FCC Chairman Michael Powell will be in Raleigh tomorrow. Rumor has it he is here to see first hand how Progress Energy‘s Broadband over Power Lines (BPL) trial is going.

The News and Observer wants to know what you’d like to ask Chairman Powell. Send questions to askmike at newsobserver dot com.

I’m trying to think up some good, controversial topics to bring up. Contribute yours to the comments section below!

Al Qaeda thought they were anonymous when they used their prepaid GSM phones. Needless to say, they were wrong. 🙂

Here’s the scoop on how the NSA and others tracked them down:

The terrorism investigation code-named Mont Blanc began almost by accident in April 2002, when authorities intercepted a cell phone call that lasted less than a minute and involved not a single word of conversation.

Investigators, suspicious that the call was a signal between terrorists, followed the trail first to one terror suspect, then to others, and eventually to terror cells on three continents.

What tied them together was a computer chip smaller than a fingernail. But before the investigation wound down in recent weeks, its global net caught dozens of suspected al-Qaida members and disrupted at least three planned attacks in Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, according to counterterrorism and intelligence officials in Europe and the United States.

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw an insect buzzing around the back door of the office. It was a mosquito. And here it is, the third day of March.

John Edwards will quit his run for the Presidency today. Guess ad-nauseum repetition of “my-dadddy-was-a-mill-worker” just isn’t enough to get voters excited. Perhaps if we’re lucky, he’ll use his remaining time as senator to actually represent North Carolina in Congress. If he remembers how to get to his Senate office, that is.

Thanks for playing, Johnny. Don’t forget your parting gift!

I did some sketching on my Zaurus while I was crammed into U.S. Airways’s Boeing 767 to Orlando. I hadn’t done any drawing in years. While they aren’t works of art, I surprised myself with how much I enjoyed creating them.

I am dumb for having neglected my drawing. Coupled with my (alleged) wit and interest in current events, I could enjoy life as an editorial cartoonist.

You can take a peek at them in the gallery.

(Bonus link: Did you know the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists is right here in Raleigh?)
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The rover Opportunity discovered evidence of a wet Mars, NASA announced today.

This is what most people already assumed, but its exciting that now there’s evidence to back it up. Now, how long untiil Carnival Cruiselines offer vacation packages there?

Found out in today’s paper that the Brewery has closed its doors.

I saw a lot of great artists there. I’ll miss the way you could be right in the face of the musicians there, or hang out in back with them after the show. The Brewery had an intimate feel to it, and the best sound in town.

I remember seeing Cracker, Urge Overkill, Whiskeytown, The Lincolns, and Mojo Nixon there, among others. Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Hootie, and other big acts played there, too. And the band was always so close that they could sweat on you. You won’t get that at some evil-empire-controlled venue.

The newest places, like Kings and the Lincoln Theatre, I’ve not even been to. Cat’s Cradle still has that intimate feel, but its way out in that East BF known as Carrboro.

Then again, I haven’t been as tuned into new acts lately, probably because of my lack of interest in what’s being played on the radio these days. That, and not wanting to drag my kid into a smoke-filled tornado of noise.

Lately, though, its not lived up to its past. The management got into a spat with local bands who accused it of skimming money from the door. Bands boycotted the club in favor of other venues. Perhaps the fans did, too. I don’t know.

It’s sad to see the Brewery go. It was my favorite local venue. But the memories will live on, as will the ringing in my ears.

I just burned my first DVD under Linux, finally figuring out what I was doing. This is after having bought a DVD writer back in October.

The problem was that DVD+R discs don’t do Track At Once, which is the way I had been writing CDs (and thus the way I was used to). When I tried that using dvdrecord, it failed every time. These failures prompted me to return my first DVD writer, thinking it was incompatible with Linux.

Now I’ve found growisofs, which arranges things so they work with dvdrecord and DVD+R discs. Just another reason why Linux drives me nuts sometimes.

I was daydreaming during this morning’s meeting about a cool application I’d like to have. It would work with a soundcard and microphone to react to sounds it hears.

Lots of stuff around the house offer audible feedback for one thing or another. Phones and doorbells ring, smoke alarms sound, oven timers beep. (Glass breaks and doors get forced open, etc). You name it. Wouldn’t it be great for your computer to recognize these sounds and react appropriately to them?

Seems like I’ve seen some apps that do some of this, but nothing exactly doing what I want. If anyone has seen similar apps, drop me a line!
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