Apparently, Mayor Nickels plans to propose a parking tax for downtown Seattle to fund transportation. Fantastic! That means that the people who commute to downtown from Issaquah or wherever pay some for Seattle transportation (as they should) whereas those of us who live and work in Seattle aren't getting disproportionately taxed.
Author: robla
Electoral theory wonk, activist, software developer, and engineering management nerd.
Apple’s $150 IQ test
I'm not an Apple fanboy by any stretch of the imagination, but I do have to hand it to them with the new laptops. Not points on quality, but on revenue maximizing genius. Specifically, charging $150 more for a black laptop. People will pay for the cachet, and charging $150 is just enough to make… Continue reading Apple’s $150 IQ test
Mobiguous company names
A friend recently told me about yet another mobile startup who I won't name, but suffice to say has yet another one of those generic amalgams of "Mo" or "Mob" with some other word. It got me thinking "hey, I can automate this; maybe save everyone some time"....which I did (at least the first part).… Continue reading Mobiguous company names
What a great picture of me!
I'm on the right, talking to Brian Aker down at the MySQL User Conference. (photo by James Duncan Davidson/O'Reilly Media)
28 years of “You Light Up My Life”
I'm a big supporter of moving back to a 28 year maximum term on copyrights. I've been thinking about how to describe that, and I think I've come up with one way of doing it. Rupert Holmes would still be able to earn a living off of his 1979 hit "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)",… Continue reading 28 years of “You Light Up My Life”
Scan of 1979 Sears Wishbook
It's amazing how vivid smell memory is. I remember the exact odor of the Sears Wishbook 1979 after seeing it on Flickr. I believe the Total Control Racing (TCR) track was the highlight of my Christmas that year. The TCR track was supposed to kick ass because the cars could change lanes, but as it… Continue reading Scan of 1979 Sears Wishbook
“Playing politics” is Bush-speak for “thinking critically”
It seems that whenever Bush or the Republicans trot out the phrase "playing politics", they really mean "thinking critically". Just visit the following links, and replace the phrase "playing politics" with "thinking critically" to see what I mean."But here's the question. The question is, how do you respond to [the intelligence failures]? Do you respond… Continue reading “Playing politics” is Bush-speak for “thinking critically”
Seattle Library/Amazon LibraryLookup bookmarklet
Stumbled into Jon Udell's Library lookup bookmarklet and thought I'd give it a spin. It took some tweaking, but now I've got a Seattle Public Library/Amazon BookmarkletTo use, just drag the bookmarklet above to your toolbar. Visit Amazon, search for a book, and then click on the bookmarklet. It'll check the availability of the book… Continue reading Seattle Library/Amazon LibraryLookup bookmarklet
Giving Flock a spin
....and of course, now that I'm sitting in front of this really easy to use interface, I don't have anything useful to say. Well, that's a blog for you. Plus, I'm feeling all Web 2.0-y now.technorati tags: flock, allthecoolkidsaredoingit, iftheyalljumpedoffacliff, wouldyou
Electowidget
For the past couple of months, I've been working on Electowidget. Electowidget is a plugin for MediaWiki designed to make it possible to conduct Internet polls and elections using many different voting systems, including the Schulze method, Instant Runoff Voting, Approval voting, and even plain old Plurality.
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