David Byrne tickets on sale today

Musician David Byrne and company were in Asheville recently and took a pass on visiting Biltmore House, judging the $47 ticket price too steep.

I think its a steep ticket price, too, but so is the $44 Byrne wants for his upcoming show at Meymandi Hall December 8th.

As I watch the markets sink even further today I’m not feeling so inclined to part with that much money. Maybe I’ll meet Byrne on one of his expected bike rides around town.

USB camera platforms

Here’s one for my fellow Linux geeks, particularly the ones who enjoy embedded Linux.

I’m looking to deploy a number of USB streaming cameras for a security project. I would like these cameras to use whatever network is available to stream high-quality video to a central server. I would like these camera platforms to be maintainable from the network. I also want the camera platform to be as unobtrusive on the host network as possible (though stealth is not required).

The hardware must run Linux, it must have at least one network port (wired and/or wireless), and it must have at least one USB port.

My question to you, fellow hackers, is this: what hardware would you use? I know a Linksys NSLU2 would work but what other hardware might work?

Downtown library

I was walking in to work this morning when a woman in a blue minivan stopped in front of me.

“Excuse me,” she said. “Where is the library?”

I paused. We were at the corner of Hargett Street and Person Street and there isn’t a library for miles. I gave her convoluted directions to Cameron Village Regional Library but somehow doubted she would keep it all straight.

It sure would be nice if Raleigh had a showplace library downtown. It not like this area has a bunch of highly-educated, intelligent citizenry or anything.

The case of the pilfered pumpkin

I woke up to find one of our three foam pumpkin decorations had wandered off from the steps of our porch. Looking around I didn’t see any obvious place it could’ve rolled. It was just gone!

I stood there scratching my head, fuming that some neighborhood miscreant would walk off with my fake, two-dollar pumpkin. Then my neighbor walked by with her dog.
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Tomato update

We’ve entered prime harvest time for our tomato plants. I take a half-gallon of tomatoes off our plants every other day.

My plants would be over ten feet tall if I stood them up. They quickly outgrew the tomato cages. They’re monster plants.

I’ll miss having fresh tomatoes when the season’s over.

Builder nailed on worthless check charge

I had called the builder of our home, Kerr-Smith Homes and Land, a few weeks ago asking for the plans for our home so we could use them to finish a room in our upstairs. I called him again yesterday and left a message, but that was before I saw this:

Apex police charged John Banks Kerr, 35, of Raymond Street, with one count of felony worthless check, according to the warrant. The warrant says police think Kerr wrote a check for $137,963.32 to Guy C. Lee Building Materials on July 30, knowing that it would not clear.

Whoopsie. I suppose that’s why his website isn’t coming up now, either.

Sundance Kid

This song makes me want to learn Swedish.

Sundance Kid (YouTube)
Kent

Det var en gång för så länge sen
Du och jag slogs mot dumheten
Vi följdes åt till våra drömmars stad
Vind i håret och vår sikt låg klar

Vi visste allt pojkars övermod
Ett farligt vapen var vår blinda tro
Det var en gång i ett annat liv
Ett annat dom mot ett annat vi och jag

Hör du mig
Hör du mig
Kan du höra mig
Hör du mig
Hör du mig
Allt det här är för dig
Hör du mig
Hör du mig
Kan du höra mig
Allt vi sagt allt vi gjort
Blev en sång för dig
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North Carolina gas prices

The paper tells me that North Carolina has the highest gas prices in the continental United States. Seems to me that this title is usually held by California, so something must really be amiss.

I’ll tell you what it is: North Carolina is being played. The oil companies are turning off the tap to bring us to our knees, either so we’ll cave and drill for oil along our beautiful, expansive coast or to help put oil-friendly politicians in the governor’s mansion and the Senate. Or it could be a way of striking back at Attorney General Roy Cooper for previous barking about price gouging after Tropical Storm Hanna (I say “barking” because I’ve seen no evidence of any bite). Somehow, some way, somebody is twisting the screws on us. I doubt its an accident.
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