Entries Tagged as ‘Uncategorized’

June 30, 2008

Latin Kings Press Conference

I made my way over to the Beloved Community Center on Arlington Street this morning to see the conference Rev. Nelson Johnson held with members of the Latin Kings.
I’ve had an interest in street gangs since spending some time with them last year for a story and reporting on several gang-related homicides in Greensboro. I [...]

June 23, 2008

When You are Engulfed in Flames

Bought David Sedaris’ new book, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, over the weekend.

I’ve been reading a chapter or two a night, stretching it out. But it’s tempting to finish the whole thing in one sitting. Good stuff.
Even some of the stuff I’ve read previously in magazines — “Brother, Can You Spare a Tie?” for [...]

June 23, 2008

George Carlin dead at 71 - now part of “The Big Electron”

My favorite George Carlin bit.

I’m going to miss that guy.

January 13, 2008

No limit to online betting’s strangeness

I’ve been looking at more online gambling sites — and it’s a strange, strange world.
There’s basketball betting, baseball betting and football betting, sure — but did you realize you can bet on Snooker? Also handball and darts, apparently.
I’ve never even seen “Hurling” — but apparently you can bet on this, online.
I guess there are some [...]

January 11, 2008

Online gaming — almost as profitable as drugs

I just read that the online gaming business apparently makes $5.2 billion annually, in the U.S. alone.
How is that possible?
What am I missing?
This is mostly World of Warcraft and massively multiplayer online games, right?
Or does this also include subscriptions for console games like Halo and war games online?
How is it possible that a an industry [...]

January 10, 2008

High Speed Broadband

Living in Greensboro, I feel like I’m getting screwed on wireless Internet.
Time Warner Cable seems to be the only real option if you want high speed cable Internet and you live in the city — and I feel like they’re gouging me.
I want high speeds, I want it to be reliable, and I don’t [...]

January 10, 2008

“Care” and “Home” aren’t supposed to be dirty words

People in my family don’t generally live long enough to need rest homes.
Cigarettes, alcohol, genetic predispositions to diseases that kill them fairly young — it’s just never been something we’ve had to deal with.
The few people in my family who I can remember living to very ripe old ages continued living by themselves or with [...]

December 31, 2007

Instant Karma

For the last 48 hours I’ve been struggling with some sort of super bug that can only be beat back with large doses of over-the-counter cold medicine that makes me loopy and prone to passing out for hours and waking startled.
Not that I don’t always wake up startled.
Also, the cat is vomiting.
Again.
Outside it was raining [...]

October 31, 2007

Clocking Out

Will everyone not leaving my profession please raise a hand?
N&R Business reporter Michelle Jarboe is leaving us to go to the Cleveland Plain Dealer — which is a move to another newspaper rather than into PR. But a lot of people I know at a lot of papers are just getting out of the business.
If [...]

October 31, 2007

Gang activity at NC A&T?

Word of what looks like gang violence at NC A&T — two freshmen say they were attacked for the colors they were wearing on campus.
According to the story, A&T police Chief Richard Holden said he has not seen any “definitive evidence of gang activity” on campus.
“Definitive evidence” isn’t always easy to come by — and [...]

September 3, 2007

My buddy Luke’s story at Wired

Also, while I was gone Wired took notice of my buddy Luke McIntyre’s story on DJ Johnny Walker breaking the Guinness record for on-air radio broadcasting at WUAG. They excerpted some of his excellent story on their Listening Post blog.
Luke is managing editor of my old college paper, The Carolinian, and is interning at Go [...]

August 3, 2007

They say it’s our birthday

It’s apparently Kevin Smith’s birthday too.
And he’s spending it at the Count Basie Theatre.

August 2, 2007

“Don’t wanna stay alive when you’re 25″

Billy rapped all night ’bout his suicide
How he’d kick it in the head when he was 25
Don’t wanna stay alive when you’re 25

- David Bowie, “All The Young Dudes”
Brother, you guessed.
I’m a dude.
No, wait.
I mean I’m 25. Today.
Which is strange. I know I say this every year — but it never stops being true: I [...]

July 12, 2007

Unbuttoned

Go check out the newest News & Record blog, Unbuttoned.
Vaguely salacious name, yes — and an intriguing idea.
Three News & Record staffers are taking on pseudonyms in order to blog about their love lives — their past romantic train wrecks, the date they just had, the type they always find themselves attracted to — and [...]

June 21, 2007

Important message from CBLDF

From a Comic Book Legal Defense Fund press release:
Gordon Lee Trial Date Set – CBLDF Needs Your Help!

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund urgently needs your help. This August,
the long-running case of Georgia v. Gordon Lee will finally go to trial, with
court costs expected to hit $20,000.
For nearly three years the Fund [...]

June 7, 2007

Where is your God now?

Perhaps the ultimate proof of the absence of God.
And justice.

May 7, 2007

Reporter covers Gore speech, whether he wants it or not

The San Antonio Express News snuck a reporter into Al Gore’s no-press speech at the American Institute of Architects convention.
The paper’s public editor argues the reporter did nothing unethical,registering under his own name, entering the event and then writing about it. Comparing the event (in terms of coverage only) to a Klan rally, he argues [...]

May 3, 2007

Through the drinking glass

I don’t need dishes. I’ve still got these gorgeous black ones that I mocked before buying a set of my own.
But if I did I’d buy these Alice in Wonderland Dishes from Fishs Eddy:

They’re quiet yet strange, reproducing the original engravings by Victorian artist Sir John Tenniel.
I love this kind of stuff. But I have [...]

April 25, 2007

To: The Universe Re: The last week

Oh, come on.
Give me a break already.
I pay my effing taxes.
I like kids.
I’m not wild about animals but I’m never cruel to them.
I never, ever litter.
Do you think I could catch my breath for a moment before you shove my head back under?
Let me know what it is I’m doing to you. I’ll stop. [...]

April 24, 2007

Legendary journalist David Halberstam dies in car crash

From CNN:
SAN FRANCISCO, California (CNN) — Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author David Halberstam has died in a car accident in Menlo Park, California, near San Francisco, the San Mateo County coroner’s office said Monday.
In 1964 Halberstam, then with The New York Times, shared a Pulitzer for international reporting for his coverage of the early years [...]