Fiscal Cliff Deal: Republicans Break No Tax Increase Pledge

In my opinion, we are well and truly screwed. Every member of the Republican House who voted for this legislation should be replaced in the next primary election. Now, the news...



Transcript:

11:20 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Happy New Year, everybody.

AUDIENCE: Happy New Year, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT: A central promise of my campaign for President was to change the tax code that was too skewed towards the wealthy at the expense of working middle-class Americans. Tonight we've done that. Thanks to the votes of Democrats and Republicans in Congress, I will sign a law that raises taxes on the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans while preventing a middle-class tax hike that could have sent the economy back into recession and obviously had a severe impact on families all across America.

I want to thank all the leaders of the House and Senate. In particular, I want to thank the work that was done by my extraordinary Vice President Joe Biden, as well as Leader Harry Reid, Speaker Boehner, Nancy Pelosi, and Mitch McConnell. Everybody worked very hard on this and I appreciate it. And, Joe, once again, I want to thank you for your great work.

Under this law, more than 98 percent of Americans and 97 percent of small businesses will not see their income taxes go up. Millions of families will continue to receive tax credits to help raise their kids and send them to college. Companies will continue to receive tax credits for the research that they do, the investments they make, and the clean energy jobs that they create. And 2 million Americans who are out of work but out there looking, pounding the pavement every day, are going to continue to receive unemployment benefits as long as they’re actively looking for a job.

But I think we all recognize this law is just one step in the broader effort to strengthen our economy and broaden opportunity for everybody. The fact is the deficit is still too high, and we're still investing too little in the things that we need for the economy to grow as fast as it should.

And that's why Speaker Boehner and I originally tried to negotiate a larger agreement that would put this country on a path to paying down its debt while also putting Americans back to work rebuilding our roads and bridges, and providing investments in areas like education and job training. Unfortunately, there just wasn’t enough support or time for that kind of large agreement in a lame duck session of Congress. And that failure comes with a cost, as the messy nature of the process over the past several weeks has made business more uncertain and consumers less confident.

But we are continuing to chip away at this problem, step by step. Last year I signed into law $1.7 trillion in deficit reduction. Tonight’s agreement further reduces the deficit by raising $620 billion in revenue from the wealthiest households in America. And there will be more deficit reduction as Congress decides what to do about the automatic spending cuts that we have now delayed for two months.

I want to make this point: As I've demonstrated throughout the past several weeks, I am very open to compromise. I agree with Democrats and Republicans that the aging population and the rising cost of health care makes Medicare the biggest contributor to our deficit. I believe we've got to find ways to reform that program without hurting seniors who count on it to survive. And I believe that there’s further unnecessary spending in government that we can eliminate.

But we can't simply cut our way to prosperity. Cutting spending has to go hand-in-hand with further reforms to our tax code so that the wealthiest corporations and individuals can't take advantage of loopholes and deductions that aren't available to most Americans. And we can't keep cutting things like basic research and new technology and still expect to succeed in a 21st century economy. So we're going to have to continue to move forward in deficit reduction, but we have to do it in a balanced way, making sure that we are growing even as we get a handle on our spending.

Now, one last point I want to make -- while I will negotiate over many things, I will not have another debate with this Congress over whether or not they should pay the bills that they’ve already racked up through the laws that they passed. Let me repeat: We can't not pay bills that we've already incurred. If Congress refuses to give the United States government the ability to pay these bills on time, the consequences for the entire global economy would be catastrophic -- far worse than the impact of a fiscal cliff.

People will remember, back in 2011, the last time this course of action was threatened, our entire recovery was put at risk. Consumer confidence plunged. Business investment plunged. Growth dropped. We can't go down that path again.

And today’s agreement enshrines, I think, a principle into law that will remain in place as long as I am President: The deficit needs to be reduced in a way that's balanced. Everyone pays their fair share. Everyone does their part. That's how our economy works best. That's how we grow.

The sum total of all the budget agreements we've reached so far proves that there is a path forward, that it is possible if we focus not on our politics but on what’s right for the country. And the one thing that I think, hopefully, in the New Year we'll focus on is seeing if we can put a package like this together with a little bit less drama, a little less brinksmanship, not scare the heck out of folks quite as much.

We can come together as Democrats and Republicans to cut spending and raise revenue in a way that reduces our deficit, protects our middle class, provides ladders into the middle class for everybody who’s willing to work hard. We can find a way to afford the investments that we need to grow and compete. We can settle this debate, or at the very least, not allow it to be so all-consuming all the time that it stops us from meeting a host of other challenges that we face -- creating jobs, boosting incomes, fixing our infrastructure, fixing our immigration system, protecting our planet from the harmful effects of climate change, boosting domestic energy production, protecting our kids from the horrors of gun violence.

It’s not just possible to do these things; it’s an obligation to ourselves and to future generations. And I look forward to working with every single member of Congress to meet this obligation in the New Year.

And I hope that everybody now gets at least a day off, I guess, or a few days off, so that people can refresh themselves, because we're going to have a lot of work to do in 2013.

Thanks, everybody. Happy New Year.

END 11:28 P.M. EST

Read a Fact Sheet Provided by the White House.

Congress approved a plan to end Washington’s long drama over the “fiscal cliff” late Tuesday after House Republicans surrendered to President Obama’s demand to let taxes rise on the nation’s richest households.

The House voted 257 to 167 to send the measure to Obama for his signature; the vote came less than 24 hours after the Senate overwhelmingly approved the legislation.

House Speaker John A. Boehner (Ohio) and most other top GOP leaders took no public position on the measure and offered no public comment before the 10:45 p.m. vote. Boehner declined even to deliver his usual closing argument, leaving House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) to defend the measure as the “largest tax cut in American history.”

The bill will indeed shield millions of middle-class taxpayers from tax increases set to take effect this month. But it also will let rates rise on wages and investment profits for households pulling in more than $450,000 a year, marking the first time in more than two decades that a broad tax increase has been approved with GOP support.

The measure also will keep benefits flowing to 2 million unemployed workers on the verge of losing their federal checks. And it will delay for two months automatic cuts to the Pentagon and other agencies that had been set to take effect Wednesday.

Source: Washington Post article Congress approves ‘fiscal cliff’ measure 

Read for yourself what is actually in the act:

BILLS 112hr8eas

Also read the Congressional Budget Office analysis of the financial impact of the legislation:

American Taxpayer Relief Act



See for yourself who voted for and against the legislation, and who ran and hid: (I have identified the representatives from North Carolina in red to make them more easily identifiable)



FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 659 (Republicans in roman; Democrats in italic; Independents underlined)
      H R 8      RECORDED VOTE      1-Jan-2013      10:57 PM
      QUESTION:  On Motion to Concur in the Senate Amendments
      BILL TITLE: To extend certain tax relief provisions enacted in 2001 and 2003, and to provide for expedited consideration of a bill providing for comprehensive tax reform, and for other purposes

	AYES	NOES	PRES	NV
REPUBLICAN	85	151		5
DEMOCRATIC	172	16		3
INDEPENDENT
TOTALS	257	167		8

---- AYES    257 ---

Ackerman Alexander Altmire Andrews Baca Baldwin Barber Barletta Bass (CA) Bass (NH) Benishek Berkley Berman Biggert Bilbray Bishop (GA) Bishop (NY) Boehner Bonamici Bono Mack Boren Boswell Brady (PA) Brady (TX) Braley (IA) Brown (FL) Buchanan Butterfield Calvert Camp Capps Capuano Carnahan Carney Carson (IN) Castor (FL) Chandler Chu Cicilline Clarke (MI) Clarke (NY) Clay Cleaver Clyburn Coble Cohen Cole Connolly (VA) Conyers Costa Costello Courtney Crenshaw Critz Crowley Cuellar Cummings Curson (MI) Davis (CA) Davis (IL) DeGette DelBene Denham Dent Deutch Diaz-Balart Dicks Dingell Doggett Dold Donnelly (IN) Doyle Dreier Edwards Ellison Emerson Engel Eshoo Farr Fattah Fitzpatrick Fortenberry Frank (MA) Frelinghuysen Fudge Gallegly

Garamendi Gerlach Gibson Gonzalez Green, Al Green, Gene Grijalva Grimm Gutierrez Hahn Hanabusa Hanna Hastings (FL) Hastings (WA) Hayworth Heck Heinrich Herger Herrera Beutler Higgins Himes Hinchey Hinojosa Hirono Hochul Holden Holt Honda Hoyer Israel Jackson Lee (TX) Johnson (GA) Johnson (IL) Johnson (OH) Johnson, E. B. Kaptur Keating Kelly Kildee Kind King (NY) Kinzinger (IL) Kissell Kline Kucinich Lance Langevin Larsen (WA) Larson (CT) LaTourette Latta Lee (CA) Levin Lipinski LoBiondo Loebsack Lofgren, Zoe Lowey Lucas Luetkemeyer Luján Lungren, Daniel E. Lynch Maloney Manzullo Marino Markey Matsui McCarthy (NY) McCollum McGovern McKeon McMorris Rodgers McNerney Meehan Meeks Michaud Miller (MI) Miller, Gary Miller, George Moore Murphy (CT) Murphy (PA) Nadler Napolitano Neal

Noem Olver Owens Pallone Pascrell Pastor (AZ) Payne Pelosi Perlmutter Peters Pingree (ME) Pitts Platts Polis Price (NC) Quigley Rahall Rangel Reed Reichert Reyes Ribble Richardson Richmond Rogers (KY) Rogers (MI) Ros-Lehtinen Ross (AR) Rothman (NJ) Roybal-Allard Royce Runyan Ruppersberger Rush Ryan (OH) Ryan (WI) Sánchez, Linda T. Sanchez, Loretta Sarbanes Schakowsky Schiff Schock Schwartz Scott, David Serrano Sessions Sewell Sherman Shimkus Shuler Shuster Simpson Sires Slaughter Smith (NJ) Smith (TX) Speier Stivers Sullivan Sutton Thompson (CA) Thompson (MS) Thompson (PA) Thornberry Tiberi Tierney Tonko Towns Tsongas Turner (NY) Upton Van Hollen Velázquez Walden Walz (MN) Wasserman Schultz Waters Watt Waxman Welch Wilson (FL) Womack Yarmuth Young (AK) Young (FL)

---- NOES    167 ---

Adams Aderholt Akin Amash Amodei Austria Bachmann Bachus Barrow Bartlett Barton (TX) Becerra Berg Bilirakis Bishop (UT) Black Blackburn Blumenauer Bonner Boustany Brooks Broun (GA) Bucshon Burgess Campbell Canseco Cantor Capito Carter Cassidy Chabot Chaffetz Coffman (CO) Conaway Cooper Cravaack Crawford Culberson DeFazio DeLauro DesJarlais Duffy Duncan (SC) Duncan (TN) Ellmers Farenthold Fincher Flake Fleischmann Fleming Flores Forbes Foxx Franks (AZ) Gardner Garrett

Gibbs Gingrey (GA) Gohmert Goodlatte Gosar Gowdy Granger Graves (GA) Griffin (AR) Griffith (VA) Guinta Guthrie Hall Harper Harris Hartzler Hensarling Huelskamp Huizenga (MI) Hultgren Hunter Hurt Issa Jenkins Johnson, Sam Jones Jordan King (IA) Kingston Labrador Lamborn Landry Lankford Latham Long Lummis Mack Marchant Massie Matheson McCarthy (CA) McCaul McClintock McDermott McHenry McIntyre McKinley Mica Miller (FL) Miller (NC) Moran Mulvaney Myrick Neugebauer Nugent Nunes

Nunnelee Olson Palazzo Paulsen Pearce Pence Peterson Petri Poe (TX) Pompeo Posey Price (GA) Quayle Rehberg Renacci Rigell Rivera Roby Roe (TN) Rogers (AL) Rohrabacher Rokita Rooney Roskam Ross (FL) Scalise Schilling Schmidt Schrader Schweikert Scott (SC) Scott (VA) Scott, Austin Sensenbrenner Smith (NE) Smith (WA) Southerland Stearns Stutzman Terry Tipton Turner (OH) Visclosky Walberg Walsh (IL) Webster West Westmoreland Whitfield Wilson (SC) Wittman Wolf Woodall Yoder Young (IN)

---- NOT VOTING    8 ---

Buerkle Burton (IN) Graves (MO)

Lewis (CA) Lewis (GA) Paul

Stark Woolsey

Read more about the fiscal cliff deal and how other people are reacting to it on the following websites:

Ace of Spades: Senate Tax Bill Passes House

BreitBart: OFFICIAL: GOAL OF 'FISCAL CLIFF' TO BREAK GOP ON NO TAX INCREASE PLEDGE

             Commentary: GOP Plays Into Obama’s Hands on Cliff 

Daily Kos: House passes fiscal cliff bill 

National Review: The Left and the Cliff 

Think Progress: House Passes Senate’s Fiscal Cliff Bill 

Where Is The Outrage?: Fiscal Cliff – We got a parachute

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Index of 2012 Macon County Commissioner Meetings

It's been both fun and tortuous covering the meetings of the Macon County Commissioners. Fun because I'm a political junkie and tortuous because I've had a lot of technical challenges. I hope to do a better and more consistent job of it in 2013.

Here is the index of the meetings of the Macon County Commissioners that I covered this year in reverse chronological order.


Macon County Commissioners 12-11-2012



Macon County Commissioners 12-03-2012 The New Board is Seated


Macon County Commissioners 11-20-2012


Macon County Commissioners 11-13-2012


Macon County Commissioners 10-09-2012


Macon County Commissioners: Video of 09/24/2012 Meeting


Macon County Commissioners 09-11-2012


Macon County Commissioners 08-21-2012 Updated with Audio


Macon County Commissioners 08-14-2012


Macon County Commissioners 07-10-2012


Macon County Commissioners 06-12-2012


Macon County Commissioners 05-31-2012 Budget Work Session III


Macon County Commissioners 05-23-2012 Budget Work Session II


Macon County Commissioners 05-21-2012 Budget Work Session I


Macon County Commissioners 05-15-2012


Macon County Commissioners 05-08-2012


Highlights of the April 26, 2012 Annual Joint Meeting of the Macon County Commissioners and the Planning Board


Macon County Commissioners Joint Meeting with the Towns of Franklin and Highlands (04-19-2012)


Macon County Commissioners 04-10-2012


Macon County Commissioners 03-13-2012


Macon County Commissioners 02-28-2012


Macon County Commissioners 02-14-2012


Macon County Commissioners 01-10-2012 Meeting

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A Christmas Message from the Moon

At the end of a turbulent 1968, the first manned mission to orbit the moon sent back a message on Christmas Eve that is still a good message for people to reflect upon today, 44 years later.





Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the Moon, entered lunar orbit on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1968. That evening, the astronauts; Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders did a live television broadcast from lunar orbit, in which they showed pictures of the Earth and Moon seen from Apollo 8. Lovell said, "The vast loneliness is awe-inspiring and it makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth." They ended the broadcast with the crew taking turns reading from the book of Genesis.

William Anders:
"For all the people on Earth the crew of Apollo 8 has a message we would like to send you".
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness."

Jim Lovell:
"And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day."

Frank Borman:
"And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good."

Borman then added, "And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas, and God bless all of you - all of you on the good Earth."

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Who Does the US Constitution Apply To?

I think most people entirely miss the point when they discuss what rights we have or don't have in our Republic, the United States of America.

The recent debate on gun rights is proceeding under the assumption that the federal government has the right to put restrictions on the citizens as to what type of firearm they can own and what they cannot, and whether or not it is to be registered, or if certain types can be banned.

The federal government does not have the right, or the authority, to infringe upon our right to own firearms. The National Firearms Act (whether 1934, 1968 or any future act) is unconstitutional. It is null and void. Anyone sitting on a jury that is trying a case where someone is charged under any of these acts should return a verdict of "not guilty" regardless of what instructions they receive from a judge.

Below is a more clear statement of these ideas in general...

The important point is that the Constitution doesn't apply to Americans, it doesn't apply to citizens, it doesn't even apply to "people." It applies to the federal government. The body of the Constitution tells the federal government what it is allowed to do, and in some places it explains how to do it (election procedures and such). The Bill of Rights tells the federal government what it is not allowed to do . . .

1. Make no law abridging freedom of speech, press, religion, or assembly,
2. Do not infringe on the right to keep and bear arms.
3. Don't quarter soldiers in peacetime.
4. Don't conduct unreasonable searches and seizures.
5. Don't commit double jeopardy or force people to testify against themselves.
6. Don't deny an accused a speedy trial.
7. Don't deny an accused a trial by jury.
8. Do not impose excessive bail.
9. Just because certain rights of the people aren't mentioned in this Constitution doesn't mean you're allowed to usurp them.
10. Don't exercise any power not authorized in this Constitution.

Where exceptions were meant to apply, they are specifically stated. And there are no exceptions stated for any type of guns, for any type of speech, for any specific crimes, or for crimes where non-citizens are involved.

~Harry Browne [1]

Hat Tip to Kernersville Lawyer on Facebook, who posted an excerpt of this earlier on his page. And that posting prompted me to look for more information. 

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The Old Man and The Sea

Here is a classic piece of literature that has made the transition to film very well. If you've never read the original, you can read the full text at Classic English Literature Notes. For a gloss of the story and background on the author, check out Wikipedia.


The Old Man and the Sea is a 1999 paint-on-glass-animated short film directed by Aleksandr Petrov, based on the novel of the same name by Ernest Hemingway. The film won many awards, including the Academy Award for Animated Short Film. Work on the film took place in Montreal over a period of two and a half years and was funded by an assortment of Canadian, Russian and Japanese companies. French and English-language soundtracks to the film were released concurrently. It was the first animated film to be released in IMAX.

Awards

1999 - Cinanima: "Grand Prize"
1999 - Japan Media Arts Festival: "Grand Prize" (Animation)
1999 - Montréal World Film Festival: Nominated for "First Prize (Short Films)"
2000 - Academy Award for Animated Short Film
2000 - Annecy International Animated Film Festival: "Audience Award", "Grand Prix for Best Animated Short Film"
2000 - BAFTA Awards: Nominated for "Best Animated Short Film"
2000 - Buster International Children's Film Festival: "Politiken's Short Film Award"
2000 - Genie Awards: Nominated for "Best Animated Short Film"
2000 - Jutra Awards: "Jutra" in the category "Best Animated Film"
2000 - Mainichi Film Concours: "Ofuji Noburo Award"
2000 - Saint Petersburg Message to Man International Film Festival: "Special Jury Prize" in the category "International Competition"
2000 - Zagreb World Festival of Animated Films: "First Prize" in "Category C - 15 Min. to 30 Min."
2001 - Burbank International Children's Film Festival: "Director's Gold Award"
2001 - San Diego International Film Festival: "Festival Award" in the category "Best Animation"

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Alternatives to Instagram

Instagram just set off a bomb inside its new privacy policy and terms of service. New wording essentially makes it possible to turn people’s photos posted after Jan. 16 using Instagram into advertisements. In other words, that sutro-toned picture of your beloved Lhasa apso freshly coiffed after her grooming might well become an ad for Classy Canine Dog Salon.

Source: Forbes||Did You Really Think Facebook Wouldn't Turn Your Instagram Photos Into Ads?


For those who are upset about Instagram's new TOS, please consider these alternatives:

Flickr. I think this is the best option for most people, and the one with the most promise.

It has both free and paid options. I use the paid option and have been very happy with it since 2007 or so.

My profile over there is http://www.flickr.com/photos/thunder-pig/

Another option is Photobucket, which I've used since 2005. They have both free and paid options and I use the paid option because it is the service I use to host nearly all the photos for my blog. You can also upload videos, too and I used it to host videos before Youtube came along.

http://photobucket.com/

You might also consider Picasa. I have an account, but don't use it very much even though I have unlimited bandwidth because I am a member of Google Plus.

http://picasa.google.com/

And then there is Google Plus. I have, as far as I know, unlimited bandwidth there, too. It also allows you to upload from your phone.

https://plus.google.com/photos/101706295300435696596/albums

And the bonus? All of the above sites acknowledge that YOU own your photos. What an amazing concept!

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Music Monday: A Three Tenors Christmas Concert

The Christmas Season is a lovely time of year for lovers of music. In this week's installment of Music Monday, I'm sharing a recording of a Christmas Concert that took place in Vienna Austria in 1999. I hope you enjoy it.


Recorded live at the Konzerthaus in Vienna, on December 23, 1999, the three most popular male vocalists in contemporary opera - Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, and Jose Carreras.

Track Listing:

1. White Christmas
2. Let It Snow
3. Oh Tannenbaum
4. Ay! Para Navidad
5. Tu Scendi Dalle Stelle
6. Carol Of The Drum (The Little Drummer Boy)
7. Ave Maria, Dolce Maria
8. Wiegenlied I
9. Jingle Bells
10. Children Of Christmas
11. La Virgen La Panales
12. I'll Be Home For Christmas
13. Adeste Fideles
14. Cantique De Noel (O Holy Night)
15. Amazing Grace
16. Feliz Navidad
17. Silent Night
18. Paregaria (El Can de L'Anima a La Verge)
19. Winter Wonderland
20. Wiegenlied II
21. Sleigh Ride
22. Susani
23. Un Nuevo Siglo
24. Dormi O Bambino
25. Happy Christmas/War Is Over

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Facebook Suffers Service Disruption: (alternatives to use when it goes down)

There has been a widespread service disruption this morning on Facebook.

I've been accessing the site via the Mobile log in, but have seen very little activity from other local people, so I'm guessing they don't know about the alternative method for using the social media website.

As a reminder for local people, I run a local news page called Macon Media (click here to see it) on Google Plus that mirrors the content I put on my two local Facebook news pages,  Macon County Public Safety, Road Conditions and Weather Updates (web/mobile) and Macon Media (web/mobile).

**update** 8:09am

It looks like Facebook is back up. So, in order to avoid any potential problems in getting up to date local news when this happens again (and you know it will, please bookmark the Google Plus Macon Media Page.

Shame on me for not getting the word out on the alternative source of local information earlier.

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Collectiques in Oil

A digital painting of the exterior of a shop (website) in downtown Franklin, NC.

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Dr. Rhett Jackson to Speak to the Macon County League of Women Voters on Thursday

The Macon County League of Women Voters will be hosting a program by the Coweeta Listening Project focusing on applicable information on the links between land use and ecosystem health and on developing effective collaboration between the community and the institution.

Dr. Rhett Jackson, Professor of Hydrology at the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources at the University of Georgia, will speak and lead the conversation.

Please follow this link to their Facebook Page for more information on the event, which is scheduled for the lunch hour on Thursday.

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Macon County Commissioners 12-11-2012

The Macon County Commissioners are meeting tonight at 6pm in the county courthouse. I will be there to provide a nearly live play by play on Macon Media Google Plus Account.

The agenda and meeting minutes from the last meeting are below. I will try to have the video embedded on the article by sometime tomorrow afternoon.

12.11.12 BOC Agenda Packet

11.20.12 Board Minutes

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Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: The Essential Value of a Classic Education

Dean Brenzel, Philosopher, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions at Yale University, argues that not only can reading the great classics like Plato's Republic and Dante's Inferno enrich your education, it can actually make your life better. Pointing out that we can't possibly read all of the books in the world, Brenzel makes a case for reading the right books the right way in order to get the most intellectual bang for your reading buck. Which books qualify as the "right" books is one of the most controversial subjects in academia, and Brenzel outlines the five key characteristics that every great book must fulfill in order to make that coveted list. (video length 56:42)

The Floating University, originally released September 2011.



You can find many of these books in several used book stores and in the local Friends of the Library Bookstore and also at the Macon County Public Library.

They are also available for your eReader through various sources like Amazon or the Gutenberg Project.

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IBM Demonstrates Feasibility of Silicon Nanophotonics for Chip Manufacturing

IBM has announced that it is ready to mass produce a new class of computer chips that utilize both copper and optic fiber routing of information on the same computer chip. A single CMOS-based nanophotonic transceiver is capable of converting data between electric and optical with virtually no latency, handling a data connection of more than 25 gigabits per second. Depending on the application, hundreds of transceivers could be integrated into a single CMOS chip, pushing terabits of data over fiber-optic connections between processors, memory, and storage systems optically over distances ranging from two centimeters to two kilometers. Here is the press release:

On December 10, 2012 IBM announced a breakthrough optical communication technology which has been verified in a manufacturing environment. The technology – called “silicon nanophotonics” – uses light instead of electrical signals to transfer information for future computing systems, thus allowing large volumes of data to be moved fast between computer chips in servers, large data-centers, and supercomputers via pulses of light.

The technology breakthrough allows the integration of different optical components side-by-side with electrical circuits on a single silicon chip, for the first time, in standard 90nm semiconductor fabrication. The new features of the technology include a variety of silicon nanophotonics components, such as modulators, germanium photodetectors and ultra-compact wavelength-division multiplexers to be integrated with high-performance analog and digital CMOS circuitry.

The use of a standard chip manufacturing process will alleviate high cost of traditional interconnects. Single-chip optical communications transceivers can now be manufactured in a standard CMOS foundry, rather than assembled from multiple parts made with expensive compound semiconductor technology.

Furthermore, dense integration of optical circuits capable of transmitting and receiving at high data rates will solve the limitations of congested data traffic in current interconnects. IBM’s CMOS nanophotonics technology demonstrates transceivers to exceed the 25Gbps data rate. In addition, the technology is capable of feeding a number of parallel optical data streams into a single fiber by utilizing compact on-chip wavelength-division multiplexing devices. The ability to multiplex large data streams at high data rates will allow future scaling of optical communications capable of delivering terabytes of data between distant parts of computer systems.

I wonder how long it will take these new chips to become integrated into data centers and how long it will take them to find their way into consumer devices.

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Franklin TDA 12-10-2012 Meeting Agenda

The Franklin Tourism Development Authority will be meeting tonight at 5:30 in the Town Hall (enter through the lower level). I will be there to video the meeting and provide a nearly live play by play on Google Plus.

Also, please note that there are two vacancies on the TDA Board. You can pick up an application at the Town Hall or download a PDF Application.

I've re-written an agenda from the embedded agenda below:

AGENDA

MONDAY DECEMBER 10, 2012

5:30 PM TOWN HALL BOARD ROOM

1 Call to order - Chair Candy Presley

2 Approval of the September 10, 2012 and October 8, 2012 minutes

3 Financial Report - Summer Woodard

4 Sub-committee Reports
   A) Appointment of Vice Chair
   B) Appointment of Finance/Budget Chair
   C) Appointment of Policy and Rules of Procedure Chair
   D) Application Review Chair

5 Legal
   A) Revised TDA contract - John Henning Jr
   B) Amendments to the Rules of Procedure for the TDA Board - John Henning Jr

6     Old (unfinished) business
      A) Board decision on advertising opportunity with Dash Boards/Saddle Bags Magazine

7     New Business
      A) Funding request from Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts - Nikki Corbin
      B) Funding request from Stay and Play in the Smokies - Matt Batemen
      C) Funding request from Cullasaja River Mine - Kate LaFlamm
      D) Funding request for April Fool Trail Days - Linda Schlott
      E) Grant report for Franklin Folk Festival 2012 - Theresa Ramsey

8     Items from the board

9     Announcements - 
       Next TDA meeting: January 14, 2012 Town Hall Board Room

10    Adjourn

Doc 120712

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Black Marble added to Google Maps

Google Earth has added the recently released Earth at Night 2012 to Google Maps and you can explore the imagery to see how your area looks at night.

The above photo is of the area where I live, with my residence marked with a red marker. The photo below is an annotated version of that with the major cities labelled.

Check it out for yourself at Google Maps.

Source: Google Maps

**update** 
More info, including the KML File, is available at the Earth Observatory.

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This Week in Tech #383: Mennonite Madness

Here is TWIT-TV's weekly show that discusses the week in tech...


Hosts: Leo Laporte, Patrick Norton, Jolie O'Dell, and John C. Dvorak.

Tim Cook talks, G4 Esquire, assassins everywhere, Ingress data mine, badge lust, and more.

Download or subscribe to this show at twit.tv/twit.

Running time:: 2:08:49

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Music Monday: Richard Arnell Symphony No. 3 "The New Age"

Here is a piece of music that I haven't heard in a long time, Richard Arnell's "Sympnony No 3 The New Age."




Composer: Website  Wikipedia Works CD Universe  Works on Amazon

The Conductor: Website  Wikipedia

The Orchestra: Facebook  Youtube Wikipedia

From the video description:

Conducted by Martin Yates with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

Painting Info - "Emperor at Dusk" by ~ChaoyuanXu on deviantart.
I. Andante - 00:00
II. Allegro Assai - 7:02
III. Andante - 21:27
IV. Presto - 36:50
V. Andante Maestoso - 42:25
VI. Allegro - 44:06

Richard Anthony Sayer ("Tony") Arnell was an English composer of classical music. Arnell composed in all the established genres for the concert stage, and his list of works includes six completed symphonie and six string quartets.

Arnell was born in Hampstead, London. He studied at the Royal College of Music in London from 1935 to 1939, and was taught there by John Ireland (composition) and St John Dykes (piano). He was awarded the Farrar Prize for composition during his final year at the college. At the outset of the Second World War, attending the New York World Fair, Arnell (along with other English composers, e.g. Arthur Bliss) was stranded in New York, and stayed on until 1947, thereby finding himself in the position of having an established reputation in the U.S., but remaining relatively little known in his homeland. During his American soujourn, Arnell was the Music Supervisor for the BBC in North America, and was commissioned to compose (to a text by Stephen Spender) a cantata, The War God, in celebration of the opening of the United Nations, as well as a fanfare to greet Winston Churchill's arrival in New York. His music has been championed by Thomas Beecham, Leopold Stokowski and Bernard Herrmann, among others and most recently by Martin Yates (one of his composition students at Trinity). Between 1947 and 1987 he taught at Trinity College of Music in London, where his students included Peter Tahourdin (1949-52).

Arnell composed the music for The Land (1942), a 45-minute documentary film directed by Robert J. Flaherty for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He was also commissioned by the Ford Motor Company to compose a symphonic suite inspired by the workers in the factory at Dagenham. The resulting work accompanies a film entitled Opus 65. Arnell established and headed the Music Department at the London International Film School until his retirement in the late 1980s. He established a reputation as a major composer for the ballet stage through collaborations with choreographers of the stature of George Balanchine, John Cranko and Frederick Ashton. His many ballets have been successfully staged in both New York and London. His score for Punch and the Child was recorded by Sir Thomas Beecham with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, a recording which has seldom been out of the catalogue.

Arnell is acknowledged as being one of the most masterful orchestrators of the twentieth century, Sir Thomas Beecham describing him as the best orchestrator since Berlioz.

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Decay (2012) - The LHC Zombie Movie

A Zombie Film shot by students at the Large Hadron Collider .
How awesome is that?


From the video description:

Decay is a 75 minute zombie film, shot and set at the Large Hadron Collider, CERN, by physics PhD students. www.DecayFilm.com CC-BY-NC

Trapped underground at the world's largest particle accelerator, a group of students make a deadly discovery.

Twitter: www.twitter.com/DecayFilm @Decay Film
Facebook: www.facebook.com/DecayFilm

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Macon County Commissioners 12-11-2012 Agenda Packet

Here is the agenda packet for the December 2012 regular meeting of the Macon County Commissioners...

DECEMBER 11, 2012

AGENDA

1. Call to order and welcome by Chairman Corbin
2. Announcements
3. Moment of Silence
4. Pledge of Allegiance
5. Public Hearing(s) – Macon County Transit – Kim Angel, Director
    (A) Section 5310 – Elderly Individuals and Individuals with
Disabilities Program Grant Application
    (B) Macon County Community Transportation Program Application
    (C) Consideration of Public Transportation Program Resolution
    (D)Consideration of Community Transportation Program
Resolution
6. Public Comment Period
7. Adjustments to and approval of the agenda
8. Reports/Presentations
    (A) Presentation of the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report –
Erica Brown, Martin Starnes & Associates
9. Old Business
    (A) NCDOT traffic light controller project – David Key, Emergency
Services Director
    (B) Resolution and lease with Forex Currency Trade Advisors, LLC –
Tommy Jenkins, Economic Development Director
10. New Business
    (A) Resolution authorizing negotiation of installment financing
contracts – County Manager and Finance Director
    (B) Satisfaction of security instrument – County Manager
11. Consent Agenda – Attachment #11
All items below are considered routine and will be enacted by one motion. No
separate discussion will be held except on request of a member of the Board of Commissioners.
    (A) Minutes
    (B) Budget Amendments
    (C) Tax Releases
    (D)Monthly Ad Valorem Tax Collection Report (no action necessary)
    (E) Change Order No. 1 on Swiss Colony Project
    (F) Macon County Public Health FY 12-13 Billing and Collection
Policies and Fee Schedules
12. Appointments
    (A) Board member committee appointments
    (B) Voting delegate for Legislative Goals Conference
13. Closed session (if necessary)



12.11.12 BOC Agenda Packet

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Remembering Pearl Harbor 71 Years Later

Seventy One Years ago today, Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese Imperial Navy. Four years later, the bulk of the Japanese Imperial Navy was on the bottom of the ocean and Japan lay in ruins.

May we never forget the men and women who died in the attack on Pearl Harbor, and may we never forget to honor those who answered the call to go to war in the aftermath. We owe them a debt that can never be repaid, we can only be grateful for their sacrifice and remember them for as long as our civilization lasts.

I have embedded some audio from that day to give you a flavor of how the news broke back then.

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Live report from KGU Radio in Honolulu

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Pearl Harbor Attack Announcement

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Here is a more complete playlist of audio from that day, and includes the actual moment the news was broadcast by breaking into programming that was occuring at the time:

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And now, here are some videos that are representative of the attack and the response to the attack on Pearl Harbor:




This short newsreel, produced for the home market with no narration, shows the aftermath of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Footage shows the wrecked seaplane base on Ford Island, the destroyer USS Shaw (DD-373) wrecked in its drydock, the battleship USS Utah (BB-13) capsized, and the mighty USS Arizona (BB-39) a twisted mass of smouldering metal.

Our response included dropping an atomic device on the Japanese city of Hiroshima after we fought our way across the Pacific Ocean at great cost in men and material. The event is dramatically depicted by the BBC in the above video.


A Hollywood recreation from the 2001 film "Pearl Harbor"
The full movie is available on Youtube (until it is taken down for a copyright violation) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbtAJ1PKz5k

A war bonds promotional newsreel advocating vengeance for the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Here is the John Ford classic "December 7th" produced for the US Navy.

And here is the first episode in the "Why We Fight" series called "Prelude to War" that gives a wider perspective on what was going on in the world at the time.

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The Earth at Night in 3D

Here is a 3D version of the earth at night. Please use your red/blue glasses to see the earth spin in 3D.

**note** I am currently trying to fix some issues with this blog, so things may randomly change during the day today.

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Macon County Commissioners 12-03-2012 The New Board is Seated

The Macon County Commissioners met on December 3, 2012 and, pursuant to state law, the re-elected and newly elected commissioners were sworn by Judge Downs, elected a chairman and vice chairman of the board and set it's regular meeting schedule for the coming year.

Here is the full video of the meeting, ably recorded for me by Bill Vernon. I would like to thank him for stepping in for me.


Macon County Manager Jack Horton chaired the meeting and oversaw the election of Kevin Corbin as the Chairman of the Board of County Commissioners. Then, Chairman Corbin oversaw the election of Ronnie Beale as the Vice Chairman of the Board of County Commissioners. The newly reorganized board then set 6pm on the second Tuesday of each month in 2013 as the time of their regular monthly meeting.

Commissioners then conducted a brief meeting where they examined and approved the official bond for public officials of Macon County and awarded the contract for the installation of the reuse system.


Here are some of the photos I took at the meeting:

The Old Board

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Kevin Corbin and Family

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Jimmy Tate and Family

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Paul Higdon and Family

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The New Board is seated

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The Public

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Cookies and Punch

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Franklin Aldermen 12-03-2012

**10.20pm** The video of tonight's meeting of the town board is now available:



The Franklin Town Board of Aldermen are meeting tonight at 7pm in the town hall. I have embedded the agenda packet at the bottom of this article and will be posting a nearly live play by play on Google Plus (GPLUS LINK) and will embed the video as soon after the meeting as I can.


Agenda Packet 12-3-12

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This Week in Tech #382: The Pump and Dump

Third world cloud, PR $, Chromebook push, fly-touch, vacuum-packed gadgets, and more.
Hosts: Leo Laporte, Tim Stevens, Mike Elgan, and John C. Dvorak.
Running time: 1:59:06

See the show page for more information.

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Macon County Commissioners Meeting Agenda for 12-03-2012

The Macon County Commissioners will be meeting tonight at 6pm to swear in the newly elected and re-elected commissioners and conduct a little business. I have posted the agenda and the preliminary meeting schedule for 2013 in this article for your convenience.

Since the monthly meeting of the Franklin Town Board of Aldermen is beginning an hour later, I'll have to miss this meeting unless I can find someone to babysit a spare video camera for me while I record what may be another contentious meeting of the Town Board of Franklin, NC as this dispute regarding the Main Street Program continues to unfold. Click to read more.

Since I will not be able to be at this meeting of the county commissioners and provide a nearly live play by play, I will post a video separately if I am able to find someone to babysit the camera in the commissioners board room.




Agenda:

Agenda Packet 12-3-12

2013 Meeting Schedule:

2013 BOC Meeting Schedule

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2012 Granite Falls NC Christmas Parade A Homegrown TV Video

2012 Granite Falls NC Christmas parade from Homegrown Television on Vimeo.
Here is video of the Granite Falls Christmas Parade as only Homegrown TV can bring it to you!

To see more videos from HGTV, check out their pages on Vimeo and Facebook.

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The No Words Cooking Show Episode One: Potato, Onion and Eggs

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