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Paging Jon Stewart! CNN Reporter Frolics Amongst Holographic Goats, Giant …

If you watch Jon Stewart‘s monologues on The Daily Show then you are undoubtedly familiar with his long-standing mockery of CNN’s hologram technology. Whether it be their giant “dildo people” used to illustrate the GOP primary caucuses or the goofy holographic portrayal of the Republican National Convention, Stewart is usually first in line to crack wise about the network’s cyber-illustrations.

With that in mind, here’s a hot tip for Stewart: This week has seen not one, but two hilariously awkward uses of the CNN hologram featuring reporter Tom Foreman. Six days ago, Foreman unwittingly posed with a holographic nuclear missile in his groin area; and this afternoon, Foreman frolicked amongst a field of holographic goats, a giant stack of 3D regulatory papers, and a giant penny.

All very good necessary items for the CNN hologram treatment, right?

Reporting on a government program asking employees to submit cost-saving measures, Foreman noted the first standout suggestion was to eliminate paperwork. And thus, from the virtual ground arose several stacks of 3D silver-colored paper. Behold! Holographic paper!

“Let me reach into my change pocket and pull this out,” Foreman joked like a goofy uncle as an enormous holographic one-cent coin appeared before him. “Get rid of the penny,” he said of this second suggestion.

Eventually, he said, “some of the ideas that may seem really silly and odd can actually work.” For example: using goats for landscaping. Naturally this means we need… GOAT HOLOGRAMS.

Standing amongst a bunch of cyber-goats, Foreman admitted he felt “silly” but explained that President Woodrow Wilson purchased a flock of sheep to graze the White House lawn as opposed to paying for manual landscaping. (On a serious note, this is actually an effective cost-cutting measure. Pasadena, Calif., and plenty of other municipalities have used goats to clean up lawns and rid areas of the invasive weed kudzu.)

Watch the holographic awesomeness below, via CNN:

[h/t Brian Fung]

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Follow Andrew Kirell (@AndrewKirell) on Twitter

Kevin Foster

Tell us the basics: Who are you, what’s your company’s name, and how long have you been at this company?


I’m Kevin Foster, sales director for RSG Landscaping Lawn Care, Inc. I have been in this role with RSG for over a year. I am responsible for all sales activities, value adds, and relationship management within the footprint of RSG (offices in Concord, Roanoke, and Charleston WV). I manage quality and consistency of our products and corresponding service delivery. The market areas I represent are researched and analyzed to ensure RSG is proven to be a quality, competitive service provider along with soliciting our professional line of services for work to bid offers with our competitive pricing.

Describe your business — what do you do?

RSG Landscaping Lawn Care is a full service, commercial landscaping firm with a presence throughout the Mid-Atlantic with headquarters in Concord, VA. We specialize in grounds maintenance, landscaping, hardscaping and design/build projects for multiple segments of business, including municipalities, school systems, private schools, health care, higher education, professional centers, office suites, retail centers, hospitality, apartment communities, HOAs and commercial properties.

RSG Landscaping Lawn Care, Inc is a Small Business Certified, Class A contractor that offers services including: hydro-seeding, erosion control, bio-retention filters, Filtrexx Soxx installations, playground certifications and audits, green roofs, landscape installation, pavers, retaining walls, water feature installation, irrigation installation, grounds maintenance, wetland restoration/installation, snow removal, landscape maintenance for small and large facilities, and athletic field construction and maintenance. 

How did you get into this business? 

I’ve been a sales professional with a proven track record of exceeding company revenue metrics, new business development, incremental growth from existing account relationships – from both an individual and team management perspective. My goals were to elevate my skills and abilities through broader-based management responsibilities and results and RSG Landscaping Lawn Care, Inc brought that in my role. Their culture of urgency and efficiency directly correlated with what I wanted in a new role.

What’s the market like for your business?

The market for large commercial landscaping is extremely competitive. By keying on our differentiators, we are able to bridge that economic gap and focus on collaborating and developing a plan of action with the customer that exceeds their expectations.

What’s a lesson you’ve learned during the recession? 

Through this recession, it’s always important to realize your customers don’t need you – you need them. In times of economic distress, that is the time to ensure you have solid partnerships with your clients. If you aren’t offering value and “fit” with their needs, then you’re just a simple commodity.

Is there a secret to your personal success? Perhaps a piece of advice you’ve always remembered?

Don’t be afraid to fail. If you failed, you tried. The true failure is not trying.

Don’t be afraid to tell people/businesses “No”. If you can’t do it, be honest. Sometimes business find more value in your honesty with you can really provide and not waste their time. It may sting to lose an opportunity, but in the long run, your honesty will pay off in the future with that prospect.

Truly find out who your customers are. Not just business “talk”, but find out who they are as people!

What’s coming up in the next year for you and your company? What about in the next five years? 

The next year holds a tremendous amount of potential for RSG. We have had a fast start since January, with no signs of slowing. We have initiated some new incentive programs for our teams while out in the field, revitalized our organizational culture, and set fiscal goals for 2013 which we are on pace to exceed, along with 3 and 5 year goals.

In the next 5 years, it is our goal to have expanded our relationships with our current customers throughout the mid-Atlantic region to the point where strategic placement of new offices are a necessity to keep up with their growing needs.

What’s the part of your job you dread the most? 

What’s the part of your job that excites you the most, the thing that makes you want to hurry to work? 

The first is working alongside a group of professionals who are the top of their respective areas. Whether it be maintenance, irrigation, landscaping, or athletic fields, I know we have the answers, ideas, and solutions to help our clients solve an issue, or bring a plan to life.

The second is the dynamic environment: any given day can bring a different schedule than you had planned. We are known for being nimble and that keeps us on our toes.

The third is pride. I am proud to work for a leader in this industry and know that when I am meeting with a customer for the first or 100th time, that they will get the best solutions, ideas, and results they could ask for.

If you weren’t in this career, what would you do for a living?

Turf wars: Which grass is best for the Texas summer?

DALLAS — You want the perfect turf; the kind that makes your neighbors green with envy.

The problem is, “We have a shortage of water resources in Texas,” said Patrick Dickinson, who coordinates the urban water program at Texas AM Agrilife Research Center in North Dallas.

The center includes a model home that shows environmentally-friendly landscaping ideas. Just as they recommend you do, they ripped out two-thirds of the grass at the model home and replaced it with less thirsty alternatives.

“More natives and plants that are blooming,” Dickinson said.

And where there is grass, you won’t find a single blade of St. Augustine.

“St. Augustine has a reputation as a water hog, and it is,” Dickinson said.

In fact, he said in the summer, St. Augustine drinks more than double what Zoysia or Bermuda grass varieties do. Buffalo grass drinks even less than those varieties.

Homeowner David Wysinger is re-sodding with Bermuda.

“It’s Texas, and it’s going to get hot,” said homeowner David Wysinger.

He’s resodding with Bermuda, but he admits, he thought about St. Augustine.

“I considered it,” he said. “My parents have St. Augustine. But it’s high-maintenance.”

Wysinger’s lawn has suffered through the drought in recent years. “Bald spots and dead areas,” he said. And he was limited in what he could do about it. Because of strict watering restrictions, he quit trying.

Wysinger hopes this year he can abide by strict water restrictions, and that somehow his new grass will be greener on the other side of the next few months.

Tip: Experts say if you don’t have a sprinkler or rainwater measuring device, you can put an empty tuna can in your yard when you water.  When it fills up, they say that is as much water as your lawn should use in an entire week.

E-mail jwheeler@wfaa.com

Bales and Bits: Master Gardeners


Posted: Wednesday, March 27, 2013 10:00 am


Bales and Bits: Master Gardeners

By Amanda Bailey-Mosiman – Extension Educator

Tri-State Media

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Trees and shrubs add beauty and value to residential and commercial property.


They help modify microclimates around buildings and outdoor living areas.

Best of all, trees and shrubs are not difficult to establish and maintain.

But, landscaping is not only about plants. Hardscapes — walkways, paths, structures — are also very important to a proper and functional landscape.

Please considering joining the Warrick County Purdue Master Gardeners for an upcoming educational program on these topics. “Thinking Outside the Flower Pot” Landscaping Ideas will be held Saturday, April 6 from 9 a.m. to noon in the Homemakers Building at the Warrick County Fairgrounds.

Warrick County Purdue Master Gardeners invite you to join them for an educational program on landscaping ideas for your home. Areas to be discussed will be flowering trees and shrubs, hardscape DIYs, native plants and more. Seminar counts for three hours of continuing education credits for Master Gardeners. Cost is $5 per person. For more information and to register, call Amanda Mosiman at 897-6100 or e-mail bailey1@purdue.edu.

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Amanda Bailey-Mosiman is the Extension Educator — Ag and Natural Resources for Purdue Extension of Warrick County. She can be reached by e-mail at bailey1@purdue.edu or by phone at 897-6100.

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Wednesday, March 27, 2013 10:00 am.

Facebook gets OK to build second campus in Menlo Park

Facebook has obtained Menlo Park’s permission to build a second campus west of Bayfront Expressway, near its headquarters on the other side of the road.

“Congratulations,” Mayor Peter Ohtaki told Facebook officials Tuesday night when the city council, with Catherine Carlton absent, voted 4-0 to allow the social network company to proceed with its plans. “Where’s the ‘Like’ button?”

The company intends to construct an exceptionally long 433,555-square-foot building designed by renowned architect Frank Gehry that features a rooftop park. The 22-acre West Campus site is located at 312 and 313 Constitution Drive.

With offices built above a surface-level parking lot, the complex will rise to 73 feet in some


Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, left, views a model of Facebook’s West Campus building with architect Frank Gehry, right, in this undated courtesy photo. Facebook announced on Friday, Aug. 24, 2012, that Gehry would design the social networking giantís new building on Friday, Aug. 24, 2012. The quarter-mile long building will be about 10 acres in size, a have a rooftop garden, one large room with parking underneath, and hold about 3,400 engineers. Photo courtesy of Facebook.
(
Photo courtesy of Facebook.
)spots though most of it will be about 45 feet high, said Rachel Grossman, an associate city planner.

While Gehry is known for his spectacular works such as the Guggenheim Museum in Bilboa, Spain and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles, his creative partner Craig Webb told the city council that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other company officials asked that the design for the Menlo Park building be low key.

As a result, some of the earlier ideas such as one that envisioned the building’s ends flaring out like butterfly wings were dropped, Webb said.

“They felt some of those things were too flashy and not in keeping with the kind of the culture of Facebook, so they asked us to make it more anonymous,”

Webb said. “Frank (Gehry) was quite willing to tone down some of the expression of architecture in the building.”

When finished, much of the white stucco building will be hidden by the landscaping and the rooftop park, he said.

“Our intent is that it almost becomes like a hillside, with the landscape really taking the forefront,” Webb said.

The campus will include a park-like entrance off Willow Road, open to the public. A tunnel beneath Bayfront Expressway will connect Facebook’s two campuses.

Before voting, council members expressed their enthusiasm for the project.

“I feel very lucky that we’ll have a Frank Gehry building here,” Council Member Kirsten Keith said.

Council Member Rich Cline said he was impressed that the rooftop park would include oak trees.

The council approved a package of land use entitlements and agreements related to the West Campus project and authorized rezoning the site so the building could exceed 35 feet and cover 55 percent of the property instead of a maximum of 50 percent.

In addition, the council approved an environmental impact report and an official statement that says the development’s benefits would outweigh negative consequences such as increased traffic at some intersections and construction noise.

Email Bonnie Eslinger at beslinger@dailynewsgroup.com; follow her at twitter.com/bonnieeslinger

Breed ideas, not bugs: Greenbug and the Don Ryan Center for Innovation

Sometimes inspiration is just the start of something big, and all it needs is the right encouragement and support.  Just ask Dan and Louise Hodges. The Hodges family moved to Beaufort from Charlotte in 2007, with their two daughters, Hunter and Ellen. They formerly owned a landscape design/construction business and relocated to the coast to cater to the second homeowner market. But their timing couldn’t have been worse. It was the beginning of the economic crisis, and their business began to suffer.

They started brainstorming new business ideas while learning to adapt to the coastal environment. Given their background in landscaping, they couldn’t help but notice the relative absence of outdoor living spaces as compared to their home in Charlotte. 

“People don’t utilize their backyards as much here, and I don’t think it’s because of the heat,” says Louise. “It’s because of the bugs.”

And right there, that was the moment of inspiration.

The Hodges  wanted to find an all-natural, safe solution to combat outside and inside pests. Thorough research zeroed in on cedar, which is deadly to pests yet harmless to humans, animals and the environment.  They hired a chemical engineer and created a proprietary formula, which is University tested and proven 100% effective in killing pests. They called their new venture Greenbug.

Louise came up with the name and trademarked the eco-friendly products for people and pets, indoors and outdoors. 

The moment on inspiration had yielded a business, but the Hodges knew the Lowcountry wasn’t just home to bugs; it was home to one of the finest business incubation tools around.

Last year, the Don Ryan Center for Innovation, a collaboration between the Town of Bluffton and the Clemson University Institute for Economic and Community Development, accepted Louise and Dan Hodges as new innovators.  The Don Ryan Center links innovators to intellectual property, technology evaluation, product development services, seed financing, business mentorship, corporate relationships and recruiting. The center’s philosophy is simple: the better the idea, the faster you need to get it to market.

While working with the Don Ryan Center, Dan and Louise pitched their revolutionary invention to its Board of Directors, an injector system that integrates their formula with existing irrigation systems. 

They have a provisional patent on the Greenbug Injector System that distributes the Greenbug formula everywhere water is directed, creating an inhospitable environment for pests to breed. The formula is EPA-exempt and does not require a professional license to apply. It’s also harmless to beneficial creatures such as butterflies, honeybees, and ladybugs.

The result? Pest-free landscaped areas and happy outdoor enthusiasts. 

Both Louise and Dan are working with landscape professionals to install and service the injector systems, giving the landscape companies opportunity to sell the all-natural product and create revenue for their businesses. 

They already have landscape partners from Savannah to Charleston, and more landscaping companies are signing up.  With the help of the Don Ryan Center for Innovation, the Hodges hope to sell their patent-pending Greenbug Injector Systems internationally.

“Working with the Don Ryan Center has been amazing. They have opened doors we couldn’t have opened, provided legal and financial advice and given us the jumpstart we needed to grow our company.”

Started in January of 2012, Greenbug now has more than 14,000 customers including homeowners, professional pest control operators, property managers and landscape professionals, is sold in more than 130 retail locations and has a growing online presence. 

And it all started with that one moment of inspiration.   

Artist brainstorms ideas for Gregg with students


Posted: Tuesday, March 26, 2013 12:29 am


Artist brainstorms ideas for Gregg with students

Young Lee, Associate Features Editor

technicianonline.com

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As the Gregg Museum prepares to move to its new location at the old chancellor’s house on Hillsborough Street, museum administrators explore ways to take full advantage of the new opportunities such a location presents.

Last week, San Francisco-based artist Peter Richards came to visit N.C. State and the Gregg Museum’s new location to share his experiences and ideas for the use of the museum’s new location at the request of museum director Roger Manley. During his week-long stay, Richards taught students about sculptures he worked on, brainstormed possibilities for the new site, toured the North Carolina Art Museum and presented some of his thoughts to students and staff. 

“The intent was to give [students] a sense of how somebody like me works and how I respond to certain situations and the kinds of questions that I ask,” said Richards. “And so I was trying to get them to raise their own questions and make their own observations.”

Manley said he felt that Richards would be a great artist to explore the new site and share ideas with students because of the thoughtful way he approaches problems.

“I met him several years ago when the city of Charlotte was creating a new arts center called the McColl Center,” Manley said. “Instead of just showing up and saying, ‘I know what to do, and I will tell you how to accomplish it,’ he is the kind of person who takes his time to listen to everyone, study a situation and gradually see a creative solution. I wish more people approached things that way.”

During his conversations with students, Richards said he thought about ways artistic installations worked with the sites they were constructed for and how each installation can complement the story of the location.

“I’m interested in making places too and not just sculptures,” Richards said. “I can go to my studio and I can make a big sculpture, and I can ship it and plop it right in the middle of the field and there’d be a sculpture. But then, what would it be about? Would it be about the land that it’s sitting on or would it be about my studio and what I was thinking about while I was in my studio?”

Richards was able to share his ideas with more than 50 students and faculty over the course of his stay. As everything is still in planning stages, it isn’t yet confirmed that Richards will be a part of the construction of a sculpture for the new museum site. 

Fundraising for the museum’s landscaping projects is ongoing. According to Manley, museum administrators need to raise another $1.9 million to meet its goal of $7.9 million to fund the creation of sculptures and landscaping of the new location. Manley said the construction will take a year and a half and will begin as soon as the museum receives enough money.

Zoe Starling, curator of education resources at the Gregg Museum, said she was excited about what Richards shared concerning the possibilities of the new museum site.

“We’re going to be in a place where we can be a gateway to the downtown arts scene because we are on Hillsborough [Street],” Starling said. “Having art on the ground is only going to make the university more visible and more accessible to students in the community.”

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Hillsboro takes step closer to buying McDonald House, ‘a terrific venue for …


mcdonald-housejpg-d64edda586234250jpg-6ee03c1a7b01f21a.jpg

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The McDonald House was built in the early 1900s by one of the founders of the Oregon Nursery Co. The Hillsboro Parks Recreation Commission recommended the city buy the house from the Hillsboro Elks (Doug Beghtel/For the Argus)


 

HILLSBORO — A historic Hillsboro residence is one step closer to becoming a public asset after the city earned preliminary approval to buy the McDonald House on Tuesday.

The 101-year-old Craftsman-style home is surrounded by 41 acres of jointly-owned Hillsboro and Metro property destined to become a nature park. More than a year after buying the property surrounding the home, a stately 8,494-square-foot residence built by Oregon Nursery Co. co-founder Malcolm McDonald in 1912, the city is close to a deal.

Tuesday’s meeting was the culmination of nearly two years of hoping and several months of negotiations. The former Orenco Woods golf course was earmarked for residential development in 2007, but that deal fell through.

Hillsboro and Metro bought the land in Dec. 2011. Early on, Hillsboro knew it wanted to buy the McDonald House, but had to create a separate 0.79 acre parcel around the house prior to proceeding with negotiations.

Wayne Gross, Parks Recreation Department director, called the house a “terrific venue for the public.”

The Hillsboro Parks Recreation Commission approved a $575,000 purchase agreement with the current owners, the Hillsboro Elks Lodge No. 1862, at its meeting on Tuesday.

Parks system development funds will fund the purchase. The Hillsboro City Council will vote on the deal, likely sometime next month. If all goes according to plan, the property would transfer in 3-4 months, according to parks officials.The $575,000 sales price is less than an appraisal of the property from 2011 of $625,000, according to a staff report.

The home is in remarkably good condition on the main floor, according to Gross, and with its four brick chimneys, red bricks and shingled sidings, the building is both physically prominent and historically significant.

McDonald and Archibald McGill bought Salem-based Oregon Nursery Co. in 1892 and moved it to Orenco in 1909. McDonald was mayor of Orenco, according to city documents, and the home is a “testimonial to the early, thriving Oregon Nursery Company town.”

The Elks purchased the Orenco Woods Golf Course in 1969, according to Troy Ceballos, a liaison between the Elk’s Board of Directors and the city.

He said the Elks worked with the city over the past couple years on an agreement. “That’s a historic piece of property that needs more attention than the Elks can provide,” he said.

Hillsboro’s ideas of uses for the facility, formerly home to the nonprofit Saint Child, were a natural fit, Ceballos said.

City officials have big dreams: Arts classes, spoken word poetry readings, group retreats and wedding receptions and other events at the old home. The fence encircling the property will likely be torn down to connect the property with the future parkland.

Landscaping and other maintenance work is necessary, Gross said. “We will probably end up spending a couple hundred thousand before all is said and done,” he told the commission about total repairs to the property.

Planning for the park is moving forward as well, with an open house scheduled for Apr. 24 from 6 – 8 p.m. at Orenco Elementary School, 22550 N.W. Birch Street.

Other items on the commission’s agenda:

– For the second consecutive year, the city is seeking $500,000 through the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department’s Local Government Grant Program. The city hopes to use that money to offset the purchase price for the future Orenco Woods Park. Hillsboro and Metro roughly split the $4.5 million price tag in Dec. 2011.

-Food carts will now be allowed at two Hillsboro parks in certain instances. Shute and Rood Bridge Parks were approved for limited food cart service. Restrictions: only on weekdays, no alcohol without prior approval, and all guests must have a bracelet or other identifier. A $25 fee will also be applied.

– Hillsboro artist Tim Gabriel will design a $5,000 art piece to adorn a gate at the Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve. The blacksmith will install the art sometime this fall. It is funded out of the Cultural Arts budget and by the Jackson Bottom Board of Directors.

— Andrew Theen

Plans for Appomattox corridor include roundabout, landscaping

A roundabout with a garden in the middle, a tree-lined street and a pedestrian pathway could be coming to the town of Appomattox.


These were some ideas from the ongoing Old Courthouse Road corridor study presented at Tuesday night’s Appomattox Town Council meeting.

The study began in January and looks at ways to enhance the 1.1-mile stretch of road, spanning from its intersection with Confederate Boulevard (Business U.S. 460) to the Appomattox Courthouse National Historic Park.

The study’s goal is to see what can be done to make the road more of an entranceway to the park.

It likely will be used to develop a plan to present to the Virginia Department of Transportation to help get some of the tasks completed. Town Manager Bill Gillespie cautioned council it could take about 15 years to complete the project in phases, but they were doable.

Several meetings have been held on the corridor to get input from stakeholders. One more meeting remains. The study is expected to be completed by the end of April.

Council members Steve Conner and Mary Spiggle, who attended the stakeholder meetings, said the roundabout idea was well received.

The roundabout could be built with the space the Virginia Department of Transportation already has without using private property, Conner said.

“I think there’s less possibility for wrecks,” Spiggle said. “That place right there is a wreck magnet.”

Gillespie said it would offer something different for the town, with possibly a garden inside.

“That would certainly be a unique thing to see in Appomattox,” he said. “I think if you were looking to try to develop the corridor, you could get rid of some of the lights and clean that whole intersection up.”

The roundabout also would open the land around it to development as people could pull off into parking areas to visit businesses, Gillespie said.

Some businesses could be geared toward the added pedestrian traffic that would develop with the pathway, he said.

Added green space, like trees and parks along the corridor, would enhance the appearance and break it up, he said.

“It could totally change the character of that whole area,” Gillespie said.

The trees in the median would help separate the corridor and encourage people to drive slower, he said.

Spiggle is excited about the plan.

“It’s a wonderful vision,” she said. “I hope we can do it.”

In other business, Gillespie clarified the purpose of the study to see if Appomattox could support tourism-related attractions, like stores, restaurants and hotels.

The focus of the project is more job-related for businesses supporting tourism, rather than tourism itself, he said.

“It’s no different then investing in an industry park,” Gillespie said. “You’ve just acknowledged that tourism is your industry.”

He compared the study to a résumé, listing the assets and qualifications of Appomattox, in hopes of attracting developers.

In order to attract businesses, a credible market study, like this, is needed to show there is a market in the area, Gillespie said.

“This gives us feasibility and general numbers for national developers who deal with national chains,” Conner said. “They’re not going to take our word that it’s a great place — they want facts from an independent source.”

The clarification was presented because council members had received phone calls from residents confused about the study and its projected $50,000 price tag.

It would be completed in three tasks, advancing to the next level if something viable was discovered. If it is deemed the study is not going anywhere, council would not pay for the next task to be completed, and the study would end, Gillespie said.

The Great Georgia-Tennessee Border War of 2013 Is Upon Us

Historians, take note: On this day, which is not a day in 1732, a boundary dispute between two Southern states took a turn for the wet. In a two-page resolution passed overwhelmingly by the state senate, Georgia declared that it, not its neighbor to the north, controls part of the Tennessee River at Nickajack. Georgia doesn’t want Nickajack. It wants that water.

Georgia’s claim is that the boundary between the states was set at latitude 35° north when Georgia first gave up the Mississippi territory, but that a lousy 1818 survey ended up putting that state boundary a mile south of where it should have been. The blue line on this map is a rough approximation of that latitude parallel.

Georgia’s not worried about its sovereign territory, like the Pennamite Wars that pitted Pennsylvania against Connecticut before the Revolutionary War. Nor is it an ideological conflict like that in the Koreas, which, interestingly, centers around the 38th parallel. What Georgia cares about is that splash of blue that is the Tennessee River.

During the summer of 2012, up to 95 percent of the state experienced some level of drought; in December, it hit 99 percent. Last May, nearly a quarter of the state experienced drought that registered as extreme. Despite the state legislature arguing that the drought wasn’t that bad (in an effort to avoid hurting the landscaping industry), it was.

Nor was last year the first time such a drought imperiled the state. In 2008, there was a similarly bad drought — prompting the state to try to gain access to the river by moving the boundary north. Tennessee rejected that effort.

Georgia’s renewed focus on accessing the river isn’t just a smart plan for right now. (Eighty percent of the state is still under drought conditions.) Climate change is likely to ensure ongoing droughts of similar magnitude, making an additional steady source of freshwater a critical need for the state.

If Tennessee agrees to redrawing the state line, the issue would be brought to Congress for approval. If it doesn’t, the result probably won’t be war. At least not between Georgia and Tennessee. Shortly after leaving the upper corner of Georgia, the river flows into Alabama, which last year saw drought cover 72 percent of its state. The odds are good Alabama isn’t eager to give up its water either.

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