Duke professor, billionaire debate higher education’s value

One day about a dozen years ago, I interviewed with a bored-looking Vivek Wadhwa for a sysadmin position with Relativity Technologies. I didn’t get the job, perhaps because I don’t have a college degree. In hindsight I am glad I wasn’t hired because Relativity soon tanked, finally being bought by Micro Focus (which also bought my former employer, Intersolv). Perhaps the company would’ve been more successful with a few more creative, independent thinkers like me.

Wadhwa is now making a case against forgoing college. For some professions that make sense, but for others like IT one does not need a degree to be successful. Sure, a degree is fine if one wants to work for someone else, but for many entrepreneurs that time is better spent making things happen.

The best thing college gives you is connections. If those connections can be gained through other means, like hackathons, user groups, or the like then one wonders if loading oneself up on massive student debt is as wise a move as it once was.

Experience is, and always will be, the best teacher.

Vivek Wadhwa, a former high-tech entrepreneur in the Triangle who now teaches at Duke and Stanford universities, is matched against billionaire Peter Thiel Sunday night in a CBS “60 Minutes” segment exploring the value of a college degree.

Thiel is paying 20 young people $100,000 a year to drop out or not go to college in order to pursue new business ideas.

Wadhwa says Thiel is sending the wrong message.

via Duke professor, billionaire debate higher education’s value on ’60 Minutes’ :: WRAL Tech Wire.

1304 Bikes to rise again?


Astute MT.Net readers might have noticed that I referred to the now-defunct bike charity 1304 Bikes in the present tense as one of the great things about Raleigh. That’s because I have been in contact with the co-founder in the hopes of reviving this important charity.

For years I wondered why my kids were the only students at their school to ride their bikes there. This year their bikes were joined in the school bike rack by a brother’s and sister’s in the neighborhood. After a a few trips riding from school with these kids, I took a look at their bikes and felt sorry for them. One had a wheel with a broken axle and the other has no brakes. They’re absolutely fantastic kids, they’re in a loving family, but for one reason or another this is what they have to ride.
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Gov. Perdue issues executive order creating fracking task force

The N&O’s John Frank is a great reporter and I always enjoy his stories. If I may be allowed to pick nits, though, I did have one quibble with this Dome blog post he wrote about Perdue’s fracking executive order (emphasis mine):

Perdue wants the group to include appointees from the Democrat and Republican leadership in the House and Senate. But her executive order appears to preempt — or at least compete with — legislative efforts to create an official oil and gas board to write regulations for energy exploration.

The proper term is “Democratic leadership” (such as it is, admittedly). Then again, I’m not won two talk about double-chicking mmy blag posts before postine them, am I? 🙂

via Gov. Perdue issues executive order creating fracking task force | newsobserver.com projects.

My dog’s walk memory

On the weekends, Kelly and I are sometimes slack at getting Rocket out for his daily walk. Whenever we neglect to walk him, he will spend the rest of the day nagging us about it. It never fails.

I’ve noted that the dog can forget many things. He can forget where he left his bone, he can forget that he hasn’t been fed, but he never ever seems to forget that he hasn’t been out for a walk.

It makes me wonder just how developed his sense of smell is. I’m guessing it probably takes up half of his brain.

Action-packed weekend

I had an incredibly action-packed weekend. Friday evening I met up with Jacob and Kelly of Little Raleigh Radio to chat with an attorney who is interested in helping us out. When I got home my in-laws had arrived for their weekend visit.

Saturday morning, Kelly’s parents gave us some time to go out by ourselves so Kelly and I got out the bikes and enjoyed a two-hour bike ride over to her office and back. We took a route along Glen Eden but soon regretted it as we didn’t appreciate that Glen Eden has some difficult hills!
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Multi-Modal in Raleigh: Leading by Example #BikeRaleigh

Over at her Multi-Modal in Raleigh blog, Kristy blogged about Friday’s Bike To Work Leadership Ride around downtown Raleigh. Kristy even got a pic of me at the bottom of her post, too.

Thanks, Kristy!

A perfect Bike to Work Day in Raleigh, NC. We rode a loop from Centennial Mall around downtown Raleigh to raise awareness for cyclists and promote bicycling as a valid form of transportation. It felt really good to be among such great leaders in Raleigh and to show support for this nationwide movement to promote bicycling as safe, sustainable, healthy, and well – easy.

via Multi-Modal in Raleigh: Leading by Example #BikeRaleigh.

Mortgage junk mail

Official-looking mortgage junk mail


We recently refinanced our home with a new mortgage and that, as expected, triggered a flood of junk mail. Most of these letters are deceptively designed to look like they came from your mortgage company, mailed in an official-looking envelope. Some even include the name of the legitimate mortgage company on the front.

Some of the companies include:

Mortgage Protection Center
PO Box 9001
Burlington, NC, 27216-9925

Mortgage Protection Insurance
PO Box 619056
Roseville, CA, 95661-9978
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High Speed Rail at Pullen Park

My buddy Reid Serozi has dreamed up an amuzing alternative universe where high-speed rail replaces the Pullen Park choo-choo. That Matt Furner character hits close to home, too.

There is confidence that compromises between city planning and local park goers can be worked out in the years to come, and the hope is to have high-speed rail running around Pullen park by 3080.

Matt Furner, the city’s parks board chairman and a community organizer in East Raleigh wasn’t available for comment due to his "open source email solution" being accidentally blacklisted, but rumors suggest the high speed rail idea originated after a Furner Family visit to Disney Land.

via Reid Serozi – Open Raleigh: High Speed Rail at Pullen Park.

Raleigh CAC meeting ends on time

Tonight was a milestone of sorts as the Raleigh CAC meeting I chaired actually ended ahead of schedule. In the four years I’ve been on the board I can’t recall a single night where this has happened.

When I was elected chair, I pledged to my fellow boardmembers that I would run an efficient meeting and not waste everyone’s time. While the first few meetings were a bit longer than I would’ve liked, tonight we actually ended a minute or two early.

One of my first big moves was to make the meetings end at 8:30 PM instead of 9 PM. I thought we should be able to get done what we need to get done in that time and so far it’s worked out well. So with the switch to the earlier time, it’s probably safe to say that no RCAC meeting has ever ended before 8:30 until tonight.

One of the reasons I consider this a milestone is that I conducted the meeting fairly, sought input from the CAC chairs, and moved things along when they needed moving. Another notable thing is that the CAC chairs actually listened to me! When I first joined the RCAC board years ago, the RCAC seemed like the epitome of herding cats. Being chair looked like a thankless job that I accepted only with trepidation. Instead, meetings like tonight show that I may be able to effectively lead this organization after all.

I came home feeling psyched, energized, and actually looking forward to the next meeting. It’s a pretty good place to be!

Raleigh to involve public sooner in parks planning

I was quoted in this morning’s Midtown Raleigh News on the new Public Participation Process for Raleigh Parks.

After a string of park projects beset by opposition battles and lengthy delays, the city’s parks and rec department will soon overhaul the way it works with the public during planning for future parks, ballfields and gyms.

The proposed guidelines, laid out in exhaustive detail in three documents totaling 89 pages, are intended to pinpoint areas of disagreement and bring together citizens groups to give suggestions, particularly when controversial projects are involved.

The idea is to resolve disputes early and not let them fester, said City Manager Russell Allen.

“The hope is that if you take time up front, you don’t get snagged later in the development of the project and run into an element of the public that never bought in,” Allen said.

via Raleigh to involve public sooner in parks planning – Raleigh – MidtownRaleighNews.com.