Are all telephone calls recorded and accessible to the US government?

Astonishing. There’s a reason the federal government buys millions of dollars worth of file servers.

BURNETT: Tim, is there any way, obviously, there is a voice mail they can try to get the phone companies to give that up at this point. It’s not a voice mail. It’s just a conversation. There’s no way they actually can find out what happened, right, unless she tells them?

CLEMENTE: “No, there is a way. We certainly have ways in national security investigations to find out exactly what was said in that conversation. It’s not necessarily something that the FBI is going to want to present in court, but it may help lead the investigation and/or lead to questioning of her. We certainly can find that out.

BURNETT: “So they can actually get that? People are saying, look, that is incredible.

CLEMENTE: “No, welcome to America. All of that stuff is being captured as we speak whether we know it or like it or not.”

via Are all telephone calls recorded and accessible to the US government? | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk.

Concussion

Feeling like the Bad Parent. Son Travis said he hit his head while playing after school but I failed to take it seriously. It took Kelly arriving home to get him whisked to the ER, where he was diagnosed as having a concussion. As many concussions I’ve had in my life, I should’ve known better.

They’re on their way home now where he’ll simply need some rest to return back to normal.

Time of Use electric rates

With a few days of eGauge power tracking under my belt, I began to look into the other half of our solar equation: the Time of Use electric billing. Duke Energy (formerly Progress Energy) be installing a new meter for us after our solar panels get installed. We’ll be billed at a much, much different rate once that happens.

Power companies offer optional Time Of Use (TOU) rates for customers who would like to shift their power consumption to off-peak times. This benefits the power company because it doesn’t have to spin up new power plants to handle the peak demand. Demand-generated electricity is very expensive compared to a plant that’s already online, so power companies obviously want to avoid it.
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Neuse River Greenway Dedication

Neuse River Greenway Dedication, 25 Apr 2013

Neuse River Greenway Dedication, 25 Apr 2013

I had a great time speaking at yesterday’s Neuse River Greenway Dedication, where there were probably 200 people in attendance. I wore a suit because I was speaking, though I much rather would’ve preferred to be there in bike clothes as was Wake Commissioner Joe Bryan. I was second-to-last on the speaker’s list, behind Mayor Nancy McFarlane, Eugene Weeks, John Odom, Joe Bryan, Tony Tata, Wake Forest Mayor Vivian Jones, and Charles Meeker. Greenway planner Vic Lebsock batted clean-up before the ribbon was cut.

The suit wound up acting like a heat blanket, soaking up the sun on what was supposed to have been a cool, breezy day. Afterward I kept my jacket on too long and then went from the park to the hot gymnasium at Conn Elementary where I joined my family for the school’s Pizza and Pizzaz PTA event. By the time the show ended and I was stacking chairs I felt a bit dizzy and my muscles were cramping.

Yesterday’s greenway was one of the last major dedications I’ll speak at before my term as Parks board chair is over. It has been wonderful public speaking practice! I got lots of compliments on yesterday’s speech, too. After my term is over I’m not sure what I will do but the Parks board sure has been a lot of fun.

Seaboard slipping away

I learned last night that the bank that financed Seaboard Station was successful in flipping it from Chapter 11 bankruptcy to Chapter 7 bankruptcy. This means it will soon change hands, and William Peace University could certainly buy it, over the objections of the surrounding neighborhoods. Peace claims it has no plans to demolish it. Anytime soon, at least.

Citing “internal deadlines,” Peace president Debra Townsley said yesterday that Peace would not seek council approval again for municipal bonds. I think the university knows it would be fighting an uphill battle against the neighbors, who are still smarting over the university’s closing of Franklin Street years ago. There is still a lot of fence-mending there that needs to take place.

I hope the tenants there are safe. I would personally love to see a development firm buy the property as the retail interest at the property has never been stronger. The neighborhood watches with interest.

Tracking the sun (and more) with eGauge

The eGuage (upper right) installed in our electrical panel.

The eGuage (upper right) installed in our electrical panel.


I found out this morning that Southern Energy will be installing our solar panels on Monday! After a perfect, sun-filled afternoon today I was daydreaming of how our home’s electric meter might soon be spinning backwards!

As part of our installation we’ve purchased a power meter to track our electricity generation and consumption. It’s called eGauge and has become surprisingly addictive since I turned it on this afternoon, providing instantly-updated data through a web browser. Our solar panels aren’t installed yet but once they are, I’ll be able to see a ream of information on our electricity use.
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Public service resume

Just for fun I decided to compile a list of my public service accomplishments. It was a bit surprising to me to see how much stuff I have been involved with!

(The earlier dates are approximate as I’m lazy and don’t feel like looking them up right now!)

  • 1999-2001 – Boardmember, North Carolina Museum of Art Contemporaries
  • 1999-2001 – Member, Garner Land Use Ordinance Rewrite Committee
  • 2001 – Graduate, Garner Citizens Police Academy
  • 2001-2002 – President, Garner Crimestoppers
  • 2005-2006 – Steering Committee, Triangle Linux Users Group (TriLUG)
  • 2008 – Valedictorian, Raleigh Neighborhood College
  • 2008-2011 – Chair, East Citizens Advisory Council (East CAC)
  • 2012 – Chair, Raleigh Citizens Advisory Council (Raleigh CAC)
  • 2008-2010 – Boardmember; Raleigh Parks, Recreation, and Greenway Advisory Board (PRGAB)
  • 2008-2012 – PRGAB Liaison; Mordecai Historic Park Advisory Board (MHBAB)
  • 2011-2012 – Vice-Chair, Mordecai Historic Park Advisory Board (MHPAB)
  • 2010-2011 – Vice-Chair; Raleigh Parks, Recreation, and Greenway Advisory Board (PRGAB)
  • 2011-Present – Chair; Raleigh Parks, Recreation, and Greenway Advisory Board (PRGAB)
  • 2010, 2011 – Assistant Coach, Salvation Army Youth Basketball
  • 2011, 2012 – Assistant Coach, City of Raleigh Youth Baseball
  • 2012 – Volunteer, Triangle Radio Reading Service
  • 2012-Present – Board Chair, Little Raleigh Radio
  • 2012-Present – Volunteer, Friends of World Music

Russell Allen

I was surprised and saddened to hear that Russell Allen had been let go by the Raleigh City Council. Russell was as responsive as you’d want any city manager to be; I can’t recall a single time I sent him an email and he did not respond. I know many others contacted him about issues and he would respond, often no matter how big or small the problem was.

Russell led the city through some of its biggest growth and through some of its greatest financial challenges. He’s always been a professional, and as even those who clashed with him will attest, you always knew where you stood with him.

He made some fantastic hires with the city’s other leaders, picking great police chiefs, planning staff, and other crucial roles. It doesn’t matter what else the city has going for it, Without a great staff it won’t deliver on its promise.

I expect Russell will soon be snatched up by another city looking for a great manager. I wish him well and look forward to learning more about the Council’s decision and points of view.

North Korea’s virtual war

As I groggily woke up before dawn this morning I had some insight on North Korea pop into my head. North Korea has been broadcasting bellicose statements to the world, escalating international concern much higher than in decades. Curiously, these threats have come in the middle of the night, Korea-time. The North Korean populace seems completely unaware.

The insight is that, no matter how large the North Korean army is, Kim Jong Un can’t win. If he nukes someone, he definitely loses, but it wouldn’t take a nuke to destroy his society.

Let’s say he’s dumb enough to send troops to invade South Korea. This is an army, while formidable in numbers, doesn’t trust its soldiers at the DMZ to go sprinting across to the South. If they get to South Korea, what will keep them from not returning?
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Remote control death

I read about the death of 8-year-old Martin Richard in Monday’s Boston Marathon bombings and it brought a tear to my eye. Here’s this innocent little kid who never hurt anyone, waiting to give his dad a hug and he gets killed by a bomb blast. Whomever would do this to an innocent kid is a coward.

Then MT.Net reader Aetius points out that this is what happens when U.S. military pilots, flying drones from miles away, fire rockets meant for terrorists into foreign homes. If I were a Pakistani father whose innocent 8-year-old son was just murdered by a man sitting safely miles away, would I feel any less outraged than we do with the Boston attacks? Would I consider the killer any less cowardly than the perpetrator of the Boston attacks?

Does our President have the right to express outrage about the Boston attacks when he knows full well that he has approved the killings of potentially hundreds (if not thousands) of innocent people through secret drone strikes? At what point did we Americans acquiesce to our President becoming judge, jury, and executioner without any oversight whatsoever?

Any innocent death is one death too many. Does it really matter whether that death comes from a jury-rigged pressure cooker bomb or on the tip of a Hellfire missile? The Defense Department is withdrawing its plans to award medals to drone pilots. What does it say when even the DoD has doubts about the bravery of its remote control killers?

Is remote control death the business America really wants to be in?