There’s something in the air

“Ten thousand thundering typhoons!”

— Captain Archibald Haddock

Last week, we spent some time in Raleigh, the City of Oaks and of Oak Pollen. Our visit to North Carolina’s capital started off incredibly interesting: we went to the old North Carolina State Capitol building, and the local history museum. In the afternoon we had an extensive tour of the State Supreme Court of North Carolina, by one of the Associate Justices. We were very interested, had many questions, and ended up taking a lot more of the patient Justice’s time than anticipated. As the Justice expressed her worries about the spending cuts made in to the justice system, a modest group of Tea Party people started to gather across the street to peacefully protest Big Spending Government.

On Saturday we cheered for a number of physically challenged children having lots of fun playing Miracle League baseball. We also attended the spring training game of university (American) football from between North Carolina State University and other North Carolina State University players. This was football, so there was a band, and a dancing team, and cheerleaders.

Later on the day, my host family took me to a community party, but not many people showed up as it was pouring rain. Just a few miles further, a tornado came by. Only afterwards, we learned how destructive the tornado really was, far beyond what North Carolina is used to. The tornados made the opening news headlines even on the websites of Flemish newspapers. We survived, somewhat oblivious to Nature’s wrath.

Yet the very next day was a beautiful hot sunny day. We went to the Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, where there weren’t tornados but airplanes in the air. It was a spectacular air show, with very low fly-byes. You couldn’t see the planes fly by if you were in the back of the audience: there were people standing in the way! The simulated bombing in the Tora! Tora! Pearl Harbor reenactment even included explosions on the ground. (Apparently, people have asked whether a plane had crashed when they saw the photos. The correct answer is “No”.)

On Monday, we learned at the Freedm Center all about North Carolina State University’s research in the smart energy grid of the future. In the afternoon, we visited the US Environment Protection Agency. The EPA was so proud of how environmentally responsible and green their office building was, although we weren’t too impressed.

On Tuesday, I spend a very interesting day at Red Hat, a major Linux software and services vendor.

I must express my thanks and gratitude to Shirin Mashhoon, and her mother, and her son Abteen. They were a very fun host family to stay with. (Abteen, I’m sorry too that Futbol Club Barcelona didn’t win la Copa del Rey!)

Oh, one more thing: when Scott (Nick’s and Tim’s host) takes you out to a dancing bar, watch out for the Vicious Blonde!