The Scruffy City Blog

If you're sliding off the Gay St. bridge...

2012-01-02T22:01:00.000-05:00

So some snow hit Knoxville tonight, and as I usually do when things get wacky, I tuned into the police scanner. One of Knoxville's finest was attempting to cross Gay St. bridge and asked about getting some salt trucks out there... Dispatch responded that "we can't salt that bridge, it'll void the warranty."

Luckily the cop went ahead and put a little bit of chemicals on the road to de-ice a patch. But if you ever plummet to your doom thanks to an icy patch on Gay St. bridge, just remember "I wish we'd bought the extended, salt-OK warranty for this stupid bridge..."

Your tax dollars at work!

How Knology could have kept me as a customer for a measly $10

2011-12-13T18:48:00.000-05:00

As I've said before, we were early adopters when Knology came to Knoxville. And I would still be a customer, if they would pay someone slightly more than minimum wage to handle their social media. You see, companies, when you set up a Twitter account and never acknowledge major issues until hours after they occur, you are not using Twitter correctly. I don't come to your house and wipe my ass with your tablecloth, do I?

So here's the thing. I have complained numerous times to Knology via their Twitter account. Frankly, it is one of the best ways to relay live information. Instead of updating their Twitter feed when they suffered a major outage, an outage which made them unavailable by PHONE support, they instead let their Twitter feed sit unattended for hours. Then, they hand-picked a few clueless saps who were having issues and responded with a few "Sorry, we're working on it" tweets. Pathetic.

Further, I had no idea about their Edge service, and was not once solicited. I know very little about sales, but it seems like if a customer is completely unaware of a product, they are 100% less likely to buy it. Contrast that with AT&T, who sends me mailers by the dozen each week. I'm not suggesting Knology go as far at AT&T, which I consider wasting money with all those mailers, but at the *least* shoot me an email or something! Heck, try to upsell me when you fix my service!

Speaking of service -- I found it to be great sometimes, abysmal at others. There was no rhyme or reason, there was no institutional knowledge of me as a customer (let's face it, I'm a pain in the ass and should be listed as such -- that's a basic of 21st century CRM). Each interaction was a new one, whether on Twitter or elsewhere. But worse, I went through 4 or 5 DVRs in just a few years, we had lots of service problems and Knology wound up being late with higher speeds than everyone else in town.

There were good things about Knology, and at the time it was a good deal, but now that they've acted like my business is nothing to them, I think we're done here. AT&T, by contrast, called me after the install based on a twitter conversation. Actually, called before AND after to ensure I was happy. Granted, waiting one hour on the phone to reschedule my appointment they screwed up (late, I had an appointment that evening and couldn't stay) after we already waited 2 years after they completely ignored our original work order.

Businesses need to learn HOW to use the tools that are out there. I'll leave the Cautionary Tale of the Comedy Club for next time.

Harry Potter Hip-Hop in Knoxville

2011-12-05T23:56:00.000-05:00

LiL iFFy and Dude Source released Wandcore back on Nov. 13, presumably as a one-off, but word has it they are still performing. I'd love to see a show, the music is awesome.

Knoxville: A good place to murder kids

2011-12-02T11:45:00.000-05:00

Just read this and follow the bunny trail until you discover: the police basically did investigative work by looking at text messages and making a few hurried calls. I'm betting there was some seminar 8 years ago about how "all the kids is usin the texting now, so that's your top priority as a detective" ... sigh.

Knology goes down. Hard.

2011-11-29T22:53:00.000-05:00

Not that anyone in the local media noticed, but Knology suffered a pretty major outage today for several hours. A couple of limp tweets indicated downtime (long after it had begun) and supposed uptime (I just gave up and went somewhere else -- having to abandon my house to get work done is always great).

What I find HILARIOUS is that they responded to less than a dozen people on Twitter. Knology, seemingly incapable of understanding the internet, is also your supplier of internet service. Their phone lines were busy today, I'm guessing due to call volume and not massive incompetence.

My options to switch? Comcast, which has terrible (legendary and sometimes hilariously, spectacularly BAD) customer service and quality of service, or AT&T's U-Verse. AT&T actually had a guy come to our house (which we hate) and knock on our door unsolicited to give us a "great" deal on U-Verse when it debuted in Knoxville 2 years ago. Guess what? That work order sat on my fridge door for over a year before I think I threw it away, giving up on AT&T. I think it says something when a company can't live up to a signed document. Of course, if I fail to pay my iPhone bill I get in trouble. Nothing happens to AT&T in this case.

Knology, on the other hand, should be thrown out of Knoxville and fined massively for the incompetence and failures it has plagued our town with.

Hoping for a Rogero mayoral win

2011-11-08T16:47:00.000-05:00

I really get the feeling Mark Padgett wants to be a one-term mayor, a one-term governor and then hit D.C. with a vengeance. I get the vibe from him (and yes, I've been around him in person) that he sees politics as an ambition, as a career path, as a route to fame and fortune.

Which is exactly the things you should never look for in someone you plan to put in public office.

Rather, look for a candidate who understands that civil SERVICE is a service to the community. Look for someone with a smidge of experience in the public sector, because, like it or not, the government and its ancillary minions are a complex web, and it takes experience to make the most of the taxpayer's money.

So I'm hoping Knoxville elects Tennessee's first female mayor to a town our size, someone with experience, vision and a heart: Madeline Rogero.

Can't wait to see the outcome!

Why I voted for Rogero

2011-11-03T18:01:00.000-04:00

I typically don't tell people who I voted for in an election. There's a reason our voting system was designed for registered voters (fairness) but still remains anonymous (openness). Anyway, I cast my vote for Madeline Rogero because she knows how to run a city.

Contrast this with the under-35 Mark Padgett, whose qualification is running a company with less than a dozen employees.

I think the way the campaigns have been run are indicative of what types of people we're talking about. Mark has an "end justifies the means" attitude, and is downright combative when, in truth, he and Rogero agree on a lot of things. It's an attempt to paint Rogero as some "tax and spend" liberal -- a common Republican "fear factor" play. Not surprising, considering Mark's campaign manager worked on the McCain campaign. Scare the population, win the election. Well, it didn't work for McCain, so I'm hoping it won't work for Padgett.

I mean, he can't even keep track of speeding tickets.

Mark should spend some time as a city councilman before trying to run a city when he doesn't even know what programs are helping the city. I'm sure he means well, but he's simply unqualified.

Knoxville's FIRST comedy booze cruise October 21

2011-10-18T09:49:00.003-04:00

Get ready for Halloween by practicing your drinking on a boat -- the Star of Knoxville, in fact. Knoxcomedy.com will have our very first ever Knoxville Comedy Booze Cruise this Friday night. Get tickets here on Eventbrite, or contact me and I'll personally deliver some tickets to your house or nearby non-creepy meeting place.

Support this and spread the word so we can do more of them!

Rocky Top Comedy Contest Finals!

2011-10-11T08:09:00.000-04:00

You can read more about the comedy contest on Knoxcomedy.com, but this is the second year for the event and this year's finals have comedians from all over the country (well, almost all over). It'll be at the Square Room, which is an awesome venue right downtown. Don't miss it -- these are the comedians you haven't heard of yet but likely will some day!

Keep it classy, GOP!

2011-10-05T12:29:00.001-04:00

Let's not forget that the big, bad government FORCES people who need parking lots to allocate a certain few spaces to handicapped parking. Of course, this doesn't stop GOP donors to flout the law and park wherever they damn well please.

You got that, people with handicaps? THE GOP HATES YOU, GO DIAF.

Here's the scoop from Metropulse's Cari Gervin via Twitter:
"carigervin: I really hope no one handicapped needs one of the 4 spots in the 7th Adventist lot, bc non-disabled GOP donors took all of them."

Nice work, GOP. Besides rich white folks, is there anyone you don't hate?

Waste Connections won't brake for you if you cross the street

2011-10-05T12:05:00.002-04:00

Today they were supposed to pick up recycling in my neighborhood. Since I didn't get to my house until later this morning, I didn't know if they'd come by, but when I saw Waste Connections picking up recycling on a nearby street, I dragged my giant brown canister out to the end of the driveway and tried, frantically, to flag the guy down. No luck! He didn't even look at me. I guess next time I'll jump in front of the truck and just die.

Thanks, Knoxville! This recycling program is off to a rockin' start. Oh, did I mention I never received the postcard that was supposed to tell me what day they'd pick up recycling? Yeah. But it would be logical to be on the same day as trash pickup. Except, in Waste Connections world, NOTHING is logical.

Update: By the time I called to complain, the support rep said he'd tell dispatch and see if the guy was still nearby... I'll update if he returns, but I doubt it. The hold was about 5-10 minutes, so he's probably in Kentucky by now.

Update 2: So it's after 4pm now and no pickup. Nicely done. Also, I saw one of their garbage trucks drive by my neighbor's house (who lives across the street), look at the trash piled up at the end of his driveway and they just KEPT DRIVING. They actually slowed to look, however. Not sure what's up with that, but I can't believe the City of Knoxville is paying these jokers to "take care" of its citizens. The best part is I just got my property taxes... I wonder how it'd be if I pay them in recyclables? I'd be happy to dump it in front of City Hall.

Tennessee River Comedy Booze Cruise - it begins!

2011-09-29T22:38:00.000-04:00

Organized by Knoxville's source of cutting edge comedy, Knoxcomedy.com, the TN River Comedy Booze Cruise will kick off with Sean Riccio, Dave Wright, Waylon Whiskey, Trae Crowder, Matt Ward and Jeff Blank. This is the very first one, we're hoping to have plenty more. Tell your friends!

Buy tickets here.

Here's how stuff is promoted in Knoxville

2011-09-19T17:13:00.002-04:00

With a hashtag on Twitter. Good luck with that.

GOP contradicts Obama

2011-09-11T23:26:00.002-04:00

"Obama says U.S. doesn't give in to fear at speech commemorating the tenth anniversary of the terror attacks" - FOX News

Later today the GOP issued a statement pointing to the Iraq war and several other post-9/11 actions to prove, conclusively, that the U.S. DOES give in to fear. Often. With gusto. They can't just agree, with the POTUS, you know? They are keeping it real.

They jumped to their death holding hands

2011-09-11T16:55:00.002-04:00

This has me all kinds of screwed up today.

Read this

2011-09-06T01:44:00.000-04:00

Good analysis by a former Republican. In fact, brilliant analysis and important summary if you care about our country at all. Information is power.

Knoxville News Sentinel endorses Rogero for Mayor

2011-09-04T13:57:00.000-04:00

I hope it helps and Madeline Rogero becomes the first female mayor of Knoxville. Here's the KNS announcement.

"How is this pro biz in a conservative town?"

2011-08-30T22:31:00.001-04:00

Wonders Jay Lalonde. About? The fines preventing the Wests from putting planters at the rooftop of the Preservation Pub in Market Square. They had them there, and they were lovely, but the city sent them a notice to remove them or get fined $100 a day. This smacks of petty ridiculousness, and a commenter on Metropulse's story suggests someone is intent on harassing the Wests... Sad, really -- small town bullshit.

But that's not the point. The point is that there's apparently some idiotic ordinance against planters on the roof. It appears they aren't allowed to be seen from Market Square? I'm not sure what the point of this is, honestly. In NYC this past week I saw a promo poster for a design event and the artist had reversed the buildings and Central Park so that the city was mostly park, and all buildings. I also saw a giant tree on top of an apartment building. But no flowers on what, until then, had been unused space -- urban blight.

Anyway, I agree with Jay. If we're a "pro-business" and "anti-government interference" right wing area of the country, what's up with this crap? Or a local ordinance against food trucks? And so on.

Nicely's Tavern

2011-08-11T13:09:00.000-04:00

Metropulse has a nice writeup here, but I'll echo the sentiments there: Nicely's is awesome. Low key, friendly and cozy, the tavern was a tradition when I was in college back when it was Hawkeye's. But Nicely's is a different beast than a "wings and beer" shop. The beef comes from the Nicely's own farm and the taste can't be beat. I've had beef from all over the world, organic and not, grass fed and "vegetarian fed" (yeah, really), and I haven't had beef as tasty as this LOCAL treat. Add to that insanely awesome dressings on rather basic salads and you have an affordable, simple but yummy dinner.

"I don’t have nothing to hide on my tax returns"

2011-07-13T12:18:00.000-04:00

Whereas apparently some candidates do. Or, they just don't give a damn about what you, the citizen, knows about them as a candidate, citizen, or person.

My favorite quote in Metropulse's round up of financial info on candidates is George C. Wallace who said he wouldn't divulge his financial info "Even if you lay down in front of my car." Bravo, sir, I can only hope you are as unaccountable to voters as you are irascible with the media.

Knoxville's race to be the ugliest town in Tennessee!

2011-07-12T10:22:00.000-04:00

Oh goody, I love nothing more than cold, hard facts to prove a point. Which town has the highest signs around? WE DO!

Alcoa, Pigeon Forge, Sevierville, Nashville, Chattanooga, Murfreesboro, Franklin, Farragut ALL have ordinances limiting the height of signs and ALL of them are lower than Knoxville. Check out the specifics here, and send your concerns to government.

So either we have really tall people in town or we just don't mind looking like the white trash capitol of TN.

Cruze Dairy Farm

2011-07-08T11:23:00.000-04:00

Cruze Dairy Farm has a little truck during the Farmer's Market on the weekends in Market Square and I have to say, they make perhaps the best ice cream in the world. Let me explain how I can make this assertion.

1. I've studied ice cream a bit. I actually read several reports in Scientific American regarding smell, vanilla and how ice cream starts to go bad the instant it is made.
2. I know what it takes to make "fluffy" vs. hard pack.
3. There's an ice cream shop in Paris where the locals and tourists alike line up hours in advance for a tiny scoop of the delectable frozen stuff...

And I can tell you Cruze makes better ice cream than what I had in Paris. It's the best stuff I've ever had, ice cream-wise, and it's because *everything* is natural, fresh and tasty. Try them and see. They are now making pints!

Want to try curbside recycling in Knoxville? Hope you don't own a Mac! [UPDATED]

2011-04-27T10:49:00.003-04:00

Update 2: Well, it worked anyway. The form is still up and down, depending, but the error message I was getting appears to just be a glitch. I got 2 confirmation emails. Whoever implemented this needs to go back to school.

Update: I managed to GET to the form and went all the way through it... only to get an error message when I tried to exit. So apparently something is screwed up. Gotta love our gov't IT dept, eh? I'm going to keep trying, even if I wind up registering 80 times. This is ridiculous.
I've pasted the error above. Only government could make a simple sign-up form completely fail-tacular.

So I was super excited about curbside recycling coming to Knoxville! I was a little worried that only 20,000 people will initially be allowed to participate, so I followed a link from a friend to this page and read all about it. Huzzah! Except... when I went to sign up I was taken to a page that looks like it'll only be available to Internet Explorer users.

The page is actually a VPN page, that I have seen where I work. We use it to connect up to our private network (a sort of secure remote connection which allows you to appear as if you are on the local network -- for those of you unfamiliar with a "VPN"). So either someone at Knoxville's City website screwed up, or Firefox and Safari on a Mac are unsupported.

Why am I not surprised. I mean, Apple only has more cash in the bank than our entire state has credit, right? Why pander to the VERY PEOPLE WHO WOULD BE INTERESTED IN THIS? Brilliant, Knoxville. For a moment I thought we were actually seeing progress.

FOOD TRUCK! Knoxville needs several

2011-04-20T11:37:00.000-04:00

I'm not 100% on this, but maybe there needs to be a code update passed but several people I know have expressed dismay that Knoxville does not have a "food truck." And by that I mean, a "truck which serves food as a counter-style restaurant" -- basically the kind of thing you see a lot of in larger cities, but something I've come to know and love a lot from my visits to SXSW in Austin, TX.

Here's a tweet from Enjoy Knoxville seconding the idea.

I think a food truck would be great, although the million dollar questions are:
1. What KIND of food? Knoxville tastes are insanely pedestrian. Korean/Mexican fusion does great in a hip town like Austin, but in a town where oil paintings of dogwoods are considered "fine art" I don't know if anything exotic would get more traffic than the usual downtown hipster elders could provide.

2. What investor has the balls to make this happen? Again, I'm saddened by the lack of risk-taking seen in Knoxville. There's a sort of cabal of developers downtown who haven't been incredibly visionary or experimental or even bold... That conservative investing has gone a long way to pad their wallets, but has left us (yet again) far behind in the race for a vibrant downtown compared to Chattanooga.

Let me digress for a moment and qualify that last sentence. Downtown Knoxville closes too early, has too few stages, too few risks and plenty of housing. Compared to Chattanooga we're rather bland, and that makes me sad.

Anyway, I would love to get involved in a food truck business. I've had crazy ideas on this for years! But we'll see if anyone with money or influence can step up to the plate and make it happen.

Valvoline on Merchant's lied about dead battery

2010-11-08T17:56:00.000-05:00

Well the mother of my kids takes our '99 Honda CRX to Valvoline's "Instant Oil Change" center on the corner of Merchants Rd. today and the guy tells her "I don't know how long it'll last" after one of the guys in the pit says "it's dead." Oh really? We had the battery replaced within the past year... Yes, there was a lot of corrosion. But it is practically new and NOT the one that came with the car.

So we took it to Battery Masters and it pinged as GOOD. That's the second time Battery Masters have treated us right, and the first time we have caught Valvoline in a lie. But if you've ever been there you know they use pressure/scare tactics to get you to add on hundreds of dollars in services, clearly preying on the ill-informed and incapable.

In our case we use them (or USED as we won't be going back) out of convenience as I don't have the time to do this myself. Oh well, I guess another business wants our money -- and they'll get it. Watch out for these scam artists.

Podcast time!

2010-10-20T21:44:00.000-04:00

For the first time in years I'm back trying to do a podcast. I chose Talkshoe because it's pretty easy to do and anyone can join in (up to 250 people at once, anyway). Plus, it'll automagically record AND send to iTunes.

Tonight's topic will be "Are we all nerds now?" Join us by going here at 11pm ET.

Buh-bye Knology! UPDATE: Not yet?

2010-09-20T21:55:00.001-04:00

UPDATE: Going through Knology's history on Twitter, they appear to have just taken a bit of a holiday in September. I haven't calculated the % of messages to responses, but the fact that they reached out is nice.

Plus, I spoke to an employee who told me some upgrades were on the way. I'm still only getting about .37Mbps on uploads but we've been promised a service call that will hopefully alleviate our stuttering DVR as well.

--
For the past five years or so, Knology has been our phone company, cable provider and ISP. I was thankful we had a choice after years of the monopoly Comcast had on our fair town. But when competition breeds innovation, companies like Knology, who fail to innovate, are left in the dust.

So in a few weeks we will become AT&T Uverse customers. A variety of factors led to this. Namely:
- AT&T promises faster speeds. Since I do a lot of work online from home, this is important to me. Unfortunately, I've heard a lot of problems with outages AND I've heard horror stories about AT&T support, so we'll see. Luckily my employers provide EVDO from Sprint as a back up.

- On-demand for "regular" shows. Stuff like Adult Swims shows (which I love but can no longer stay up to watch) appear on AT&T and Comcast "on demand" but not Knology.

- Better cable packages! More channels for less.

- Knology doesn't understand social media. Their Twitter feed is rarely updates and in the half dozen or so times I've directly addressed them, they have never answered. Note to tech companies: your social media efforts should NOT be an afterthought. In this case, it lost you a very loyal customer.

Down on the farm

2010-09-12T22:12:00.000-04:00

Today I took the kids to Mountain Meadows Farm in Heiskell, where we had purchased a CSA for the summer. It was a real eye-opener. Most people don't realize where their food comes from. We were lucky to see where a few of our weekly veggies and fruits come from today. Each week you can find Mountain Meadows (a family-owned farm) selling their wares in Market Square. I highly recommend you try their food!

In most supermarkets the food comes from a giant farm where the produce is shipped in. This system of agribusiness is capable of feeding thousands and millions a day, but at a cost. For one thing, that money goes out of the local economy. Worse, the fruits and veggies you typically buy are actually missing a lot of the nutritional elements our grandparents enjoyed (back when many more Americans were farmers). Did you know, for example, that lettuce is grown on huge farms in the desert, mostly in the sand, and they are devoid of anything other than the basic fertilizer compounds needed to make them grow? In years gone by those lettuce leaves would have trace minerals and other good stuff that did things like prevent cancer. Now they are mostly water, a bit of roughage and fertilizer (potassium, nitrogen, pot ash).

Anyway, the kids got to see corn stalks, lots of okra, eggplants and melons. They ate raspberries straight off the vines (and loved them!), and picked some flowers. It was terrific. You really don't appreciate the insane amount of hot, hard work that it takes to make enough food to eat. How our forefathers did it without Mexican laborers, I'll never know. Oh yeah, that's back when Americans weren't too good to do that kind of work. Nowadays it's pretty much the only way we're staying fed. If you don't believe in immigrant labor, talk to a farmer.

I appreciate the fact that Mountain Meadows sprays trace chemicals on their crops -- this adds nutritional value to your food. I also appreciate the fact that weather plays a huge role in what they are able to produce. For example, this year the strawberries all popped up at once, and so quickly they didn't make a lot of sugar. So they were less sweet than last year. Plus, the brutal heat has thrown off the growing cycle for many plants. In some cases, plants sprang up early, or not at all! The result was a bumper crop of early grapes, but now those won't show up in September, when they were supposed to.

Fungus is a big problem in our part of the country, and the farm uses fungicide because it's safer than eating, well, fungus. It also dictates what can or can't be grown here (like coffee, wine grapes, etc.).

While our climate is great, our water is even better. The farm drilled a well back when they were a pig farm, but it wasn't enough. Eventually they found a "water witch" (and were featured on The Heartland Series back in the day) who found a massive underground water source many years ago that has provided all they needed. It's amazing -- truly amazing -- how nature provides.

I hope the kids, who complained about being hot and tired, got something out of the trip. I hope that someday, if they are living in a big city, will think back to that country farm and realize that while food may grow on trees, it takes people working hard and understanding nature to get it to their plates.

Local man shoots Bible

2010-09-09T17:44:00.000-04:00

No matter what you think about burning the Quran, shooting the Bible is wrong. Unless it is in self-defense. And isn't THE Bible, but A Bible.

Sentenced to Hell

2010-08-13T17:33:00.000-04:00

Today many parents are learning which classes/teachers their kids will get next week (in Knox Co.). We just got what amounts to a sentence in hell for our daughter. She's been placed with a great teacher, make no mistake. But she's been placed in a class with the worst bully she's had to put up with since KINDERGARTEN. She's had to tolerate this little puke for three years now, and looking down the barrel of a fourth has her in tears, as well as her mom.

Of course, I doubt we have any recourse. The schools basically have no power, use no logic, and care not a whit for the child in the class. It's more a game of averages. As long as that gub'mint money rolls in thanks to test scores, they just throw these kids together with no matter the consequences.

The consequences so far of two bad placements at Sterchi Elementary for my daughter? She's learning school is NOT a safe place. It is a place to dread going every day. It is the home of her tormenters, her friends locked away in other classes.

We're evaluating our options now, but I'm not sure what we CAN do, except wait for our daughter to become psychologically damaged and then sue the school system. Glad to see it all works.

Knoxville Wholesale Furniture, the service you'll hate forever!

2010-03-01T17:32:00.002-05:00

Upon reading reviews of Knoxville Wholesale Furniture online, I should have known better. Buying our furniture was easy enough. Of course they want your money! And the gospel videos playing in the store seem to present a store that actually adheres to Christian values.

Unfortunately we wound up waiting an hour in the freezing cold to have a simple bed and mattress loaded in our truck. That's after calling ahead an hour to get them to pull the inventory.

I did a little research and found out many, many people in Knoxville have had similar if not worse experiences with these jokers. So, if you've got a truck and can get your purchase on the day you bought it, you may be OK. Otherwise, stay far away from these people.

Free idea for UT's Events Committee

2009-10-27T21:51:00.003-04:00

Apparently Chris Hitchens was in town, speaking at the UC on UT campus. Unfortunately, the university underestimated the enormous crowd that would appear and many unhappy campers couldn't see him speak.

So how about an overflow area or feed -- even a PPV one online? You could raise some money, raise awareness, etc. Perhaps rules of a lecture circuit prohibit this.

Of course, UT could flip the idea. Bring in people who don't usually do lecture circuits, and broadcast their talks online, ala TED.

Just an idea.

Great talk about interviewing with Channel 6

2009-10-08T21:42:00.002-04:00

If you haven't already, check out Justusleeg.com, who put together a tweetup last night at the Downtown Brewery. A couple of anchors from channel 6, WATE were there; Gene Patterson and Kristin Farley, along with another gentleman whose name I didn't get.

Anyway, they gave a great, informal talk about interviewing. I spent 2 years in journalism at UT in the 90's and not once did we discuss this stuff. It was great. Thanks to Patrick and Brian and the gang for doing cool stuff!

No Google Wave for me, here's why

2009-10-02T01:23:00.003-04:00

A couple of years ago I traveled to Google's HQ in famed Silicon Valley (actually Mountain View, CA). My traveling companion and I had gorged ourselves at a place in front of Apple, then been treated to a big meal at Yahoo, and were simply stuffed. When we got to Google, they offered us juice. We declined.

So I declined the Google juice. I think they took offense. Thus, despite having some pretty compelling reasons to test Wave, not only did I not get an invite, I can't even get the invites people who DID get invites are trying to send (in my gmail, of course).

Figures. Next time I'll drink the damn juice.

Lemme tell you about government health care...

2009-09-25T07:36:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I took my son, little brother and his friend to the Knox County Health Department on Dameron Ave. to get flu shots. Well, in fact, since everyone else was 18 or younger, they got the flu mist (now in short supply) and I got a shot. Ow.

So we rolled in with no appointment and were done within 2 hours. Yeah, that's a long wait, but honestly not too much worse than some of the waits I've had at my regular doctor. And yes, I have private insurance through my employer that is totally awesome.

Instead of going to my regular doctor I went to the county. Why? It was easier. Read on.

Try getting college kids excited about a flu vaccination. Or my littlest son, who has already had a taste of the Dark Side of medical treatment. He's a trooper with shots, however, getting 4 immunizations over a month ago with nary a tear. He and I and my brother all got in a room and were done within minutes. This was after a long wait, but again, we all rolled in off the street with no appointment, and close to closing time at that.

In the waiting room I saw people from all walks of life. Young, old, with lots of kids with no kids, seemingly well off and those clearly not so monied. And there we sat, waiting for the government to distribute a vaccination. To some, this scene must send chills up their spine. I mean, here's the very worst of their fears come to life, yes? Affordable, available health care to anyone wiling to show up.

Yes, only in America would we protest our ability to share. Only here, in the most bountiful and powerful nation-state seen in the past 1,000 years, would we have people so obsessed and fearful of losing even one dollar to the unwashed peasants. Heck, we've gone so far in some cases as to rationalize greed with Christianity.

But really, what would Jesus do? Would he say that if you are poor you really just don't deserve medical coverage? Would he say that it is stealing to share the medical risk in a larger pool? Would he say that insurance and medicine works just fine as it is right now, no worries, the free market will figure it out, and move on? I doubt it. My understanding of Jesus' message was love and inclusion, not one of hoarding, exclusion and greed.

Anyway, my point: government can do good things. There's no rule that says government screws everything up. Guess what? Most of our country still functions THANKS to our Federal government. Is it perfect? Show me anything made by people that is perfect. None of us walked out as Nazis or socialists, thank you. I still believe in a free market!

Here's the thing: no plan I've seen thus far addresses the issue of scarcity. The fear is we'll all be subject to long waits. Well, we need more doctors. We can't get more until we improve education AND cap malpractice lawsuits. I'm a big consumer advocate but lawsuits are driving up the cost of insurance, which drives up the cost of being a doctor, which drives up scarcity and cost. In my opinion the lynchpin to solving this mess is fixing scarcity and the insurance cost. At that point the government can take a big step back... But it can always remain an option of last resort for those who can't help themselves. Would Jesus turn those people away?

Fake News Headlines

2009-09-22T09:13:00.000-04:00

Something I did for fun...

Natural forces irritate thousands, harm only a handful

Politician noted for wrongdoing

What your health won't tell you but our Google search will

One group of people object to something another group finds acceptable

Creepy guy said and did a lot of crazy stuff, say investigators

Pseudo-celeb marries athlete while genocide occurs on the other side of the world

TV information that is relevant to bored people

True crime story!

Sport involves one team beating the other in points-making

Movie actor has largely forgotten what it was like to struggle to pay his cell phone bill

Know what else Hitler did?

2009-08-19T09:41:00.002-04:00

There's a lot of comparison to Hitler and Obama these days because Hitler happened to enact socialist reforms in post WWI Germany (he wasn't the only one, but let's ignore the bulk of the facts for now as is common these days). But you know what else Hitler was besides a dreaded SOCIALIST? Even worse: he was a dictator.

What happens in a dictatorship? Well, look to Iran, North Korea and other dictatorships around the world (Venezuela is coming up fast in the ranks). What they aim to do is this:
1) Limit or prohibit free press
2) Limit or prohibit alternatives to their governance

So when people from 2001-2008 said it was "unpatriotic" to criticize the war, the government or the president, I say that PROHIBITING such criticism by means of intimidation (which is happening on the streets of Venezuela today) and flag-waving is very un-American. If you wave the flag, you gotta take the heat. It's the American way.

Also, when people act like their side can't win if the other doesn't completely lose I say this behavior is un-American. We are a nation built on the idea that many different people can live together in some manner of civility. We are looking at the beginnings of a new civil war if we continue to say that the other side "must be crushed" or completely eliminated.

Really? A one party system? Look gang, the USSR fell in my lifetime and I happen to remember what a one-party system looks like. It's COMMUNISM, boogabooga!

But seriously, as Americans we need to elevate the debate. Rise above the fear and get the facts. Quit acting like the other side is out to deliberately destroy America somehow. We're all here, we're all in this together, and we may differ on what to do but that doesn't mean we shouldn't continue to press forward.

F. Scott Fitzgerald once said,
“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.”

Maybe someday we'll get there.

Kris Kendrick dies

2009-05-05T20:05:00.002-04:00

Mr. Kendrick had an impact in my life because of the work he did. He once allowed us to make a movie in a location I didn't think would be possible to get. He believed in downtown. And of course, I once partied my butt off at the Lord Lindsey. He will be missed.

Here's the story on KnoxNews.

Google's Ivory Tower

2009-04-29T06:17:00.002-04:00

I've visited Google. Everyone seemed really nice. But trust me when I say that their Mountain View, CA headquarters reminded me of the Dharma Project in 2 ways:
1. There's a cultish sort of feel to the campus. Matching (free) bikes to ride, a sense of community and a voracious appetite for juice.
2. They are isolated from the "real world"

On #2 there I'd say Google has little to no capacity for understanding a site like dirtyert.com ... and I'm hoping their inability to understand the situation is what is currently holding up our AdSense account.

You see, I am helping a friend with setting up a blog -- something many Americans are turning to in this economy. Ert has no employment prospects where he lives. Even the jobs at McDonald's have a waiting line 40 people deep. It is bad, but Ert has a lifetime of amazing experiences and a great way of telling a tale that (I think, as do many of our old friends) could make him some coin.

But maybe not with the #1 contextual ad server, eh? AdSense, a service I once touted as the easiest to use, is a steaming pile of shit. We applied and never got an initial email. What does that mean? Well, it means you'll never be able to do anything with that account. Seriously. You can't ask to resend it, you can't even log in. Trying to do so yield this gem:
Account Not Active

An AdSense account does not exist for this login, as your application is currently in review. Within a week of your application date, we'll review your application and follow-up with you via email. Once you are approved to join AdSense, you'll be able to log in to your account and get started.

So... our account doesn't exist, but it IS under review. Huh? Further, it's been 3 weeks and still no follow-up. Until we get that initial email, we are totally sunk. Way to kick a man while he's down, Google. Do no evil means more than just running your shop in a semi-craptastic way, you know? Being "less evil" than the rest doesn't equal doing NO evil...

I plan to visit in June and kick a little juice-drinking hippie ass if I have to.

This just in: AP bungles embeds in beds of own tilling

2009-04-09T14:03:00.001-04:00

This one is for my homies at WTNQ-FM

Dirty Ert is live

2009-04-06T23:52:00.001-04:00

My friend Ert is out of work but full of stories. Check him out on his site, DirtyErt.com

Freddy Freeloader

2009-04-03T17:09:00.002-04:00

So I managed to catch a Tweet from local UberBlogger Brandon Clarke:
"Uncle Sam, just stuck it to me, thanks freeloaders!"

I found it kinda funny, but then I thought: well, I didn't pay taxes, did I? In fact, I have all the necessary deductions, etc. being painfully extracted from my paycheck every month. This year, like many years previous, I got some of that money back. Am I a freeloader? Is my stay-at-home wife and mother of 2 kids a freeloader? Let's see.

I work at home, which means nothing in terms of workload. A light week for me is 50 hours. A typical week is 60+. A "crazy" week has me sleeping about 4 hours a night -- maybe.

In addition to my full-time day job I am learning how to program the iPhone, starting a business doing mobile development. I've been making the rounds helping others out in new business endeavors and forging some cool deals I think will some day amount to healthy businesses. Yeah, I do this when I could be sleeping, eating government cheese or standing in line for welfare, I guess.

I got a call recently from a friend of mine who is unemployed. He is collecting unemployment not because he is lazy -- he's one of the hardest working, most sincere people I've ever met -- but because he managed a metal scrap yard that went under due to the crash in the scrap metals industry. The particular business he helped manage also helped rehabilitate a number of drug users. The business was sound, but fell silent due to the economy. Anyway, I'm helping him get a blog and new career moving. We're both going to be lazy mooches off the government now!

And then there's my clearly lazy wife -- the one who pays no taxes and contributes "nothing" to society. Yes, she donates her leisure time to our nation's overabundant public schools. You know, the ones overflowing with parents who wish to help build a better tomorrow? Yeah, she's helping raise YOUR kids over there, and doing a great job of it. Good thing kids raise themselves, what with the internet and all. When she's not at the school she's busy around the house making sure our kids don't grow up to be wards of the state in some form or another. It used to be called parenting, and now it is called freeloading.

So thanks for the money, hard-working Americans! I used our tax rebate to pay some guys to come re-roof our house. I didn't spend it on Chinese-manufactured consumer electronics that we'd just trash in 2 years. I guess that's a bad idea, right? I mean, how could paying local laborers for an honest day's work be worthwhile to anyone?

Now, back to my McMansion to sup on the sweat of the proletariat.

The high cost of basic education

2009-03-04T09:24:00.003-05:00

The call for the past 10 years or more has been "get a college degree or you won't be employable." That's partly true, of course. There are more jobs every day that require a college degree. At one point in the history of the world you didn't need a degree to be a designer, for example. Good luck getting a design job now without a degree. Even with amazing skills there's something about that piece of paper that really is like a "golden ticket" for a shot at success.

But of course, there's the cost. In theory, you can pay this cost back. Education IS an investment, and if you look at all other investments, it is likely the safest, most sure way to get your money back plus a ton of interest. However, is there a point at which an education becomes TOO expensive?

The rise of internet connectivity has led to a huge rise in online education. Remember when the actress who played Archie Bunker's daughter was selling degrees from home? Yeah, those were on VHS. Today you can attend any one of a dozen online schools and get everything up to a PhD!

Unfortunately, the cost of these schools is prohibitive. I guess that's the price of convenience, right? Maybe not.

You see, many of these online schools are for-profit schools. I don't begrudge them making a profit, but I do question the level at which they do this, and at what cost to their students?

I'll have more to say on this later, but consider... What does the average CAD operator make? $10-15 an hour? Now, consider that a financed 2-year associates' degree in CAD from our local ITT Tech would cost around $250,000.

Local guys on the iTunes App Store

2009-02-05T23:29:00.002-05:00

Local developer Philip Kirkham and I have published our first application for the iPhone and iPod touch: The Love Teller (that link takes you to the iTunes store). It's great for Valentine's Day, as it simulates the "Love Tester" coin-op machines from yesteryear. Plus, there's a special trick inside...

The more I look the more I find amazing tech folks here in Knoxville (and surrounding areas). Such a far cry from what I thought growing up: that no one with any love of technology could live in the South, let alone East TN. But as with so many youthful preconceived notions, this one was quickly dispelled.

One more reason to love Knoxville! Oh, and Philip has an iPhone app for Vols football and Vols basketball -- you should check those out too.

Enjoy Fall

2008-11-10T14:14:00.002-05:00

It only comes once a year! Lately the skies have turned a glorious shade of blue, the trees are on "Full Vol" orange, plus a dizzying array of reds, browns and yellows. Best yet, the temperatures around this time of year are perfect sweater weather. That is, you wear a sweater in the morning and you're sweating by the afternoon, ha!

Actually, can anyone believe it's still so warm this close to Thanksgiving?

GO VOTE!

2008-11-04T08:52:00.002-05:00

I've been absent far too long due to work business and starting a side business developing iPhone apps. But no matter what side you're on, please go vote. A lot of amazing folks fought very hard at the highest risk to give us this right -- so exercise your right to choose your political representatives!

Lemony Spigot's Series of Unfortunate Events

2008-09-16T08:37:00.002-04:00

I managed to fill up both cars this week with $3.70-ish a gallon gas. How? By paying attention. You see, Ike wasn't exactly a surprise (hey look maw, weather radars!). And by now folks should realize there are a lot of oil derricks and refineries along the Texas, Louisiana coastline. But when FEMA and others were using words like "certain death" I knew something was gonna happen. Within two hours of my filling up our minivan the price per gallon for regular had gone from under $4 to $4.49.

So what? Well, panic struck Knoxville. Fearing shortages, a number of people went crazy and started filling up their Canyoneros and lawnmowers. Hey folks, guess what: when you make a resource scarce, the price goes up. It is called supply and demand. I didn't realize the full implications of this until some good ol' Twitter friends pointed out a couple of things:
1. We're at the end of the Galveston pipeline, so once everyone else has had a drink, we get the dregs (oversimplifying, but the key is we're USED to getting oil from that area)
2. As a result, we had to buy more expensive "Yankee" gas from the Northeast region. Damn Yankees! (I kid)
3. The panic-buying simply drove up the cost and caused minor shortages and outages in various places. Call it the stupid tax.

You can read a more detailed telling of what's going on at Shots Across the Bow, a terrific local blog.

I had half-jokingly expressed my shock at TN not investigating price-gouging and Scott and Lissa pointed out there's no gouging. True, the rise in prices overall wasn't gouging, but I would bet there were isolated pockets. In fact, I know that one station was trying to sell for quite a bit over $5, but they were reported and quickly fixed it. Good, that's where the "system" works as it should.

The lesson: plan ahead and don't panic. This is a lesson we've increasingly forgotten in this country and we should bring it back. My 3 Laws for Living:
1. Pay attention
2. Slow down
3. Think about it

Next time something bad happens, try that. I'll try to keep the kneejerk Tweets to a minimum as well!

First Friday tonight, 'mater tastin' tomorrow

2008-08-01T09:58:00.002-04:00

So there's the long-running "First Friday" downtown tonight, but I'm all giddy about the tomato tasting tomorrow at Market Square. In case y'all don't know, our region is blessed with some mighty fine tomato-growing conditions (soil, weather, etc.). Plus, you might have noticed the local tomato situation was mostly unaffected by the "tomato scare of 08" because we know precisely where our 'maters come from!

Anyway, tomorrow at Market Square you'll be able to vote on your favorite tomatoes from 10am-2pm in Market Square, where each Saturday they have been setting up a farmer's market. I love tomatoes, and love the variety you see from the dedicated farmers who keep heirloom seeds propagating in their fields.

Thanks farmers and thanks Market Square association!

Start tipping Sonic carhops-- in cash

2008-07-18T10:10:00.002-04:00

I just learned Sonic, apparently in an effort to avoid the minimum wage increase, will start paying newly-hired carhops (the folks who bring your food to the car) a meager $3.15 an hour, or whatever your typical server gets. You know, at places like P.F. Chang's or Nama, where they rely on tips to make a living wage. Although that is also arguable.

What isn't arguable is that Sonic is about to skirt the system and grossly underpay American citizens trying to work. When's the last time you tipped a Sonic carhop? Better yet, Sonic doesn't yet support tipping on the computers at their stores. So you'll have to bring some cash if you're going to tip. That is, if they had told you you're supposed to. From what I'm hearing, they aren't going to change the machines, either.

All this while we fret and worry about Belgium buying Budweiser.

Fountain City Connections

2008-06-16T20:03:00.003-04:00

I notice there's a proposal to require new buildings to include sidewalks. Naturally, developers balk at the cost. This is natural, as no one wants to incur more cost. Unfortunately, with the price of gas on the rise, we could future-proof our city with just such a requirement. This becomes an appealing talking point when evangelizing Knoxville as a place to settle down (tax base, hello!).

Anyway, from the Knoxville News Sentinel article I discovered a group in my neck of the woods who appear to be spearheading the initiative: Fountain City Connections. I missed the last meeting but hope to make it to the next one!

UPDATE: Looks like urbanism is coming back in style.

NYT at Bonnaroo

2008-06-13T14:45:00.002-04:00

Still feeling the love for our region, David Carr of the New York Times is covering Bonnaroo for ArtsBeat.

NYT Loves 'em some Knoxville!

2008-06-12T14:09:00.003-04:00

I'm going to start posting more stuff on my Tumblr blog, or at least the cool Knoxville-related items with a mix of personal stuff. But I posted this on Tumblr and forgot to share:

36 Hours in Knoxville

Help save the Dept. of Audiology and Speech Pathology at UT

2008-06-10T10:18:00.004-04:00

Our state is staring down the barrel of a big budget cutback, and this is one of the lambs on the block. Take a moment to read this moving post about the situation and consider contacting the governor and UT board about the issue.

I realize there's no saving everything, but I would think that, in this region, we should put a higher price on the ability of our citizens to speak and hear correctly.

UPDATE: While the battle for the building appears to have been won, the larger battle for the department continues. WBIR has more.

Community Supported Agriculture

2008-05-21T00:08:00.002-04:00

How would you like to get fresh veggies monthly while supporting local farmers? No, Harry & David this isn't-- those fruits are flown in from around the world and shipped in extravagant containers. I went looking for some CSA's near Knoxville and found only one. CSA stands for community-supported agriculture, and I really hope the idea catches on. Essentially you can "buy in" to a farmer's haul for a season, and pick up your portion at regular intervals.

LocalHarvest located one CSA farm near Knoxville: Green Man Farm. I think I actually bought some butter lettuce from them this past week on my trip to the Market Square Farmer's Market. Looks like you could have bought in to this year's crop and picked up 25 weeks of produce for as little as $400 for the year. Think about how much you spend on groceries per month!

I know some restaurants, like La Costa, source their food somewhat locally, but doing this in an easy way for the average consumer could really be a cool thing. As food (and transport!) costs go up, it'll be one way of coping. Couple it with a modern-day Victory gardens and we could be looking at an agricultural renaissance.

Staying alive on a bike in Knoxville

2008-04-29T13:42:00.002-04:00

My first year out of UT I lived in a nice house just a mile away from the big Kay's Ice Cream in South Knoxville (the one with the big ice cream cone on Chapman Hwy). From there, one of my roommates would bike his way to campus each day. Noah wasn't afraid to bend the rules of the road, like biking on the sidewalk as he crossed the bridge. But then, Noah was known to do a little graffiti back in the day...

Anyway, Patrick Beeson has a revelatory guide to commuting via bike on his blog. It certainly helps that he is 2.5 miles from work, but I wonder if our greenways or side streets help others bike to work? I'm hopeful our country will someday make bike traffic more user-friendly, like Holland. Perhaps when gas hits $10 a gallon?

Bloggity Boom

2008-04-11T09:09:00.003-04:00

In the past couple of weeks I've been able to track down quite a few bloggers and work-at-home types, all of whom are creating these amazing content gardens all over Knoxville. One caught my eye: Knoxify, an incredibly well-done blog by Casey Peters and Brandon Clarke. From there I found Instaknox, a local version of Twitter (basically), and Knoxd, which looks an awful lot like one of the Alltop sites.

I really think localized versions of these larger services is where it's at, and while I'm sure there's plenty of this elsewhere, I can't express how fantastic it is to see such effort here in Knoxville. Just a month ago I was worrying aloud about the vivacity of our local creative and techy populace. Turns out I just don't get around much!

Well, we are SO having some big ol' meetup. Don't know where, how, when or what shape it'll take (social event or barcamp? panels or keynotes?)

Surely we are weirder than this?

2008-04-04T08:48:00.003-04:00

Using my old new friend StumbleUpon I found StrangeUSA's list of "strange stuff" in Knoxville. Pretty disappointing! Cemeteries and our haunted locales and one UFO listing... I guess it'd be hard to replicate what Jack Neely dug up over the years, eh?

In Oak Ridge they've got a statue of Mary with the atomic orbits symbol on the base-- that's pretty funky. Unfortunately I see less weird stuff in Knoxville each year, mostly due to our ever-expanding strip mall populations and the "updates" our fine contractors do to existing properties.

For example, there was a pressure-washing rental place on Clinton Hwy. that was painted purple with big, pink circles all over it. I guess the owner thought it'd stand out more if they painted it white, which they did. Sad.

So where's the weird stuff you've found in Knoxville?

Knoxville is No. 10 on Forbes' list of Best Places for Business and Careers

2008-04-03T09:36:00.002-04:00

Is it any surprise? A couple of weeks ago Forbes posted their "Best Places for Business and Careers" list, and Knoxville wound up at number 10. Here's the 9 above us:

Raleigh, NC
Boise, ID
Fort Collins, CO
Des Moines, IA
Lexington, KY
Atlanta, GA
Richmond, VA
Olympia, WA
Spokane, WA

Durham, NC made #12. It makes me glad to see so many Southern cities on that list!

Sure, some folks I know may prefer Southern California, or the New York area, but I'll keep my little Southeastern hamlet, thanks.

Look ma, I'm a blogger!

2008-04-01T09:35:00.002-04:00

A couple of weeks ago I wound up at SXSW, the Interactive part of the festival (I'm not yet cool enough to stick around for the music portion). Lots of designers, developers and a TON of bloggers. I ran into Darren Rowse, the guy behind Problogger. Darren has a lot of hustle, and truly knows how to monetize a blog. He was kind enough to interview me, which you can read here.

Late last year I was interviewed at length for the book "Blogging Heroes," which is still in print. I highly recommend it if you've got friends or family who ask "what is this blogging thing anyway?"

And a quick update on my plans for a blogger meetup here in Knoxville: there has been some interest, so I'm pushing forward and hoping for a late summer or early fall date. I'm also hoping it won't be boring, which means no boring panels of interesting people. While SXSW had some good panels, it had a few stinkers too. The last thing I want is for our local meetup to be a simple meet-and-greet. Instead, I'd like everyone to come out of it with something we can build on. More to come...

Teachers in Tech

2008-02-12T20:51:00.001-05:00

A long time ago (like, what, 3 years? yeah, my life moves quickly) I taught a couple of summer classes for teachers. I taught basic web technologies-- an intro to HTML, the basics of setting up a website. I was shocked to discover that I could happily cram so much content into one week. One teacher even told me that she had learned more in that one week than in an entire month during some crazy course in Nashville (for which she had a huge 3-ring binder full of info).

Over the past 48 hours I saw my folks at Download Squad turn a tangential tech post into something really quite wonderful. If you're a teacher, please read Five ways to improve technology in education. It isn't complete, it isn't the result of years of research. It is a blog post, written by a person who loves tech and lives education. And I consider that alone a fine thing.

The bottom line in the story: teachers aren't keeping pace with technology changes. Many people already know this, don't they? When I got a Microsoft Works document a few weeks ago, I became painfully aware of this.

I've reached out to some guy in the local education scene to offer a big, free seminar to show any and all Knox county educators how, by using free and simple online tools, they could rapidly increase their effectiveness and just be better educators (which also means having more time to do fun things). Unfortunately he never responded.

But I still have the dream of showing people how easy this stuff can be! For example, why lock yourself into some ancient, proprietary format like Works? Not even Word will open those! Although Zamzar will convert darn near anything (and that's what I ultimately used to convert the Works doc into a Word doc) and do it for free. But why bother when you can get a free Gmail account, which gives you a couple of gigabytes of storage, plus gives you access to Google Docs. This would give teachers a way to easily collaborate on projects, ideas, routine tasks, etc. Plus, you can easily export to popular Office formats!

And that's the tip of the iceberg. What really amazes me is when there is so much opportunity out there, but so little is actually used. Much like our brains, conditioned to work in a linear, logical fashion through years of "training," we under-utilize the most powerful tool: our mind. A pity, really.

Is any form of Knoxville solidarity possible?

2008-02-07T14:56:00.000-05:00

I had an all-too-brief conversation recently with my virtual cubicle co-woker cafemama recently about time and work ethic. Sounds like a lot to get into with one quick convo, but it basically went something like this:
cafe: "most of the people i know run three or four blogs, have a consulting business, have three startups they're working on..."
me: "haha! all the more reason i get irritated when i see people who could be blogging doing stupid myspace surveys >.<"

So what is it that drains us of this get-up-and-go I find in places like Atlanta, Portland, San Francisco and elsewhere? I'm not trying to paint with a broad brush here, because honestly I've been quite impressed with some of the hardworking folks I've met around here. At ITT the former director, Dave Reynolds, used to mention the "Appalachia effect" and I guess he's talking about this stereotype of the ignorant hillbilly. But I think there's also a sort of circle-the-wagons mentality that has certainly been around since the very first settlers crossed the mountains. We tend to do things in tight circles, and our regional tech backwardness doesn't help-- we could be a lot more connected.

I guess what I'm getting at is that ideas like a blogger meetup, or any tech-based meetup seems to be very scattered or limited. There isn't the focus, the drive, the ambition and publicity that you might find elsewhere. And this is sad, considering our proximity to UT, Oak Ridge, and the brain trusts all over the region.

Certainly we're all pressed for time. At some point we all have to say no to things we'd love to say yes to, potential be damned. But it gets downright depressing when I start prodding people for a hint of camaraderie, only to be met with stony silence. You'd think folks can't wait to get the hell out of Knoxville.

If you're not hellbent on getting out of Knoxville, and if you've decided we can make this a better place, let's start small. Let's start talking about a real, live, actually promoted blogger meetup. Anyone who has been blogging for any length of time in a public way would surely agree that it can be an agent for change, or at the least, an agent for discussion and debate. That is what this whole democracy thing was founded upon-- the marketplace of ideas. As bloggers, I see it as our duty to promote this marketplace, and somehow make it more accessible, more relevant, and more informative than ever.

Surely the brains around here can agree on that? Let's get to it!

Knoxville First Fridays

2008-02-04T12:52:00.001-05:00

knoxville first friday
Originally uploaded by superpixel

It was really impressive-- hundreds of Knoxville residents braving the cold on Feb. 1 to explore art and shops and food around downtown. Apparently this was the fourth "First Friday" and from the crowd I saw, it won't be the last.

For some reason the KAT website has this adequate description of what First Fridays are about:
"On the first Friday of each month, shops and art galleries in the downtown Knoxville area (Gay Street and Market Square)
keep their doors open to the public until late in the evening,
offering complimentary food and entertainment,
as well as the chance for those who work until 5 p.m.
to come explore downtown Knoxville."

The next one is (obviously) in March, on the 7th. I won't be able to go (I'll be in Austin for SXSW), but I'm hoping to catch all of the rest this year-- as should everyone else interested in seeing a vibrant, active downtown Knoxville.

The pic is from Unarmed Merchants, a nice store with international goods sitting next to Nama.

An old-timey artists meetup

2008-01-23T12:08:00.000-05:00

Host clothing is putting this cool artist meeting together-- grab an artist and swing by!

Shared workspace in Knoxville?

2008-01-22T10:40:00.000-05:00

I don't want to get in the habit of using this blog for my own purposes, but it occurs to me that what I'm looking for might help more than just myself. In fact, this could be a great opportunity for downtown Knoxville.

You see, I need to get out of our house a couple times a week (or more, depending) to just work. In some cities they call this "shared" or "co-working" spaces. Essentially it's a place you go where you pay a portion of the rent, but you're not really there all the time, or you don't need the trappings of a full office.

Think of it like a micro-time-share. While at Macworld last week I visited the "offices" of Plasq, makers of some great Mac software. Their team is distributed across the planet, and a couple times a year they descend upon one geographic location to work together. In San Francisco they are using a place called "Citizen Space" which is very cool (just look at their bathroom!).

So I'm looking for something like that. Either a corner of someone's established office, or a larger space where a few of us home-based workers can set up shop. I'd happily share the costs, or pay someone a monthly pseudo-rent. Does something like this even exist in Knoxville? And yes, I'm aware of Executive Suites. Personally I think those are overpriced, not to mention quite sterile and rather far from my home location.

Ideally this would be downtown somewhere. I mean, if we're encouraging folks to live and work downtown, and you want the type of creative workers that flourish in a downtown space, shouldn't there be some place where they don't have to spend hundreds a month on rent? Not just a coffee shop, which is nice for occasional use, but not great for long periods of work.

As for why I need this-- it's basically needed to save our family. Working at home is grand, but the kids don't "get it" and it actually makes my wife's work (wrangling kids) much more difficult. While I was gone for a week in San Francisco everyone at home got into the "flow" of me being gone. And I'll admit-- absence makes the heart grow fonder! So while I dig being at home, it is clear I need a physical offsite for at least part of the week...

Anyone else in this position? Anyone know an at-home worker who might want to share bandwidth or office space?

You can reach me directly at: superpixelfeedback AT mac DOT com

Knoxville gets Lost

2008-01-10T00:44:00.000-05:00

If you've travelled East on I-40 you might have seen the big "Oceanic Airlines" billboard. It now has graffiti on it that says "FIND815.COM" which is, of course, all a reference to the ABC program "Lost."

Why Knoxville? You might think these billboards are everywhere. I don't think so. What I do know is that our town is significant in the story of Lost because one of the main characters, Sawyer, is from Knoxville. We named one of our cats after Sawyer...

Once again, Knoxville is a cool town.

Huzzah for Knoxville blogging!

2007-11-29T15:18:00.000-05:00

Another Knoxville blog just discovered my harried attempt: The Sunsphere is Not a Wig Shop is pretty damn cool. It's exactly the kind of blog I'd like to put together if I had the time, which I should find someday.

In other news, the weather is fantastic today!

David Byrne visits Dollywood and Knoxville

2007-10-03T13:54:00.000-04:00

If you've ever wondered what David Byrne would think of downtown Knoxville on a typical weekday night, wonder no more. His blog has the answer, and it is pretty much "not much." He appreciates the kitsch of Dollywood, and critiques the authenticity (heh). Interesting to see his impressions of Skirt magazine as well. Kudos to the KNS team who put that together, as I think it's quite good.

Note to David: dude, ALL women's media are like that. Don't you watch Lifetime?

Anyway, I'm just a little sad that we apparently missed seeing David Byrne wander aimlessly through Dollywood one fine fall day. But I don't know if my brain could have taken that incredibly surreal scene... You'll have to wander through his blog too, as there are no permalinks in David's world.

Time to go crank up Stop Making Sense...

This is where I work

2007-09-28T15:59:00.001-04:00

This is where I work
Originally uploaded by superpixel

I work in Knoxville. But I don't work for a company based here in town. Oh sure, I tried to work for some companies here. They wouldn't have me (and to be fair, some of that was my fault, not theirs). So now I work for a really big company based in NYC.

But I gotta say, if you're going to be a "virtual" worker, aka telecommuter, aka gadabout, this is a GREAT town to do it in. NYC is great and all, but I can't afford to send my kids to the private schools there.

Knoxville has excellent phone and internet service, wonderful city services, close to lots of great places to visit, plenty of local events and entertainment and Tyson-McGee airport is frankly one of the best darn airports you will ever happen to visit.

Oh, and the kids go to some really nice schools.

What is an anchor hotel?

2007-09-23T08:24:00.000-04:00

Bill Brewer has a great piece in the KNS today about Sevierville's new convention center, and the competition it gives to Knoxville and Gatlinburg. Now, I had no idea Sevierville had such a great plan, or what a fantastic facility they've built. Really, if I were an event planner I'd probably go to Sevierville. But something Bill mentions is the lack of an "anchor" hotel. What is that? The Holiday Inn isn't an anchor? It's right next door! Doug McDaniel mentions an anchor hotel in Montgomery and points to their efforts to revitalize a portion of the town...

Unfortunately I'm not a town planner, and I've no idea what qualifies as an anchor hotel. My educated guess is proximity and capacty define this. Not sure how we have all these hotels downtown but none qualify as "anchors" apart or together...

Anyway, back to Sevierville, and the competition from there and Gatlinburg, and where Knoxville's convention center fits in. I see Sevierville as a nice mountain retreat. With the proposed golf courses and other ameneties it is certainly a compelling resort atmosphere. However, as someone who has seen corporate retreats become nothing but golf vacations, it might not be the place to "get things done."

Gatlinburg's convention center isn't really a competitor, in my opinion. Talk about no anchor hotel! What, that one up on top of the mountain? And isn't Gatlinburg a little hillbilly for most conventions? Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I'm not seeing Gatlinburg fit into the grand scheme of things-- not with Sevierville's expanded offerings.

Which brings us back to downtown Knoxville. What we offer is a more cosmopolitan setting in the mountains of East TN. Not as idyllic as Sevierville, to be sure, and not as "redneck Riviera" as Gatlinburg, but more like a city in the mountains. Think about what we've got downtown. Nama and World Grotto come instantly to mind. Those two places are as nice as anything you'll find in Manhattan. The Sunsphere, our town's trademark landmark, is now open. UT provides a continuous stream of activities (though designed for students, I never understood why more folks don't avail themselves of these). And all those theaters, and now a movie venue!

What is lacking isn't so much stuff but the coordination and promotion of stuff. Wouldn't it be nice to have these hotspots or events highlighted in the convention center? In business, much of what defines success is in your ability to execute on a plan-- the coordination of disparate divisions working in concert towards a greater goal. What Knoxville needs now is a way to connect the dots. A way to put everything together on a sort of menu for the out-of-towners to pick and enjoy and digest.

Because if you put it all together, we'll beat Sevierville and Gatlinburg hands-down. Not on everything, but in the market where we find ouselves: a pleasant city in the hills.

Yar, how about Talk Like a Knoxvillian Day?

2007-09-19T09:44:00.000-04:00

Today's Talk Like a Pirate Day (check out some pirate crafts or how to use your iPhone to make pirate faces). But I wonder what Talk Like a Knoxvillian would sound like? Do we have a sound? Other than East TN redneck, is there any particular phrase or colloquialism we use that would ID us? Personally, I pepper my sentences with references to the Sunsphere.

Spiders. Why did it have to be spiders?

2007-09-17T21:47:00.000-04:00

Wow, killed our 2nd black widow in a week. First one was when we tried to vanquish some of those little ants from coming in the house and eating the marshmallows (curse you marshmallow guns!). I went outside and sprayed some where the siding meets the concrete. A few moments later a little bitty black widow dropped down, stunned. Another shot of spray (yes, I'm too afraid to squish her) and she appeared dead.

Today we go to clean up the porch and we move a folding chair-- BOO! A big, fat, female black widow who immediately curls around her egg sac! Oh my, time for Le Spray Juste, aka "RAID Wasp Killer." We really hope that did the trick, because before we could grab a shoe and finish the job, the darn thing flipped over (with surprising speed and distance) and scampered below deck.

Last year my kids got to see two females in the sandbox. What's really crazy is that my entire life I've been deathly afraid of spiders, even the harmless little brown ones. And yet in the past two years I have seen four black widows "in the wild"-- which is four more than I've ever seen in the wild before.

This makes me extremely nervous about building our house in the woods!

Welcome Jim Samples to Knoxville!

2007-09-13T13:47:00.000-04:00

Most of this town won't have a clue who Jim is, but I've been an admirer for a while. He's the former chief of Cartoon Network who resigned *cough* after Boston lost its sense of humor and went kookoockachoo over those Adult Swim neon signs were strapped to poles in public view.

Well it looks like HGTV snagged the brilliant man who had the brains to OK shows like Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Everyone who worked at CN (owned by Time-Warner, the same folks who pay my checks via AOL/Weblogs, where I work) said nothing but good things about Jim, and frankly I'm giddy that he'll be setting down roots in our squalid little burg.

Of course, we're not squalid. HGTV and Scripps in general is making some pretty good moves lately. While I doubt their Pickle video service will fly, I do know they've snagged other top talent from the likes of Yahoo, and while I may poke fun at the resilience of their News-Sentinel blogging efforts, the fact is they make a tasty meal of info EVERY SINGLE DAY.

Naturally, I do the same thing, and I do it a a lot cheaper, but we won't get into that now.

Welcome to Knoxville Jim, please don't be offended if I actually ask for your autograph. It's the closest to Frylock I'll ever get.

It's like I'm a psychic or something

2007-09-09T20:52:00.000-04:00

I finally get around to reading the Sunday paper this evening, and what do I see? Well the paper has gone and made themselves a blog network. Good on ya! Granted, trying to join resulted in a 404 error, and my blog wasn't included (no shocker there), oh and bloggers won't really be able to monetize their blogs within the page, but hey, it's a start, right?

Anything that gets the blog blog flowing is a good thing. It doesn't necessarily change the fact that, overall, we are still a pretty technologically backwards town. In a moment of true funny I scroll down and see someone blogging about killing the battery on their Wall Street Powerbook. That's the Powerbook from 1998 y'all.

So I dunno, maybe it has been tricked out by MCE Tech and is a screamer with dual DVD-burners. Maybe Blognetwork.Knoxnews.com (catchy, huh?) will be a rocket ride of local success. And maybe, just maybe, Knoxville will learn what it really means to blog and the ethos of the blogosphere. Considering it took Knoxnews a few years to drop the whole "we don't need your stinking Google referrals" and remove the mandatory log-in, we've got an uphill battle on our hands.

UPDATE: As Jack points out in the comments, this blog HAS been added. In my efforts to build an SEO-friendly site, I named my blog "The Knoxville Blog" which is pretty generic when viewed against a number of other "Knoxville" blogs. So I couldn't find it, and complained, and that's my bad. Sorry folks.

Could Knoxville become Blogtown, USA?

2007-08-30T20:44:00.000-04:00

Why not? Evangelize blogging to your friends. Show them how easy it is to use Blogger, Vox, whatever. Spread the word, let's get our Scruffy Little City on the map!

Thanks Mayor Haslam!

2007-07-09T19:35:00.000-04:00

I wanna thank Haslam for fighting to keep the Sunsphere alive. I had worried some pencil-pushing accountant was gonna give the order to demolish the thing (remember that story?), but look like we decided NOT to poop where we eat after all.

The Sunsphere is our trademark. It'd be stupid to remove it.

Much smarter is what we're doing now, which is to turn it into a functional component of the town. The observation deck is now open from 9am to 10pm! And there's a banquet hall coming soon.

I can't wait to take the kids on a field trip.

Dear Knology (again)

2007-03-19T17:45:00.001-04:00

On the one hand, I love Knology. Good uptime, clear audio via phone, and a decent price on bundles. However, their phone service went from great, friendly and personable to cold and moronic. I know you have to read scripts. But call up Godaddy some time. They read scripts, but they do it with a little style. Just like I can get a burger anywhere, but you pay extra for the experience.

So Knology, how about a little less Wal-Mart and a little more Target, ok?

St. Patty's at midnight - Comedy Zone!

2007-03-13T11:22:00.000-04:00

la costa

2007-01-14T22:42:00.001-05:00

la costa
Originally uploaded by superpixel.

Dad and bro and I ate out at Market Square's "La Costa" the other night. A balmy near-70, folks were enjoying the square and eating outside. I brought my son, who is 3.

I'll hand it to the folks behind La Costa and Nama, they know how to create an excellent experience, and they know one of the most powerful tenets of executing a business (no matter what): hire great people.

La Costa's exec. chef is Brandon Cruze. He's done a great job at La Costa, as my sea scallops with sherried bacon cream sauce and cheesy polenta were magnificent. My dad's duck breast was divine. And my son even enjoyed his spinach salad!

Highly recommended. Nama is too, but I think everyone knows about nama already, right? I went there with my wife for our anniversary dinner...

Happy New Year Knoxville!

2007-01-01T23:08:00.000-05:00

Lots to look forward to this year.
- who will own the buildings left behind in the wake of the Wests' arrests and convictions?
- what initiatives will Rogero spearhead as new KDC chief?
- how's that South Knoxville development going? For that matter, all the Knoxville development projects?
- really looking forward to the bliss of many lanes on I-40
- the fate of the Sunsphere

I'm also excited personally about building a house. What kid hasn't dreamed of building a house with trapdoors, secret passages, and a giant "moon room" with padded walls and an inflatable floor? Well I won't have any of those things, but I will have a big field, lots of woods, and some of the finest engineering talent in town at my disposal. We are going to have FUN building this thing, and that's because the wife and I are a killer team with great ideas and an execution-oriented culture in our home. Now I need a fund to patent all the cool things I'm inventing for the house :)

Second Life

2006-12-21T20:58:00.000-05:00

Has anyone tried Second Life? I'd be interested in talking to Knoxville residents. Fascinating concept, although there is trouble in "paradise." Jeff Bezos is an investor!

What I'm really interested in is what it would take to interest the average Knoxville citizen, or any average American to participate regularly in SL. MySpace gained critical mass, and it seemed like everyone was on there. These internet phenoms bloom like fungi, some stay, some go (anyone remember Broadcast.com?). SL is like a test tube baby at this point, it'll be interesting to see what happens the next year.

2007 will in fact be a fascinating year for tech, with new operating systems from Apple and Microsoft, new moves in social networks/news/etc. (the Web 2.0 stuff), and of course, major online coolness from game co's Nintendo, MS, and Sony. Did you know you can check the weather with a Wii?

Very fun year ahead! I'm looking forward to the next Robosapien :)

The Post Office - A Tale of Ineptitude

2006-12-12T07:51:00.000-05:00

"You Will Never Find a More Wretched Hive of Scum and Villiany" - Obi Wan
"These people just ain't right" - Me

Last year, while teaching a class, I ordered a box from Amazon with "The Conversation" by Coppola in it. I did this weeks in advance, so it got here in time for my class. It never made it in time. Instead, I had to investigate. Seems our lovely USPS had marked it as "delivered" when it really wasn't. This was to a PO Box, mind you. Amazon was nice enough to send another. About 2 weeks later (making the package nearly 2 months late) the missing box magically appeared. This just happened to be about 2 weeks after I raised holy hell on the phone with the local postal "genius" in my area.

Now they've done it again! Wife ordered our 2006 holiday ornaments. On the website, where we ordered (Disney, I'll be open about it) the address is correct. However, on the USPS site, they have our street address correct up until the last 2 digits. Instead of 12, it's 21. WRONG! Now we get the pleasure of calling the boneheads at Middlebrook, and track this thing down. Somehow they can't resolve a 2-digit transposition. They sent us a Christmas card with the wrong city, but 2 numbers baffles them.

More to come. We're pissed, we're calling.

UPDATE: After speaking directly with someone locally, they explained the whole thing. Long story short: they're looking for it. However, I didn't speak to anyone at Middlebrook. We called another one... And they were unbelievably helpful and nice. Not reading from a script. Not giving the runaround. I recently called IDG about getting press passes to an event, and the person in charge of the event gave me the, "I can't help you, and I won't put you in touch with anyone else." That's my favorite. Kudos to the Post Office for hiring a few nice people. I'm not asking for phD's in logistics, I'm just asking for someone to give a crap about our dinky little family tradition-- this order had our 2006 ornaments in them, hence the stress. If it were merely gifts, we can replace them. Our 2006 ornaments are a tradition with the kids and us, and they won't be making any more next year, ya know!

This gets me into a whole other area of fascination with logistics. Knoxville is often cited as a major nexus, being positioned where we are, and with several major interstates criss-crossing our city. Our data/voice backbone is supposedly quite ample, or it was 6 years ago when I researched such things.

Now that begs the question, if these things are true, why aren't we more like Venice?

Knoxville could learn a thing or two from this woman

2006-12-05T11:03:00.000-05:00

Sue Polinski is known as the "tech momma" of Greensboro, NC. She's getting wifi downtown. Not a bad idea, eh downtown Knoxville? Spread the cost across all businesses, and everyone downtown has a free ride. Partner with Google, Knology, anyone who will listen. Put it up for a vote! I have faith.

Anyway, see Maryam Scoble interview her here and think about those ideas in this town...

Go to the comedy show!

2006-11-27T15:04:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow night, at the Comedy Zone in West Knoxville (off Cedar Bluff). I know Jesse and Chad-- they are really funnny guys.

Black Friday: North Knoxville reports

2006-11-24T09:01:00.000-05:00

Wal-Mart had 8 big surprises, 2 of them were: the Thomas the Tank Engine BIG motorized train thing, the one that your kid'll ride on, was deeply discounted, further below the ad from yesterday. And that crazy FurReal ""Butterscotch" pony? The near-life size robotic doohickey? It's $149! That's hugely dicounted (normally it's $250).
Good luck getting those, haha. Apparently it got ugly with the ponies.

Target: just pallettes of stuff. Most everything in the ads, but scattered. The Jensen iPod clock/radio dock gizmo (we got one) was in the middle of the men's section.

Kmart doesn't have the Craftsman tool bench they advertised in the paper. Sad, as our little guy would have loved it, and $30 instead of $50 was a great deal... Apparently my wife stood in line for an hour to find this out, but it wasn't all a waste.

JC Penney is out of those globes by now, but we managed to snag one (they opened about 15 min. early).

Long lines abound-- Kohl's wrapped from the front register to the customer service area, all the way back, to check out.

Stuff you won't find: the Transformers Star Wars set (Millenium Falcon), or those flat-screen TV's under 30" for cheap... Oh, and no more Wii's or PS3's. I saw the Wii on Amazon, used, for $800! Ouch!

LaFollette: more land than brains

2006-11-23T17:19:00.000-05:00

One of the worst humans I know comes from LaFollette, which might explain the stupidity I read about in the paper this morning (something in the water?). It seems a city council member is in trouble for protecting himself and his property...

See, some dipstick crook tried to steal the councilman's stuff, and said councilman held the criminal at gunpoint until the cops arrived. When they did arrive, they found the councilman holding a gun to the bad dude's head, they asked him to lower the weapon, he did, and they promptly arrested the criminal.

THEN they decided (the DA I presume) to press charges against the COUNCILMAN because he "pointed a gun at somebody, and that's against the law." What? Excuse me?

I didn't know "catch and release" applied to crooks in LaFollette. Sounds like a great place to be a law-abiding citizen, don't it?

BREAKING NEWS: PS3's spotted in Knoxville!

2006-11-22T10:46:00.000-05:00

Just got word that one of our PS3 spotters has found at least 3 at the Target on Clinton Hwy (next to Kroger's). Grab 'em while you can folks!

-- posted at 10:40am 10/22/06

UPDATE (12:23 PM): just got a call from the wife, who went to pick one up for my brother, and there was a guy in line with the last one!

If anyone finds any more, post in the comments. From what Joystiq was reporting, many retailers have been secretly hanging on to units, possibly in a plan to trickle them out. Although my guess is that this particular Target just happened to get some in today.

In either case, I'm waiting March 8 for a Wii, as Mario Party 8 will be released on that day...

Making money from your blog

2006-11-19T20:40:00.000-05:00

Last Wednesday night I had the pleasure to speak at a Knoxville blogger group, and the topic was monetizing your blog. It's a tough game out there, with "A-listers" like Om Malik, Cory Doctorow, etc. already making tons off their work. How does the average person do it? In my mind there are at least three key things you'll have to have in a blog:
1. Strong, original content
2. Daily (or if longer-form, weekly) content
3. Links galore

Let me clarify:
1. I'm talking how-to's, event coverage, or something "unique" that's hard to find elsewhere. One advantage in the blogosphere is a rapid-fire response rate. This gives writers an advantage over mass media, who are slow to react. Think guerilla coverage, or hacker how-to's.
2. Daily content keeps RSS readers fresh, and keeps readers flocking to your pages. We have found, when working with a swarm of bloggers on one blog, that over 20 posts a day keeps a lot of traffic moving through. Think BoingBoing.
3. I don't mean a linkfarm! Any time to reference someone else, you link back. This is etiquette, and Google "juice" for search ranking.

Anciallaries flow from this like:
- Avoid re-posting content
- Think SEO
- Treat it like a business
- Try things out, see if they work, retool if necessary
- Participate in the blogosphere as a whole
- Diversify your ad revenue (Google is big, but not the only game in town)

As they say, you gotta be in it to win it. If this is only a hobby, that's all it may ever be. Maybe if you're really lucky, and Joe Namath passes out at your house, you'll get noticed. But just wiling away the hours on Myspace blogging about cute socks will get you nowhere fast. Choose a platform that'll allow you to maximize your ad revenues, and keep up-to-date on technology.

Good luck!

A Thumpin'

2006-11-12T00:26:00.000-05:00

Yep, that's what the Vols got tonight. But I must say it was an honorable loss. Arkansas whupped us, fair and square. Granted, we've lost a lot of good guys this season (injury, trouble). But the Razorbacks totally deserve a trip to Atlanta. The football I saw tonight was simply excellent. Defense was lightning, and that running game is amazing. So yeah, even thought we lost, it was a great game.

5,000 votes stuck in Knoxville

2006-11-07T23:17:00.000-05:00

Looks like we get our share of voting machine madness: Knoxville has 5,000 votes locked inside one machine. According to WBIR, the folks in charge of counting the votes are getting an expert to fly down here and somehow extract the information. Unfortunately, I have no idea who the manufacturer is. Could it be Diebold, makers of the majority of new, electronic systems?

http://voanews.com/english/AmericanLife/2006-11-01-voa51.cfm

The real point is-- we won't know until tomorrow what the final count is. These are early votes too, from the Downtown West location. 5,000 votes, that could mean all kinds of things! Exciting and frustrating at the same time...

VOTE!

2006-11-07T08:51:00.000-05:00

No matter who you vote for, or what, or when... just do it. I know, I often hear that no choice IS a choice. And I guess that me an easy thing to say, but I would contend that participating in democracy, even if you believe it is a futile exercise, is still a function of living in a proper democracy. Doesn't it depress anyone that we have one of the LOWEST participation rates of 1st-world democracies in the world???

Oh well. Those who will, will, and those who won't, won't. Glad it's not raining.

Also, if you need further evidence of why folks should be more involved in the government that increasingly is getting into their business...
Check out the Cycle of Democracy

Where do you think we are in the cycle? Just as a junky can kick the stuff and become a productive human, we can also stop the cycle before we slip into dependence (again).

VOTE!

Scenes from the Class Stuggle in Knoxville

2006-10-16T17:55:00.000-04:00

OK, it's absolutely wrong to generalize about an entire area. HOWEVER, the woman on WBIR who was "representing" those who don't want their kids to go to Hardin was genuinely snooty.

And let's not pretend there isn't an uppity air from Farragut. I'll take the working man over snobbery, thanks. You may call them rednecks, but they fix your pipes, build your McMansions, and dig your graves, so I'd suggest a little humility. Just because there's a confluence of money in one area certainly doesn't mean they are using their powers for good.

In fact, since the can of worms has been spread across the grounds, let's get down to brass tacks. Knoxville is flush with money. Guess what? Back in the 90's, I had lots of discussions with some folks who were trying to raise money through investors. The word on the street was that the "money" in Knoxville was tightly kept. There's a reason we can't seem to grow our creative base, and why those pesky rednecks continue to bother the blue-nosed elites... Because Knoxville is notoriously tight-fisted and closed-minded. Until those things change, this area will continue to spiral into a morass of real estate ventures and car dealerships. If it weren't for UT, we never would have made it this far.

So yeah, I know people who live out West-- bless 'em. I'm talking specifically to the high-hair, SUV-driving, cell-addicted "do gooders" who tend to stick their noses where they don't belong and think they are the ultimate authority on everything (kinda like me ;)... Those folks need to realize their kids might benefit from seeing how the other half lives, and more importantly, it's up to the PARENTS to raise their kids properly, not the schools. Your kids can't live behind that gate forever can they?

Oh, with that trust fund, I guess they can.

Forbidden Knoxville

2006-10-15T11:22:00.000-04:00

That's the name of a show written by locals, for locals. Thanks to Doug Mason (for doing his job ;)-- read about it in the News-Sentinel... 'Forbidden Knoxville' is a spoof of Knoxville's foibles, based on the long-running NY version, 'Forbidden Broadway.' In this case, it's a sort of Friar's Roast for our sordid little village.

I love to hear our locals have enough pride (because wit was never an issue, there are lots of smart, creative folks around here) to do this. Granted, they originally fought for rights to the NY version, but probably because that would have made more money.

Anyway, you can read more about it in the paper, but the fact that it's a musical parody based in Knoxville seems enough of a seller, IMHO. It's at Theatre Knoxville (319 N. Gay St.), running Oct. 20-21,22, 26-28, 29, and a cool Halloween-themed fundraiser on Oct. 31. Times vary, so call 865-544-1999 for info. Price ranges from $20 to $8 for tickets. See you at the show!

Snooty McBoob

2006-10-12T23:08:00.000-04:00

I see we have a bruhaha over this Hardin Valley High School. I sympathize-- no doubt it's a pain to tear students out of a school and throw a bunch of folks together, especially seniors..

But what' pathetic is that you get a real sense of the snobbery that pervades Farragut. If anyone ever wonders why we don't like to travel to West Knoxville, you need only listen to these whiny babies rationalize their uppity lives. Astounding.

Dork alert!

2006-10-05T21:48:00.000-04:00

Bryson says he's a hunter, and he enjoys fishing? Well apparently he's hunted nothing but CLAY pigeons and fished in his daddy's pond... No licenses ever for either sport = you ain't done that. Sad.

Look, Bredesen has done a great job. Don't be political with your vote, and elect a proven leader for the state. The governorship isn't supposed to be a grand ideological battle, it's a stewardship, civil servant position (at least in TN). Bredesen is the kind of guy I'd like to work for-- and his job is putting TN to work! So far, so good.

Bryson feels like the guy the Republicans had to put up because they had to do something this year... What a joke. Scary thing is, with his hair and giant hands, he has a good chance of being president someday.

I hope I never run for office.

you say funny thing

2006-10-03T22:12:00.000-04:00

you say funny thing
Originally uploaded by superpixel.

These midnight shows are a gas. By the time it turns midnight, people are a lot less, uh, inhibited... For me, there's the thrill of adrenaline too, as I'm generally working feverishly around midnight.

Anyway, come see the show. Chad went to school here in Knoxville, and worked at Fox back when it was a young punk of a station. Jesse is from Clinton. So he's got that going for him, which is working well.

Those other guys just look funny though, don't they?

UT goes green!

2006-09-15T07:34:00.000-04:00

This is awesome. UT has not only started using biodiesel in a few of its trucks, but they are producing the stuff as well-- which we like to call self-sustained fuel supply. When you make your own juice, you don't have to buy it from the store, knowuddimean?

Kudos to Scott Curran on this one. If anyone knows Scott, tell him to give me a call-- I got a big idea that could take the project even further, generating revenue for the university in a pilot project that only a major university could try.

There are 2 sides to every story... choose your own!

2006-09-07T17:05:00.000-04:00

From the seamy underbelly of Myspace... The West's have pled guilty, and ask for help (leniency in sentencing) on Myspace. Bryan the bartender says they don't deserve it. I'm posting both bulletins below so you folks don't have to suffer the idiocy of Myspace to pick your poison.
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PRO WEST SIDE:
For the Wests... Leniency for Scott and Bernadette!!!
Body: Dear friends and family,

As you may already know, Bernadette and I have been charged with a federal offense involving money laundering. Further, I have been charged with marijuana trafficking. Bernadette will and I have entered pleas of guilty to these charges, but we have not been sentenced by the court yet. We ask that you help us in our efforts to convince the Honorable Judge Thomas W. Phillips to find it in his wisdom to be as lenient in his sentencing of each of us as is possible. We love this community and wish to return to our friends and family as quickly as possible. Will you please help us by writing a letter for Bernadette and/ or Scott West to:

The Honorable Judge Thomas W. Phillips
United States District Court, Eastern District of Tennessee
Howard Baker, Jr. U.S. Courthouse
800 Market Street, Suite 145
Knoxville, TN 37902

Do not mail the letter(s) directly to Judge Phillips, instead, return the letter(s) to either of us at the following addresses:

For Scott West:
Donald A. Bosch, Esq.
THE BOSCH LAW FIRM
712 S. Gay Street
Knoxville, TN 37902

For Bernadette West:
David M. Eldridge
Eldridge & Blakney, P.C. 900 Gay Street, Suite 1404 Knoxville , TN 37902-1838

Please write and mail the letters immediately (no later than September 25, 2006), so that we may attach them to the Sentencing Memorandums that will be filed on each of our behalves.

When writing your letter, please identify yourself. Tell Judge Phillips who you are with respect to your relationship with us and what you do for a living. Include information about civic positions you have held or activities in which you have participated. Also, explain how you know one or both of us and for how long we have been acquainted, and the nature of your contact with us over the past few years.

In addition, let Judge Phillips know that you are aware that we have been charged with this offence. It will not be appropriate to make any comment about your feelings of either mine or Bernadettes guilt or innocence. Most importantly, you should tell Judge Phillips why you believe we are worthy of receiving leniency. You may wish to emphasize our characters, backgrounds, upbringing, scholastic achievements, contributions and commitment to the community, hard work, devotion to our families, hardship that we and our families have already suffered as a result of this case, or any other factor that you believe to be positive and truthful. You may handwrite this letter.

As long as these guidelines are followed, the structure of the letter is unimportant. Please be sincere and candid. If you know particular examples to illustrate points you are trying to make about either of our characters or contributions to the community, please include them in the letter. Being specific increases the persuasiveness of your appeal.

Writing this letter is VERY IMPORTANT. Judge Phillips is conscientious and will read and consider every letter he receives. We are in an extremely difficult situation and respectfully ask for your help.

Thank you,

Bernadette Trent West and Ronald Scott West

PS Feel free to pass this letter on to other friends and supporters

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FROM BRYAN THE BARTENDER:
Let me first say that I do not hold a personal grudge against Scott, Bernadette, or any other member of the West family. I've supported their business ventures in the past and several of Scott's photographs still hang in a room where I work. What I do disagree with, however, is the public outcry for support and leniency for Scott and Bernadette in their upcoming sentencing in federal court.

Granted, you can point to the promotions and renovations that the Wests have been a part of, as well as Scott's other positions held to help in the betterment of Market Square. In light of recent events, I feel it is safe to say that all of these actions were mere stunts of shameless self promotion that not only lined the pockets of the West family but also took away from many other viable downtown businesses--most specifically in the Old City and on the Cumberland Avenue Strip.

As many may remember, the West family began in the Old City with the original Earth to the Old City and when the Wests ventured into the bar business the ThinQ Tank was opened where the Red Iguana now resides. What many people don't remember is that once the ThinQ Tank sank into a sea of nothingness--presumably without the crutch of ill gotten drug gains--the Wests turned their backs on the Old City. They did this not just to run the Preservation Pub on Market Square but also move the Earth to the Old City from its original location to Market Square--by which point the drug peddling - money laundering duo had purchased much of with the help of reduced rates and city kickbacks. Then, with the constant cheerleading of a self motivated Scott West, the City of Knoxville turned much of it's attention and deep pockets to the nuevo upstart businesses on the square--not to take away from Tomato Head, McLeods, or any other Market Square business, but it was the Wests who did much of the boasting.

While the City of Knoxville was dumping money into the Market Square Renovations it was business as usual for all the other legitimate, viable, and long standing businesses in the Old City and on the Strip. There was no art deco makeover, no multimillion dollar parking garage, not even so much as improved police patrols. In fact, the city had dropped much of the police patrols in the Old City during this time. The city had, for all intents and purposes, turned its back on the rest of the viable legitimate downtown businesses.

Now in light of recent events and a guilty plea by the Wests there is a black cloud that looms over Market Square and the West properties. I hope for the sake of Downtown Knoxville and the other businesses on the Square that they can rebound. But, along with that hope, I also pray that the City of Knoxville feels that it is left with egg on its face for helping to support this drug trafficking money laundering farce while neglecting to support all the other legitimate and financially viable businesses that were left out of the Downtown Revitalization Projects.

I do not see Scott and Bernadette West as saviors, saints, victims, or martyrs. What I do see them as is a couple who kicked and screamed their way to lining their pockets through city money and drug sales.

For the Wests I am not asking for leniency. I am asking that they step up and take responsibility for their actions, stop pleading with the citizens of Knoxville to beg for leniency in sentencing, accept a prison sentence worthy of the crimes that are not reduced for their "donations" to the community, and admit that shameless self motivation and greed is what got you here to begin with--and not a vision to help Downtown.

Bryan Campbell
Bartender
Old City Advocate

SUPPORT MARKET SQUARE!

2006-07-27T21:41:00.000-04:00

With the recent arrest of the West's (which I think is totally wack, but whatever), there's been a lot of undue (bad) attention on their establishments downtown. I really encourage everyone to go and spend wads of cash at the Preservation Pub and World Grotto.

I can tell you one thing: the Grotto is awesome. We are really lucky to have the West's visions become reality. I hate, hate, hate that this happened to such amazing people. The West's are people I would really like to work with, to make a more vibrant, expansive, open Knoxville.

Unfortunately, our selective prosecution system has decided to quash their vision. I hope they walk away from whatever happens with renewed purpose and strength, and I, for one, volunteer to help them in whatever way I can. The West's are creative visionaries, and deserve the kudos awarded them. I was elated to hear a crowd was on hand after their arrest to cheer them as they returned to Market Square...

Hey Scott, can you blog?

PS- everyone in Knoxville should be reading our answer to the Onion: Knoxpatch

Brilliant!

Spoken Word/Slam Next Tuesday

2006-07-12T16:32:00.000-04:00

Urban Bar in the Old City is hosting a collaboration between Knoxville's
Finest Spoken Word poets and the Stanford Spoken Word Collective this
Tuesday, July 18th, around 7-ish. Please come out and support the Knoxville Poetry Scene.

Support Cades Cove

2006-06-29T13:19:00.000-04:00

CADES COVE PRESERVATION ASSOCIATION

The Cades Cove Preservation Association, Inc. (CCPA) has been established to
preserve the heritage of the Cades Cove community, located in the Great
Smoky Mountains National Park.

Membership is open to everyone who is interested in helping preserve the
heritage of the Cove. Many members are descendants of the old Cades Cove
families, but membership is open to everyone.

CCPA members will be admitted free to the July 21 Smoky Mountain Homecoming
event, and they will not have to pay the normal admission fee to enter the
museum. The CCPA membership fee is $15, and you may join their organization
in advance by US Mail. Admission to the July 21 event costs 3$-4$, but for
the extra $11-$12 you will get much more, and you will be helping preserve
the heritage. A membership application is available on the organization's
website:
http://cadescovepreservationtn.homestead.com/Membershipform.html

The CCPA home/Museum is at the Alnwick Community Center, 2146 Big Springs
Road, Maryville, TN, just off scenic Highway 321 on the way to the Great
Smoky Mountains National Park and "just over the ridge and down the road a
piece" from the Cades Cove Community. This home provides them with a
facility to share a representative collection of artifacts, photographs &
other items from their heritage as a "welcome wagon" offering to new
neighbors in their surrogate Cades Cove Community.

The CCPA is a nonprofit organization registered in Tennessee. Membership is
available to all interested individuals and organizations. Contributions of
encouragement, ideas, effort, influence and funding are appreciated.
Oversight is provided by a Board of Directors. Although bylaws require
elected officers to be directly descended from former residents, the CCPA is
critically dependent on the participation of all members and supporting
organizations.

The CCPA invites all individuals and organizations who share their
objectives to establish residency in their surrogate Cades Cove community.

Their motto is "We will Preserve the Heritage TOGETHER."

THEIR HOMEPAGE:
http://cadescovepreservationtn.homestead.com/welcome.html

MERCHANDISE & MEMORABILIA:

The CCPA will be selling posters and other memorabilia at the event in
Townsend. Here is a link to the merchandise page of their site, which has
all of the items that are available for purchase. There is an order form,
too, for ordering in advance of the event.
http://cadescovepreservationtn.homestead.com/ccpamerchandise.html