Month: November 2009

Hello, earthlings. I hope today finds you well-stuffin’d. For your post-feast pleasure, some recent readings from around the world:

First, an account of local innovation in the field of wind turbines: a 90-degree turn in the orientation of the blades! I like imagining that wind-tunnel test that UVA brainiacs recently did on their new prototype. (I assume they were using more sophisticated instruments than this iPhone wind-measuring app.)

Here’s an analysis—clearly from a pro-business standpoint—of the land-use issues our new Virginia governor will confront. It’s a decent primer on the big talking points: stormwater regs, cash proffers, and Urban Development Areas (all of which are, of course, a big deal in Albemarle).

Rather gloomy updates on two big ongoing stories: Opponents of the Wilderness Wal-Mart, having failed to prevent the retailer from getting county approval for a big new store, regroup and ask, essentially, "What the hell do we do now?" And the big proposed NoVa power line, PATH, draws naysayers in force, but still gets the go-ahead for now from the State Corporation Commission.

In these parts, LEAP is set to become a big deal, and once again we’re officially green.

On now to national news. Ever wondered how Sesame Street handles global warming? It doesn’t. But it does try to teach kids to care for the planet, using Mrs. Obama as a guest star. Meanwhile, her husband’s climate change strategy gets defended by Grist’s David Roberts. (Apparently others are not so thrilled with the prez on this point.)

Guess what? Carbon offsets mean little. Are we surprised?

And finally, for dessert, a truly awesome find in an old LIFE magazine.

More links, folks? Post them below.

We are all going to learn a great deal about Virginia football Saturday. Chris Cook, Vic Hall, Will Barker, Jameel Sewell, Rashawn Jackson, have not a thing left to play for in their careers other than simple pride. There is no bowl game, no BCS game, not a damn item left to play for. There are no more practices remaining, and this is the very last time many of them will wear the V and Sabres on the field of play. They all will collectively decide if they are sick and tired of getting shellacked by their highly-favored cousins to the SW, or if they will stand strong as Virginians, and smack the Hokie’s in the mouth early and often. It happens tomorrow at Scott Stadium @ 3:30 pm. Be there or be square… Go Hoos!

I, for one, think the Hoos will do it. Virginia 24-Hokies 24. Overtime, Virginia wins on a Vic Hall touchdown of some sort. Good guys win one for their Gipper.

On the eve of the most anticipated game of the season, Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Michael Phillips writes that UVA is reaching out to donors to pay out Al Groh’s remaining two years as Cavaliers head coach: a total $4 million.

Phillips argues that tomorrow’s game against Virginia Tech, to which UVA has lost each year since 2003, will be the last for Groh. The team’s stats for the season stand at 3-8 going into tomorrow’s Commonwealth Cup.

According to Phillips, UVA is fundraising because of the huge drop in attendance at football games.

In 2007, when Groh was named ACC Coach of the Year, UVA Athletics sold close to 60,000 seats per game. This year, however, it’s more in the range of 48,000.

Of further note: Football revenue at UVA per year is slightly over $20 million. And that’s twice as much as much as basketball.
 

Beware Black Friday!

Beware a post-Thanksgiving poultry revenge!

Beware, for the weekend aproaches!

So, tonight’s the night—lingering effects of tryptophan be damned! Feedback is headed to the grand reopning of the Jefferson Theater to catch sets by Peyton Tochterman, Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, and Sons of Bill.

Expect a full report in next week’s print issue of C-VILLE. Or, for those of you who plan to be laptop-centric tonight starting at 7pm, keep up with the reopening at Feedback’s Twitter account (or on that handy widget to your left).

And maybe I’ll see some of you there. Along with these two:

James and Sam Wilson of Sons of Bill perform "The Rain"

University of Virginia Happy Thanksgiving Hoo Fans!
Football Injury Report
Game 12 vs. VA Tech
Issued: Thursday, Nov 26
This report is compiled by the University of Virginia Sports Medicine staff
under the direction of Dr. David Diduch.
Out
Isaac Cain (foot)
Raynard Horne (back)
Torrey Mack (ankle)
Doubtful
Darren Childs (ankle)
Questionable
Jared Green (shoulder)
Mikell Simpson (leg)
Probable
Daniel Childress (ankle)
Matt Conrath (ankle)
Connor McCartin (shoulder)
Jameel Sewell (shoulder)
Patrick Slebonick (leg)
All remaining players on the Virginia roster are available to participate.
Please note the status of an injured student-athlete’s ability to
participate can increase or decrease between the time this report is issued
and game time.
Key:
Probable = Virtual certainty will be available for normal duty
Questionable = 50-50 chance will not play
Doubtful = At least 75% chance will not play
Out = Definitely will not play

At its regular meeting yesterday, the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority board voted to adopt a schedule for remedying dam safety issues at Ragged Mountain Reservoir. Though the schedule, which calls for restoring dam safety by February 2013, is premised on how long it would take to enact the current water supply plan (i.e., to build a new Ragged Mountain Dam and a pipeline from the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir), RWSA Executive Director Tom Frederick is careful to say that the schedule does not itself mandate a specific course of action.

"The schedule does permit the flexibility to make future decisions that are deemed appropriate by the entire community with respect to how to remedy the safety issues," Frederick says. Opponents of the new dam have called for dredging the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir as an alternative, and a study of that idea is currently underway.

The two existing dams at Ragged Mountain, both more than 100 years old, are operating right now under conditional permits from the Department of Conservation and Recreation. DCR has extended permission for the dams to continue operating until the end of May.

I did. With great excitement. And next week is the big event. I’ve noted some divergent information floating around about the location of Wendell’s reading, so here’s the real deal: 5:30, UVA Small/Harrison Special Collections Library Auditorium, Thursday, December 3. The scuttlebutt holds that the crowd will be considerable, so get there early to claim your seat.

Never read Mr. Berry? Get thee to this list of his more than 40 books, including a genre for every taste: nonfiction, poetry, fiction. All of it articulates a vision of our American society that’s so forceful, so right, it stops you in your tracks. That’s not back-of-book hyperbole; the man is a shining light of letters.

In celebration of his visit, here’s a passage from the easy "The Body and the Earth," in the collection The Art of the Commonplace:

"Apparently with the rise of industry, we bgan to romanticize the wilderness—which is to say we began to institutionalize it within the concept of the ‘scenic.’ Because of railroads and improved highways, the wilderness was no longer an arduous passage for the traveler, but something to be looked at as grand or beautiful from the high vantages of the roadside. We became viewers of ‘views.’ And because we no longer traveled in the wilderness as a matter of course, we forgot that wilderness still circumscribed civilization and persisted in domesticity. We forgot, indeed, that the civilized and the domestic continued to depend upon wilderness—that is, upon natural forces within the climate and within the soil that have never in any meaningful sense been controlled or conquered. Modern civilization has been built largely in this forgetfulness."

I’ll think about that during my Thanksgiving drives. And meal.

Well, here’s hoping that the fellows formerly known as Sparky’s Flaw don’t forget their nautical-themed pashmina afghans. This spring, the tangentially musical TV station known as VH1 unveils "Best Cruise Ever," a five-day floating music fest hosted by 3 Doors Down and featuring Parachute, the local Red Light-approved pop act perhaps best know for the mathematical proof She = Love. Prices to attend the cruise begin at $799. But can you really put a price on this?

No, I couldn’t help myself. In case you’re one of the five people who haven’t seen this video, beware—it contains salty language.

The lineup for the "Best Cruise Ever" looks pretty atrocious—populated by bands including the dudes that recorded "Hanging by a Moment" and, well, all of these folks. To be completely honest, the lineup should work to Parachute’s advantage; the band ought to emerge from this cruise well-rested, tanned and with a few new fans repelled by the likes of just about every other act on board.

To be even more completely honest, I’d like to go, please…if only to write the pop-cruise equivalent of this.

What local bands would you like to see on a boat?

It might be a bit too late to change this year’s Thanksgiving menu, but fans of the local food movement might consider putting venison on the menu next November. Jackson Landers, a local insurance broker and brother of CvilleNews.com founder Waldo Jaquith, recently spoke with the New York Times about his "Deer Hunting for Locavores" course. Landers wrote on his own blog that, in the most recent class, "[a] group of nine people went from zero to sixty as locavore hunters in space of only a few months."

The Times website offers a four-minute video featuring comments from Landers and his students, and a nice shot of the "backstrap," a choice cut of venison. (Recipes here.) "Your great-grandfather would be ashamed of you," one class member teases another who shared his lack of hunting experience. For more on Landers’ class, visit his blog here.