• Charlotte Doesn't Want to Be Like Winston
  In this particular case I can't blame the folks in Charlotte for not wanting to be like us here in Camel City. Looks like they're getting ready to build a new stadium for the AAA team and the goings-on with Winston-Salem's downtown stadium has some people in Charlotte asking questions about their projected stadium costs.
  (tags: winston-salem governmentwatchdog)
• 30-Player Poker Match Robbed In Winston-Salem
  I used to play in a regular basement poker tourney in VA that usually had about 35 guys at $100 each. I always figured it would be bad news if some kids heard about it and decided robbing us would be a good way to get some easy cash. Never happened, but this story reminded me of those thoughts.
  (tags: winston-salem)
• When in Rome…
  "The News & Observer reported that Cooper's BBQ was about to close Saturday when the band's private jet services coordinator called, asking for enough food for 25 people: barbecue, pork rinds, five fried chickens, pig skins, ribs, cole slaw, hush puppies…

  The Holts prepared the food for the 10:50 p.m. delivery. Debbie Holt and her 14-year-old daughter, Ashley, delivered the food to U2's private jet at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, receiving $300 cash."

  (tags: bbq northcarolina)

• He Made Money the Old Fashioned Way?
  "Mr. Eitel, former colleagues said, really wanted to bring some sizzle to the ho-hum mattress business. He was paid millions of dollars to run Simmons for several private equity investment companies, first Fenway, then Thomas H. Lee Partners. Like those firms, he fared well, even though Simmons plans to file for bankruptcy…

  But while Simmons now faces an uncertain future, Mr. Eitel was a winner in The Great Game of Life. As chief executive, he enjoyed country club memberships, personal use of the corporate jet and thousands of dollars a year in free mattresses. Before stepping down last fall, he earned more than $40 million in compensation, bonuses and perks, according to an analysis by Brian Foley, an independent compensation consultant in White Plains. He earned the bulk of his money when Simmons was sold to Thomas H. Lee Partners."

  h/t to Cone for the link.

  (tags: business businessopinion)

• There, I Fixed It: Epic Kludges + Jury Rigs
  h/t to Lex for this find. I think half of these pics were taken at my house.
  (tags: diy)

• Helping Haiti by Playing Farmville
  "It's a bit tricky to estimate how much money the Sweet Seeds For Haiti has raised to date because you can earn FV cash and you can buy FV cash. When purchased, 25 FV cash costs $5. So if everyone bought the FV cash that has been used to buy the roughly 100k of sweet seeds to date, then $500k will have been raised, $250k of it going to charitable organizations in Haiti."
  (tags: socialmedia charity)

• Godin: Less than zero
  "The long tail is real, but sometimes the longest parts reach underwater. When there's enough choices, it means that some things will never get picked."
  (tags: marketing web business strategy music)

• NYT: E. Coli Path Shows Flaws in Beef Inspection
  After reading this I don't think I'll be eating a burger any time soon. Found the link via Cone who had a pic of the cover of Upton Sinclair's book "The Jungle" on the page and I recall feeling much the same way when I read "The Jungle." Ugh.
  (tags: food health)

• Charlotte Doesn't Want to Be Like Winston
  In this particular case I can't blame the folks in Charlotte for not wanting to be like us here in Camel City. Looks like they're getting ready to build a new stadium for the AAA team and the goings-on with Winston-Salem's downtown stadium has some people in Charlotte asking questions about their projected stadium costs.
  (tags: winston-salem governmentwatchdog)
• 30-Player Poker Match Robbed In Winston-Salem
  I used to play in a regular basement poker tourney in VA that usually had about 35 guys at $100 each. I always figured it would be bad news if some kids heard about it and decided robbing us would be a good way to get some easy cash. Never happened, but this story reminded me of those thoughts.
  (tags: winston-salem)
• When in Rome…
  "The News & Observer reported that Cooper's BBQ was about to close Saturday when the band's private jet services coordinator called, asking for enough food for 25 people: barbecue, pork rinds, five fried chickens, pig skins, ribs, cole slaw, hush puppies…

  The Holts prepared the food for the 10:50 p.m. delivery. Debbie Holt and her 14-year-old daughter, Ashley, delivered the food to U2's private jet at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, receiving $300 cash."

  (tags: bbq northcarolina)

• He Made Money the Old Fashioned Way?
  "Mr. Eitel, former colleagues said, really wanted to bring some sizzle to the ho-hum mattress business. He was paid millions of dollars to run Simmons for several private equity investment companies, first Fenway, then Thomas H. Lee Partners. Like those firms, he fared well, even though Simmons plans to file for bankruptcy…

  But while Simmons now faces an uncertain future, Mr. Eitel was a winner in The Great Game of Life. As chief executive, he enjoyed country club memberships, personal use of the corporate jet and thousands of dollars a year in free mattresses. Before stepping down last fall, he earned more than $40 million in compensation, bonuses and perks, according to an analysis by Brian Foley, an independent compensation consultant in White Plains. He earned the bulk of his money when Simmons was sold to Thomas H. Lee Partners."

  h/t to Cone for the link.

  (tags: business businessopinion)

• There, I Fixed It: Epic Kludges + Jury Rigs
  h/t to Lex for this find. I think half of these pics were taken at my house.
  (tags: diy)

• Helping Haiti by Playing Farmville
  "It's a bit tricky to estimate how much money the Sweet Seeds For Haiti has raised to date because you can earn FV cash and you can buy FV cash. When purchased, 25 FV cash costs $5. So if everyone bought the FV cash that has been used to buy the roughly 100k of sweet seeds to date, then $500k will have been raised, $250k of it going to charitable organizations in Haiti."
  (tags: socialmedia charity)

• Godin: Less than zero
  "The long tail is real, but sometimes the longest parts reach underwater. When there's enough choices, it means that some things will never get picked."
  (tags: marketing web business strategy music)

• NYT: E. Coli Path Shows Flaws in Beef Inspection
  After reading this I don't think I'll be eating a burger any time soon. Found the link via Cone who had a pic of the cover of Upton Sinclair's book "The Jungle" on the page and I recall feeling much the same way when I read "The Jungle." Ugh.
  (tags: food health)

• Leyden: Triad Business Index for August
  "Interestingly, employment in the Greensboro/High Point area is down 5.4% from the same time last year, which is the third worst among metropolitan areas in North Carolina (only Hickory and Charlotte are worse), but Winston-Salem (also in the Triad) is down only 3.3%."
  (tags: economics piedmonttriad winston-salem greensboro)
• ViralHousingFix: What I learned from Rex Hammock’s Wikipedia post
  "What can we learn from this? Rex suggests that to become the nexus, story-telling may not be the key art; aggregating, summarizing and linking information in a cohesive narrative may be."
  (tags: newjournalism media information web2.0)
• Freakanomics: Cheap and Simple Fixes, the First of Many Parts
  "It is fascinating to poke through history and see how often cheap and simple fixes solved problems that were routinely thought to be either unsolvable or, at best, solved by very expensive, complicated, and invasive means. Of course this is partly because a lot of people stand to profit (or at least keep their jobs) by promoting the expensive, complicated, and invasive means"
  (tags: economics)
• Good Will Hunting
  Dave Ribar takes George Will to task over Will's latest column on global warming.
  (tags: environment media politics)

Pictured are pork shoulders on the barby at Unity Moravian in Lewisville. We start serving at 4 and close the doors at 7:30. Unity is located on Concord Church Road near the intersection with Dull Road (and just down the road from LibertY Restauraunt, Exit 144 off of 421). Come on out!
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• Fall Harvest: Tobacco
  Bowman Gray IV has a nice post about the fall tobacco harvest.
  (tags: northcarolina winston-salem piedmonttriad)
• Blog on the Run: All Apologies
  Lex has a nice little compendium of all the fun that Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) is having with the Republicans re. health reform.
  (tags: healthcare health healthinsurance government politics)
• Cone: Times are Still Tough
  "UPDATE: More evidence that we have a long way to go: 'U.S. job losses accelerated last month and the unemployment rate climbed to the highest level since 1983, stark reminders of how the worst financial crisis in a generation may undermine consumer spending and economic growth in the months ahead.'"
  (tags: economy)
• Freakonomics: Problems With Tithing
  "If every member of a religious group always tithed, the income elasticity of demand for religion would be plus-one. So while tithers donate a large share of their income, the organization’s finances will vary perfectly with the state of members’ incomes; those organizations are by no means immune to macroeconomic fluctuations."
  (tags: religion economy)
• My Take on Wake: Frye Still Outside the Team Looking In
  I love Winston-Salem Journal sports reporter Dan Collins' blog on Wake and his posts on the developing issues with Wake's junior safety Alex Frye is a great example why.
  (tags: sports winston-salem wakeforest)
• Triad Biz Journal: Contractors association unveils plan to turn around industry
  Gotta tell ya, this shows some chutzpah for an association: "The plan, called “Build Now for the Future: A Blueprint for Economic Growth,” is designed to reverse predictions that construction activity will continue to shrink through 2010, which would inhibit broader economic growth, the organization said in a release.

  The plan calls for a mix of new incentives, tax cuts, policy revisions and infrastructure spending."

  (tags: association economy)

• Orson Scott Card's Rhino Column: Gotta read it to believe it
  How does crap like this continue to get published?
  (tags: greensboro media politics)
• Triad Biz Journal: Report: Nearly 1M bank foreclosures in process
  Short version of the story: if you think house prices have been hammered to this point you ain't seen nothin' yet.
  (tags: economy realestate)
• Applied Rationality: Time is money, except at universities
  Ah, higher education: "The Raliegh News & Observer reports that North Carolina Central University recently discovered that it had under-calculated its student activity fee–by one cent. With 8,501 students, the university stood to lose a whopping $85.01.

  NCCU's solution? Bill each student one cent and tell them to pay up."

  Someone at NCCU eventually wisened up and they decided to add the penny to the following semester's bill, but still.

  (tags: stupidpeople education)

• Guerrilla Marketing: Freshly Baked
  Bojangles has a nifty marketing campaign at the baggage carousel in Charlotte's airport.
  (tags: marketing)

Which biz name wins the prize?
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

• Seventh Sense: Pancake Porn
  Ken Ashford points out a YouTube video about a robotic pancake stacker. He's right that it's weirdly compelling.
  (tags: business)
• World According to a Smart Ass: Milk, it does…
  Interesting aerial photo of some German farmers protesting low milk prices by spraying milk on a field. My buddy Bobby, who works in the milk industry and who's been dealing with NC farmers who are suffering due to low prices here, will probably find this interesting.
  (tags: advertising marketing)

• CoolTools: Scottevest Hidden Cargo Pants
  I think I might add these to my x-mas wish list.
  (tags: coolstuff)
• Seth Godin: If Craigslist cost $1
  Seth Godin makes some good points about Craigslist and in my mind he shines the light on the path that local newspapers could take to regaining some of their lost classified revenue.
  (tags: newspaperevolution)
• Blog on the Run: Dorm etiquette. Updated; or, Whatever happened to hanging a necktie on the doorknob?
  Tufts University creates a rule about college kids doing the dirty while their roommates are in the room. I believe hell hath frozen.
  (tags: funny)
• WSJ: Storms Hit Triad
  Picture in this story shows the exact cause of our power outage at the house last night. That tree on the powerline on Dull Road is probably a 1/2 mile from our house by car, and less as the crow flies. The house they reference in the story is two doors down from ours on Concord Church. I'm really thankful no one was in it.
  (tags: lewisville)

Whatever it was, tornado or microburst, it tore a path through the woods down the block. One of our neighbors had an oak fall on their house. Scary.
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