Dan B's blog

My friend John Hope Franklin died this morning at the age of 94. He was many things -- a great historian, a great scholar, a great activist, and a great North Carolinian, to name a few. I could spend a day blogging about John Hope's life (I lack the stature to provide a fitting eulogy), but I think it is more fitting to use his own words to describe this great man:

"I want to be out there on the firing line, helping, directing or doing something to try to make this a better world, a better place to live."

Those are inspirational words, the kind of words that we should all hope to live by.

His biography and memorial website, both courtesy of Duke University.

Do you ever wonder what people were thinking when you read a story like this: Boy Accidentally Killed by Submachine Gun at Firearms Expo?

Key quotes:

Christopher Bizilj was testing a 9 mm Micro Uzi at the Westfield Sportsman's Club in Westfield, Mass., as part of the Machine Gun Shoot and Firearms Expo, when he shot himself Sunday.

...[A]ccording to Ted Oven, a gun retailer and president of the Massachusetts Association of Firearms Dealers, Christopher should have never been allowed to handle a submachine gun on his own.

Oven has shot similar weapons and said the recoil is tough to control even for an adult.

Outside of football, I don't pay much attention to Alabama. But, my morning newsfeed captured this story on Jefferson County (which includes Birmingham) and it's municipal debt woes. It may sound familiar...

I was scanning my newsfeeds this morning and caught these stories:

• SCOTLAND NECK, NC: Deputies: Gun, drugs found on fifth-grader
• RALEIGH, NC: 2 more teens charged in attack at high school (and if you read that one carefully, you'll note that there is a 17-year old 9th grader).
• RALEIGH, NC: Cheerleader charged with selling drugs

I'm sure that these are just oddball exceptions, but jeez. These aren't political... they're pathetic. What's going on in our schools?

Pay attention to tomorrow's print edition of the News and Observer. According to the this article, Saturday's edition will carry more than its normal share of news and advertising inserts... it will include a "controversial documentary film on Islam that has stirred anger on college campuses and led the Florida attorney general to form a Muslim advisory board in the wake of community objections."

I'm interested in the electrical rates. In particular, I'm interested in comparing the electrical rates in the eastern NC cities and towns. Help me compare electrical rates across the state by adding your city to The Chart.