Spring segues into “sweaty”

Up until Friday we’ve been enjoying a wonderfully seasonal spring: with low humidity, highs in the upper 70s, and lows delightfully in the 50s. That changed Friday morning when summer arrived with a jolt. High temperatures are now in the 90s, humidity levels top 45%, and the joy of being outside that was once abundant is now a distant memory.

I suppose all good things must come to an end, but I was really enjoying having a normal spring for once. It seems that for so many years we would go from too cool directly to too hot. At least this spring we had several weeks of perfect weather.

I guess can’t be surprised since the year is almost halfway over already. Summer is here now, ready or not!

The Pentagon’s ray gun

60 Minutes featured a new nonlethal weapon the Pentagon is testing. Dubbed the “Ray Gun,” it transmits a painful beam of microwave energy to disperse crowds. The 60 Minutes reporter said it felt like being put in scalding water.

While I’m all for nonlethal weapons, I take offense at how they demonstrated it. A group of soldiers playing the role of “peaceful” protesters (complete with “world peace” signs), began attacking uniformed soldiers – only to be cooked by the Ray Gun.

Hey, guys? You’re U.S. soldiers. Your enemy isn’t your peace-loving fellow Americans, its the terrorists of the world. How about suiting up as North Koreans? Or Hamas militants? Or Somali pirate gunboats? How about something a bit closer to the real threats you face?

To show this weapon being used against peace activists shows how low our military has sunk in its original mission to support and defend our Constitution. As a veteran I am ashamed and insulted.

in Rant | 158 Words

Interfacing MythTV and Google Calendar

As you know, I’ve been tinkering with MythTV. I also have an interest in the Raleigh community television station: the Raleigh Television Network. SchedulesDirect, the program listings part of MythTV, does not carry the schedules for the community television channels.

Fortunately, I found today that RTN makes their schedules available through a Google Calendar (and an ICS link). Now the challenge is to figure out a good way to interface this calendar to MythTV so I can begin scheduling RTN programs just like they were on commercial channels. Since I have a working knowledge of the iCal scheduling format, I don’t think it will be too hard to parse out the elements. Its mainly a matter of seeing how Myth handles its schedules and making the data fit.

Neighborhood College draws to an end

Thursday night was my last class of Raleigh Neighborhood College. For twelve weeks I have trekked to Peace College or other locations around the city every Thursday night to spend up to four hours learning about city government and services. I have shared the experience with 20 other fine Raleigh citizens, each of whom has had something to offer to the experience. All that’s left to do is “graduate,” and that happens this upcoming Thursday evening.
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Six years

Today we celebrate Hallie’s sixth birthday (which is actually June 4th). Amazing to think how far she’s come since those early, scary days.

Six wonderful years and many, many more ahead!

The sweat announcer

I’ve been riding my bike to work for weeks now. As the mornings have been getting progressively warmer so have I.

The office has an infrared alarm sensor at the front door which rings when people pass through. Usually the bell rings once for each person. When I first arrive however, dragging my bike with me, the bell often rings three or four times depending on how hot I am after my ride.

Thus, my officemates can tell how sweaty I am going to be just by counting the bells!

Tabloidism

Today the News and Observer put this story at the top of its front page. Its a story crowing about how mental hospital director Patsy Christian now won’t be able to hang a portrait of herself in the new Butner mental hospital thanks to an N&O story.

Of the legions of problems our state’s mental health system needing to be solved, this is what the N&O is most proud of? Getting a damn portrait removed? Is that how our fabled fourth branch of government is protecting our interests? Since when did the N&O become the paper equivalent of talk radio?

Is it any wonder that the newspaper business is in trouble?