I was happy to see that a tenacious N&O reporter, Matt Garfield, went the distance in our recent 4-hour Parks and Rec Board meeting. The quote he printed came near the end of that way-too-long meeting.
I wrote before of my disappointment with how the news media covers parks issues. The coverage of Thursday’s meeting is a big improvement and hopefully part of a larger trend to better cover the parks that the people of Raleigh love.
I was quoted again in the N&O, this time during Thursday’s marathon Parks and Rec Board meeting. We were debating the Moore Square Master Plan and discussed a letter presented by the State Property Office [PDF] objecting to including restrooms and a kiosk on the square. I thought it was ridiculous not to add restrooms to a park anticipated to attract young families:
“I find it a little surprising that the state prefers a line of Porta-Johns,” said Mark Turner. “I don’t know if I could support this [plan] without the structures.”
I’m still mystified at how the state could object to this. The letter signed by Moses Carey, Jr. states that there are public restrooms at the Moore Square Transfer Station and at Marbles Kids Museum. That may be true for the bus station but if Marbles’s restrooms are public it is certainly news to them.
The state cites the historic nature of the square in their objection to structures, yet for over 70 years there were structures on the square: a school and a church. The facilities in the plan are minor by comparison and in the case of the restrooms, tucked underneath the proposed slope. What’s even more ironic is that the state itself obliterated the other two original public squares, building the State Capitol and the Executive Mansion on them.
I think the state should either go along with the proposed plan or put forth one of its own. Better yet, perhaps the city should outright purchase Moore Square from the state. For the last century, the City of Raleigh has been a faithful steward of the square for the state. The city has earned the right to have a greater say in its use!
Moore Square could be such a wonderful gathering place for the folks who visit downtown. It could be a delightful escape from the skyscrapers and asphalt. The Moore Square Master Plan respects the history of the square and adds to it, bringing it into the 21st century. It’s time the state got on board with this centerpiece component of Raleigh’s downtown revitalization.
Working from home, I’ve gotten a good idea about the things that go on in the neighborhood. Yesterday there was something quite unusual. In the early afternoon, Kelly and I both heard an extremely loud air horn: loud enough that it literally sounded like a train was in our back yard.
We’re used to hearing horns at our home, with a fire station a quarter-mile away and the Norfolk Southern railroad yard a mile in the other direction. Oddly, this sounded much more like a train than a fire truck. We’re still not sure what it was.
This is the best layman’s description I’ve seen of the physics taking place inside the crippled Fukushima Daiichi reactor.
Following the events at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors in Japan has been challenging. At best, even those present at the site have a limited view of what’s going on inside the reactors themselves, and the situation has changed rapidly over the last several days. Meanwhile, the terminology involved is somewhat confusing—some fuel rods have almost certainly melted, but we have not seen a meltdown; radioactive material has been released from the reactors, but the radioactive fuel currently remains contained.Over time, the situation has become a bit less confused, as cooler heads have explained more about the reactor and the events that have occurred within it. What we’ll attempt to do here is aggregate the most reliable information we can find, using material provided by multiple credible sources. We’ve attempted to confirm some of this information with groups like the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy but, so far, these organizations are not making their staff available to talk to the press.
At some point, legislators — Republicans and Democrats — might want to wake up to the fact that an ongoing battle over high-speed Internet has nothing to do with party, political ideology, or being pro- or anti-business.
It has everything to do with the urban-rural divide in North Carolina.
Any legislator from a rural community who favors a bill that would restrict municipal-owned Internet systems is voting against his or her constituents and against the ability of his or her community to recruit and retain business.
via The Daily Reflector.
Yikes. I’m with the Japanese who think that this situation is far more dire than officials have been letting on.
Tokyo Electric Power said Tuesday that after the explosion at the No. 2 reactor pressure had dropped in the “suppression pool” — a section at the bottom of the reactor that converts steam to water and is part of the critical function of keeping the nuclear fuel protected. After that occurred radiation levels outside No. 2 were reported to have risen sharply.
“We are on the brink,” said Hiroaki Koide, a senior reactor engineering specialist at the Research Reactor Institute of Kyoto University. “We are now facing the worst-case scenario. We can assume that the containment vessel at Reactor No. 2 is already breached. If there is heavy melting inside the reactor, large amounts of radiation will most definitely be released.”
via Workers Strain to Retake Control After Blast and Fire at Japan Plant – NYTimes.com.
I came to realize in my dabblings with the voiceover business that Gilbert Gottfried had one of the top jobs in the business. For a mere few hours spent in the sound booth (total – yes, total), Gottfried never had to work again. It’s a shame for him that Gottfried got canned for insensitive jokes he posted on Twitter about Japan.
Aflac is searching for a new voice. Now, how can I make myself sound like a duck?
Aflac fired the voice of its spokesduck, Gilbert Gottfried, after the comedian made insensitive remarks about the disaster in Japan.The decision by the insurer on Monday came after the actor, long known for making inappropriate comments, posted messages on Twitter that made light of the fallout from the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
via Aflac Fires Gilbert Gottfried as Voice of Its Duck – NYTimes.com.
Early Friday morning, northern Japan was rocked by its biggest-ever earthquake: the 9.1 Sendai earthquake and tsunami. The earthquake and tsunami have largely done their damage, with many hundreds of dead reported as of now. Still looming is the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima I nuclear power plant, where at least one reactor has experienced a partial meltdown due to lack of backup cooling. Below is a great explanation of the situation from the Los Angeles Times.
I wonder how this terrifying event will change Japan’s already-fragile support of nuclear energy.
Japan Q&A: What caused the blast at nuclear plant, and what are officials doing to avert a meltdown?The cause of the explosion isn’t yet clear, but the nuclear plant has lost the ability to cool its hot uranium fuel. Seawater is being pumped into the reactor containment vessel and radiation levels outside the reactor are decreasing.
via Japan nuclear plant: Q&A on explosion at Japan nuclear plant – latimes.com.
The World Beer Festival is being held in Raleigh next month and organizers need volunteers. What’s not to like?
Help grow the beer community, do good, and have a great time doing it!In each Festival location, World Beer Festivals partners with a local organization that contributes to its community’s culture and progressiveness. This year’s charity partner, again, is Artsplosure, which was founded in 1979 to present high quality and accessible arts festivals and to identify, nurture, and showcase emerging artists. Their current, major projects are First Night Raleigh and Artsplosure – The Raleigh Arts Festival.Volunteers, in addition to supporting Artsplosure, will receive: a half year subscription three issues of All About Beer Magazine a Festival Volunteer t-shirt an invitation to the Volunteer Appreciation Party with complimentary food and beer
…and what a fine morning it is.
Was a busy weekend with Travis’s last basketball game of the season, followed by a party. Then we played some basketball at home, took the kids to playdates, and watched about 8/10ths of an inch of rain fall yesterday.
I’m beat but happy, and glad to see this wonderful sunshine pouring through the windows today.
