This falls into the awesomely cool category: The 14 year old son of Wilco's frontman Jeff Tweedy took Beyonce's Single Ladies and created a great remix called Single Digits. Go give it a listen. (Found via Boing Boing).
Tom Terrell's fantastic blog post on former NC Gov. Easley's plea deal contains a fantastic reminder for anyone in public service:
But the point, nonetheless, remains. From lowly Soil and Water Conservation District representatives to the President, men and women elevated to elected and appointed positions have fiduciary duties to the public. They exercise and are entrusted with powers we have handed them to take care of the rest of us. This power can be used beneficially for the common good, or it can be abused for all the reasons that gave rise to Shakespeare’s many tragedies.
The problem is that political power is like Frodo’s ring. When you possess it, it consumes you in ways you don’t understand, and it works its black magic before you realize it’s happening. All we can do is to be vigilant and to keep reminding ourselves of the weakness of the human spirit and the dangers inherent in power itself.
Our faith in our own cities and counties as well as our state and nation depends upon it.
I'm old enough to remember the last period of stagflation our country suffered through, and even though I wasn't yet part of the working adult world I vividly remember the nightly newscasts as being both confusing and scary. I'm starting to get a case of deja vu, and I don't like it. From ZeroHedge (found via Fec):
A recent Bloomberg article talked about "leakage from quantitative easing (QE).” That is, American as well as foreign firms are increasing tapping the U.S. market for Fed’s cheap money, but instead of generating domestic jobs, the money is actually invested away from the U.S. and into emerging markets, commodity-based economies, commodities, and non-U.S. opportunities.
So far, it is abundantly clear that a majority of the past two years’ worth of QEs–The Fed bought $1.7 trillion of bonds in QE1 and is now buying a second batch of $600 billion–is not trickling down to the real economy to create jobs as intended.
The easy Fed money is instead fueling Big Banks' speculative buying binges of commodities, incentivizing QE leakage, thereby brewing another "perfect storm" for stagflation, that is, high inflation coupled with high unemployment.
I'm going to warn you ahead of time that this is potentially a very depressing post. Have you ever wondered how many houses in your area are in foreclosure? No need to wonder. Just go to Google Maps and do the following (found via Fec's blog):
Google Maps Foreclosure Listings
1. Punch in any US address into Google Maps.
2. Your options are Earth, Satellite, Map, Traffic and . . . More. (Select “More”)
3. The drop down menu gives you a check box option for “Real Estate.”
4. The left column will give you several options (You may have to select “Show Options”)
5. Check the box marked “Foreclosure.”
Below is a screen shot of a Google Map after I plugged in a Forsyth County, NC address and zoomed out. Those aren't measles you're looking at.
Oops, I guess the headline was a Freudian slip. It should read 10 Signs of a Meth House, but seriously don't the descriptions just scream Clemmons? Particularly:
3. Lots of traffic — people coming and going at unusual times. There may be little traffic during the day, but at night the activity increases dramatically.
7. Secretive/protected area surrounding the residence (video cameras, alarm systems, guard dogs, reinforced doors, electrified fencing).
I could be wrong, but when did that ever stop me, Fox News or MSNBC?
You ever wake up and realize that you're the dim bulb in a chandelier of very bright lights? Well, that's me. I consider it one of the great gifts in my life that I'm surrounded by people who are far brighter, funnier, talented, etc. than I am. It's not false modesty; it's truly a blessing that I'm very grateful for, because it's fantastic to constantly be challenged and stimulated by those around me. A perfect case in point is this Ignite presentation by my cousin Adam Good where he talks about applying the remixing practices of DJs to knowledge. If you're like me you'll think, "Man that's a cool concept, but I'll be damned if I can explain it." That's okay, because Adam does a great job explaining it himself. Enjoy.
The video below is pretty cool; it's a time-lapse video of photos taken of a girl every day (almost) from her birth to her 10th year. My first thought upon seeing this is that in a couple of years the parents are going to wish they could time-lapse the teenage years for real. Just sayin', the two bid 'D's (dating and driving) will drive you to the brink.
The IRS has released a list of people they're looking for to send unclaimed refund checks to, and the Triad Business Journal has a handy-dandy database you can use to search to if you're one of them. In Lewisville, NC the people the IRS is looking for are:
R. Fulton
Z. Hartman
D. Kipp
B. Lindsay
B. Ward
D. & P. Weatherman
Here's a young talent by the name of Ranford Almond performing on the streets of Greensboro (found at Roch101)
Befuddled 