Pretty windy.
Category: Of Interest
Those miscellaneous things that just must be published.
Minister and family on mission to keep violent video games from youth
On October 20, 2007 a tragedy occurred. A 16 year old had been home bound with a staph infection. During his time from school, he secretly purchased Halo 3 and played up to 18 hours a day. Discovered by his parents, the game was confiscated. He then shot them. The mother died; the father survived. Now the pastor and his family crusade against violent video games.
The family is now on a collective mission to keep violent video games from the hands of America’s youth.
"I’m gonna fight them," says Petric of the video game producers. "They put weapons in the hands of our children that teaches them murder, and that killing is okay." (emphasis added)
This is a horrific crime. I’m making no excuse for any party and, although studies have shown no link between violent video games and real life violence, I am not defending the games either. I take issue with the statement that " put weapons in the hands of our children" because, in this case, the weapon clearly came from the father.
Daniel, who had raided his father’s lockbox, raised his 9 mm handgun — loaded with hollow point rounds…
Daniel used his father’s key to unlock the lockbox and take back his game. Daniel also took his father’s 9 mm handgun along with the game.
I am not suggesting that we take away people’s guns. This is not an attack upon the second amendment. I am suggesting that this crime would have possibly been prevented with an appropriate gun safe, gun locks, or not having a weapon in the house at all. Please lock up your guns in a way your children cannot access them. Please teach your children gun safety.
It’s not the game. It’s not the gun. It’s not the parents. It’s the person holding the gun.
Thank you Internet!
Who Watches Who
Based upon the commercials airing with tonight’s Doctor Who, the audience is wealthy, sad, old people with pooping problems seeking to connect with their ancestors and they have dogs.
Veg-o-rama is closed
Knoxville is hard on restaurants. Seems like we close them as fast as new ones open. Today I tried to take a friend to Veg-o-rama for lunch only to find the door locked (had to ask myself if today was Monday) and a KUB door tag blowing down the street. If you’ve never had the displeasure of receiving a KUB door tag, it’s basically a notice that if you don’t pay your bill by 5pm that your utilities will be turned off. The Time Warp Tearoom says they’ve been locked up for about two weeks.
To the best of my knowledge, Veg-o-rama was Knoxville’s only true vegetarian restaurant and introduced me to a variety of delicious entrees I presumed not achievable in a vegetarian dish. From their website:
Welcome to Veg-O-Rama, Knoxville, Tennessee’s only full-service vegetarian restaurant and bar. Our eclectic menu features daily specials based on as much local and organic produce as we can source. We also feature regular menu items like the Veggie Burger, Chili Dogs, and the Getting-to-be-Famous Tofu Reuben that are available all the time.
Veg-o-rama was staffed by wonderful, friendly people. The atmosphere was inviting and accommodated conversation between diners. Additionally, Veg-o-rama added to the developing character of Central Avenue which holds promise of developing into a quaint community. I hope they are simply going through a rough patch and reopen soon but I presume the worst. So, what are your favorite places to each vegetarian in Knoxville?
Tune in today 9-10am
Today, May 11, 2011 from 9am to 10am, I’ll be discussing blogging with Brian Hornback (Twitter: @brianhornback), Ed Brantley and Bob Thomas on WNOX‘s 100.3 The Ed & Bob Show (listen live online). You can interact with Ed and Bob on Facebook and Twitter. I suspect you can call in with questions or feel free to use twitter to send messages to @djuggler or post in comments here. This will be a blast!
RIP Evelyn Sothman
My friend, my Knoxville "mom," has passed away.
To me she will always be "Mom" Sothman sharing the family’s dinner during my college years. She even brought me along to "family" reunions and gatherings of an unrelated family in LaFollette whom she met at a stay in the stay in the hospital. Evelyn Sothman shared video with me of one of the last caretakers of the Wonderland Hotel at Elkmont. Through her, and that smile she wore, I felt closer to the people and the kindness of East Tennessee.
I miss her. May Trisha, Chris and the rest of the family be happy knowing that their mother brought joy to those around her. My love and condolences to you all.
Doug
I am happy to have seen her recently. She was working the polls during the most recent election and I had a few moments to get a hug and catch up.
Stop Outsourcing at Knox County Schools
A friend from Jobs with Justice of East Tennessee asked that I help spread their word:
Jobs with Justice of East Tennessee is petitioning to save the jobs of 275 or more custodial workers as Superintendent Dr. McIntyre has proposed an outsourcing plan as part of the 2011-2012 school budget which would:
- lay off 275 workers across the county
- reduce custodial wages by $2-$5 per hour
- decrease quality of work (as shown by the last outsourcing attempt)
Please sign our online petition urging the school board to avoid outsourcing in our schools! http://bit.ly/g69Uz3
Jobs with Justice of East Tennessee is having a lunch for custodians and other school employees and community members this Saturday.
Custodians and other school employees and community members have been circulating petitions and talking to the Board of Education about the proposal to contract out custodial services. This is a very bad idea – bad for employees, students, and the whole community. There are a couple of School Board meetings coming up soon, so this might be a good time for folks to get together and talk about what we need to do next.
Let’s meet for lunch Saturday, April 30, 12 noon to 2 pm at the UNITE Building, 1124 N. Broadway (less than a mile north of Central).
Since custodians work different shifts, Saturday seems like the best chance to get together. We’d like the other folks who have been working on this to attend as well.
Lunch & Child Care are provided.
Family members are welcome at this gathering. Everyone is important. We’ll talk about what we’ve accomplished so far, and how we might move forward to save jobs and the quality of our schools. We can do this!
If you have questions before Saturday, call Jobs with Justice volunteers Karly Safar, 615/519-0157 or Brad Rayson, 865/385-4421.
Not always as nerdy as I should be
Only today have I comprehended the meaning behind HAL’s dirge, "Daisy Bell," at the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
In 1961, the IBM 7094 became the first computer to sing, singing [Daisy Bell]. Vocals were programmed by John Kelly and Carol Lockbaum and the accompaniment was programmed by Max Mathews.
Always Room for a Farmer’s Market
This is Bangkok’s Maeklong Market and shows any city can find space for a farmer’s market. More pictures. Seen on Banned in Hollywood. Here’s another great video.
Driving Knoxville’s First Racetrack
Knoxville’s first racetrack, and location of the first airplane landing in Knoxville, was built by an ex-slave who made a fortune burying the Civil War dead. His racetrack still exist and in this video we drive it.
Entertainment Opportunity for You
Union County seeks entertainers for their Renaissance Faire Saturday, April 16 from 11am-4pm.
I am too booked that day to be able to help.
Would anybody (and multiple people can do this) be interested in providing walk-around entertainment at this event? This is volunteer work. Their one request is no clowns.
Here’s the link to their flyer.
If interested, email me juggler@gmail.com or call/text 865-898-7189 or skype: djuggler and I’ll get you contact information of the event organizer.
Best ev’r reminder service fails to its own success – RIP Jott.com
I can’t remember…oh right, RIP Jott.
"We founded Jott in April of 2006. … In 2006 Jott emerged as a leader in mobile voice-to-text applications… we will focus our voice-to-text service investments on carrier and enterprise distribution, and no longer on Jott.com." [Source, Jott blog]
Of all the services I’ve played with and have seen go, this is the first that almost brought a tear to my eye. 
My first Jott was on September 5, 2007 at 9:54am. I spoke into my phone and the service translated my words to text. I would later learn that Jott used a combination of computer software and people at call centers. I imagine that if the software failed to understand a word, that segment of the message would be pushed to a queue and transcribed by person. Jott sat on my speed dial and I could verbally leave a message, send it to another service like Remember The Milk or another person via email/sms/etc, and even set a reminder which would send the transcribed message to me via SMS. I even had Jott installed as the default software for my Jawbone Icon
How the hell am I going to remember anything?! (Springpad of course!)
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
A Tiny Day in the Jackson Hole Backcountry from Tristan Greszko on Vimeo.
This looks like something that belongs on Adult Swim.
Knoxville STEM School Excites Students
The student/parent orientation and final tour of the STEM school before major renovation begins was this week. Noah received his official acceptance letter and will be one of 43 students in the sophomore class. A graduating class of 43! My graduating class from Germantown High School in 1988 was 672 people. I can only imagine how unique and special Noah’s education will be. The orientation was akin to a family reunion. Everyone seemed to know each other and be very like minded with regard to the goals of education. The principal is extremely enthusiastic. I have high hopes and think the Knoxville STEM Academy will do great! Oh, one of the highlights was the announcement that all students will be issued an iPad 2. There will be no textbooks. I’m thrilled and I’m thrilled for Noah.
Video source: WBIR.
