NC General Assembly Calendar for 01-30-2013

**UPDATE 6.25am** WRAL-TV has really stepped up it's game since the addition of Laura Leslie and Mark Binker. Check out their morning briefing on the state legislature. The North Carolina General Assembly will convene at noon today. Both the NC Senate and the NC House will be in session.  I will not be able to record these because I will be following an outbreak of severe weather in my county. 9:00 AMRep. Brandon/Press ConferencePress...

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NC General Assembly Calendar for 01-29-2013

The North Carolina General Assembly is about to go into action for the coming session tomorrow. The only events on today's calendar are a press conference by the Speaker of the House at 11am and a meeting by the Joint Legislative Committee on Workers' Compensation Insurance Coverage Compliance and Fraud Prevention and Detection at 1pm. The speaker will be meeting in a room where the audio is broadcast, and I'll try to record that and embed it...

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Magnitude 1.5 Quake in Eastern Tennessee

A minor earthquake (Magnitude 1.5) occurred this afternoon 19km ESE of Etowah, Tennessee. More details can be seen on the USGS website. I've included an infographic showing the location and magnitude of that tremor below, as well as infographics showing other recent quakes in our area on different time scales. Click on each one of them to see a larger version in another tab. January 27, 2013 Earthquake in eastern Tennessee Infographic showing...

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Happy 257th Birthday Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart!

Two hundred and fifty seven years ago today, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, born Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791), was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. At 17, he...

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NASA Day of Remembrance

Scroll down to see tributes to each individual crew. Photo Courtesy Astronauts Memorial Foundation.  Also the source of the names of the list of fallen astronauts I have used below. Exploring a new frontier is a risky, but rewarding endeavor. The men and women who sign up to be astronauts are signing a blank check payable any amount, up to the life of the signer, during the course of their duty. The following is a tribute to the...

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Inspiration for Innovation and the New Race for Space

I am very glad to see Fora TV post this video in the open, and not behind a paywall, so that we can see it in its entirety. From the video description: Aerospace entrepreneur, Virgin Galactic spacecraft designer, and founder of aerospace research firm Scaled Composites, Burt Rutan is a bold visionary with a passion for the advancement of technology. Named "Entrepreneur of the Year" by Inc. magazine and one of "The World's 100 Most Influential...

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Anonymous Hacks U.S. Sentencing Commission

DNS blocking has taken place for www.ussc.gov and is no longer forwarding to the server. However you can still access it via the IP address: http://66.153.19.162/  The video above is what is displayed at the USSC website at the time I write this.  Also, you can view a snapshot of the site from freze.it (Thanks to Tommy Leung for the information via Twitter) http://freze.it/1mT #OpLastResort seems to be going in full force, along...

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Report: Whitley Products Closes Doors

**January 30, 2013** Five days after I posted this story, WLOS-TV has a story on this closing. Tipped off by comments on Facebook, I'm reporting that it looks like Whitley Products has ceased operations and closed the doors at it's three remaining plants. A phone call to Whitley’s in Plymouth resulted in a quick conversation with Plant Manager, Rick Green in which he read the following statement: “Please be advised that Whitley Products,...

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Democrats Take Aim At Weapons Ban

I'm starting off my coverage of this event with a commentary. COMMENTARY The Democrats are taking aim at another weapons ban, this time under the auspices of US Senator Dianne Feinstein's Assault Weapons Ban of 2013. This is a bill that proposes to ban weapons and to force the registration of previously purchased weapons that meet the criteria for being banned and illegally forces these legal owners to undergo a background check. This, in...

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