Looking for other things on the Internets brought me news that a secret AT&T communications bunker in Chatham county has closed. The site, known locally as “Big Hole,” sits near Fearrington Village and has generated wild rumors in the 46 years its existed.
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Time for a history lesson, Joe?
Yeah, I know I’m a Democrat, but I gotta admit that Joe Biden said something really dumb in an interview with Katie Couric the other day:
When the stock market crashed, Franklin Roosevelt got on the television and didn’t just talk about the princes of greed. He said, “look, here’s what happened.”
Roosevelt on television in 1929. Um, yeah. Joe obviously wasn’t paying attention in college.
Whoa
I walked out of the house wearing shorts and all ready to take Hallie to school. After 10 seconds outside I realized what a dumb idea this was and returned to get some jeans.
Fall is definitely here, folks, brought to you by 30 MPH gusts.
Still Snippy Sheehan
Ruth Sheehan wrote another column today. And I thought the News and Observer was trying to get rid of its dead weight.
Craigslist oddities
After my friend Mike B. sent me a scary story of oil prices, I took a moment to shop for hybrid cars on Craigslist. Lo and behold I found ads for two different cars that are written surprisingly similarly (emphasis mine):
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Alleys
On the bus ride into work this morning I passed by the Capital Park neighborhood north of Peace College. I couldn’t help but admire how inviting this neighborhood is. One thing that makes a big difference in my opinion is the use of alleys.
Once upon a time, all a home’s “plumbing” was tucked away from public view, only accessible through the alleyway. Half the front yard wasn’t paved over, and half the facade of a home wasn’t wasted with an ugly garage door.
Had trash to put out? It stayed in the alley, not on the front sidewalk. Had to park your car? The alley will take you to your garage, keeping the front street open for visitors. With an alley there’s no barrier between the front of the home and the sidewalk or street. A home can come right out to the street to greet company.
I wonder when (and why) subdivision developers stopped appreciating this extremely useful part of the neighborhood.
Everyone’s a Eugene
Interesting. I did a search on “they call me Eugene”, looking for a dumb novelty song from the early 80s. Instead of my song, I found a bunch of fake websites with that phrase designed to game the search engines:
your up to date arthritis news site 1375 By Mortgage Refinancing …
They call me Eugene Keith Diaz. I live in a cozy 2 bedroom timber frame home a few miles outside of Woodmore, KS. Me and my family have been living here …
www.mortgage-refinancing.name/129.html – 4k – Cached – Similar pages – Note this
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It launched a thousand jangly tunes
R.E.M. guitARRRist Peter Buck got his missing Rickenbacker back on Friday, which had been swiped after their recent show in Helsinki. I’d been hoping there would be a happy ending to this and now there is.
TARRRRRRRRdy
How could I have missed International Talk Like A Pirate Day?
RBC Plaza
Walking around downtown this past Friday I came to a realization about the RBC Plaza. In essence, Raleigh’s tallest building comes up short in a few important ways.
As some have mentioned before, the setback from the street is far too narrow. Pedestrians never get a feel for how tall it is because from the street level it looks like any other dull building in downtown Raleigh. It might look unique from the top but it certainly doesn’t look unique from the bottom. You could walk right by and miss it.
Part of the problem is the lobby of the building. A large, open lobby would’ve conveyed the building’s grand height to those entering it. Instead the building has a modest lobby with modest ceilings. It doesn’t have the lobby of a 33-story building but the lobby of a five-story building.
One day downtown Raleigh will get the flash it needs to get noticed. The RBC Plaza misses the mark.