Category: North Carolina

RDCH: Twitter users in Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill

Last week I created a new user on Twitter called RDCH. It stands for Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill. The idea is for this Twitter user to act like a group. I’ve been using Twittervision Map and Google to find people who’ve identified that they live somewhere in the Triangle aka RDCH. (That includes Apex, Cary, Carrboro, etc.) ex. Location: Durham

While I’m logged into the RDCH user account I goto the different Twitter users I find and add them as friends. So far in about three days RDCH has 88 friends and 33 followers. You make friends they decide to follow you.

I hope this helps people meet each other in person and make new friends. Another neat “feature” I’ve discovered is the with friends page. If you goto twitter.com/RDCH/with_friends you can read what all these people are doing. Its like a group micro-blog! This page has an RSS feed too at twitter.com/statuses/friends_timeline/6140022.rss.

I’ve been trying to use the contact medium in ways that could help all these neighbors of mine. So far I’ve shared info such as weather updates for Chapel Hill and Hurricane information. Going to build the friends list and hopefully the followers and announce a party or a flash mob.

What do you folks in RDCH want this user to do?

Its Smoky Outside

Smelled something odd this morning. Didn’t think anything of it. Then I got this email from the Town of Chapel Hill:

Smell smoke?

Due to the cold front passing through, the smoke from the Georgia wildfires has migrated to North Carolina. You may see a slight haze and smell smoke in the area from these wildfires, the Chapel Hill Fire Department reports.

If you feel your situation is different (if the smoke is abnormally thick or heavy in your area) do not dismiss it. Call 911.

Later came the more cryptic National Weather statement:

FPUS72 KRAH 161418
NOWRAH SHORT TERM FORECAST NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC 1018 AM EDT WED MAY 16 2007 NCZ007>010-021>026-038>041-073>077-083>086-088-161745- PERSON-GRANVILLE-VANCE-WARREN-FORSYTH-GUILFORD-ALAMANCE-ORANGE- DURHAM-FRANKLIN-DAVIDSON-RANDOLPH-CHATHAM-WAKE-STANLY-MONTGOMERY- MOORE-LEE-HARNETT-ANSON-RICHMOND-SCOTLAND-HOKE-CUMBERLAND- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF…ROXBORO…OXFORD…HENDERSON… WARRENTON…WINSTON-SALEM…GREENSBORO…HIGH POINT… BURLINGTON…CHAPEL HILL…DURHAM…LOUISBURG…LEXINGTON… ASHEBORO…PITTSBORO…RALEIGH…ALBEMARLE…TROY… SOUTHERN PINES…SANFORD…LILLINGTON…WADESBORO…ROCKINGHAM… LAURINBURG…RAEFORD…FAYETTEVILLE 1018 AM EDT WED MAY 16 2007 .NOW… STRONG SOUTHWESTERLY WINDS OF 35 TO 40 MPH JUST OFF THE SURFACE WILL SPREAD A SMOKE PLUME ACROSS PORTIONS OF CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA THROUGH NOON TODAY. THE SMOKE PLUME ORIGINATES FROM WILDFIRES IN PARTS OF SOUTHEAST GEORGIA AND NORTHERN FLORIDA. AS THE AIR TEMPERATURES CONTINUES TO HEAT UP…THE SMOKE PLUME SHOULD GRADUALLY LIFT HIGHER IN THE ATMOSPHERE AND BECOME LESS CONCENTRATED. UNTIL THEN…THE SMOKE PLUME WILL CAUSE HAZY CONDITIONS…REDUCING VISIBILITY RESTRICTIONS TO 3 TO 5 MILES. PERSONS WHO SUFFER FROM ASTHMA OR OTHER BREATHING AILMENTS SHOULD LIMIT OUTDOOR EXPOSURE TODAY.

The Florida fires raging now where said to have been started by lightning. The smoke here in North Carolina far away from Georgia and Northern Florida is an amazing effect. It demonstrates the truly global nature of our environments change. It got me wondering if the amount of lightning has increased and or decreased along with global climate change.

After a bit of google searching I found the document Possible implications of global climate change on global lightning distributions and frequencies. It says:

The results suggest a 30% increase in global lightning activity for the warmer climate and a 24% decrease in global lightning activity for the colder climate.

To me the smoke outside demonstrates the interconnectiveness of everyone on Earth. In this example all of the South Eastern United States. Will it be really hard for future generations to breath? Will we all be gasping for air?

Right now everything is fine. It just smells bad for most folks. But just when you think you can be at a safe distance from the problems in the world…

Town of Carrboro Charter Printed in The Citizen

In this weeks Carrboro Citizen you’ll find the Charter of the Town of Carrboro. You may wonder who besides a politician or bureaucrat would enjoy reading this document? Well me for one.

Why? Because within this ancient legalese lies answers to why things happen in Carrboro. Time and time again here on OP people ask why a Town does this or that. Most, but not all, answers to these questions can be found in this document. Barring interpretation and enforcement of-course.

Now I may not sit down and read the whole thing at once. But I will digest this document in small chunks. Plus I’ll use it as a reference. Its so much easier to read a big paper folded long ways like a city bus rider than a 8 1/2 x 11 PDF IMHO.

I am particularly impressed by The Carrboro Citizen’s willingness to use so much valuable space in their paper. In my mind its a important duty of media to educate the public. Now that The Citizen has set the stage I hope they refer to this document often as they explain and editorialize. May they find many creative ways to help people learn about local government.

So I’ll end this post with a question. What would our local democracy be like if everyone in Carrboro knew this document inside and out?

Cross posted from OrangePolitics

Nocturnal Barred Owl Music

Strix Varia
A few nights last week we slept with our windows open. Sometime after midnight but before dawn a LOUD chorus of birds starts making a serious racket. The sound that woke me up first was “hoo, hoo, too-HOO; hoo, hoo, too-HOO, ooo”. Last year at our old house I remember hearing something similar. (I didn’t see the birds but I guess it might have looked like the animal in the picture above.)

What made this spooky night time show by some Barred Owls (aka Hoot Owls) different was the sheer number of calls. I swear there must have been at least three or four of them. Just when one set of Hoo Hoos would start another would chime in. Like a round of row row your boat. It is spring here in North Carolina so maybe those where matting calls.

Once I woke up enough not to think I was dreaming I thoroughly enjoyed their music. Before I had only heard one or two calls at a time. This was a full on symphony performance! Over and Over again. Each time with a short gap in between the calls. I waited annciously for each new set of Hoo hoos. We are so luck to have all the trees near us that birds love. Cardinals, Red Headed Woodpeckers, morning doves, finches, etc.

Gota set up some recording gear in the future and make it easy to start when asleep. 🙂 Until then this webpage titled Barred Owl Vocalizations has a ton of great recordings. I think I must have heard some Simultaneous Calling.

Barred Owl – Strix varia

Apologies aren't enough

Wonderful and inspiring article/interview with John Hope Franklin in this weeks Indy: John Hope Franklin: Apologies aren’t enough.

But one has to wonder how far apologies will go in righting past wrongs. Is it the scab that, left unbothered, will heal wounds, or is it merely a quick-fix Band-Aid, slapped on to make the ugliness of injury just go away?

Franklin, who knows what it is to grow up in a world where one’s rights and equalities are constantly being questioned, refuses to let go. He thinks it’s not just time for somebody to apologize, but to do something about it.

“No one knows the price that I’ve paid for what I’ve gotten out of this world and this life,” he says. “My efforts represented sacrifices untold, indescribable. They don’t know what my mother went through to see that I had opportunities, and even the fundamentals such as food and clothing and so forth. They don’t know what my grandfather, on my father’s side, paid in terms of taxes so that white young men could go to the University of Oklahoma, where my own father could not go.

“And I don’t see any reason why I should get over that kind of exploitation of my immediate family—my father, my grandfather, my mother, and so forth. I see no reason I should get over it. I see every reason why there should be compensation, apologies, particularly in the hypocrisy it’s represented, in their saying on the one hand that all men are created equal, and on the other hand, them saying if they’re created equal, some are more equal than others.”

VCU beats Duke in NCAA first round

Final Score
VCU 79
Duke 77

I’m a very proud VCU alumni right now. The VCU men’s basketball team did a great job. But I have to admit I didn’t like bball much in college.

Living in North Carolina will change you tho’. As will marrying a Chapel Hill native who went to UNC. Fact is there are so many cool basketball fans down here. That makes it so much easier to be a fan. To hang out with people ya love and watch amazing feats of athleticism.

My twitters about the game tonight. Newest on top.

VCU 79 Dook 77 Final BIG UPSET! I can’t believe duke lost in the first round…

VCU 38 Dook 40 halftime

VCU ties Dook!

VCU within THREE!

VCU three pointer!

19 / 4 run by Dook…

VCU just went 9 shots without scoring 😦

Watching VCU (my alma mater) play Dook

What is the Carr Mill Mall management thinking?

Two Signs on Weaver Street Lawn

From the Orange Politics post Carr Mill gives the finger to Weaver Street patrons Ruby writes:

My peaceful mid-morning trip to the grocery store today was interrupted by the erection of two huge signs in the middle of the Weaver Street Market lawn. If these were at the entrance to Weaver Street from the sidewalk or the parking lot, it would just be sort of hostile, but the placement is clearly a big middle finger from Carr Mill Mall manager Nathan Millian to the many people who enjoy the Weaver Street Lawn.

Last year the managers of Weaver Street Market and Carr Mill came to came to agreement on rules for use of the lawn through negotiations led by Carrboro Alderman Dan Coleman. The rules posted here are SIMILAR to the ones agreed to, but not the same. In addition there was never an agreement to place a 6-foot tall sign in the middle of the area enjoyed my thousands of paying customers every week.

Here is what the sign says: ( I just jotted this down by reading the sign in the photograph)

Carr Mill Mall
Good Neighbor Rules

1. Carr Mill Mall buildings, lawn, and parking lots are only for the use of customers while shopping and dining, and for tenants and their invited guests.

2. Solicitation and distribution of literature or handbills is prohibited.

3. Loitering or sleeping on benches is prohibited.

4. Unauthorized performances and large or publicly advertised gatherings are prohibited.

5. Dogs must be well behaved, leashed, attended, promptly cleaned up after, and watered with disposable bowls.

6. Stay out of all trees, garden areas, and the podn. The edge of the pond can be used for seating, but not for walking or running. Do not throw anything in the pond.

7. Alcoholic beverages can be consumed only in eating areas, and not near the entrance to the offices or the edge of the lawn.

Thank you.

BlogTogether Logo Contest

Win a iPod Shuffle by designing a logo for the ultra-cool blogger group BlogTogether. Anton has set up more info here about the contest. Entries are due by March 31st.

Here is more info about BlogTogether for inspiration.

The Brief

BlogTogether is the name of an initiative to connect bloggers and blog readers both online and in person. Blog refers to the weblog tool for publishing online content. Together relates to our mission to gather bloggers in face-to-face social settings. BlogTogether also includes a service effort to encourage self-expression, civic engagement and community building. The logo should include the words blogtogether, in any font, upper or lower case, together with a logo graphic, with any color scheme. I have no other criteria, but I do like simplicity. Once we have the new logo, we will build a new website design around it, and the relaunched site will continue to act as a blog/resource about our blogger meetups, Blogging101 teach-ins, occasional happy hour events and our annual conference.