Yates Mill
The family and I were thinking of checking out Historic Yates Mill Park today: a fully-restored mill and park which Wake County Parks and Recreation leased from N.C. State University in 2001. While looking through the park information, I was drawn to the list of prohibited items (emphasis mine):
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My family and I spent Christmas Eve at my parents’ house. After dinner was over, we got out our instruments and played some music, starting with Christmas songs and then moving on to others, like the bluegrass classic Keep On The Sunnyside, as seen on YouTube. It had been a long time since I’d played with my brothers (and dad) and we all had a great time. It reminded me of something I’ve been considering for a while (actually, ever since my daughter Hallie began violin lessons): hosting a regular jam session at the house for anyone who wanted to come over and play.
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One of the knocks I had against Facebook when I first started using it is that it’s a walled garden: it’s fun to play inside but there’s little sharing with the outside world. I didn’t want to invest all this time in Facebook without being able to take my work (or, um … should I say “play”) with me should I one day decide to part ways with Facebook.
It used to be that there was no good way to do this, but not any more! On a recent scan of my Facebook settings I discovered a feature I hadn’t seen before: a way to download Facebook information!
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As you may know, I’ve been streaming my monthly East CAC meetings through Livestream.Com. This is less than ideal because of all the advertisements that get tacked on to my videos. For a year now I’ve been looking for an open source solution to replace Livestream and I think I found it.
The solution is called Red5. It’s an open source implementation of a Adobe Flash server, written in Java. It’s capable of streaming Flash video out to clients from a Linux server and seems pretty battle-tested.
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A rebuttal to the Chinese Mom story I posted recently:
Go to any school today with a “progressive” philosophy and administrators proudly espouse the virtues of addressing the “whole child” and creating an independent, creative, empathetic individual. These are the buzz words that resonate with Western parents. It’s true, we want happy, well adjusted, well rounded children who will contribute to society. We also buy into the theory that creativity, critical thinking and social skills are essential for future success.
Yes, our kids need to excel at algebra, but we want them to not only learn, but to also enjoy learning in a stimulating environment where they can thrive in their own uniqueness. Rote learning is out; individual exploration is in.
via Chinese moms vs. Western moms: Is there a mother superior? – CNN.com.
Ohio Valley makes big promises
Once again, the News and Observer has run a full-page ad from a less-than-honest company. The company in question is the Ohio Valley Gold and Silver Refinery and their pitch is that they’re paying on the spot for gold, silver, and other collectibles. Ohio Valley is in Chapel Hill today through the 15th, according to the ads.
Ohio Valley has been accused of not giving a fair deal for the items they buy. The Texas Examiner newspaper sent three employees and a coin dealer to visit Ohio Valley’s “roadshow” last year and found Ohio Valley offered prices below the items’ actual worth, sometimes only a third of an items value. Ohio Valley is also the defendant in a federal lawsuit from WGBH in Boston for deceptive advertising and business practices. WGBH produces the popular “Antiques Roadshow” television program.
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Thunderstorms can shoot beams of antimatter into space—and the beams are so intense they can be spotted by spacecraft thousands of miles away, scientists have announced.
Most so-called normal matter is made of subatomic particles such as electrons and protons. Antimatter, on the other hand, is made of particles that have the same masses and spins as their counterparts but with opposite charges and magnetic properties.
The year 2010 was one full of more political stuff for me, and by that I mean the stuff outside of my Parks board and East CAC activities. With these two Raleigh civic activities I do my best not to lobby or persuade for one decision or another. I simply try my best to represent my “constituents.” There were a few notable legislative issues where I was an active proponent or opponent last year: all of them above the city level.
First up was a trip to Washington, DC to the Clean Energy, Jobs, and Security Forum as part of the Operation Free group of veterans who are pushing for changes in America’s energy policy. In January I flew into DC with other vets for a day of media training. I spent the following day in the Dirksen Senate building, starting off with speeches by Sen. John Kerry, Sen. Lindsay Graham, and other leading clean-energy advocates.
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With China’s supreme understanding and adherence to face there is absolutely no way this was a coincidence. This was a deliberate slap in the face to Secretary Gates.
In a show of force that seemed aimed at the United States and visiting Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, China apparently conducted the first test-flight of its new stealth fighter jet on Tuesday, only hours before Mr. Gates was to meet with President Hu Jintao.
Mr. Gates said he directly asked Mr. Hu why it was conducted during a three-day trip that is meant to smooth over rocky relations between the U.S. military and China’s increasingly assertive armed forces.
Mr. Hu replied, Mr. Gates said, that it “had absolutely nothing to do with my visit.” Asked if Mr. Gates truly believed that, Mr. Gates said yes, but acknowledged he had questions about whether the Chinese military was acting independently of the political leadership. “I’ve had concerns about this over time,” Mr. Gates said.
There were rumors over the past few weeks that Linux pioneer Red Hat was shopping around for new office space, including digs in Massachusetts, Austin, and Atlanta, among others. Today, Governor Purdue announced that Red Hat would be staying in Wake County (though she didn’t say Raleigh, specifically).
A month ago when rumors started swirling I predicted Red Hat would stay, posting this on the WRAL story about the office search:
Red Hat would have a hard time finding anyplace with a better quality of life than it has right here. The company’s executives are savvy enough to know that.”
Sure enough, the first thing out of CEO Jim Whitehurst’s mouth when explaining Red Hat’s choosing to stay was this area’s quality of life. Now, Red Hat just needs to vacate the overpriced Centennial Campus space and hang their hat in downtown Raleigh and then they’ll be in business!
