of the legendary James Taylor.

OMG.

Palin as President

This Palin As President Flash site is just too funny. Click around the Oval Office to find surprises (some of them have multiple surprises). And if you’re in the office, put your headphones on: you don’t want to miss the sounds that go with this.

Hilarious!

This is a serious message!

Ex-Beatle Ringo Starr recently posted a video on his website announcing he would no longer be autographing items mailed to him. Its bizarre enough that it practically begs for a response.

This could be the “Kenneth, what’s the frequency?” of 2008. Some have already begun parodying it, like this, this, this, this, and this.

I can’t sit on the sidelines, either: I’ve got to post a parody. Look for a goofy video soon: my first YouTube appearance.

Raleigh in high-rez

I just updated the Wikipedia entry for Raleigh with a sweet picture of downtown I took today. Knowing how the Wikipedia anarchy operates I’m under no illusion regarding how long the picture will last in Raleigh’s entry. The weather was just too perfect not to pop out for a quick picture or three. I only spent an hour tooling around taking pictures, though, as there was grass to be cut and neighborhood trash to be picked up.

I could’ve used a polarized filter on the lens to bring out more of the blue sky, but other than that I wouldn’t change a thing. I really like the view from the Western Boulevard overpass – better than the traditional South Saunders view, actually. I wonder why we don’t see more of it.

Just like my previous pictures, this shot is public domain. I look forward to seeing it pop up in various places.

Put yourself on the map

Remember how Google Maps forgot my address? I decided to find out how to get my address put back in. Google’s help pages are quite confusing in this regard, so it took a few tries before I found the cheese, so to speak.

Beginning at the Google Maps Help Page, I found a notice that the mapping info Google Maps uses had recently changed. Aha! The source of my missing map issue!

So what do you do when you suddenly go missing? You contact Tele-Atlas, the new supplier of Google Maps data, directly. I pulled up the link to Tele-Atlas’s Map Insight feedback page and submited my address for correction.

So what happens now? Tele-Atlas built a Flash-based tutorial that describes the process. I reckon their marketing department has a lot of time on its hands!

David Byrne tickets on sale today

Musician David Byrne and company were in Asheville recently and took a pass on visiting Biltmore House, judging the $47 ticket price too steep.

I think its a steep ticket price, too, but so is the $44 Byrne wants for his upcoming show at Meymandi Hall December 8th.

As I watch the markets sink even further today I’m not feeling so inclined to part with that much money. Maybe I’ll meet Byrne on one of his expected bike rides around town.