There are 521 posts filed in Follow-Up (this is page 42 of 53).
I was reminded today that Google has less than three weeks to make its site selections for its Google Fiber project. The post that sparked interest said that the company would be making its selection by the end of the year.
Which communities will Santa’s backhoe visit this year?
Update 15 Dec: Google says it needs more time to decide.
The Daily Mail dissects Julian Assange’s rape charges, casting strong doubt on their validity. From the Daily Mail’s analysis it appears the women did not initially choose to press sexual assault charges against Assange but were pushed into it by police. Interesting.
I would expect Assange would have little trouble clearing this up in court.
Roku player
Having long become enamored of the Roku player, we bought our first one this week: a Roku HD that a neighbor was selling. Once again, I am quite impressed by this little box. Roku gets mad props for designing a fantastic user interface. I firmly believe boxes like Roku’s are the future of television, where one will buy individual episodes of shows rather than subscribe to a channel, cable tier, or the like.
Now comes the question of channels. What are the other Roku owners watching out there? Which ones out of the available channels have the more entertaining shows?
Like many in Raleigh, I learned that a particular hate group from Kansas would be protesting Saturday at the funeral of Elizabeth Edwards. I fell into the knee-jerk response of wanting to counter-protest until last night I had an epiphany. I was reminded of comedy genius Andy Kaufman’s pro-wrestling “career:” where Kaufman became the target of enraged wrestling fans when he duped them in a performance-art masterpiece.
The crowd did all the work. Kaufman just set them in motion.
A hate group like the one coming to town feeds off its opposition. If a hate group goads me into anger it’s because I let them. It’s a lesson I’ve been slow to learn, that no one can piss me off without my permission. If they make me angry, they win.
Rather than match their anger, I will peacefully wish them well. And I will choose another game to play.
Michael Darnell Green
I got word today that yesterday’s foot chase through the nearby Mordecai neighborhood yielded an arrest of a suspect in the area’s recent burglaries. Michael Darnell Green, age 37, was arrested and charged with numerous offenses, including breaking and entering, possession of burglary tools, possession of stolen goods, and possession of a firearm by a felon, among others. Green has a long history of B&Es, and with his build of 5’10” and weight of 160, he certainly fits the description of the guy my neighbors saw on our front porch when our alarm went off Friday. Police are charging him with at least 9 area burglaries and more are pending, I’m sure.
It goes to show you … don’t mess with East Raleigh!
A few more thoughts to share on the break-in.
1. The guy must not be from around here because our home actually makes a terrible target. While it is on the end of a street, many of our neighbors walk right by our house constantly. Any intruder is bound to be seen. On this particular day one of our neighbors had walked by just minutes before.
2. Our would-be intruder was seen, by at least two alert neighbors. Our neighbors look out for each other in a big way. We know who lives here and who is a stranger in our midst. Many neighborhoods in Raleigh can’t say that. I sleep well at night knowing the neighborhood’s got our backs.
3. Our would-be intruder was recorded on video. It pays to live in a geeky neighborhood.
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Break-in suspect
After our attempted break-in Friday, a friend reminded me of a neighbor’s security cameras outside his home, suggesting his cameras might have filmed the perpetrator. On a whim I asked my neighbor to check his system. Sure enough, his camera did capture video of the suspect on Friday (empty-handed, I might add). The video is here. [some weird M$-proprietary WMV format]
The detective working our case told me today that the fingerprints they recovered from our window are being processed by CCBI. Hopefully, we’ll have an identification of the guy soon. In the meantime, the photo of the suspect has been distributed to all the line officers in RPD’s downtown and southeast districts, and rides in the cab of Engine 7 of the Raleigh Fire Department. It’s good to have friends in uniform!
We recovered the needle Rocket swallowed this morning, thanks to my father-in-law Neil’s metal detector. It was in the “batch” Rocket provided yesterday morning, so it had actually been out of him a full day.
I had checked that bag at the time he provided but thought there was nothing in it, as I had been looking for a 2 inch long needle rather than the one inch kind that it actually was. At any rate, I’m glad we’re not taking that particular “gift” home with us!
No sooner had I put the finishing touches on my Asterisk alarm script that it got put to use on a real break-in attempt! I stared in disbelief when an actual alarm message came in, thinking that perhaps it was a test message that had only now gotten delivered. When I saw that the alarm type wasn’t one I was using to test my script, I called RPD dispatchers. I then scrambled to find my neighbors’ phone numbers to confirm what was happening.
The break-in attempt was unsuccessful as the alarm sounded as soon as the guy pried open the window. He fled, but not before two of my neighbors caught a glimpse of him. Police arrived, searched the house, and determined that no one had been inside. They secured the window and rearmed the system. My neighbors have since offered to secure the window themselves.
The funny thing is that I was literally testing the system at 10 AM this morning. When the real alarm came in, Kelly called me right after our alarm called.
“How many times today is our house going to be broken into?,” she asked, jokingly.
“Uh, honey? That was a real alarm.”
The police have plenty of clues about the perpetrator. He’s a white guy with a similar build as me, who was riding a bike and wearing a bike helmet. He took off but I would guess that it won’t be long before he’s apprehended.
I’m glad I found out about it five seconds after it happened!
Update 27 Nov: At least six other homes in the area were broken into or attempted yesterday. At one home, the intruder actually took a moment to cook himself some waffles, topping them off with honey. I’m really not sure what that says about the burglar.
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.
