Living in an “Age of Miracles” is a shopworn refrain in these days of technical advancement. Seems like replacing a fan belt while your car engine is running would be child’s play compared to Dr. Petracek’s replacement of a defective heart valve.
He makes it seem so routine. Unbelievable.

Michael R. Petracek, MD of [...]

There’s been a small discussion over on SqueezeThePulp about the declining efficacy of local media outlets in covering our community. I suggested that new media outlets will soon move into this long fallow territory - intensively covering local events - to the possible detriment of traditional news outlets.
It appears that Carrboro is the center [...]

This is still very raw, but I thought I’d put out this demo to stir some thought within the community. Visualization tools like GoogleEarth (GE) can help remove some of the difficulty in assessing the visual impact of new development.
Our town’s planning department has the raw data needed to create a GoogleEarth representation of [...]

An update on the muni-networking task force prepared by UNC’s Shannon Howle Schelin, PhD, one of our stronger advocates for 21st century infrastructure.

On November 13, 2006, an exploratory meeting was held at the Town of Chapel Hill to discuss the Town’s interest in pursuing a wireless strategy. The goal of the meeting was to determine [...]

Went to an interesting Downtown Partnership sponsored Safety Forum this morning, the notes of which I’ll post later…
While there I had the pleasure of meeting the Herald-Sun’s Robert Ashley.
Poor guy. He probably wouldn’t have sat next to me if he’d known I was going to give him an earful about the Herald-Sun’s on-line linking [...]

I’ve been thinking quite a bit about citizen journalism of late.
Exemplary reports by BlueNC’s own SouthernDem, Greensboro’s release of the “secret” RMA report detailing the reasons for their police chief’s discharge, commentary from real journalists at the recent ConvergeSouth unconference, the Sunlight Foundation’s key assistance in outing congressional nepotism and revealing federal [...]

There were 20+ folks tonight - with a couple from the media - maybe 4 or 5 organizers - some town staff and the balance being interested citizens. I was already convinced that District 15B voters have a heck of slate of candidates before them - tonight I was more impressed than ever.
Very simply [...]

Opening statements. I botched Mr. Stein’s statement. Later this week I hope to retrieve a video copy from the cable telecast.

youTube link to opening statements.

youTube link to video on judicial temperament.

youTube link to video on staying current with the law, the legal profession and trends thereof….

Via Ed Cone, the consultant’s report (RMA) I posted on earlier is in the wild. An anonymously redacted and posted version is available on Greensboro101.
Guarino has a nice precis of the report - says that the report is “remarkable because of its relatively narrow scope”.
Now, the big question, at least for blogactivists: will [...]

Even the forward looking journalists at this weekend’s ConvergeSouth could learn a trick or two from our local university’s Daily Tar Heel.
What a great mashup of raw data on drinking violations and mapping technology to simply demonstrate an evolution of a problem.
Well done Tar Heel.

Walked in on Bora Coturnix ( BlogAroundTheClock ) discussing his use of MySpace to identify folk by common Yugoslavian last names and then reach out through th “Add to Friend” function of MySpace to contact them…
Nearly every one contacted joined. He goes on to describe, given the youth of those folks responding, how his [...]

A room chock-full of “real” journalists. Followed by media/PR consultants and then a sprinkling of citizen activists.
So far, introductions.
Local political whiz, former Council member, Gerry C is here - I look forward to meeting him face to face.
Anglico (Jim Protzman) and SouthernDem are here for BlueNC. SouthernDem is a great, citizen journalist.
Zabouti (George [...]

First session of ConvergeSouth just wrapped. So far the “UN” part of conference hasn’t really kicked in…probably too early on a Saturday morning to do total engagement.
I had the opportunity to be the first non-”Ed Cone” questioner of Elizabeth. I put a tough one to her, asking if she had had a conversation [...]