June 2012

There were 46 posts published in June 2012 (this is page 5 of 5).

Don’t Mean To Be Alarmist, But The TV Business May Be Starting To Collapse

This is right on the money. Business Insider is proving what I’ve been saying for years about the television business: it must change or die.

Today’s “cord cutters” might be considered the “early adopters” (if there is such a thing when people skip a service) but soon the masses will begin eschewing traditional television and then TV as we know it will collapse.

We still consume some TV content, but we consume it when and where we want it, and we consume it deliberately: In other words, we don’t settle down in front of the TV and watch “what’s on.” And, again with the exception of live sports, we’ve gotten so used to watching shows and series without ads that ads now seem extraordinarily intrusive and annoying. Our kids see TV ads so rarely that they’re actually curious about and confused by them: “What is that? A commercial?”

via Don’t Mean To Be Alarmist, But The TV Business May Be Starting To Collapse – Business Insider.

Coyotes and deer in Raleigh

A discussion on the Mordecai email list about our urban deer got me wondering about their natural predators. It just so happens that the rumors about coyotes in our area appear to be real.

I found this interesting report from an exotic animal veterinarian of a coyote brought in last December. It’s cool that so many critters are finding room to live here in downtown Raleigh.

Well, the guy comes back in carrying a canine of some sort by the armpits, rear end dangling, with a large bunch of towels wrapped around the head to keep him from being bitten (Good idea!). The animal was in bad shape: skinny, wet, matted fur, lice crawling all over, and a strong odor of filth. I had him lay his bundle on the exam table, donned a pair of leather falconer’s gloves, and began to unwrap the front half of this dog to see what we were dealing with. To my surprise, staring back at me was a genuine, bonafide, roadrunner-eating COYOTE!

via It’s a Coyote, for Real! | Avian and Exotic Animal Care, Raleigh, NC.

Neighborhood break-in causes little concern

RPD is just a phone call away


Thursday provided a bit of unexpected excitement in the neighborhood. I had just stepped away from my home office desk for lunch when I read an email from a neighbor, saying that she had seen suspicious men at another neighbor’s home and had called the police. Looking out the window, I was amazed to see three Raleigh Police cruisers parked down the street!

I found out from other neighbors who were outside that the house at the end of the neighboring street had been broken into. Officers had the house surrounded, believing the perpetrators were still inside. I chatted a bit with my neighbors until a K-9 officer returning his dog to his car let us know that no one was inside.

It seems the perpetrators left out the back door as officers arrived, having had time to stack TVs and an Xbox outside but no time to take them with them. Fortunately for the police, the burglars very thoughtfully left their getaway car sitting in the driveway! I smiled as I watched the car being towed away, knowing how much evidence the burglars must have left in it. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before the hapless burglars are caught.
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Save the date. Every one of them.

Along with Kelly, I went to a volunteer luncheon at Conn Elementary yesterday. One of our favorite teachers, Nicole Jackson, sat down with us and chatted a bit.

“He was the cutest little boy!” she said of Travis as she told another volunteer how he used to play “peek-a-boo” with her as he passed through the hallways with us, not yet old enough to attend Conn himself.
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Running low on road revenue

The Republican leadership in the North Carolina General Assembly wants to cap our state’s gasoline tax. How is this anything but a stupid idea? Sure, it’d be nice for folks not to pay anything, anytime, but that’s not how it works. If you build roads, you damn sure better be willing to maintain them.

The gasoline tax pays for roads: roads that are in dire need of repair. We either pay to fix them or we pay when commerce in our state grinds to a halt.

Another ill-advised bill making its way through the NCGA would bar I-95 from becoming a toll road. One legislator said that companies would move their operations elsewhere if the tolls went into effect. If you think tolls will drive business away, imagine what will happen if I-95 becomes a pothole-filled parking lot because it’s crumbling and outdated.

There’s no complicated problem without a solution that’s simple, logical – and wrong. H.L. Mencken said something much like that years ago, and life still has a way of proving the caustic journalist right. Take the gasoline tax.

North Carolina’s state tax on gasoline sold at the pump, currently 38.9 cents, is relatively steep. It ranks sixth highest in the land (an additional federal tax of 18.4 cents on each gallon applies throughout the country). Our state’s tax is also an unusual one, in that a portion of it adjusts every six months in tune with the wholesale price of gasoline. So: Higher-priced gas equals a higher state gas tax.

To motorists with wallets pumped dry, that doesn’t seem fair, or right. No wonder politicians eagerly offer solutions

via Running low on road revenue – Editorials – NewsObserver.com.

NC Considers Making Sea Level Rise Illegal

My friend Scott Huler takes down the attempt by coastal developers and the Republican leadership in North Carolina General Assembly to pretend climate change doesn’t exist.

According to North Carolina law, I am a billionaire. I have a full-time nanny for my children, I have won the Pulitzer Prize, and I get to spend the entire year taking guitar lessons from Mark Knopfler. Oh, my avatar? I haven’t got around to changing it, but by law, I now look like George Clooney. There’s also a supermodel clause, but discussing the details would be boasting.

You think I’m kidding, but listen to me: I’m from North Carolina, and that’s how we roll. We take what we want to be reality, and we just make it law. So I’m having my state senator introduce legislation writing into law all the stuff I mentioned above. This is North Carolina, state motto: “Because that’s how I WANT it to be.”

via NC Considers Making Sea Level Rise Illegal | Plugged In, Scientific American Blog Network.