Sleep: I know not of it

I had to look up the definition of sleep this morning because I certainly didn’t learn about it last night. The dog opted not to do anything at his final bathroom break of the evening and then proceeded to whine all night long when he decided he had to go. Then I heard Hallie say something to him when she got up in the night to go to the bathroom, so I had to check on her.

I offered the dog a chance to go out but he sat there looking stupid, so I went back to bed. As soon as my head hit the pillow, the back yard motion light came on, compelling me out of bed. I grabbed the flashlight, checked out the yard, and then shooed the dog outside where he finally relieved himself. With everyone happy again, I finally went back to bed.
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Long, busy, weekend

It’s been quite a long, busy weekend. Saturday morning, we participated in the SPCA dog walk around Raleigh. After doing 3K around downtown with a tired Labrador and somewhat tired kids, Kelly took Hallie off to her friend Suzanna’s birthday while Travis and I did ten miles of biking on the greenway. T and I had a “great adventure” at the foot of Lassiter Mill Falls, practicing skipping stones into the water, before we turned back and headed home. I never realized how beautiful Crabtree Creek is there, looking east from below the falls. I was wishing I had thought to bring my camera.

Once reunited, we all headed over to our neighbor Randy’s house for his annual “Earth Day Birthday” party. Live music, beer, and steamed oysters: yum! The kids tore around while we socialized. Our whole tired lot headed for bed too soon!
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An expert speaks on pirates

While I’ve been blogging about pirates for four years now and have sailed through pirate waters during my time in the Navy, my pirate expertise pales in comparison to the merchant mariners who sail these waters every day.

Below is an email I read last night on one of my email lists. Take it from Captain Bill Doherty, an actual merchant marine captain: this problem won’t be solved easily.

I am an active Merchant Mariner.

Last year I spent the entire year out in those waters on the Maersk Vermont, Maersk Ohio and the President Truman.

It’s very difficult for those who dont have first hand Merchant Marine experience in those waters to get a full appreciation of the situation.

Pirates aren’t new, just their tactics and equipment are. They have better boats, better guns and much more sophisticated electronic guidance systems.
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Late to the tea party

So, where have these tax protesters been for the past eight years? You know, when Bush went six years without vetoing a single spending bill? When Bush blew a $230 billion budget surplus in his first year and then signed us up for an extra $3,000,000,000,000 of debt? It was fine to spend money on bombs for the past eight years but once Obama got this economy dumped in his lap suddenly it’s his fault.

Sorry, teabaggers: you’re eight years too late.

You kids stay off my Internet lawn!

I overheard a conversation in the office this morning about first email addresses. One guy says he once had an email address without an @. That’s old-school, for sure.

My first personal email address was jmturner at eos dot ncsu dot edu, which I picked up back in 1992. The one I probably used the most at the time though was the Compuserve account of Pioneer Software (a.k.a. Q+E Software). It was something like 71333.xxxx at compuserve dot com. I was managing the company’s technical support forum on Compuserve from 1992 to 1994.

Right now I can’t picture the client I used for Compuserve. I think the client was originally a text-based terminal, though later I recall CS came out with a GUI front-end once Windows became established. This was in the days before the Web became publicly available (though UNC’s ibiblio was already serving web pages as one of the first webservers in the world.

Dang, I’m old.

Senator Cooper?

Bob Geary weighed in today on Attorney General Roy Cooper’s chances of taking Richard Burr’s Senate seat. While I agree with most of what Geary says, calling the three-time attorney general’s campaign skills “unproven” isn’t true in my view.

I’ve seen Cooper work a room. He seems so genuine – there is no hint of guile. He seems in all ways to be just who he is: a sharp, warm, friendly guy who is happy to serve our state.

Burr may be a formidable opponent or he may be a pushover, but my money will be on Roy Cooper. Cooper can win any race he chooses to enter.

Shooting pirates

I ran into an Army friend today who, knowing I’m a Navy vet, praised the Navy for freeing Capt. Richard Phillips, skipper of the Maersk Alabama, from Somali pirates.

“It’s just a drop in the bucket,” I told him.

And it’s true. It would take a fleet much larger than the U.S. Navy has to prevent pirate attacks. It’s a huge area and there are hundreds of ships that travel through it. What’s more, these ships are practically defenseless. They cannot maneuver easily, they are easily ambushed due to the limited visibility around their hulls, and they have small, unarmed crews that can be easily overpowered. They are essentially sitting ducks, there for the plundering.

Picking off three pirates might have won one battle but the war continues unabated. Clearly we need a bigger solution.

LED lighting

On a pass through Costco Monday I saw my first pack of consumer-packaged LED lightbulbs. The bulbs were Lights of America Decor LED Accent bulbs in a three-pack package. I didn’t see what price Costco had them but Amazon sells the three-pack for $24.

One review of LED bulbs pans them completely, saying they don’t hold a candle (ha!) to incandescent bulbs. While that’s true, I recall it taking a while before the CFL bulbs could be mistaken for incandescents.

LED bulbs still have some niche uses. The accent lighting role, for instance, is a good one for LEDs until they get good enough to read by. I may have to buy one of these accent bulbs just to give them a closer look.

Chapel Hill urged to oppose Senate broadband bill

BY DANIEL GOLDBERG : The Herald-Sun
Apr 14, 2009

CHAPEL HILL — For the second time in two years, North Carolina municipalities are being urged to push back against legislation that would make it more difficult for local governments to provide cable and broadband services.

The Chapel Hill Town Council will receive a citizen petition on Wednesday that asks for a resolution in opposition to Senate Bill 1004, the so-called “Level Playing Field” bill. Small business owner Brian Russell, the petitioner, believes that the bill essentially prevents municipalities from providing broadband services and stifles economic development.

Read more behind the Herald-Sun’s idiotic RegisterWall.

Ty Harrell sponsors anti-municipal Internet bill

ty_harrellNow that Time Warner Cable feels secure enough in its near-monopoly of high-speed Internet access to greatly raise its rates, it has turned its attention to strengthening its monopoly by effectively blocking any N.C. city from providing alternatives.

N.C. Rep. Ty Harrell of Wake County has sponsored just such a bill, known as House Bill 1252. Just when high-speed Internet users stuck with Time Warner Cable (or its partners such as Earthlink) were dreaming of one day having what our neighbors in Wilson have, Time Warner Cable seeks to take that away.

I know Ty and consider him a friend, so it makes it all the more distressing to know he’s sponsoring this. Please contact Ty and other representatives and let them know how you feel.

Also, if you can attend Wednesday morning’s N.C. Science and Technology committee meeting, please do so. And add the Save North Carolina’s Broadband site to your daily reads!