Discussing smoking in parks on WPTF

Perry and John in the WPTF studios

I was invited by guest-host Perry Woods to appear on the Bill LuMaye show on WPTF to talk about the proposed smoking restrictions the city of Raleigh is considering for its parks. I spent my lunch hour Thursday chatting about the proposed rule with Perry and his other guest, John Hood from the John Locke Foundation.

I’d never done an in-studio interview before and was a bit nervous at the start but overall I think I sounded credible. It was difficult making my points in-between the huge number of commercial breaks but I enjoyed it more than I expected.

You can listen to my portion of the show here:


MP3 File

Abraham Inc. brings the klezmer funk

C_Rays_Walz, Me, and David_Krakhauer

As I tweeted earlier, it’s almost not fair that it’s still January and tonight I saw the best show I’ll see all year. Abraham Inc. absolutely rocked NCSU’s Stewart Theatre tonight. I had high expectations for this show and damned if Abe Inc. didn’t just live up to them, they blew them out of the water.

After the show, the band stuck around and signed autographs. Impressed with the welcome the band got in Raleigh, keyboardist (and beat maestro) Socalled joked “From now on we’re just going to play in the South!”

If you haven’t heard Abraham Inc.’s crazy mix of hip-hop, klezmer, and funk you’ve got to check them out. I sure hope they play here again soon!

Made in America?


Our daughter Hallie had a recent homework assignment where she was to find things around the home that were made in other countries. I laughed when I heard the assignment: it’s easy to find things made elsewhere – the real challenge is finding anything made in America anymore.

Hallie wanted some variety in her countries, so we quickly ruled out 70% of our household items by logging something made in China. Then it was a struggle. Our Toshiba TV is (presumably) made in Japan, as is our Nikon camera (again, presumably). Our Honda vehicles weren’t safe choices because they were likely made in American factories. We hit pay dirt when I suggested we check our clothing labels. It’s still true that clothes come from a variety of places: Phillipines, Jordan, Dominican Republic, and Vietnam, among others. Again, American clothes are few and far between.
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Make it a goal: cleaner roadsides

We spent an extra $500,000 getting the airport finished in time for the NHL All-Star game this weekend, yet the I-440 Beltline – Raleigh’s welcome mat – could fill dump trucks with the trash it has on it.

Apologies to the folks in town for hockey. Trust us, we do clean up nicely whenever we get around to it.

First impressions are tremendously important, and the new airport space with its light and openness, not to mention the subtle influences of North Carolina, will show travelers the forward thinking and design sensitivity of the Triangle. The thousands of hockey fans descending on the RBC Center for the NHL All-Star game will be impressed, so the expense of speeding the conclusion of the job was money well-spent.

Given the positive impressions that arrival will create, I can only hope that the sun will have set before most visitors make the drive into town from the airport. The litter-strewn highways of the area are a mess, in stark contrast to the new terminal.

via Make it a goal: cleaner roadsides – Other Views – NewsObserver.com.

Free media streaming, solved!

On a happier note, tonight I figured out the last piece of the puzzle of my free media streaming project! I have paired the red5 Flash media server with Adobe Flash Media Live Encoder to create stunning live video, all ad-free. The total cost of my software: $0. It’s just what I’ve been looking for.

I began by downloading and compiling the red5 software on my hosted CentOS server. This involved running a few “yum” commands to install the necessary Java dependencies but that was little challenge. Then I walked away from the project for a bit and when I returned I could not remember how to start red5. After a few more Googles, I discovered red5 had to be started from the /usr/lib/red5 directory on my server.
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Highlights of 2010: Gerry

Gerry Reid

Gerry Reid

This is the entry that I’ve been dreading to write because it’s anything but a highlight. Amazing how busy I can make myself with other things when there’s something I don’t want to do.

March 2010 was when my good friend Gerry Reid passed away. He was one of my closest friends, more like a brother, even. They say a good friend is one you’d be willing to hide from the cops. They say a great friend is one who wakes up in jail with you the next day and says “wasn’t that great?” That describes Gerry perfectly.

The man was so full of life. Fearless and intensely curious. He was a best listener of anyone I’ve ever met. His way of striking up conversations with random people on the street is legendary. You could talk to him about anything and he could relate and offer sage advice.
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Cutting the cable

A friend of mine, fed up with the high cost, just canceled his cable television service after another friend showed him how he could watch his shows on the Internet or through streaming services like Netflix. Another friend got a Netflix-streaming Blu-Ray player for Christmas and is considering doing the same. They both will likely save a bunch of money.

Netflix reported yesterday that they’ve reached the 20 million subscriber mark. They have a $10 billion market value: more than some Hollywood studios. Netflix’s stock jumped over $16 to close just shy of $200 a share on the news.

As I’ve been saying many times, cable television is going through a sea change in how it does business. If cable doesn’t offer a-la-carte programming, people (formerly known as “consumers”) will get it through Netflix or through other Internet sources.

Facebook now offers secure connections


Facebook’s porous security model is one reason why I never “link” my Facebook account to other websites.

Facebook finally provided a way to keep any random jerk in the café from hijacking your account. But you have to go out of your way to enable this protection, and you might have to wait. Still: Jump on this.

Facebook has at long last offered an option to use the encrypted HTTPS protocol, a feature it will begin rolling out today but won’t finish for a “few weeks.” You should check now if it’s available, and sign up as soon as it is enabled for your account. The performance overhead is minor—zippy Gmail, for example, uses HTTPS for everything—and it’s an important step to keep your Facebook account safe from being hijacked on an open or poorly secured wireless network.

via The Facebook Setting You Should Change as Quickly as Possible.

Newter the EPA?

I used to think that Newt Gingrich wanted to be President someday. He’s no dummy. He’s slimy, but no dummy. Then I read that he wants to abolish the Environmental Protection Agency. I mean, it’s not like having clean water and air are important or anything.

What has it come to when the smartest potential GOP presidential candidate proves to be a moron like all the others?