Best song ever

Continue reading Best song ever

Palin/Jindal 2012

God cannot possibly love me enough for this.

Continue reading Palin/Jindal 2012

Decision making skills

I don't suppose i have any really issues with the guy in the big ass truck with the "1-20-2013 The End of an Error" bumper sticker i got stuck behind earlier today. That i got stuck behind him as he was making a left turn from the right turn lane told me all i needed to know about him.

Continue reading Decision making skills

Best song ever

Continue reading Best song ever

Celebrate!

It's National Beaver Day (in Canada).

Where's your Big Beaver Bash going to be?


Beaver lodge, Durham, NC

Compare this photo with one taken a few years ago to see the impact of the invasive species Ludwigia Peruviana, which is the red stemmed matted plant choking much of the open water.


This photo was taken February 26, 2006. You can see how successful L. Peruviana has been in colonizing the pond in just three years. Come back in the summer and see how much more is there.


About 40 people gathered at the lodge site behind Compare foods off Avondale Drive last Sunday for a tour of the pond sponsored by Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association. Kathi Beratan, center, led the tour and provided lots of information about stormwater runoff into the pond and the adjacent Ellerbe Creek.


Beavers, of course, are found in many places besides Durham. This is a beaver sighting in Cary.

Continue reading Celebrate!

Noted with interest

NYTimes:

The idea seems to cut against the very grain of New York: to transform much of the city’s most storied avenue, Broadway, from a river of blaring cars, trucks and taxis into a planter-lined oasis for pedestrians, bicyclists and picnickers.

But on Thursday, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg unveiled a plan to do just that: Vehicles would be barred entirely from Broadway at public plazas in Times Square and Herald Square, and would share the thoroughfare with a bike lane and a promenade along the rest of the stretch from 59th Street to a new plaza at 23rd Street.

The city plans to start making the changes in late May, and more alterations are possible in the future.

Mr. Bloomberg said the plan would relieve traffic congestion and make more room for pedestrians, enhancing some of the city’s most popular public spaces. But it could also change the very nature of some of Manhattan’s busiest and most famous areas, including the theater district, Times Square, the fashion district and Macy’s front stoop.

“People avoid Times Square because the traffic is so terrible and people are getting pushed out into the streets — the sidewalks can’t handle it,” Mr. Bloomberg said at a news conference in a restaurant at the Marriott Marquis, a hotel overlooking Times Square, where a giant image of the rock star Ozzy Osbourne flashed behind him on an electronic billboard.

“People don’t come to look at cars stuck in traffic,” the mayor said. “They come to look at the lights, the buildings and the excitement, and this is going to have a lot more of it.”

I can only assume that having had his plan for congestion pricing in Manhattan thwarted, the Mayor has decided to make driving on the avenues such a challenge that nobody will want to do it anymore. Good luck to him.

Continue reading Noted with interest

Best song ever

Continue reading Best song ever

Shooting the Bull

Kevin and i continue our look at the emerging issue of stormwater management in Durham. Melissa Norton and Bill Kalkhof from Downtown Durham, Inc. stop by to talk about the impact that new stormwater rules may have on downtown development.

7:30 pm WXDU, 88.7, or listen online here.

Continue reading Shooting the Bull

Best song ever

Continue reading Best song ever

Irony

It's kind of interesting watching people who live out in 5 acre zoning land lecturing other people about sprawl.

Continue reading Irony

Another one bites the dust

Ritz Camera, the largest dedicated camera retailer in the US has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company, which owns over 800 stores across the country, under a series of names, including Wolf Camera, has proposed a restructuring plan that will aim to see the chain continue in some form. As part of this, the company has applied to the bankruptcy court for permission to continue to honor its customer loyalty and rebate schemes.

In an affidavit to the court Marc Weinsweig, appointed as Chief Restructuring Officer and COO as part of the Chapter 11 process, describes his actions as being aimed at 'maintaining the day-to-day operations of the company's business with minimal disruption' in what he characterizes as 'daunting economic times.'

Court papers suggest that Ritz Cameras owes over $40 million to its two largest creditors: Nikon's US subsidiary Nikon Inc. and Canon USA, with a further $8.4 million owed to Fujifilm USA, a subsidiary of which owns around a third of the company. To put the $26.6 million owed to Nikon Inc. into perspective, it would represent somewhere in the region of 20% of Nikon Inc's expected annual operating income.

Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code provides companies with protection from their creditors while they attempt to restructure. However, US retailer Circuit City, which filed for bankruptcy protection in November 2008 announced the closure of all its stores and the liquidation of its assets on January 16th.

Yeah, i know. Buying a camera from Ritz or Wolf was not the most enjoyable experience. But with the demise of big box chains, specialty chains, and even locally owned specialty stores, where the hell are you going to go to, you know, buy shit any more? I'm not interested in buying everything i want to have from Amazon.com. Sometimes i want to see it, hear it, and hold it before i buy it.

And given that we're a service economy, losing all these service jobs doesn't bode well for the short term, does it?

UPDATE: another thought which occurs to me is that, even though big retail chains pull a lot of money out of the local economy, they do at least collect local sales taxes. If even the big boxes (Circuit City) and the specialty retailers (Tweeter, Wolf Camera) leave, and people are buying what few items they do spend their money on online, how are those taxes collected? I know you're supposed to calculate that on your state tax return every year, but i wonder how many people actually do that? How much additional revenue does the city and county stand to lose if even the national retail chains don't survive the ongoing economic disaster?

Continue reading Another one bites the dust

Lent

So, i'm giving up pizza by the slice for Lent. How about you?

Continue reading Lent

Best song ever

Continue reading Best song ever

High schools

Seems i'm not the only one who thinks an Environmental Sciences magnet high school over in West Durham makes sense:

What better place to create a magnet school for environmental studies? Durham Public Schools are already on the cutting edge of delivering topic-based curriculae that go beyond basic NC curriculum requirements and prepare students for future studies and careers that are timely and competitive in this difficult economy. For example, consider Hillside's Technology High School in partnership with Nortel or Southern's School of Engineering in partnership with Duke. Why can't we consider a high school located in our beautiful environment that could serve as a laboratory for the future stewards of what we love so much and where Durham schools can produce leaders in the fight against global warming?

. . .

I'm sure there are many, many other ways that an Environmental Studies magnet could benefit our community and our children. When we look out into the future, they are our only hope for preserving our natural areas and reducing the devastating impacts of global warming. What better way to prepare them for this kind of leadership than to bring them into the heart of what we love so dearly and show them first-hand what it means to all of us, indeed to our whole world?

JoEllen Mason

Continue reading High schools

In case you missed it

Jon Stewart was at his absolute best last night. This may not even have been the funniest thing on the show.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Clusterf#@k to the Poor House - GOP Govs at Odds

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Funny Political News
Joke of the Day

Continue reading In case you missed it

Mardi Gras parade

We had our annual Mardi Gras parade on Saturday, hosted as always by the gracious and talented Richard and Sally. There were a lot of new krewes on hand this year; but as always, balloon animals, kids' floats, and silly hats were the order of the day.

And sazeracs.

As Peter says, the best part of drinking a sazerac is you get to say "sazerac." In your best Satchmo voice.

Here's some pics:

Continue reading Mardi Gras parade

Memories

Remember when Senate Republicans demanded that Cabinet nominees be given a straight up-or-down vote?

Neither does Mitch McConnell.

UPDATE: Holy fuck! Harry Reid found his stones:

A few minutes ago Harry Reid announced that there will be a final confirmation vote at 4:30 EST today. That means that Republican leader Mitch McConnell—husband of Elaine Chao, George W. Bush's secretary of labor, whose appointment was never subject to a cloture vote—determined it was futile to try to block the confirmation of Secretary of Labor designate Hilda Solis.

Continue reading Memories

22 degrees

That was the overnight low. No shelter, no water, 5 foot chain?

Animal Control Department can't seem to find the problem here.

Here's a clue:

ARTICLE III. ANIMAL ABUSE
Sec. 4-62. General care; prohibited acts.
(5) Animal abuse. Examples of animal abuse include, but are not limited to the following:
c. Allowing a dog or cat to be left outside in inclement weather or extreme temperatures without adequate shelter.

(6) Tethering of a dog except under the following circumstances:
Tethers must be made of rope, twine, cord, or similar material with a swivel on one end or must be made of a chain that is at least ten feet in length with swivels on both ends and which does not exceed ten percent of the dog's body weight. All collars or harnesses used for the purpose of tethering a dog must be made of nylon or leather.

Eight years, 7 tenants, 10 dogs, no doghouses, zero citations.

Can i get my tax money back from the county?

Continue reading 22 degrees

Happy Mardi Gras!

Continue reading Happy Mardi Gras!

No wonder sales tax receipts are down 26% in Durham

Salon (reg. required):

Long after Home Depot has dumpstered its last roll of Tyvek, frayed and unfurling like a forgotten flag; long after Target has baled its remaining Isaac Mizrahi couture collection sweaters for shipment to AAA Closeout Liquidators; long after Walgreens, the Pharmacy America Trusts, has filled its final myeasyconsult.com Vicodin prescription for your neighbor’s 14-year-old son, one business will still be switching on its O-P-E-N sign every day at 9 and off again at 11: Tony’s Pizza.

As will Armando’s Pizza, Enosburg House of Pizza, Flying Pie Pizzeria, Hoss’s Pizza, Koronet (all hail the slab!), Munchies Pizza & Subs, Pizza by Napoli, Scroungymoose Pizza, Zorbas Pizza and whatever the name of the nearest place that suctions you in the door with furnace blasts of yeast and char, the ineffable herb/caramel duality of tomato sauce and the wanton surrender of melting cheese.

The titans -- national hawkers of furniture, shoes, clothing, computers, auto parts, electronics, jewelry and embarrassingly themed steakhouses -- are toppling, fatally bloated by mergers, acquisitions, leveraged buyouts and roll-ups. But amid the colossal corpses strewn on the corporate battlefield, a ragtag army of small businesses soldiers on: the pizza industry, 76,355 restaurants strong across America.

None, alas, in downtown Durham.

Continue reading No wonder sales tax receipts are down 26% in Durham

Best song ever

Continue reading Best song ever

Best Oscar moment

Continue reading Best Oscar moment

Best song ever?

So sez the RIAA. And who can argue with them? (The original song category for tonight seems a little thin, no?)

Continue reading Best song ever?

High schools

As i mentioned below, i don't have strong feelings one way or the other where any new high school in Durham ends up being built. I can see the advantages of putting a school over by the Lakewood shopping center, but i have to say that anyone who thinks that suddenly high schoolers will start walking to the school just because it's located there is dreaming. Especially in the "urban" parts of the city like Lakewood (urban in quotes because the density over there is much more suburban than anything, and Lakewood itself is a strip mall not like anything you're likely to see in a real urban setting), walking remains a pretty uncomfortable if not outright unsafe activity.

But here's a thought for all those people in the rural part of the county who are already organizing against putting a new high school west of the 15/501 bypass.

Wouldn't it be a coup for Durham to have what i think would be the East Coast's first environmental sciences/sustainable agriculture magnet school? The proximity to Duke Forest, the Primate Center, New Hope Creek and other wetlands makes the location very conducive to that kind of study. Partnering with, say, the Nicholas Center is another obvious advantage. Orange and Chatham counties are also centers of sustainable agriculture. Taking the thought a few steps further, the building itself could be designed using best practices, and instead of paving a parking area large enough for the entire faculty, staff, and student body, a la Riverside, parking could be kept to a minimum. Let the staff and faculty bid on who really wants to drive to work the most. Give financial incentives to faculty and staff for riding the bus or biking, and make sure that DATA is on board with providing frequent and reliable service during the morning and evening from a central parking location, perhaps in the inner city or somewhere near Duke.

Just saying there are a lot of options here if people are willing to get creative, and not look for cookie cutter solutions.

Continue reading High schools

Sunday morning church marquee blogging

Continue reading Sunday morning church marquee blogging

Best song ever

Continue reading Best song ever

Best song ever

Continue reading Best song ever

Your best entertainment value

Comments section at the N&O. It's like a fucking time machine to the 1870s.

The only reason Obama came to NCCU during the campaign was because he realized that after many in the black community finally decided that he was "black enough" for them and dropped their lemming-like support for John Edwards, the "poverty king", and Hillary Mack Truck......

.......he'd have the entire town in his back pocket.

In Durham, elections are mere melanin drives

Continue reading Your best entertainment value

Why we love the NCDOT

The city is limited in what calming measures it can install on Roxboro and Mangum streets because they are part of U.S. 15-501 Business and are a designated truck route.

Loziuk has asked the state Department of Transportation about lowering the speed limit on Roxboro and Mangum, but "They're just flat out saying they wouldn't even consider it," he said.

Here's a thought. Have Durham PD conduct a zero tolerance program on Roxboro, Trinity, and Mangum for a month. Everyone exceeding the speed limit gets a ticket. Every out of date registration gets a ticket. Every lane change without a signal gets a ticket. Every failure to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk gets a ticket.

Betcha that NCDOT will come to the table and work with the city on some sane traffic calming measures then.

Continue reading Why we love the NCDOT

Best song ever

Continue reading Best song ever

High school flap?

Is there a tussle in Durham's future over the location of the next district high school?

Just askin'.

UPDATE: Kevin and i discussed this briefly on StB tonight. His post is here. My post was inspired by an email which appeared on the Erwin-Neighbor listserv this afternoon which contained an email thread that i suspect a number of people wish had not been included on the listserv post.

I don't really have a dog in this fight, seeing as how my kids are grown and out of the house. But i will say that i like the idea proposed by one of Kevin's commenters about Lakewood as a high school site better than i like the NIMBYism shown in the email exchange on Erwin-Neihbor. Even if the results are the same.

Continue reading High school flap?

Drinking Liberally

I hear DL is back at the Broad Street Cafe on Thursdays. New time is 8 pm. Stop by and say high.

Continue reading Drinking Liberally

Shooting the Bull

Stormwater's on the agenda tonight as NCSU Professor Kathi Beratan joins us to talk about what we do with rainwater and runoff once it's hit the ground. She's also leading the walk around the Beaver Pond behind Compare Foods on Sunday; we'll have details about that.

7:30 PM on WXDU 88.7 FM. Or listen online here.

Continue reading Shooting the Bull

Best song ever

Continue reading Best song ever

Benefit show tonight

For Alex Nathan, at the Pinhook. Details about Alex and why you should care here.

Five bucks (more if you can) at the door, to see Midtown Dickens, Dirty Little Heaters, Jew(s) and Catholic(s), and favorite younger daughter's band Tea and Tempests.

8pm. You should go.

Continue reading Benefit show tonight

Beaver news

Elsewhere:

Wildlife officials are celebrating the sighting of a beaver in the Detroit River for the first time in decades, signaling that efforts to clean up the waterway are paying off.

The Detroit Free Press reports that a beaver lodge has been discovered in an intake canal at a Detroit Edison riverfront plant. Officials believe the beaver spotted by the utility's motion-sensitive camera marks the animal's return to the river for the first time in at least 75 years.

Durham:

Please join Kathi Beratan, Chair of ECWA's Water Quality Committee, for a stormwater walk on Sunday, February 22nd at 2:00 PM. She'll lead us around one of Durham's hidden natural spots: the beaver pond/wetland site behind Compare Foods (located a half block east of E. Club and Roxboro, at 2000 Avondale Drive). Kathi's a great speaker and passionate about stormwater and its impact on Ellerbe Creek. She'll also touch on other interesting aspects of the site such as invasive plants, birds, beaver dams, and the beaver lodge that's situated in the middle of the pond.

We'll meet in the parking lot behind Compare Foods and next to the pond. Note that the paths around the pond are a bit rough, and the stems and roots of poison ivy will be present in some places. You'll want to wear long pants and sleeves, as well as sturdy, closed shoes.

For some info about ECWA's stormwater related projects, go to www.ellerbecreek.org, and click on the "Water Quality" link in the menu on the left side of the page.

Timely, i think, in light of this recent report at BCR. I also wonder if anyone in our local government/development community has read this thought provoking article?

Continue reading Beaver news

Wagers?

What's the over/under on Roland Burris' resignation? My money is on Friday afternoon, around 4:30 or 5.

Continue reading Wagers?

Yeah, right

So, let me think this through. I've just signed a contract making me the world's highest paid athlete, and i'm going to let somebody (my cousin!) inject some stuff into me that i don't know what it is but he says it'll make me perform better, so i say OK?

I'm the world's highest paid athlete, remember? $25 mil a year for 10 years because of the stuff that my body can do, and i'm going to inject it with something that i don't even know what it is?

What a maroon.

Continue reading Yeah, right

Best song ever

Continue reading Best song ever

A new record

Almost 60 hours without checking email or local news while i was down at the beach celebrating an early Mardi Gras.

What did i miss?

Continue reading A new record

Best song ever

Continue reading Best song ever

Best song ever

Continue reading Best song ever

Sunday morning church marquee blogging

Markham Ave., Durham, NC

Continue reading Sunday morning church marquee blogging

Best song ever

Continue reading Best song ever

Best song ever

Continue reading Best song ever

Best song ever

Continue reading Best song ever

Shooting the Bull

We'll be airing some excerpts from the talk Dr. Leslie Brown gave over the weekend at Hayti Heritage Center on "Upbuilding Black Durham," as well as an interview she gave to Shooting the Bull, tonight at 7:30 pm, WXDU 88.7fm. Listen online here.

Podcast should be up over the weekend, assuming i don't slack off again, and also the full reading and interview will be available for your listening pleasure.

Continue reading Shooting the Bull

Happy Birthday Charles Darwin

Join the party!

Continue reading Happy Birthday Charles Darwin

Best song ever

Continue reading Best song ever

Speaking of pedestrian safety

Here's another article in the Herald Sun talking about crosswalk signals at Durham Tech:

The traffic signals, which city officials say will be fully functional in about two weeks, will come too late for the three people who have been struck and injured since 1999 by cars while crossing the street.

The traffic signals themselves have been in place for several weeks now. On Tuesday, city workers were busy putting the finishing touches on the traffic signals' electrical work. One worker said the signals must first be inspected before becoming fully operational.

Phil Loziuk, a traffic operations engineer for the City of Durham, said the decision was made in the fall to install the traffic signals after a study showed the crosswalk met minimal federal guidelines for a signalized crosswalk. Before, Loziuk said installing traffic signals at the crosswalk was "not warranted or needed."

The guidelines for installing traffic signals at pedestrian crosswalks are 190 pedestrians for one hour or four consecutive hours with 100 people or more using the crosswalk each hour.

Wanda Maggert, senior vice president for institutional advancement at Durham Tech, said the sooner the traffic signals are functioning the better.

"We've had people who been hit and we've had so many near misses that it's not even funny," Maggert said.

Two key pieces of information are missing from the article as far as i can tell. First - State law requires that drivers yield to pedestrians in a crosswalk, and under some conditions requires that drivers yield to pedestrians even if they aren't in a crosswalk. The second thing i'd like to know is, how many citations have been written by Durham police officers and sheriff's deputies for violating pedestrian's right of way at this location over the past ten years?

I'll bet it's not too many.

Continue reading Speaking of pedestrian safety

Pedestrian safety

Remember how quickly the city and state got their act together after a couple of serious pedestrian accidents on Broad Street near Perry? That's where Duke students and staff cross to get from East Campus to Ninth Street and Whole Foods. Guidelines were bent to put a traffic signal there, even though it's fairly close to the signal at Broad and Main, and the signal itself is activated by pedestrians. There's also enough signage that you couldn't miss it if you tried.

Up on Guess Road near Horton, meanwhile, a pedestrian fatality (a high school student who had missed her bus and was walking to Riverside) a few years ago didn't inspire anything more than sticking the radar wagon on the roadway for a couple of days. There've been one or two more serious injuries in the past couple of years there, too. Here's details on the latest:

Allison Lauren Winokur, 22, remained in critical condition Tuesday night at Duke University Hospital after being struck and seriously injured by an SUV driven by Christopher Scott Taylor, also 22, on Monday, according to police.

Winokur, who lives on Guess Road, was struck while trying to cross Guess Road near Horton Road, police said. She was transported to Duke Hospital with what police called "life threatening injuries."

Taylor, who lives on Newcastle Road, was driving a 1996 Chevrolet Blazer, police said. No charges had been filed as of Tuesday, but the accident remains under investigation.

Want to bet nothing happens to make that stretch of road safer for pedestrians?

Continue reading Pedestrian safety

A-Rod

I don't have much to add to this piece which discusses the discrepancies between the way Michael Phelps was treated after a photo of him with a bong surfaced recently, and the way Alex Rodriguez is being treated following his admission of steroid and other PED use this week.

This caught my eye, though:

Rodriguez may pay when he plays in rival cities like Boston, where the fans are sure to jeer him with relish.

"I think A-Rod's going to suffer a little bit in his performance because it's going to be on his mind wherever he goes," said Jason Teitler, senior vice president of Steiner Sports Marketing. "It might take him a while to get the forgiveness of fans even in New York."

Make that especially in New York, where the Yankees have won exactly bupkis since A-rod's arrival in 2004. He may have the best stats of any player in the game, but there's no doubt he doesn't do much to make his team better. Scott Brosius doesn't have A-Rod's stats by a long stretch, but the Yankees sure went to World Series a lot when he was playing third base, didn't they?

Continue reading A-Rod

Olbermann

This was worth watching, in case you missed it.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Continue reading Olbermann

Apologies

The last three episodes of Shooting the Bull have now been submitted to the iTunes store for podcast syndication. If you're a subscriber, you should see them fairly soon. My apologies for the delay.

Continue reading Apologies

Best song ever

Continue reading Best song ever

We report, you decide

Media Matters:

During the February 10 edition of Fox News' Happening Now, co-host Jon Scott claimed that "the Senate is expected to pass the $838 billion stimulus plan -- its version of it, anyway. We thought we'd take a look back at the bill, how it was born, and how it grew, and grew, and grew." In tracking how and when the bill purportedly "grew," Scott referenced seven dates, as on-screen graphics cited various news sources from those time periods. However, all of the sources and cost figures Scott cited, as well as the accompanying on-screen text, were also contained in a February 10 press release issued by the Senate Republican Communications Center. One on-screen graphic during the segment even repeated a typo from the GOP document, further confirming that Scott was simply reading from a Republican press release. The Fox News graphic and the GOP press release both claimed that a Wall Street Journal report that the stimulus package could reach "$775 billion over two years" was published on December 19, 2009 [emphasis added].

Heh-heh.

Continue reading We report, you decide

Giving cartoonists a bad name

Asheville Citizen-Times

via Bors and TMW

NB - to AAEC. Don't worry about me reprinting that piece of shit. But people should take a good long look at it before canceling their subscriptions to the ACT.

Continue reading Giving cartoonists a bad name

Best song ever

Continue reading Best song ever

My kind of president

Barack Obama.

"I'm one of those that thinks you need to have a beer with Sean Hannity," said the woman, citing the conservative Fox News personality.

. . .

"Now, with respect to Sean Hannity, I didn't know that he had invited me for a beer," Obama said. "You know, but — I will take that under advisement. Generally, his opinion of me does not seem to be very high, but, but I'm always good for a beer."

On the other hand, would you really want to have a beer with Hannity? He probably drinks pink cocktails, and i bet he's a mean drunk.

Continue reading My kind of president

A candidate i can get behind

Stormy Daniels to challenge Louisiana Republican Senator David (Diapers) Vitter in 2010?

More here.

Continue reading A candidate i can get behind

Best song ever

Continue reading Best song ever

Sunday morning church marquee blogging

Fifth Street, SE, Washington DC

Continue reading Sunday morning church marquee blogging

Best song ever

for my friends at Carpe Durham

Continue reading Best song ever

So long ago

Remember when if we didn't give 700 billion dollars to the financial system, we were all going to die?

Continue reading So long ago

Best song ever

Continue reading Best song ever

Hitting close to home

I hear Cary Printing and Graphics Inc. have both closed their doors this week. Not that printing has even been a recession proof industry (the shop i worked at in Sacramento didn't survive the 93-94 recession, even though it was 100+ years old, for example) but i wasn't aware that there was so much excess capacity in town. Guess the election season wasn't enough to build up a cushion to survive the current downturn.

Continue reading Hitting close to home

Casting call

If you tuned in to Shooting the Bull last night, you heard us talking about Main Street, the new movie scheduled to begin filming in Durham in another month or two. Who do you think should be cast to play Durham's leaders and assorted (not to mention sordid) characters? Phil had the best suggestion of the night with Ron Glass to play Mayor Bill Bell.

Tell you what, though. If Ron, the elevator operator at the Snow Building, doesn't end up with a speaking role, someone is not paying close enough attention to downtown.

Continue reading Casting call

Best song ever

Continue reading Best song ever

Shooting the Bull

Kevin and I are working on a special guest for tonight's show, but the stars have not yet aligned for us, so no details. Tune in to WXDU 88.7 FM at 7:30 to hear if we were successful.

UPDATE: Looks like our special guest will join us next Thursday.

Continue reading Shooting the Bull

Billboard hoopla

In all the discussion that's been ongoing this year about the billboard industry's request to waive or amend existing law prohibiting upgrades to existing billboards, one thing has been lacking: what's in it for the citizens of Durham City and County? What are we going to get out of the deal?

According to an email circulating on various listservs, Tom Miller has documented that the city and county collect something like $2,400/year total from all the billboards in the area. What is that going to go up to with the new billboards? How many new schools are we going to be able to build with this additional revenue? How many layoffs will be avoided?

As far as i can tell, the answers are none, and none, respectively.

So, what's in it for us?

Continue reading Billboard hoopla

Best song ever

Continue reading Best song ever

Noted without comment

N&O:

The Bull City will be in the movie spotlight once again.

Shooting for "Main Street" is set to begin on March 16. The movie focuses on a "group of residents of a small, economically moribund American city facing the consequences of change," according to Variety magazine.

Continue reading Noted without comment

Not just Durham

Guardian:

Parents, business leaders and education campaigners last night condemned the decision to close 8,000 schools across the UK yesterday even though the snowy conditions gripping the country eased in some areas.

The anger was most acute in cities where every school was shut. Birmingham and Bradford closed all their schools only to find that the weather was nowhere near as severe as had been expected, a move that left thousands of families struggling to cope with emergency childcare.

Jim Knight, the schools minister, said he hoped all schools in Britain would reopen today and warned that if classes were cancelled too quickly the message that every lesson counts would be diluted.

. . .

Privately council officials admitted it was embarrassing that heavy falls did not materialise but in public, the Local Government Association defended the decisions, arguing that parents preferred to know early whether schools were opening. All schools in Surrey were closed, along with more than 100 each in West Sussex and Kent and dozens in London, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.

Denise Craig, policy manager for the West Midlands Federation of Small Businesses, said: "Small businesses are disproportionately hit when the schools close because many of their workers are parents forced to take a day off to look after children."

Margaret Morrissey, of the Parents Outloud campaign group, said: "We are giving children the message that when things get difficult you should just stay at home and have fun."

Although i have to confess i've never heard a school superintendent, principal, or senior administrator quite make the claim that they were concerned that "the message that every lesson counts would be diluted," if classes were canceled. At least, not in North Carolina.

Continue reading Not just Durham

Best songs ever

Continue reading Best songs ever

February 3, 1959

Continue reading February 3, 1959

Good move, Tommy

Tom Daschle withdrew his nomination on Tuesday to be President Barack Obama's Health and Human Services secretary, faced with problems over back taxes and potential conflicts of interest.

Continue reading Good move, Tommy

Layoffs

After seeing the story in the Herald Sun this morning, in which Mayor Bill Bell is quoted as "hinting" that layoffs are a possibility within city government, a reader emails me to ask whether Durham will be taking requests?

Continue reading Layoffs

February 3, 1959

Continue reading February 3, 1959

Reassuring

Speaking after the launch, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki stressed the project was peaceful.

"Iran's satellite technology is for purely peaceful purposes and to meet the needs of the country," Reuters agency quoted Mr Mottaki as saying, on the fringes of an African Union summit in Ethiopia.

So far, so good.

Mr Ahmadinejad said the satellite was launched to spread "monotheism, peace and justice" in the world.

Ruh-roh.

Continue reading Reassuring

February 3, 1959

Continue reading February 3, 1959

Strange bedfellows, indeed

Seems i'm on the same side as Lavonia Allison and Victoria Peterson in the Great Chicken Debate of 2009.

Continue reading Strange bedfellows, indeed

February 3, 1959

Continue reading February 3, 1959

Best song ever

Continue reading Best song ever

Funny, I don't remember voting for a coalition government

Gregg sets conditions for Cabinet job
Fuck Judd Gregg. What do we owe New Hampshire Republicans anyway?

(And while we're at it, Tom Daschle needs to take a hike too. Does Obama really think that Daschle is the guy who's going to lead us into a new health care era?)

Continue reading Funny, I don't remember voting for a coalition government

Cockfighting

Wonder if my old neighbor is one of those arrested?

More than 70 people have been arrested in a cockfighting ring that secretly gathered in central North Carolina to watch a $40,000 tournament so gruesome that one of the roosters splattered blood on the investigators' search warrant, authorities said.

Deputies didn't expect to find so many people crammed into three chicken houses that had been cleaned out to provide hidden parking spaces and a cockfighting pit, Randolph County Sheriff Maynard Reid Jr. said in an interview Monday. Authorities arrested 73 people, ranging in age from 16 to 79, and charged them all with felonies for cockfighting and cruelty to animals.

. . .

He described a grisly scene: About 20 birds were already dead, eliminated early from a deadly tournament. A fight was ongoing when deputies arrived, and one of the combatant roosters jumped up onto the betting table and spattered blood onto a search warrant that investigators were serving, Reid said.

The tournament's grand champion, Reid said, was slated to win $40,000. He named the ringleader as 33-year-old Barry Ritter. Reid said Ritter was charging $25 to watch the event at a facility he owned with his father, who was not among those arrested.

"I think it was used at one time to raise chickens," Reid said. "Now it is being used for cockfighting. They had a rural area. They thought nobody would catch them there. But I think we've sent a message that we will not tolerate this in our county."

Looks like quite a few Durham addresses among those busted. Would be interesting to see how many complaints are on file with Durham's Animal Control Department regarding those addresses.

Continue reading Cockfighting

WTF?

From MoveOn:

Dear MoveOn member,

This week, the Senate will vote on President Obama's economic stimulus plan—with historic investments in green jobs, health care, and education to get our economy back on track.

But right now, the stimulus doesn't have the votes to pass.1 Republicans and conservative Democrats are teaming up to strip out the good stuff—college loan assistance, health research, tax cuts for poor folks, and more—in favor of more tax cuts for corporations.2 If they don't get their way, they'll block the plan.

Last week, not a single Republican in the House voted for Obama's plan—they didn't think voters would ever hold them accountable. That's why we're asking folks to pledge now to help run ads after the vote letting the public know where key senators—both Republican and Democrat—came down on the bill. We need to get started now, so politicians and the media know their constituents are paying attention.

Can you pledge now to make sure senators know that voters will hold them accountable for their vote? You won't need your credit card—just let us know how much you'd like to pledge:

If Harry fuckin' Reid and His Band of Merry Men can't get this plan through the Senate 4 months after the election, maybe it's time the Democrats dumped his ass in a nuclear waste storage facility and found someone who knows how to be a majority leader.

Where's Lyndon Johnson when we need him?

Continue reading WTF?

Climax

Heh-heh.

Yesterday, as this year's clash between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals neared a thrilling climax, TV viewers in Tuscon, Arizona, witnessed an intimate exposure of a completely different order.

Shortly after 7.30pm, with less than three minutes to play in a tightly fought final, the Cardinals had taken the lead with a crucial touchdown. Fans watching in Arizona would have been forgiven for scenting a victory for their team against the odds. Then the pictures from Tampa disappeared.

Instead, viewers in the Tuscon area were astonished to see a woman unzipping a man's trousers to reveal "full male nudity" followed by what was described as "a graphic act" between the couple. Somehow, the feed from Super Bowl XLIII had been mixed up with a 30-second excerpt from Club Jenna, an adult cable TV channel featuring Jenna Jameson, one of America's most famous porn actresses.

. . .


Once the pictures from the Super Bowl returned, Cardinals fans did not get the climax they were looking for. The Steelers pipped them 27-23, scoring with only 35 seconds left on the clock.

Explains why John McCain didn't want to watch the game at Obama's place, if you ask me.

Continue reading Climax

Sidewalks

Herald-Sun:

City bus system managers are catching a little heat over their decision to drop a spur that linked Merrick-Moore Elementary School to the Durham Area Transit Authority's Route 3.

Merrick-Moore principal Gregory McKnight recently asked DATA trustees to reinstate the connection so parents without cars could more easily reach the school to meet with teachers.

System managers, with the trustees' support, dropped the spur this fall because few people were using it and it was causing Route 3 buses to run late.

But its abandonment left the closest bus stop seven-tenths of a mile away from Merrick-Moore, McKnight said. People getting off there have to walk along Cheek Road, which lacks sidewalks along a key stretch.

Durham sold the 1996 bond issue to us by promising to build sidewalks with the money along at least one side of every major thoroughfare in town. That's almost 13 years ago.

How's that working out?

Continue reading Sidewalks

Best song ever

Continue reading Best song ever

Is that your final answer?

Olympic great Michael Phelps acknowledged "regrettable" behavior and "bad judgment" after a photo in a British newspaper Sunday showed him inhaling from a marijuana pipe.

In a statement to The Associated Press, the swimmer who won a record eight gold medals at the Beijing Games did not dispute the authenticity of the exclusive picture published Sunday by the tabloid News of the World.

"I engaged in behavior which was regrettable and demonstrated bad judgment," Phelps said in the statement released by one of his agents. "I'm 23 years old and despite the successes I've had in the pool, I acted in a youthful and inappropriate way, not in a manner people have come to expect from me. For this, I am sorry. I promise my fans and the public it will not happen again."

Oh, sweet Jesus Christ on a crutch. What's it going to take before one of these so-called respectable members of the community comes out and says, "You know, i was smoking the weed. I liked it. I'll probably do it again. The problem with that is?"

Continue reading Is that your final answer?

Sunday morning church marquee blogging

Fourth St., SE, Washington DC

Continue reading Sunday morning church marquee blogging