I’ve enjoyed reading New Raleigh for a while now but lately it seems to have taken to insulting its audience.
Some might call this “edgy” but I call it rude. If this is the new Raleigh, bring back the old!
“Hold off on any big purchases”
Some managers will assure their employees that their jobs are safe. Then in the next breath, they’ll add “but … hold off on any big purchases you might be thinking of making.” The implication is that what’s safe now may not be safe later.
While that seems like prudent advice in this type of economy, it’s also the reason the economy is in the funk that it’s in. By telling employees to hold off on those car or home purchases, the very spending that is America’s economic engine is not being spent. Those jobs that weren’t initially in jeopardy eventually are in jeopardy.
While it might not be prudent to tell employees “go spend like there’s no tomorrow!” the irony is that might be what it takes to truly save their jobs.
A look at Google’s hardware
Google for the first time gave the public a look at its server hardware. It uses custom-made motherboards, 12-volt-only power supplies, and each server has its own built-in UPS battery. Also, Google datacenters consist of standard shipping containers – containing thousands of these custom-made servers. Very interesting!
DVDs that ignore your remote control
Dear DVD producers,
The more junk advertisements and previews you put on your DVD that won’t let me skip to get to the DVD menu, the more likely your DVD will wind up on The Pirate Bay. Just sayin’.
Disregards,
Mark
Hole in the bucket
There must be a hole in Raleigh’s bucket somewhere. In spite of all the rain we’ve received lately, we ended March still a half-inch below normal rainfall for the year. Granted, we ended March almost 3 inches above normal for the month, but still.
From the NWS Climate Summary:
WEATHER ITEM OBSERVED TIME RECORD YEAR NORMAL DEPARTURE LAST
VALUE (LST) VALUE VALUE FROM YEAR
NORMAL
..................................................................
PRECIPITATION (IN)
YESTERDAY 0.00 1.53 1962 0.11 -0.11 0.98
MONTH TO DATE 6.83 4.03 2.80 5.53
SINCE MAR 1 6.83 4.03 2.80 5.53
SINCE JAN 1 11.01 11.52 -0.51 9.95
Rev. Horton Heat at Cat’s Cradle
I’m buying a ticket to see the Rev. Horton Heat play Cat’s Cradle Friday, May 1st. Kelly would join me if a babysitter wasn’t so expensive. I’ve listened to The Rev. for months now as his music has been my latest Pandora obsession. I can’t wait for the show!
Read what other Pandora users have to say about The Rev. and watch him play an early gig on Youtube.
April Fool
Someone must be playing a trick on me. How did it get to be April already?
A look at Netflix’s cost of streaming movies
My streaming media fascination that began with the ACC Tournament continues. I found this interesting analysis of Netflix and the costs it incurs with its streaming media offering.
I wonder if the Netflix players do any swarm-type sharing of media or if it’s all point-to-point. Swarming such a large amount of data seems like an easy decision to me. Surely Netflix has considered it.
(h/t Hacking Netflix)
HugeURL
Amazon does it better
I decided to retire my old laser printer when it wore out its latest toner cartridge and the thought of paying $80 to order another cartridge didn’t appeal. I bought a popular Brother model from Amazon Thursday evening, not expecting to see it until today.
Instead, it arrived on my front porch Saturday morning at 9 AM – and that’s with Amazon’s free shipping. I’m still blown away at how I can order a printer with a few clicks, pay 30% less than at the local warehouse club, pay no shipping on a 26 pound shipment, and 36 hours later it’s in my hands.
Amazon runs one tight ship, my friends. They beat all I’ve ever seen.