Author: BrianR

Christiania of the Carolinas

For a few decades now people have been calling Carrboro, NC the “Paris of the Piedmont“. I won’t go into its origins here. Some folks are pretty fed up with the phrase. We never like being pigeonholed it seems.

Here I offer a new phrase to replace the old. One a bit more obscure.

“The Christiania of the Carolinas”

Learn more about our new namesake here and here.

Christiania, also known as Freetown Christiania (Danish: Fristaden Christiania) is a self-proclaimed autonomous neighbourhood of about 850 residents, covering 34 hectares (85 acres) in the borough of Christianshavn in the Danish capital Copenhagen. From an official point of view, Christiania is regarded as a large commune, but its relation to the authorities has a unique status in being regulated by a special law, the Christiania Law of 1989 which transfers parts of the supervision of the area from the municipality of Copenhagen to the state.

The face and future

Internet search giant Google held a official press conference in downtown Chapel Hill, North Carolina today. You can read more about it in these news stories.
Herald-Sun
News and Observer
Triangle Business Journal

If I may I’d like to add a bit of personal commentary to this story. I feel Orange County, ALL OF IT, is well suited for the future of doing business. Especially on-line. A major reason I feel this way is because we’ve heavily invested in knowledge, quality of life, and creativity.

The Research Triangle Park blog wrote about this event today. They have a pretty good description of the event. Better than the pro-media press coverage in my humble opinion. But the part that most interested me was their last paragraph.

“But still, why choose Chapel Hill for the big unveiling? [Google Vice President for Global Agency and Industry Development] Penry Price had an answer: “We looked at the way business is growing in North Carolina.” He said they wanted a fair representation of the face and future of all the types of US cities Google works with, and Chapel Hill fit that bill.”

This is says to me that from an economic development perspective we should stick with our strengths and stop trying to be like the rest of the Triangle. i.e. building new shopping malls and office parks

I’m also crossing my fingers that this event hints at some Google Fiber coming our way… 🙂

Ring of Fire Voodoo Style

One day before I die I must sing this song in front of a lot of people. If I did it would probably come out like the Wall of Voodoo version. (You know them. They did that song Mexican Radio.)

Believe it or not I’m kinda a purist about this song. I’d try to make it sound a bit more like the original. Horns and all. Here’s the real deal to clean your pallet.

This man is my Appalachian rock-a-billy super hero.