Hunting is on the decline across the nation as participation has fallen over the last three decades, and states have begun trying to bolster this rural tradition by attracting new and younger people to the sport. In West Virginia, state lawmakers gave final approval to a bill that allows hunting education classes in all schools [...]
I received an e-mail from Netflix today stating that they’re shipping March of the Penguins next. That wasn’t at the top my queue. The DVD at the top was The Shield Season 2, Disc 2. We’re 3 for 3. I’ve returned 3 DVD’s this week, and there’s been a problem each time. You have [...]
I received an e-mail from Netflix today stating that the movie they mailed yesterday was returned to them today unopened. How did that happen?? Your Account | Queue | Help Delivery Problem Dear Stephen,We wanted to let you know that there was a delivery problem with DIGGERS. It was shipped on 04-MAR-08 but was returned [...]
I received another e-mail from Netflix yesterday stating that the local (Roanoke) distribution center didn’t have a movie in stock. This is time, it’s a movie my youngest chose. Your Account | Queue | Help Shipping update Dear Stephen, I LOVE TOY TRAINS: PARTS 1, 2, & 3 was not available at your local [...]
I finally watched and returned to Netflix the 2 movies we’ve had for months, and this is the message I received from Netflix this morning: Your Account | Queue | Help Shipping update Dear Stephen,GRAM PARSONS: FALLEN ANGEL was not available at your local shipping center. Instead, we will be shipping this movie from Columbus, [...]
The Blue Ridge Music Festival was canceled this year because of poor ticket sales in the past. The Blue Man Group didn’t sell out the 8,000 seat Roanoke Civic Center, and The Police didn’t sell out the 16,000 seat John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville. Why? Do we have too many entertainment choices? Are ticket prices [...]
A state energy plan being developed by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s administration renews prospects of uranium mining in Virginia’s Piedmont, a practice that has been barred by a 25-year-old moratorium. Marline Corp. said it discovered 30 million pounds of uranium oxide in Pittsylvania County during searches in the late 1970s and in 1982. The company [...]
Less than two months after floating the idea to strip copy protection schemes from digital songs sold online, Apple’s Steve Jobs has persuaded EMI to go along. EMI said it will make its entire digital catalog available for purchase on Apple’s iTunes Store without Digital Rights Management (DRM) protection, beginning in May. Rather than MP3, [...]
IKEA will charge U.S. customers five cents for disposable plastic shopping bags in what the international furniture giant said was a first step to ending their use altogether. IKEA said the decision to stop giving away free bags to customers is an attempt to reduce the estimated 100 billion bags thrown away by all U.S. [...]
Its quiet up on Skyline Drive. Theres the occasional hum of chain saws, the beep of a bucket truck backing up, and the ominous thunder of falling trees, but there arent many cars or hikers, and even fewer campers. A sign at the Thornton Gap Entrance Station announces in bold, capitalized and underlined type: “Skyline [...]
A Letterman show tradition continues when Dave has Biff blow up a 1,390lb. pumpkin. Watch (YouTube)
Filmmaker Jonas Mekas to make short films available as a podcast. He plans to release 1 each day for 365 days. NPR has the story. Listen (NPR)
The radio wars are escalating. The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and National Public Radio (NPR) want the Federal Communications Commission to investigate alleged misdeeds by XM and Sirius. NPR CEO Ken Stern wrote to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin alleging that the satellite broadcasters’ devices interfere with NPR broadcasts. The president the NAB fired off [...]
My Top 10 TV shows so far this fall season are: Battlestar Galactica The Wire The Office Lost Jericho Friday Night Lights CSI New Adventures of Old Christine ER My Name Is Earl
My Top 5 TV Series this past summer were: FX’s Rescue Me BBC America’s Life On Mars TNT’s The Closer FX’s It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia The Food Network’s Feasting on Asphalt
Residents of northern New Hampshire are staking their economic future on a new kind of tourist. Faced with the decline of the paper industry, Berlin, N.H., hopes to capitalize on the increasing popularity of All Terrain Vehicles. ATVs can tear up the ground as they roar through the woods, leaving exhaust in their trail. Some [...]
Plan 9 Music has purchased five of the former Record Exchange stores, including one in Roanoke at Towers Shopping Center. This will be Plan 9′s first store in the Roanoke Valley. Read (Roanoke Times) When I was in Charlottesville, Plan 9 was the only store where I shopped for CD’s. I’ve also sold numerous CD’s [...]
No longer is tourism on the Eastern Shore just a matter of beachgoers in the summer. Cycling, kayaking, bird watching and other outdoor pursuits have become an important slice of the industry in the last decade. Across the shore, local officials are seeing potential moneymakers in the rural countryside and waterways that a generation ago [...]
Rest TimeI took B., A., and her friend E. hiking Saturday. We hiked the Star Trail, which runs from Riverland Drive across from the Roanoke River to the Star on the Top of Mill Mountain. The hike was uphill the whole way up, but the kids made it without any complaints. Photoset of our Hike [...]
WVPT, the Harrisonburg-based Virginia Public Television station, is seeking 25-minute video productions from the public to air on their new fall series, “Local Lens.” The series, which premieres in October, will showcase one local resident’s movie every month on WVPT. The station will also air multiple repeats of the show throughout the month. Read (Harrisonburg [...]