Two days does not a trend make, but I’m really encouraged by the difference I’m seeing in my commute since the new stretch of I-540 opened from Capital Boulevard to U.S. 264. Today I cruised down Capital Boulevard, getting to work in fourteen minutes, half the time it normally takes! I was amazed to make such good time. My evening commute is just as dramatically better.

The big difference is the drastic drop in truck traffic. Trucks heading east to Knightdale (or as the truckers called it, “Nightmaredale”) and U.S. 64 used to pile onto Capital for a slow crawl down to 401 or the Beltline, where they would inevitably be in the far right lane and need to merge left to get on the inner Beltline. The Beltline end of Capital was always a mess as a result.

Now trucks heading east roll right past Capital, making it driveable again. In fact, traffic moves better for commuter traffic than weekend traffic does, since the traffic lights aren’t apparently synched on the weekends.

Monday was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, so I expected smooth traffic then. Tuesday must have been Stupid Driving Day, where in spite of the I-540 opening there were multiple accidents all down Capital. Today is the first real test of the new traffic and so far it looks good. I thought I’d be the last one to crow about a new slab of concrete but this one was obviously long overdue.

[Update:] Welcome News and Observer readers!

Looks like the mystery is now solved about the Google plane being spotted at RDU last year. Google has bought a Chapel Hill start-up called Skia.

It’s amazing how quiet this acquisition has been in the year since it occured. I guess when you’re a search engine company, you are well aware that what you say and write gets archived somewhere.

Kudos to Fred Stutzman for his work in putting the final pieces together. Continue reading →

Watch your speed on the Outer Loop this afternoon. I counted at least 6 Raleigh Police cruisers pulling people over left and right on the westbound lanes west of U.S. 70. There were at least four unlucky drivers being ticketed as I drove by.

Buckle up and drive safely, y’all.

I thought that the light at the end of the tunnel was seen when troubled Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong dropped rape charges in the Duke Lacrosse case. I was going to give him credit for gaining some sense. Instead I learned he was forced to when his alleged victim, ,

Today Nifong was sworn in again as Durham DA, only the weasel did it behind closed doors before the courthouse opened. When I heard that, I couldn’t help but think this is Nifong thumbing his nose at the public he serves.

Take a look at his reasoning why:

“This was not a media event. This was an event that is required for us to do our jobs,” Nifong said. “The message we’re trying to send is: This is 2007. We’re here to do our jobs. We’re not here to help you guys sell newspapers or get press coverage.”

Oh, really? Gee, Mikey, you sure didn’t mind the publicity when you were dragging these students’ names through the mud. You sure didn’t mind it when the New York Times came calling when you told the local media – the eyes and ears of your constituents – you weren’t doing any interviews. I’m starting to wonder if your apparent dishonesty in the case is just par for the course. Do you lie all the time, sir?

What’s more, he still doesn’t own up to the disaster that’s largely his own making:

“I don’t feel I’m part of the problem. I feel that I have assisted in revealing the problem,” he said, referring to the community outrage the case has stoked. “Durham has some healing to do, and I need to be part of that healing process.”

You want to start the healing process, Mike? Either step aside on this case or dismiss it.

Otherwise the State Bar will begin the healing process for you.

Troubled Durham district attorney Mike Nifong has dropped rape charges against the Duke Lacrosse suspects after the accuser, Crystal Gail Mangum, changed her story yet again. Mangum reportedly told Nifong that she “couldn’t be sure” she was raped.

Hmm. Maybe she also “couldn’t be sure” she was sexually assaulted and/or kidnapped, which are the remaining charges these accused Duke students face thanks to overzealous Durham prosecutors.

Drop it, Nifong. Drop it all right now. Then save what’s left of your dignity by apologizing to these young men and the citizens of Durham. Continue reading →

It appears the accuser in the Duke Lacrosse rape case will soon give birth to a baby. Being that it was recently disclosed that none of the DNA sampled from her body matched any of the players, doesn’t this last revelation pretty-much torpedo any chance of Mike Nifong’s case succeeding?

How is this still going on? What is Mike Nifong smoking? What will it take for him to finally drop this case? Can anyone donate a clue to Durham’s district attorney? Continue reading →

Ten years ago, I was one of the original startup employees at Accipiter, the web advertising software company. Accipiter was founded by Raleigh entrepreneur Chris Evans and soon grew on the edge of the web advertising boom.

That Accpiter company got sold to CMGI, a smoke-and-mirrors dot-bomb company that soon cratered in a big way. Accipiter became part of CMGI’s company Engage Technologies, being renamed Engage.

CMGI went bust when investors got wise to dot-com companies. (If your company ever gets bought and your New Overlords can’t stop calling the founder a “visionary,” run – don’t walk – to the exits!)

Engage’s offices on Highwoods Boulevard sat vacant for years. In 2002, someone at Engage talked management into spinning Accipiter off again. They did, and lo and behold Accipiter was reborn.

Yesterday, the new, improved Accipiter was sold once again, this time to a company called aQuantive for $30 million in cash.

No one I worked with at the original Accipiter appears to be with this Accipiter. Looks like the same name and product but an entirely different team. I find it funny to see this company’s name in the press again, so many years after it was first assimilated.

On a similar note, I wonder what Chris Evans is up to nowadays.

Seems like it was over two years ago that voters approved a city bond to be used for traffic light synchronization. So why after two years is it still such a challenge to drive down Capital Boulevard without stopping ten times?

After watching the spectacle of ABC’s Extreme Makeover taking place in Raleigh, the head of Preservation North Carolina, Myrick Howard, questioned why anyone would tear down a beautiful historic bungalow to replace it with a slapped-together home made of cheap modern materials:

“I believe in charity, but if you really care about good housing, then renovate the existing house and it will cost so much less,” he said.

Howard added that the Riggins home was not only salvageable but made of better building materials than “Extreme Makeover” would use.

“We’re replacing real wood and plaster with chip board and sheet rock,” he said. “They’re getting showered with candy rather than a decent meal.”

Good point. It seems the family traded their fine home for 15 minutes of fame. Not only that, city officials dropped the ball by approving the demolition of an historic house in a historic district.

Would you live in a home that was built under a tight deadline of just one week? Do you think a team of volunteer laborers can do a better job in one week than the original, expert craftsmen did a hundred years ago using real building materials? This home stood proudly for the better part of a century. What are the odds that this slapped-together house will still be standing in 2106?

This is one of the things that ticks me off about Raleigh: total disregard for its own history. Tear down historic landmarks to make way for shiny new strip malls, or fake homes in this case. City officials who can’t wait to whore the city out for media opportunities no matter the long-term consequences. We live in a plastic city which has long ago lost its identity.

When the dust settles and the crowds of construction workers and gawkers have gone home, what will be left is yet another hole in the city’s historic heritage.