Month: August 2006

  • Ernesto Visiting Chapel Hill?

    One of the hurricane projections has Ernesto tracking right over my home in less than a day.

  • Mission Accomplished, President Bush!

    President Bush rambles on incoherently as NBC anchor Brian Williams interviews him during a shameful Katrina anniversary photo-op. Bush’s defense of his failed presidency is scary not for the willful lies but for the uninspected belief in his own infallibility. He says (5:26 into this interview snippet) The key to me is to keep expectations […]

  • Aug. 31st, 2006: From Ernesto to Fran

    Friday, September 6, 1996 – Fran! Friday, September 1, 2006 – Ernesto? Fran snuck up on the Triangle 10 years ago. Ernesto is days away. I stayed up until 1am nearly a decade ago waiting to see what track Fran would take. WRAL’s ever reliable Greg Fishel predicted a hit between Rocky Mount and Raleigh. […]

  • Web 2.0 Activism: Yahoo Maps + Flickr

    Web 2.0 is a disputed frame of reference bounding the next generation of web-based, collaborative applications. Once upon a time (a few short years ago), tech sales-droids touted ASPs (application service providers) as the natural replacement for individual applications. Net-based alternatives for accounting, human resources or even word-processing would be run and managed from centralized […]

  • Licensed for the Lawn: Footloose II

    I shrunk this documentary video snippet (by Elijah) to a more manageable size (2.5M for 43M). Videos below the fold…

  • Licensed for the Lawn: Dance, Dance Fever

    Here’s some great documentary snaps of the August 26th Weaver St. Market civil dance disobedience taken by my steady-handed, sharp-eyed 9 year-old son Elijah. There’s more pictures over on Flickr under the wsmdancein tag. Pictures below the fold

  • What is it with Moeser, Carolina North and Quarterbacks?

    I thought Dean Jack Evans was UNC Chancellor Moeser’s first Carolina North QB. From today’s Daily Tar Heel: “(Suttenfield) had been in many ways a quarterback for town relations,” Moeser said. “I thought we weren’t on our side well-organized or properly organized.” Nancy Suttenfield, former vice chancellor for finance and administration (and Moeser’s first big […]

  • Licensed for the Lawn: Dance session will not be “tolerated”

    Ironically titled article in today’s Herald-Sun “‘Dancing man’ gets go-ahead to go back on lawn“. Goes on to mention that it’s only 1 hour, 1 day once a week (of course with preapproval). Few comments I hadn’t heard before: “Milian said Thomas’ dancing set a bad example; other performers would think they could use the […]

  • Open Source Software: Good enough for Croatia, good enough for Chapel Hill

    As a citizen, I came to my first Chapel Hill Technology Advisory Board meeting with a list of technology-related propositions that would help our town increase transparency while improving operational effeciency. Part of my proposal hinged on the use of open source software (OSS) – software that is flexible, reliable, transparent, “evergreen” and, based on […]

  • Licensed for the Lawn: We can dance if we want to…

    Ruby (of OrangePolitics fame) asked earlier today I have only one question: when are we holding the first dance-in on the lawn? Oh, and when are the owners and/or board or WSM going to take some leadership on this issue? Looks like soon, very soon.

  • Licensed for the Lawn

    “Hourly slots”, “a limit of one performance per week per artist or group” , “with the approval of Carr Mill” altruistically “free of charge to both the artist and the public.” The joint press release: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Nathan Milian, Carr Mill Mall Manager 942-8669 Ruffin Slater, Weaver Street Market General Manager 913-1592 Carr […]

  • Weaver St. Market: Licensed for the Lawn!

    Caught this young scofflaw just a short time after the private press conference announcing WSM’s new policy of “licensing” lawn performers. The, short notice, private press event, held by Ruffin Slater, general manager of the Weaver St. Market (WSM) co-op, and Nathan Milian, property manager of Carr Mill mall appears to have been short on […]

  • Price’s Bad Credit

    Rep. David Price adds the local dimension to today’s Houston Chronicle review of the 2005 Bankruptcy Bill I hope the credit card companies are happy. After almost a year under the so-called bankruptcy reform that Congress enacted at their behest, the law has proved to be what it appeared: a love letter to lenders.Pitched as […]

  • Carolina North: Evans Conducting an Intellectual Exercise?

    “the book says, we might be through with the past, but the past ain’t through with us.” Dr. Bergen Evans, The Natural History of Nonsense as bowdlerdized in the fantastic movie Magnolia UNC’s current Moeser administration likes to announce major modifications to their developmental plans and strategies either in the deep doldrums of summer or […]

  • Liz and Laura’s Excellent Downtown Adventure

    The other day I passed on a call from the Downtown Partnership for volunteers. Folks in “bright blue t-shirts” (as local crack WCHL reporter Dan Siler emphasized throughout the week) would hand out coupon and information packets to returning students. The hope? Spur more interest in our fine downtown. I was signed up for the […]