#NC #RTP not well-positioned for growth?

RTP seeks to be more inviting for smaller companies | Mark Turner dot Net:

ᔥ AARoads.com

Skyrocketing gas prices and different priorities among today’s younger workforce are what dooms RTP. Yes, RTP could survive if it can become a place where one can not just work but also live and play, but it’s an uphill battle that RTP cannot win. Durham and Raleigh are light years ahead of RTP in this regard and that’s where the job growth will go.

It's not just the younger workers that want to rely less on their cars and work close to where they live and play.     If I ever change careers, a key factor in my decision will be in how much commute time (dispiriting, environmentally damaging) I can eliminate.

Thome's titanic homer impresses teammate.

They still got it: Thome & Giambi launch titanic Sunday homers - Big League Stew - MLB Blog - Yahoo! Sports:

Delmon Young is appropriately awed by Thome's blast.

Thome's sixth inning three-run homer off Felipe Paulino(notes) traveled an estimated 490 feet, stunning fans seated above the right-center field scoreboard, and surpassing Thome's flagpole home run last September by 10 feet to become the longest in Target Field's short history. All you have to do is look at Delmon Young's(notes) face to know that we're not talking about your run-of-the-mill shot here.

RIP 82-year-old Shailendra Kumar Upadhyay, former Nepal foreign minister, dies on Everest

82-year-old former Nepal foreign minister dies in attempt to become oldest to climb Everest - 5/9/2011 11:19:06 PM | Newser: 

Image via HemantSoreng.com/blog

An 82-year-old former Nepalese foreign minister has died on the slopes of Mount Everest while attempting to become the oldest person to climb the world's highest mountain.

Got to admire the effort.

I found myself grumbling the other day when I forgot the phone upstairs and it started ringing after I'd just descended them. "Stupid phone. Now I've got to walk back up these stairs I just walked down ... grumble, grumble." As soon as I caught myself thinking that way, I taught myself a lesson by walking up and down the stairs three more times for thinking like an old man. "You lazy sod, groaning about stairs, I'll teach you ..." 

In this day and age, how does a indie music lovin' baseball fan miss this until now?!

EXCLUSIVE: Baseball Project feat. Buck & Gibbard | SPIN.com:

The Baseball Project is a band featuring R.E.M.'s Peter Buck, Young Fresh Fellows' Scott McCaughey, the Dream Syndicate's Steve Wynn, and his wife, drummer Linda Pitmon, who geek out about their favorite baseball players and teams over power-pop riffage. See, indie nerds can play sports.

Their new album, Volume 2: High and Inside, is on deck for a March 1 release via Yep Roc, and it features an all-star lineup of collaborators, including Yo La Tengo's Ira Kaplan, the Hold Steady's Craig Finn, the Decemberists' Chris Funk and John Moen, and Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard.

A Brooklyn-based cryptocomrade was filling me on a great nightclub in his area last night and I found a recent listing for these guys -- any mention of Yo La Teno is all but guaranteed to catch my eye -- which sent me off looking for some tunes. I'm bopping to "Ichiro Goes to the Moon" as I write. I love Fuquay and the small town living, but man, sometimes it hurts a little how much it ain't Brooklyn.

Eleventh Blogiversary: Looking Backward (and Ahead)

It's been (roughly) eleven years since that fateful spring day when, from a humble Brooklyn apartment, a couple of good friends and I launched Triptych Cryptic: The Heretic Monkey of Weblogs. We started on my Geocities account, though we'd moved elsewhere long before Yahoo shut that down. We were joined over the years by a few other friends, carrying on until we finally called it quits last year. I started cryptonaut-in-exile before TC ended, but didn't consolidate my TC posts (many of them anyways) from the archives into this site until TC was gone. I'm not quite sure where to peg my blogiversary because I may have mislabeled my second post as my first in the export/import process. I'm pretty sure on TC we listed March 26, 2000 as our start date, so even though the first post wasn't mine, I'm still thinking of that as the blogiversary worth noting.

Anyways, I've been doing this one way or another at least 11, if not 12, years. (Had a blog pre-Triptych Cryptic as well, but that's lost in the mists of time.) While I miss the camaraderie of ol' TC, I have to say I'm kind of proud of this solo effort. Sure, I make typos when I'm too eager to hit 'Publish,' and I've bored and irritated a few people, but it wouldn't be reflective of my personality otherwise, right?

I'm forty now, almost certainly more than half way to my grave so it could just as easily be said I'm dying as much as living -- not to be morbid, I'm going somewhere with this -- and it doesn't look like I'm ever going start, never mind finish, the novels I was sure as a youth I had ready to burst forth from my overheated imagination. This blog then looks like it will serve as my written legacy. I don't particularly care if I have a tombstone or a marker somewhere after I shuffle off this mortal coil. However, upon reflection, I would kind of like a holographic video recording, à la Tasha Yar's but, should technology not deliver, I'm hoping this blog will be something my progeny will be able to access for a glimpse into my thoughts and interests. (Sorry about the language, future little ones, if you're out there, I was occasionally foul-mouthed.)

As a kid, I loved going through my grandparents' old stuff. I wanted to see pictures of them when they were young, and learn about what was going on in the world that had an effect on them. Even as a kid, I was fascinated by the idea that who we are is shaped by our environment and by our genetic inheritance. I could see in the old, black and white photos of my grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles as kids themselves, how they looked so similar to how my brother and I looked at the same age. My paternal grandfather's very posture in one picture from his WWII days in the Navy looked like it could have been of my dad or any of my uncles. If they looked like me, walked like me, talked like me, how much did they think like me? So much of that is gone now, dispersed or destroyed. Even my memories, sadly, get jumbled or buried so deep I'm not sure they're there. If my kids are like me, I think they'll be curious about the interconnectedness of things, of people, and I hope to leave them something more than a few scraps of evidence to satisfy that curiosity.

There's the possibility, of course, that this blog will be as inaccessible to them as recordings on reel-to-reel tape are to me now. I don't know how people will interact with the internet five years from now, never mind 50. Maybe I should think about doing an annual blog-to-print just in case ... since all my books will (hopefully!) end up with Blake and Amelia eventually, that might be the best way to hedge against a rapid technology shift.

So, Google, stay in business, don't make me move this stuff around again. I'm counting on you to be like Levi Strauss and Macy's, at least, if not Keiunkan.

Pedro Miranda, alleged serial killer, to face trial for late '80s killings in CT

First Trial Looms For Man Charged With Killing Three Young Hartford Women In Late 1980s - Courant.com:

Pedro Miranda, via the Hartford Courant

The first jury will consider the state's case against Miranda, 53, of New Britain, in the Jan. 3, 1988 killing of Carmen Lopez, 17, at 91 Nelton Court. Another man, Miguel Roman, served 20 years in prison for Lopez's killing, but was exonerated by DNA evidence that led police to bring charges against Miranda.

I don't remember these murders, no reason I would I guess. As I recall, there was a murder on the news out of the Hartford area almost every day. Odd to think that a serial killer active when I was in high school would be facing trial only now. 

New dinosaur discovered: Brontomerus ('Thunder Thighs')

BBC News - Dinosaur named 'thunder thighs' discovered:

Thunder-thighed dino was not welcome at her neighborhood Curves
due to incidents like the one pictured here.

Scientists have named a newly-discovered dinosaur Brontomerus, or 'thunder thighs', because of the huge muscles they think it had.

Also, since the Brontosaurus was discovered to be an error, it's good to have another Bronto prefixed dino name. Old timers like me can say we were trying for Brontomerus if a Brontosaurus slips out.

Since no Jeebus saddle was found with the fossils, I have to assume Creationists are still rolling with the bareback rider theory.

Tiger stripes (It's Haircut Saturday.)

With a fresh buzz, you can really see my tiger stripes. I'm practically a brindle. (Sideburn up the temple there's some color left, where I've gone completely to gray on either side.)

And the crow's feet ingrained in my face because I'm living too late.

Also, the dark under my eyes.

Good grief, I'm a mess.

WWJBD (Unless I'm mistaken, my first ever Bieber post. Old man.)

Paramount Is Pushing the Justin Bieber Movie As the Next Faith-Based Blockbuster -- Vulture:

He kicks arse for the Lord. Image via Vulture.

In the pro-Jesus, moneymaking tradition of The Blind Side and the latter-day filmography of Kirk Cameron comes — Justin Bieber: Never Say Never? USA Today reports that Paramount, the studio behind tomorrow's 3-D Bieber documentary, “has screened the movie for faith leaders across the country and distributed spiritual discussion guides — the same tools used to promote The Passion of the Christ and The Blind Side as family-friendly fare.

Things that are passed around. Survey says ...

onegoodmove: Devils & Angels

Funny. But it made me miss Richard Dawson.

Man charged in father's suicide (There's something wrong with this headline.)

Father's suicide: Man charged in father's suicide - Courant.com: 

Bruce Brodigan, 46, a teacher from Somerville, Mass., is accused of assisting in the overdose of the elder Brodigan, a Timberwood Road resident who had been a prominent area attorney and one-time interim Superior Court judge, but in recent years had Alzheimer's disease.

As a society, we need to be able to talk reasonably, responsibly, and candidly about allowing people die with dignity. I don't know the details of this situation, but if it's a case of sick, old man begging to be allowed to die, then what's criminal here is that he wasn't allowed to make those arrangements with his lawyer, doctor, and family.

I've watched family members die long, miserable deaths after being turned into bitter, frightened, raging fragments of their former selves by a terrible disease. My family history tells me there's a fair chance that, if I live into my 80s, I may have several years of dementia at the end of my life to look forward to. I'd rather suffer a living nightmare for as long as it takes than put my children through the agony of risking their livelihoods to help me die on my terms; but, rather than that, I'd like my doctor to understand my wishes and follow my instructions if the worst did come to pass. I'd prefer it if my fellow citizens would stop electing religious zealots determined to make the state the entity that gets to make the decisions about my end of life care.

Montaigne the blogger.

Sarah Bakewell Draws on Montaigne in ‘How to Live’ - NYTimes.com:

“This idea — writing about oneself to create a mirror in which other people recognize their own humanity — has not existed forever,” Ms. Bakewell writes. “It had to be invented. And, unlike many cultural inventions, it can be traced to a single person.”

I read The Essays ... ages ago, apparently taking the author's advice to heart. I remember that I read it, but I don't remember a single thing about it. Guess I could Kindle some for free and see what rings a bell. (Nothing's ever really forgotten.)

Age and happiness: The U-bend of life (Not good news for this 40-year-old.)

Age and happiness: The U-bend of life | The Economist:

Image via The Economist

When people start out on adult life, they are, on average, pretty cheerful. Things go downhill from youth to middle age until they reach a nadir commonly known as the mid-life crisis. So far, so familiar. The surprising part happens after that. Although as people move towards old age they lose things they treasure—vitality, mental sharpness and looks—they also gain what people spend their lives pursuing: happiness.

How much do I miss jai-alai? (And wagering on jai-alai?)

I was at the bowling alley today mentally assigning over/unders to people as they took to the their lanes based on little more than age, whether or not they had their own ball and shoes, how puzzled they seemed by the scoring computer, and whether they seemed fidgety or focused. I was thinking it would be fun to sit in back with a buddy and offer each other bets on stuff like whether this one will roll a strike the entire game, or that one can put three marks in a row, or the five-year-old with bumpers up +50 vs. his father in lane 18. 

In other news, my bowling skills have all but evaporated after two decades or so of neglect. Forty-year-old me would need +20 vs. twelve-year-old me. 

Datsun 240Z Stars in Russ Chimes’ Midnight Club Videos

Japanese Nostalgic Car – Blog | Blog Archive | Datsun 240Z Stars in Russ Chimes’ Midnight Club Videos: If you're about my age, it's a safe bet you spent some time tooling around in someone's hand-me-down  240ZX or B210 Sundowner, am I right?

I've never looked back since Nissan phased out the Datsun name.

8-Year-Olds Publish Scientific Bee Study

8-Year-Olds Publish Scientific Bee Study | Wired Science | Wired.com:

This kid contributed an article to a peer-reviewed science journal. What did you do today?

“We discovered that bumblebees can use a combination of colour and spatial relationships in deciding which colour of flower to forage from,” the students wrote in the paper’s abstract. “We also discovered that science is cool and fun because you get to do stuff that no one has ever done before.”

How about that ... a precocious kids and bees story that doesn't involve trip to the hospital! Hooray science kids! (40 year-old blogger suddenly realizes his lack of accomplishment at an advanced age, slinks away silently ... )

Festivus Traditions: The Airing of Grievances. "I've got a lot of problems with you people! And now, you're going to hear about it."

This is where, in the spirit of intolerance and ingratitude, I vent the things people have done to disappoint me this year.

1. You were the car dealerships practicing bait and switch. Luring me into your dealership with prices you have no intention of honoring, pretending you know nothing about the promotion I'm referring to until I make you bring it up on your computer and show it to you. Then, you suddenly remember something about residuals or non-negotiable fees.
2. You didn't vote this year or, worse, voted for a homophobic, two-faced, sub-moron bent on ruining the national economy and destroying what limited ability the government has to function as a force for justice and the protection of our civil liberties.
3. You tail-gated me when I couldn't get in the right lane, then zipped past me once I finally could, then cut in front of me without using your turn signal, and then ... you slowed down! You drive like [expletive deleted]. It doesn't impress me that you've got an anti-Obama bumper sticker on your trunk either. No, I'm not thrilled with the execution of the "hopey-changey stuff" I was promised but your guy was still the worse option and can you please make your former VP candidate / half-Governor / caribou-slaying snowbilly grifter go away!
4. Then there's all y'all that were awarded a Glasgow kiss this past year. 

Feels good to have gotten all that stuff off my chest. I'm ready to engage in Feats of Strength. It's a Festivus miracle!

I turn 40 on Festivus!

It's not too late send your presents in time for my 40th / Festivus celebration! In lieu of gifts, you could also make a donation, in your own name -- don't drag me into mailing-list hell with you! (unless you flipped a few bucks to the Freedom From Religion Foundation, they've already got my info -- and just let me know about it. I will consider that a Festivus miracle!

Click image for a list of (real!) secular charities.

Twain's advice to young writers.

Twain letter to aspiring Canadian writer set for auction:

Sample Twain correspondence

'You make a conclusive argument against your book: first, when you mention your age; second, when you state what your life has been,' Clemens, pulling no punches, wrote to Munro from his home in Hartford, Conn., on Oct. 21, 1881.

The young Munro was undaunted. I've been taking Twain's advice as if it were written to me across the years; however, can start thinking about my own ambitions again more seriously after I turn 40 ... soon.

Reflections On Nearing 40

Three months until I roll the big 4-0. I'm not giving it much thought but, to the extent I've reflected on it, it's about what these guys said:

As I near 40, I realize I age like a fine wine. Alone, in a cellar.Sun Sep 05 09:21:40 via Twitter for BlackBerry®Gregory Arlt
gregoryarlt

There's also the portliness:

Looks like I'm about 3 1/2 months overweight.Sun Sep 05 21:46:45 via Twitter for iPhonematt
biorhythmist

I have an amazon wishlist, but I imagine this is what you're thinking:

A gift card is a great way to say: "I'm too lazy to think of a gift to get you, and I'm pretty sure you'd buy booze if I gave you money."Mon Sep 06 21:43:10 via webJason Mustian
jasonmustian