Mark Henricks interviews John Osher who discusses the 17 most common mistakes startups make, along with 5 must dos to win:
Mistake 1: Failing to spend enough time researching the business idea to see if it's viable. "This is really the most important mistake of all. They say 9 [out] of 10 entrepreneurs fail because they're undercapitalized or have the wrong people. I say 9 [out] of 10 people fail because their original concept is not viable. They want to be in business so much that they often don't do the work they need to do ahead of time, so everything they do is doomed. They can be very talented, do everything else right, and fail because they have ideas that are flawed."
Larry Lessig interviews FCC Chairman Michael Powell on our nation's poor broadband penetration:
Lessig: The latest statistics say that we’re number thirteen. So what’s happened in the last four years that this place where the internet really started and took off seems to be falling behind so quickly?Powell: I think this situation should be unacceptable to us. Fortunately, I think we’re beginning to have some success in making our national leadership understand that this is something they should care about. This is something that will impact and control the economic prosperity of our society in the Information Age. It should be debated in the halls of Congress. It's that critical.
Interesting look at Wal-Mart from www.alwayslowprices.net. Glenn Reynolds notes that he's never really liked shopping there. I have to agree. they do have great prices on some products, but you must be willing to put up with shopping their way (crowds and little in the way of aesthetics (which target has taken advantage of).
Ruth Robarts, Ed Blume, Don Severson, along with several others have launched this site: www.schoolinfosystem.org/run/ seeking interested candidates for two Madison School Board seats. This represents a new demand side approach. We're interested in a vigorous debate, which requires more than one candidate. Check it out and pass the link around.
CNN's article on NBC Sports President Dick Ebersol's private jet crash at Montrose Airport (near Telluride, CO) includes two contextual ads (from overture) for trial lawyers. 160K jpeg...
Sara Kehaulani Goo on Microjets or Very Light Jets (VLJ's) and the emerging air taxi system ($6/mile):
The fledgling industry is "going to be looked upon like the Wright brothers in 1903," said Ken Hespe, a spokesman for the National Consortium for Aviation Mobility, a nonprofit group that has been studying and developing new uses for the nation's tiniest airports and for small jets with NASA, which estimates a market for 8,300 microjets by 2010. "It's going to be a revolution in the transportation industry," Hespe said.Analysts say microjets will appeal to a cross-section of customers including corporations, which might add planes to their fleets, and wealthy travelers who are looking for a less-expensive alternative to owning a jet. Since 2001, companies such as NetJets have grown by providing access to planes around the world for members who pay for fractional ownership of aircraft. Aviation experts say air taxis with all-microjet fleets could serve as an even more affordable version of the fractional ownership aircraft model.
Alorie Gilbert interviews "legendary" venture capitalist Don Valentine (Founder of Silicon Valley's Sequoia Capital):
I really think it's sort of embarrassing for South Korea to have an intrinsically greater disposition in broadband than California........I got to Silicon Valley in 1959. Nothing is revolutionary; it's evolutionary. Look the sequence of Intel microprocessors. It's all predictable. The nature of silicon and software and storage go hand in hand. In the case of software, you just have to be more clever about the nature of the application. So all these things kind of tick along, feeding off each other
The agency overseeing the national Do Not Call Registry is considering opening a loophole to allow companies to deliver 'pre-recorded message telemarketing.' The effort is being organized by Allen Hile of the FTC's division of marketing practice. Be sure to let the FTC know how you feel about it.Via Slashdot.
Ken Thomas discusses Beaver Dam's plans to reduce spending by 1% and keep net property taxes flat (a reduction in mill rates is balanced by the usual increased property valuation.
Christo and Jean-Claude are planning to bring saffron to Central Park next February according to Carol Vogel. Reading this reminded me of their work in Paris from 1975 to 1985. A fresh UW grad, I was in Europe for an extended stay when I came upon Christo and Jean-Claude's The Pont Neuf Wrapped. I snapped these photos in 1985:
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Bradford McKee reminds me of a cultural icon from the 1960's (I remember these): the aluminum Christmas Tree:
Mr. Shimon and Ms. Lindemann, while teaching photography together at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wis., have assembled a short history of the aluminum Christmas tree and its Manitowoc roots in a new book, "Season's Gleamings: The Art of the Aluminum Christmas Tree" (Melcher Media), out this month. The book contains their photos of their trees — twinkling limbs presented with deadpan cheer against mostly brightly colored backgrounds.
Brett Farve on his wife Deanna's view of life during a personally challenging time (breast cancer):
“My wife said one time, ‘See life through the front windshield, not the rearview mirror,’ ” said Favre. “I thought that was a great comment. You deal with things that are in front of you, and you can’t really worry about what’s happening behind you. So that’s kind of what we do.”
Kuro5hin's Coryoth writes an op-ed piece on the possibility of a severe economic correction:
The first elephant is debt. There are 3 kinds of debt that are of concern: Household debt, the budget deficit, and the current account or trade deficit. Of those three, it is only the budget deficit that gets any real attention, and even then it is often brushed aside......The second elephant is the US Dollar. At the time of writing, the US Dollar is running at about 0.77 Euros to the Dollar. One could claim that this is simply due to a strong Euro, but in reality most world currencies, including the Japanese yen and the Great British pound are trading strongly against the US Dollar......
The third elephant is the rise of India and China. Both the Indian and Chinese economies are growing very rapidly. These are the two most populous nations on earth, so they should not be taken lightly.
One of my coworkers shopped hard and purchased a new 2004 Civic DX Sedan for $11,800, including tax & title. I had no idea one could still purchase a car like this:
A car like this is a smart buy as it gets great mileage and has few things to break. Most manufacturers are loading cars with software and electronics that will be rather expensive to fix....
James Oestreich on last weekend's Symphony & organ performance:
The organ sounded splendid in Mr. Trotter's performance of the Jongen work, though this is not quite so blatant a showpiece as, say, Saint-Saëns's "Organ" Symphony (which the orchestra played in an earlier, prededication concert). The tonal qualities are rich and varied, and the sonic heft seems well suited to the space.It was indeed, an enjoyable evening. I agree with the writer that Madison is fortunate to have such a wonderful symphony.But it is crucial for a concert organ, as opposed to a church instrument, Mr. Trotter noted in conversation, to be able to blend with a symphony orchestra as well as stand up to it. And the blend here was uncanny, sometimes tricking the ear into confusing reed pipes with woodwind instruments.
But as good as all this news was, the crowning touch for an old Madison hand who arrived hopeful but not optimistic was the condition and quality of the Madison Symphony. At a time of orchestral retrenchment nationwide, this part-time group seems to be flourishing, with an annual surplus of $50,000 to $100,000 on its $2.8 million budget, and an endowment climbing toward $15 million. It added a third concert for 7 of its 9 subscription programs this season, and subscriptions and attendance are strong and rising steeply (partly, no doubt, because of the new hall).
Fast Food Nation author Eric Schlosser spoke at the Wisconsin Union Theatre Monday night. Kristopher Irizarry has some excerpts:
Schlosser spent very little time discussing topics covered in his best-selling book “Fast Food Nation,” with the exception of his engagement with the role the meatpacking industry plays in the life of America’s working poor, an issue he said he engaged several times in his career.UW senior Kristen Jordan and junior Nora Dinneen said they were both a little “disappointed in Schlosser’s politically slanted” speech.
“His research is impressive and I was hoping that he would speak more in the voice of his books,” Jordan said. “I also wish that with all the bad organizations he talked about … he would have given us contacts for organizations making a difference.”
Kim O'Donnell discusses a variety of Thanksgiving recipes (including vegetarian) in these easy to use videos.
Telecoms giants oppose cities on web access. Once again, the SBC's of the world would rather play politics than provide true high speed connectivity. 100mbps (100x faster than my home dsl line) is available in Japan and Korea for 35/month..... I wonder what the implications are for Madison and Dane County's wireless plans?
November 23, 2004
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Telecom Giants Oppose Cities On Web Access
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB110116864041881375,00.html
By JESSE DRUCKER
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
November 23, 2004; Page B1
Dozens of cities and towns across the country are rushing to provide
low- or no-cost wireless Internet access to their residents, but the
large phone and cable companies, fearful of losing a lucrative market,
are fighting back by pushing states to pass legislation that could make
it illegal for municipalities to offer the service.
Over the past few months, several big cities -- including Philadelphia
and San Francisco -- have announced plans to cover every square block
with wireless Internet access via the popular technology known as
Wi-Fi, short for wireless fidelity. Cities say these plans will spur
economic development and help bridge the digital divide, making Web
access nearly ubiquitous.
But that's bad news for the large Bell telephone companies and cable
operators, who are looking to their digital-subscriber-line (DSL) and
cable-modem businesses for growth. Wi-Fi, technically known as 802.11,
takes existing high-speed Internet connections and wirelessly extends
them by several hundred feet, allowing dozens or even hundreds of
people to share one subscription.
Philadelphia announced during the summer that it would hook up the
entire city with Wi-Fi. Its current Wi-Fi service is free, but it
hasn't decided whether that would continue with wider deployment; it
may charge a small fee. "There are some very specific goals that the
city has that are not met by the private sector: affordable, universal
access and the digital divide," says Dianah Neff, the city's chief
information officer. She says that less than 60% of the city's
neighborhoods have broadband access.
However, last week, after intensive lobbying by Verizon Communications
Inc., the Pennsylvania General Assembly passed a bill with a deeply
buried provision that would make it illegal for any "political
subdivision" to provide to the public "for any compensation any
telecommunications services, including advanced and broadband services
within the service territory of a local exchange telecommunications
company operating under a network-modernization plan." Verizon is the
local exchange telecommunications company for most of Pennsylvania, and
it is planning to modernize the region using high-speed fiber-optic
cable. The bill has 10 days for the governor to sign it or veto it.
The Pennsylvania bill follows similar legislative efforts earlier this
year by telephone companies in Utah, Louisiana and Florida to prevent
municipalities from offering telecommunications services, which could
include fiber and Wi-Fi.
Critics denounce this legislative tactic, arguing that the U.S. lags
behind other countries in broadband Internet access because the phone
and cable companies have been slow to roll out the service in some
areas.
"We should be encouraging our municipalities to take a major role in
broadband, the way other countries are doing," says James Baller, an
attorney in Washington, D.C., who represents local governments on
telecommunications issues.
The telecom companies argue that it is unfair for them to have to
compete against the government. They say that the legislation enables
them to improve service to their customers by investing in their
networks. "If we put that money at risk, and here comes government to
compete against us, with advantages that government has -- not paying
taxes, access to capital at good rates ... that severely limits the
opportunity and limits our interest in taking the risk," says Eric
Rabe, a spokesman for Verizon. Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell has
until November 30 to act on the bill, and hasn't said yet which route
he will choose.
Telephone companies have long used local legislative muscle to stave
off competition. After Congress passed the landmark Telecom Act in
1996, which required local telephone providers to open their networks
to allow competition, several municipalities, including some municipal
power companies, sought to offer telephone service. After extensive
lobbying by the Bell telephone companies, roughly a dozen states passed
laws prohibiting municipalities from offering telecommunications
services. Currently, 621 municipal power utilities around the country
provide some kind of advanced communication service, including
telephone, high-speed Internet access and cable television, according
to the American Public Power Association; a minority of these utilities
sell those services to the general public.
The U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year found that such legislation
was legal, so cities and towns are particularly anxious to quash such
legislation before it gets passed.
The tactic is being revived by the increasing interest in using Wi-Fi
to spread broadband access, as well as interest in fiber. Wi-Fi
equipment maker Tropos Networks Inc. says it has supplied gear for
public networks in roughly 50 towns and cities, including Philadelphia,
Los Angeles, and Corpus Christi, Texas. Scottsburg, Ind., last year
built a network using a different type of wireless technology that
covers nearly all of the surrounding county's residents, using
equipment from Alvarion Ltd.
Earlier this year, the attempts by local telephone companies BellSouth
Corp. and Qwest Communications International Inc. to push for severe
restrictions on municipal broadband service in Louisiana and Utah ended
in compromise, in some cases with existing plans being allowed to
continue but new plans limited.
The legislative provision in Pennsylvania -- a small portion of a much
larger telecommunications bill that gives telephone companies
incentives to modernize their networks -- was originally prompted by
the fiber deployment of a small town called Kutztown. But people
involved in the legislative process say the provision took on added
importance for legislators and the state's big phone companies after
Philadelphia announced its Wi-Fi plans.
Cities have been able to deploy Wi-Fi relatively cheaply: Philadelphia
says it set up its initial wireless zone for $85,000, paid out of the
city's budget. The city-wide offering is expected to cost $10 million,
and could be paid for by a combination of borrowing, private donations
or selling rights to the poles on which the Wi-Fi equipment will be
deployed.
The annual cost of operating the system is expected to be roughly $1.5
million. Since the city has said the plan would be "cost neutral," a
prohibition on levying any fee for the service could make it tough to
deploy. "That's been made more difficult by current legislation," says
Ms. Neff. However, she adds: "It's not stopping us. It may have
eliminated some options."
The city deploys its current system much like a larger version of a
wireless setup in a Starbucks coffee shop: A high-speed line connects
to a wireless antenna mounted on a light pole that essentially sprays
out the connection for several hundred feet.
Unlike high-speed connections into people's homes -- a service
dominated in Philadelphia by Verizon -- the city could choose a variety
of high-speed access providers for its Wi-Fi offerings, including MCI
,Sprint Corp. and Level 3 Communications Inc.
The Pennsylvania bill, first introduced in 2003, was passed by the
state Senate late Thursday night and then passed for a second time by
the state House of Representatives late Friday night by wide margins.
Senate supporters agreed with Verizon's view of the legislation. Don
Houser, a spokesman for Senator Jake Corman, the Senate sponsor of the
bill, said "the thinking was the telephone companies didn't want to
have local municipalities using tax dollars to compete with private
dollars."
Verizon spokesman Mr. Rabe says the legislation is not a giveaway -- it
also contains incentives for the phone company to deploy broadband
service throughout the state, which he says will cost hundreds of
millions of dollars. The bill also has a grandfather clause, giving an
opening to providers who have some types of service in place before
Jan. 1, 2006, but it is unclear how that would affect Philadelphia's
plans.
Write to Jesse Drucker at jesse.drucker@wsj.com 4
Michael Arndt writes about Oscar Mayer parent Kraft Foods (itself part of Altria Group) rationalization plans (which include asset sales):
Now Deromedi is evaluating which brands to auction off next. As with the sale of Altoids and Life Savers to Wrigley, he'll look at secondary brands or those where Kraft lacks the clout with retailers to turn things around. Analysts and consultants figure Oscar Mayer is most likely. Despite being the leader in bacon, hot dogs, and luncheon meats in the U.S., with $2.1 billion in annual sales, it has been losing out to cheaper store brands and has little brand recognition overseas. Kraft's $1.2 billion-a-year Post cereals division, a distant No. 3 that also is ceding market share, could also be on the block. Michael A. Crowe, a senior managing director of Mesirow Financial, which owns 200,000 Kraft shares, hopes the sales come soon. "It's not long overdue," he says. "But it is overdue."This could be a rather big deal for Madison.
Americans are swimming in a sea of messages.This is an interesting example: I recently posted a few comments on Pepsi Spice It looks to me like Pepsi's ad agencies are attempting to run a viral marketing campaign using search engines. I could be wrong but find it hard to believe that customers are flocking to search engines looking for Pepsi Spice information....Each year, legions of ad people, copywriters, market researchers, pollsters, consultants, and even linguists—most of whom work for one of six giant companies—spend billions of dollars and millions of man-hours trying to determine how to persuade consumers what to buy, whom to trust, and what to think. Increasingly, these techniques are migrating to the high-stakes arena of politics, shaping policy and influencing how Americans choose their leaders.
Tom Moon (audio):
To announce its latest release How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, U2 has partnered with Apple Computer for a series of now-ubiquitous television advertisements.
Brad Livingston, Director of the Dane County Regional Airport sent me this note today regarding their plans for WiFi (Wireless Internet) access. Let's hope this happens as it has been a long time coming. Meanwhile, IATA Director-General Giovanni Bisignani is taking on the monopoly, high margin suppliers around the air transport industry. The Economist takes a look at Bisignani's interesting initiatives.
November 22, 2004
Mr. Zellmer:
I have been asked by County Executive Falk to respond to your e-mail concerning progress with respect to the airport’s installation of improved cell phone and Wi-Fi connectivity within the terminal building. The State of Wisconsin Department of Administration is currently developing a Request for Proposal document for the purpose of soliciting proposals from interested companies that wish to provide cell phone and Wi-Fi access services for various locations throughout the city and county, service within the airport terminal will be included in the scope of this project. This process is occurring in an expeditious fashion and will conclude with vendor selection and specific site implementation in the first quarter of 2005.
Thank you for your interest with this facility improvement.
Sincerely,
Bradley S. Livingston, AAE
Airport Director
Next time you make a printout from your color laser printer, shine an LED flashlight beam on it and examine it closely with a magnifying glass. You might be able to see the small, scattered yellow dots printer there that could be used to trace the document back to you.According to experts, several printer companies quietly encode the serial number and the manufacturing code of their color laser printers and color copiers on every document those machines produce. Governments, including the United States, already use the hidden markings to track counterfeiters.
Ed Driscoll covers Tom Wolfe's recent speech at San Francisco's Herbst Theatre. Wolfe was introduced by Michael Lewis, author of the excellent Liar's Poker and Moneyball among other interesting books. Wolfe spoke about his new book: I am Charlotte Simmons.
Josh Marshall on the congressional republican's hubris:
This weekend Congress was working on a massive $388 billion omnibus spending bill that will cover all manner of federal spending. But at the request of Rep. Ernest Istook of Oklahoma, chairman of the House Appropriations Transportation Subcommittee, a special provision was inserted into the bill which allows the Chairmen of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees or their "agents" to review any American's tax return with no restrictions whatsoever.
Paul Graham writes about things we Americans are good at and not so good at....
Americans are good at some things and bad at others. We're good at making movies and software, and bad at making cars and cities. And I think we may be good at what we're good at for the same reason we're bad at what we're bad at. We're impatient. In America, if you want to do something, you don't worry that it might come out badly, or upset delicate social balances, or that people might think you're getting above yourself. If you want to do something, as Nike says, just do it.Graham makes some useful points.This works well in some fields and badly in others. I suspect it works in movies and software because they're both messy processes. "Systematic" is the last word I'd use to describe the way good programmers write software. Code is not something they assemble painstakingly after careful planning, like the pyramids. It's something they plunge into, working fast and constantly changing their minds, like a charcoal sketch.
Tokyo's massive underground water system.
Liane Hansen interviews acoustic guitar queen Kaki King.
At one level, the debate is over current controversies in public education: Many parents believe that their children, mostly in elite schools, are being pushed too hard in a hypercompetitive atmosphere. But other parents are complaining about a decline in programs for gifted children, leaving students to languish in "untracked" and unstimulating classrooms. Some critics of education believe that boys especially are languishing in schools that emphasize cooperation instead of competition. No Child Left Behind, indeed.Fascinating article....But the basic issue is the same one raised four decades ago by Kurt Vonnegut in "Harrison Bergeron," a short story set in the America of 2081, about a 14-year-old genius and star athlete. To keep others from feeling inferior, the Handicapper General weighs him down with 300-pound weights and makes him wear earphones that blast noise, so he cannot take "unfair advantage" of his brain.
That's hardly the America of 2004, but today's children do grow up with soccer leagues and spelling bees where everyone gets a prize. On some playgrounds dodge ball is deemed too traumatic to the dodging-impaired. Some parents consider musical chairs dangerously exclusionary.
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They do plenty of buying in stores, but before they go, they check the family's Christmas Web site, log in with a password and look at wish lists from their far-flung relatives.Begs the question: 40% (and growing) shop online, why do retailers spend so little on internet advertising (compared to legacy ad spending)?When the Wildermans are ready to buy, they'll be able to use retail Web sites and shopping portals such as www.pricegrabber.com or www.shopping.com to check prices. And they might look to their own in-box to find special offers from e-commerce sites where they've shopped in the past.
"I think the person who is into online shopping is addicted now," said Lauren Freedman, president of the E-tailing Group consulting firm in Chicago. "The customer has become savvier."
Less than two hours after the Badgers drubbing at the hands of the Iowa Hawkeyes, the Wisconsin Alumni Association sent this email promoting bowl packages.
The football Badgers just finished a first-class season!And while a bowl destination is still up in the air, one thing's for sure: the Wisconsin Alumni Association will take you there!
As the UW's official tour carrier, only the Wisconsin Alumni Association can promise:.......
Robert Salladay on the California DMV's plans to replace the gas tax with a mileage tax based on miles driven:
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday appointed a new Department of Motor Vehicles director who has advocated taxing motorists for every mile they drive — by placing tracking devices in their cars.Interesting privacy issues here...The idea would mean a significant overhaul of how California collects taxes to maintain its often-crumbling roads. Under the plan, the state gas tax — now 18 cents a gallon — would be replaced with a tax on every mile traveled by each car and truck.
Scott Simon comments on the 65 ABC stations who decided not to broadcast Saving Private Ryan.
Susan Stamberg presents several chocolate recipes for our review:
Stamberg talks to chocolate expert Fran Bigelow, author of the recipe book Pure Chocolate, about all things chocolate -- chocolate sauce ("the magic of chocolate and cream"), chocolate espresso sauce (chocolate and coffee, a natural combination), and personalized chocolate chips (pick your favorite chocolate bar and cut it into small chunks).Then, Stamberg pulls the conversation toward that certain holiday recipe that's been a Thanksgiving tradition at NPR for more than three decades. (You know, the one that "sounds terrible but tastes terrific." For details, click the link under Once More with Relish... at the top of this page.)
From the "obviously" department: David Isenberg notes that Auburn, Indiana stepped up to provide fiber service to a local business and preserve 75 jobs. The city did it because no private firm would.
Hong Kong broadband network now available (100mbps!!!!) for $35.00/month.
We delivered our truck full, yes truck full, on Sunday. The village had 160 families and over 500 children. As we drove into the village the children started running towards our vehicles to greet us. We spoke with the elders who advised us to just give the shoes to them and they will distribute later. I disagreed and told them that the soldiers wish to give the shoes out to the children on an individual basis. After the first 100 pairs, we lost a little control as we had difficulty matching shoes with children. Though our first foray into shoe distribution did not go as planned, the smiles could not be hidden. Parents were appreciative, Elders pleased, and the soldiers hearts were filled with personal satisfaction.
Taxprof summarizes the Marquette Law Review's symposium on Wisconsin Tax Policy.
Patrick Marley on local utility lobbying:
Political action committees for and employees of Wisconsin Energy Corp., Wisconsin Public Service Corp. and American Transmission Co. gave Doyle $50,660 just before or after their projects received key approvals, according to figures collected by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a non-partisan group pushing for campaign finance reform...Between 2002 and June 30, 2004, people affiliated with the state's gas and electric utilities gave Doyle $133,323, a 17-fold increase over the $7,911 such individuals gave Doyle from 1995 to 2001 when he was attorney general, the report found.
I wonder how our Senators (Feingold & Kohl) respond when the MPAA and RIAA lobbyists stop by? Do they think about our fair use rights, like John McCain? McCain put a stop to H.R. 4077 because of valid concerns about whether the freedoms it granted (to enable parents to filter "smut" from films) would be read to deny fair use in other cases (note that the MPAA and RIAA are masters of wrapping their rent taking strategies in the flag). Via Lessig
"Thud or maybe no one cares" - Tom Peters on news of the K-Mart/Sears deal.
Michael Gartenberg takes a look at Digital Restrictions Management (DRM):
The issue of DRM has been raised again in recent weeks when Apple “broke” a popular utility that allowed users to bypass the DRM built into the iPod and allowed copying from the iPod to a PC. Consumers, the argument goes, are against any DRM for their media and will not buy protected music.
Peter Ireland on antiventurecapital:
The decision to chase venture capital is often a tempting distraction from the much more complex and important entrepreneurial tasks of creating something to sell and persuading someone to buy it. The pursuit of venture capital is sometimes a means by which to postpone the day of reckoning when the marketplace finally decides if the idea will fly.
The basic user components of Noppa are a mobile phone that's loaded with speech-recognition software and a Bluetooth GPS unit. The Bluetooth connection is used to get real-time bus and train data (the kind that appears on bus stop signs and train platforms to users know when their vehicle is about to arrive).
Andrew Gauthier remembers his 1993 Thanksgiving, along with some other food options of the day (Crystal Pepsi, Pizza Hut Big Foot Pizza). He begins: Overall, 1993 was an exceptional year to be a fat kid......
Nathaniel Liedl on Governor Doyle's plans to build a $375M research institution on the UW Campus:
The facility would include specialists in biochemistry, nanotechnology, computer engineering and bioinformatics, which would ease collaboration between scientists of different backgrounds, Doyle said during the press conference.According to UW Chancellor John Wiley, the facility would occupy the entire block between University Avenue, West Johnson and North Charter streets and North Randall Avenue.
“We are replacing one of the ugliest blocks on campus,” Wiley said during the conference.
The Psychology Department will likely be moved to Sterling Hall. The UW Physical Plant would be relocated to the space Lot 51 currently occupies.
Doris Hajewski writes that K-Mart's takeover of Sears likely means a sale of Lands End.
Harvard Strategy Guru Michael Porter on Solving the Health Care Conundrum. He summarized some key learnings here:
I had a wisdom tooth pulled last week - unplanned, after a painful few days. The professionals who did the job quickly told me that they do this 30 times per day.... Much, much better now.
I received a belated response today to an inquiry I made to Senator Kohl's Washington Office on the Leahy/Hatch Induce Act (Kohl sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which held a hearing on the bill this past July).
The Senator's thin response leaves me disappointed in several ways:
November 16, 2004
Mr. James Zellmer
Dear Mr. Zellmer:
Thank you for taking the time to get back in touch with me. I appreciate hearing from you. I apologize for the delay in my response, and I would like to take this opportunity to address your concerns.
As you know, S. 2560, the "Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act" (INDUCE), was introduced by Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) on June 22, 2004. This bill addresses growing concerns with piracy and the protection of intellectual property rights. This legislation would target copyright infringement associated with peer to peer software by creating a new offense for intentional inducement to cause copyright infringement.
The INDUCE Act has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee, of which I am member. The committee held a hearing on July 22, 2004 entitled, "Protecting Innovation and Art while Preventing Piracy." After extended negotiations on the bill, a suitable compromise that protected copyright holders, but that did not stifle innovation has not yet been reached. Please be assured, I will keep your views in mind as I work with my colleagues to find a solution to growing concerns about piracy and intellectual property rights while also considering the implications of this legislation on current infringement laws.
Again, thank you for contacting me. I appreciate knowing your views on this important issue.
Sincerely,
Herb Kohl
U.S. Senator
Please do not reply to this message; to make further comments or to find additional information, please visit my web site at http://kohl.senate.gov/.
Customer choice, in small steps, gets a win with SBC's announcement that they will begin selling VOIP services to DSL only clients in 2005. Up to this point, many telco's have required a conventional POTS (Plain Old Telephone System or land line for local calls) be part of a dsl agreement. Some consumers get around this by paying more for DSL only service (like me; in this case, I can upload files at the same speed I download them) and using a VOIP provider such as vonage or packet8.net (which I use and has provided generally good service).
John Moore sips and summarizes Pepsi Spice, proving once again that it is rare for large organizations to truly create new products (rather than simply repackaging an existing one). My guess is that most of the time and money went into packaging/marketing/ad agencies rather than the product. The entire soft drink process is fascinating....
Eric Nalder has written a fascinating series on boating tax loopholes. Via taxprof.
The 30-second commercial is dying, according to In-Stat/MDR (http://www.instat.com). And while its death is not imminent, the high-tech market research firm believes that both broadcast networks and the advertising community are faced with the stark reality of a future without it, or at least a world where its effectiveness is continually diminishing.
U2 is almost alone now among rock bands in its determination to merge lofty ambition and pop impact. With songs that determinedly blur divine and earthly love, seeking grace as often as romance, the band doesn't pander to vulgar impulses. Yet U2 has no interest in being a hipsters' cult band; it has always aimed for audiences that can fill arenas, where its music is most at home.
Acclaimed photography PF Bentley's photos of the historic 1992 campaign are now on display at the Clinton Library in Little Rock. PF has posted the photos online as well. Great shots.
Michael Petrelis takes an interesting look at NPR's latest IRS 990 filing, which discloses revenues ($120M) and some of their journalist's salaries.
Constance L. Hays takes a look at Wal-Marts massive customer/product database.
URRICANE FRANCES was on its way, barreling across the Caribbean, threatening a direct hit on Florida's Atlantic coast. Residents made for higher ground, but far away, in Bentonville, Ark., executives at Wal-Mart Stores decided that the situation offered a great opportunity for one of their newest data-driven weapons, something that the company calls predictive technology.A week ahead of the storm's landfall, Linda M. Dillman, Wal-Mart's chief information officer, pressed her staff to come up with forecasts based on what had happened when Hurricane Charley struck several weeks earlier. Backed by the trillions of bytes' worth of shopper history that is stored in Wal-Mart's computer network, she felt that the company could "start predicting what's going to happen, instead of waiting for it to happen," as she put it.
The experts mined the data and found that the stores would indeed need certain products - and not just the usual flashlights. "We didn't know in the past that strawberry Pop-Tarts increase in sales, like seven times their normal sales rate, ahead of a hurricane," Ms. Dillman said in a recent interview. "And the pre-hurricane top-selling item was beer."
Reading Jason Shephard's excellent "Robarts Gets The Treatment" made me think about what we should expect from our elected officials.
Here are my initial thoughts:
I consider Russ Feingold to be nearly a perfect politician. He's idealist, yet has classic political abilities. He's also very smart. Idealist in terms of compaign finance and local communications, political in terms of timely, political votes (NRA and Tax Giveaway) and smart (debates: where he shows that he knows the game very well). To his credit, he's always willing to chat and ask questions.
We certainly don't need additional reasons to stop supporting Microsoft, but here's another: Groklaw:Step Into My Parlor, Said the Spider to the Fly
Last year, Microsoft had 4,000 patents in total. This year, they applied for another 3,000. They are now planning at least twenty IP cross-licensing deals with other large corporations, and have made it clear that they are seeking similiar alliances with even their worst enemies. This April, they quietly offered a "Royalty Free Protocol License Agreement" on their site. It generously allows the license of "any intellectual property rights Microsoft may have in any or all of [the following] protocols". The 130 protocols listed included Appletalk, most of TCP/IP - and everything else, from DNS to Zmodem, from DHCP to the port 9 discard service (whose sole function is to drop packets). Signing this license frees developers from being sued for IP infringements by Microsoft, but prevents you from working on GPL software (Samba already warns its contributors not to sign it). This week, Microsoft indemnified all their customers from the legal fallout of any court cases revolving around their IP. Which implies there is either about to be such a battle: or at least Microsoft wants everyone to think there'll be one. Put this week in your diaries, ladies and gentlemen of the Internet: you don't need Yoda to tell you that the Patent Wars have begun.Via Dave Farber's IP
Shopping today, I came across the following math problem: Two toilet paper packages were "on sale":
There's plenty to discuss in yesterday's big loss in Lansing. Google News Michael Hunt State News (MSU's Student Paper) Badger Herald Daily Cardinal Teddy Greinstein Dave Dye
Wisconsin's excellent Road America turns 50 in 2005. Tom Schultz has written a limited edition book.
Alex Tabarrok asks why the SEC does not seem to have time to look into the fact that Senator's investments substantially outperform the rest of us. The SEC does have time, of course, to chase Martha Stewart. I wrote about this in March, 2004..
Terry Box on the legendary muscle car builder Carroll Shelby:
Sometimes late at night, 81-year-old Carroll Shelby lies awake, thinking about all the cars he still wants to build.He has a website, of course."I've got 10 different cars in my head," said Shelby, the lanky, legendary Texan who created the fierce Shelby Cobras and Mustangs of the 1960s and was a renowned racer in the 1950s.
At a time when most men his age are settling in for the final chapter of their lives, Shelby is on the move again.
Earlier this year, he and his wife, Cleo, bought a 4,600-acre ranch outside tiny Annona in east Texas. After years of living mostly in Los Angeles, he said he expects the new ranch to become his primary home -- a symbolic return of sorts to east Texas, where he was born.
Check out these great photos!
Tim Worstall looks at the long term economic changes facing newspapers.
The ESA's Mars Express has sent some gorgeous images home. Via The Register.
I generally agree with this Cap Times editorial on the absurdity of Wisconsin Taxpayers paying for nearly $2M in annual Wal-Mart employee health care costs (plus a federal government contribution).
While SBC raises rates in Wisconsin for a long since paid for copper network, Verizon pushes forward with fiber to the home. David Isenberg notes that they are installing broadband fiber with speeds up to 60Mbps; that's over 60X the speed of my DSL line. Isenberg also notes that Verizon may have chosen a difficult to scale architecture (that 60Mbps may be set for decades...)
Wisconsin politicians evidently continue to drink SBC's Kool-Aid, as there's no evidence of progress here.
Daniel Henninger on big media's declining authority:
Authority can be a function of raw power, but among free people it is sustained by esteem and trust. Should esteem and trust falter, the public will start to contest an institution's authority. It happens all the time to political figures. It happened here to the American Catholic Church and to the legal profession, thanks to plaintiff-bar abuse. And now the public is beginning to contest the decades-old authority of the mainstream media.Two months ago, Gallup reported that public belief in the media's ability to report news accurately and fairly had fallen to 44%--what Gallup called a significant drop from 54% just a year ago.
General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. said yesterday that they are rushing to adopt a new safety technology called electronic stability control, and together they will make such systems standard on most of their large and mid-size sport-utility vehicles by the end of next year.The nation's two biggest automakers were quick to offer the new technology on 1.8 million vehicles after preliminary testing by the government and the insurance industry showed enormous safety benefits, especially for popular SUVs that ride high and are more likely to roll over during a crash.
This is one of those "products" that seems to be an answer in search of a question. Here come the mopisodes - one minute episodes targetted at cell phone users. Via Slashdot.
British Telecom is offering free long distance service to new broadband subscribers. Meanwhile, local telco monopoly SBC is raising rates.
Stephen Wildstrom emailed me his comments regarding my post on electronic music distribution formats and proprietary digital rights management tools (ie, limiting our fair use rights):
Actually, WMA/Janus is no more or less proprietary than AAC/FairPlay, except that Microsoft owns both the format and the DRM, while with AAC, Dolby owns the format and Apple owns the DRM. WMA and AAC are both freely licensable, the former from Microsoft, the latter through the MPEG-4 patent pool.I don't want to rescue anyone from FairPlay. It's a perfectly fine DRM as DRMs go. I just think Apple has to open it, in the sense of licensing to all comers, if they really want to compete.
In writing the piece, I had no intention of getting into the virtues of DRM. Mostly that was because I just didn't have space, but partly it's because if we want digital content that is, like the overwhelming bulk of stuff that people seem to want, controlled by movie studios and record companies, we're going to have to put up with DRM. With all respect to Prof. Lessig, his view of fair use seems to be based more on wishful thinking than law. And while there is some attraction to Creative Commons as a concept, I haven't seen a rush of artists--at least not those who expect to get paid--to it.
INDUCE, by the way, did not pass and is dead for this year. I think it will be a lot tougher next year because the tech industry, which bizarrely let Microsoft take a leadership position on the bill, has woken up. Microsoft claimed that it had the backing of all the companies in the business software alliance, but they seem to have avoided asking Intel, which is staunchly opposed. Even within Microsoft, the company's backing for INDUCE, which seems to be driven by the legal department, is very controversial. It will be interesting to see if Microsoft joins a flock of tech companies that are filing amicus briefs opposing the MPAA's petition for a write of certiorari in the Grokster case.
Wolfgang Ischinger, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the USA recorded a message of gratitude to commemorate the day. Quicktime Video
Great example of the use of multimedia (Vlog?) on the web.
Stephen Wildstrom argues, incorrectly - that Microsoft will ride to the rescue and "save us" from incompatible music formats (Apple uses a format called Fairplay, Microsoft uses a proprietary format called Janus, while RealPlayer's is Helix and Sony's is known as ATRAC). All of these formats include DRM (digital restrictions management): software techniques to limit our fair use rights.The very last thing we need is for Microsoft to own the electronic music distribution format. Who can forget their famous statement vis a vis Netscape "Cut off their air supply". A Microsoft controlled music format means no more MP3's which are playable on a very wide variety of devices.
Wildstrom should listen to and understand Larry Lessig's recent Bloggercon session. Microsoft worked with Orrin Hatch (a formerly hostile senator) to push the absurd Induce Act through congress, further eroding our rights (but for, as Lessig says, the right to hire a lawyer). Anyone with a clear understanding of Microsoft's history with proprietary formats and API's would not support their controlling electronic music distribution. Make no mistake, there's a real battle going on and presently Apple is winning (the iPod still plays MP3's....)
Kurt MacKey on Best Buy's attempt to use technology to weed out their least profitable customers:
dage "the customer is always right" goes, Best Buy doesn't buy it. The massive retailer is being vocal about something that at first might sound a little uncouth: frankly, they'd rather not have 20% of their customers as customers. In an age where it seems like everyone casts their nets as wide as possible to bring in more eyes, feet, and wallets, Best Buy is doing the opposite. They believe that a small portion of their customers are bad for business, and they're looking to shut them out. Of course, Best Buy loves their "angel" customers who buy things regardless of price, and load up on high ticket items. The problem is that the details are about the devils.Slashdot discussion.The devils are its worst customers. They buy products, apply for rebates, return the purchases, then buy them back at returned-merchandise discounts. They load up on "loss leaders," severely discounted merchandise designed to boost store traffic, then flip the goods at a profit on eBay. They slap down rock-bottom price quotes from Web sites and demand that Best Buy make good on its lowest-price pledge. "They can wreak enormous economic havoc," says Mr. Anderson.
Some see this as Best Buy trying to "have its cake and eat it too," by wanting to keep rebates, loss leaders, and massive promotions going, but exclude those who make routine use of them.
Oleg Kikin published a useful online photo processing service comparison.
Bob Gritzinger on Orwell's 1984 paranoia made real in our cars:
Someday it’ll happen, probably when you least expect it. Just as you countersteer while drifting out of a tight corner, or after you punch the brakes hard, you’ll hear the mechanically animated female voice emanating from your car’s audio system:“Collision detected. Calling OnStar.”
You need not be anywhere close to a collision, really. For our road test team this summer, it was just a matter of running a routine slalom in a Chevy Malibu Maxx—without so much as hitting a rubber cone—when OnStar called to check up on our driver’s health.
If you’re anything like us, it won’t be until after you’ve explained to the distant helper that you didn’t have an accident, the airbags did not deploy, and you don’t need assistance, that you’ll begin to experience an uneasy feeling in the pit of your stomach.
How’d they know that you were driving like that? What else do they know? And who else knows?
Click to view additional Bloggercon photos.
Larry Lessig opened Bloggercon with a useful statement:
In normal times, people come to univerisities to learn things, these are extraordinary times: Universities (such as) Chicago, Harvard, Northwestern don't have a clue - we need to go out and find things, bring people here who are doing interesting things. (I'm paraphrasing)
I had the great pleasure of participating in his lively Law section. Lessig provided a very useful overview, including a color coded slide of the current copyright morass and mentioned Creative Commons as an alternative universe for creative folks. He also mentioned that our "fair use" rights from the RIAA/MPAA perspective generally means that we have the right to hire a lawyer (!). The session also included some very informative comments from Hummer Winblad's Hank Berry, an active participant in the Washington lobbying wars, including the recent induce act madness.
Berry mentioned the following points (check out the video (127MB - about 60% of the session) and listen to the forthcoming mp3's for more details)
Later: I asked Larry: how do you like the west or east coast approach (He was at Harvard before)? "This is better, people talk..." (vis a vis harvard, nw, chicago, etc.)
John McIntyre and Tom Bevan's RealClearPolitics forecast a Bush Wisconsin win. They published a mea culpa, along with the unusual fact that Wisconsin and Iowa split their vote at the federal level.
Jay Palmer on the booming world of private jets; or why the emerging micro jet based air taxi services will improve Madison's transportation options:
It used to be that if you wanted to use a private jet, the only choice was to go out and buy one, and that's still the way that most of the 25,000 corporate aircraft in the U.S. are operated. Out-and-out ownership is still rising, but the biggest growth is coming elsewhere.Now, if we could only get wireless internet access at the Dane County Airport (it is nearly 2005, after all).Aircraft charter activity, for instance, is booming. Todd Rome, president of Blue Star Jets, claims 350% annual growth in business since the company's founding in 2001. Other schemes are also taking shape, particularly the idea of small "air taxis" that you could simply summon to a local airport for a quick hop at a reasonable rate.
Don Burr, founder of the erstwhile air pioneer People Express, and former American Airlines CEO Robert Crandall have joined ranks to set up such a service in Connecticut and southern New York state, with plans to eventually expand down the Eastern seaboard. Finance permitting, Pogo, as the company will be named, will start next spring using a new breed of four-passenger "micro jets," which are less expensive to manufacture and operate than traditional jets. Though a round-trip fare will be higher than a first-class commercial ticket, it will be far less than chartering a private jet.
But such deals remain small beer compared with the real action, which is in fractional ownership schemes -- a form of time sharing at 30,000 feet. NetJets, a subsidiary of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, is easily the world's biggest operator of business jets, with a fleet of than 535 planes, including some based in Europe and a small fleet in the Middle East. Its three big rivals are all owned by the major corporate jet builders, Bombardier's FlexJet, Raytheon's Flight Options and Textron's CitationShares.
Tom Daykin writes about a film that documents that restoration of Milwaukee's Renaissance Building.
"The Renaissance," a one-hour documentary by independent filmmaker Chris Smith, features interviews with about a dozen people who operated businesses at Heartland's Renaissance building, 309 N. Water St. Most of those businesses featured in the film - including Smith's film production company - have since moved out.Smith said the film discusses the sense of community that existed among the 19th century building's arty businesses, which also included ad agencies, a recording studio, and a graphics design firm. The film focuses on how the remodeling work affected that community, including reactions of some tenants who face the prospect of leaving the building - and their friends, Smith said.
James F. O'Gorman reviews Ada Louise Huxtable's new Wright book.
The Motley Fool interviews Joyce Berg, director of the Iowa Electronic Markets:
The Iowa Electronic Markets are real-money futures markets in which contract payoffs depend on economic and political events such as elections. These markets are operated by faculty at the University of Iowa Tippie College of Business as part of our research and teaching mission.Interesting stuff.
Larry Lessig welcomed Bloggercon participants to Stanford Law School this morning with a useful comment (I'm paraphrasing):
"In normal times, people come to univerisities to learn things, these are extraordinary times: Universities, Chicago, Harvard, Northwestern don't have a clue - we need to go out and find things.Check the bloggercon site for mp3's later.
Dodgeville based Lands End parent Sears' stock rose 23% today based on news that Vornado Realty Trust has acquired a 4.3% in the retailer, in an apparent real estate play, according to Constance L. Hays:
In July, Vornado began buying Sears stock as well as derivatives held by a bank. Its move seemed to suggest that Sears might be worth more as a collection of real estate holdings than as a purveyor of clothing, housewares and other goods. Sears owns about 60 percent of its 870 Sears stores, a spokesman said, and leases the rest. There are also 1,100 independently owned and operated outlets for appliances and tools.
Dan Glickman, a former politician and ag secretary from Kansas, is now running the MPAA (motion picture association of america). Glickman is kicking off his reign with a series of lawsuits against movie downloaders. Via Slashdot.
Walker and his extended family -- kids and grandkids who help him with the annual apple harvest, which is just winding to a close -- are among the last of a hardy breed who for decades put Sebastopol and the fertile hills surrounding the town on the map as the apple capital of the world."Thousands of tons of apples used to be shipped out of Sebastopol all across the country," said Walker, who produces about a thousand tons and 25 varieties of the fruit annually, 70 percent of it processed into juice or vinegar and apple sauce, with the rest sold as fresh fruit. "I grew up with my dad raising apples," he added, "and it's very difficult to keep up changing amid all the changes. There's been a tremendous change in the last 15 years in terms of keeping up with regulations and agriculture and the markets," he said.
"There used to be a lot of people to sell to, like food stores, but a lot of the chains have consolidated and often demand more volume than many growers can provide. There's been a disruption of the whole industry," he said.
Glenn Reynolds on the legacy media's record in the latest election (and the rising role of new media).
WSUM, Madison's best radio (streaming limited to UW IP addresses, unfortunately) at 91.7 played a bit of Uncle Tupelo recently....
Don't miss their "Student Section" sports show Tuesday and Thursday from 4 to 6p.m.
From "the Empire Strikes Back" department, Tuesday's tri-cities referendum on a municipal fiber to the home plan for three Illinois cities (Batavia, Geneva and St. Charles) was defeated, largely, according to Northwestern Business Professor James Carlini by a massive misinformation campaign, funded by the incumbent telco's:
“According to SBC and Comcast, virtually 100 percent of the region can sign up for DSL and access the Internet via cable modems. In addition, T-1 service is available to businesses throughout the Tri-Cities over existing telephone lines and wireless service is available from several dealers.”Carlini also notes that local journalists ran with the wrong message... Read the article here. James Carlini links. Working on the road recently, a group adjacent to me was discussing Verizon's larger than expected subscription success of their fiber to the home initiative..... Our politicians need to push the SBC's of the world, or more practically, truly open the networks we all paid for.T-1 service has been around for years. To be accurate, the first T-1 circuit was put into service for Illinois Bell in 1963 in Skokie, Ill. We’re not talking about what could be available today. People aren’t looking for 1.544-megabit service if 10-gigabit service is available.
Bast’s small knowledge of network technology seems to have been spoon fed to him by SBC and Comcast. His arguments lack depth of knowledge and it’s very clear from his position paper that he doesn’t know much about fiber-optic capabilities once they are in place.
Elizabeth Olson summarizes the federal government's SBIR programs:
But for high-technology entrepreneurs, there is another source of financing that can be as generous as it is little known: grants from the federal government's Small Business Innovative Research Program.The biggest fund, by far, is run by the Defense Department, which parcels out some $1 billion a year to independent companies with fewer than 500 employees. The goal is to stimulate research into novel technologies that can benefit military operations, but with a twist. The department is not paying for exclusivity for the ideas it finances; rather, it wants those ideas to go commercial as quickly as possible to assure a stream of reliable and cost-effective suppliers.
Martin Klein is one of its emerging success stories - at least that is what he hopes. A chemical engineer by training, Mr. Klein has spent 40 years in the battery and fuel-cell business. In 1970, he founded the Energy Research Corporation, since renamed Fuel Cell Energy Inc., and later sold his stake in it. Today, it employs 500 people.
Then, in 1992, he founded Electro Energy Inc. to develop batteries for the military, and that same year submitted a proposal for a grant for research into what he calls a rechargeable bipolar nickel-metal-hydride battery. What sets it apart from traditional batteries, Mr. Klein says, is its design, which stacks thin flat wafer cells atop one another to improve the flow of current while taking up less space. His eventual aim, he says, is to produce a battery that is 30 percent smaller and cheaper than conventional batteries yet provides 50 percent more power.
The Defense Department, which is always on the prowl for better batteries, particularly for its communications equipment and aircraft, liked his idea. It awarded him $50,000.
Walking from gate to gate at O'Hare recently, I observed two mischevious fellows (dudes?) using a string to tempt travellers with a $1 bill tied to a string - tied to their cell phone. They told me that during the past 45 minutes, 20 people chased the dollar bill...... click on the photo to view a larger version
Madison native David Maraniss updates us on the post election situation in Dubuque, Iowa:
In the river city of Dubuque, Iowa, deep in the political battleground of the upper Midwest, sunrise came at precisely 6:39 a.m. By then, the wisecrackers in the John Deere Retirees Coffee Club had been awake for an hour and were settled into their Wednesday morning seats, shooting the breeze in the back room of Breezy's Cafe. Hours would pass before Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) conceded defeat, but these old guys knew the final score.
"I can't believe it. I can't believe it!" Walt Pregler, a retired toolmaker, muttered at one end of the gathering, repeating a refrain common among the more than 55 million voters who tried but failed to bring an end to George W. Bush's presidency.As Pregler's lament continued, Pat Nordhues, known as "the sensitive Republican" in the gathering, rose at the other end of the table and stormed out of Breezy's, an uncomfortable minority there, though not in the country. "The bad thing about it is that you guys are gonna cry like babies for six months 'cause you lost the election," Nordhues bellowed as he walked past Pregler.
Roger Hantelmann, neatly sprinkling sugar on his pancakes and wearing an "OBC" (Old But Cool) baseball cap, laughed at Nordhues and picked up for Pregler and the Democrats.
HotelChatter features a useful review of Hotels that offer WiFi (wireless internet access). Via WiFi Net News.
Dane County Regional Airport still, as of Tuesday, does not have WiFi!
Jon Udell put together a great time representation of a useful NY Times infographic on the electoral college results, from 1940 to 2000. Flash | Quicktime Here's the source graphic.
Tyler Cowen publishes his proposed economic agenda for a 2nd Bush term (rather provocative) with some useful ideas.
Before the body is even cold, I received a sunshine email today from Howard Dean inviting me to join a "meetup" tonight (November 3, 2004)!
I'm wondering how long it will be until Dean, Hilary Clinton, John Edwards, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Bill Frist (among others) descend on Iowa pancake breakfasts..... Lord have mercy!
I took a few photos today while visiting the Front Range. Click on a photo to view them:
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Madison residents, find your polling places here. Dane County resident polling locations are here.
Madison & Dane County Results for County, State & Federal Races. This page will refresh periodically starting after 8:00p.m. tonight.
Following the elections via these blogs: UW Law Professor Ann Althouse Tennessee Law Professor Glenn Reynolds The Daily Kos Andrew Sullivan Dave Winer
One of the more interesting sites is technorati's election watch. Google News
Candidate sites: Tammy Baldwin Dave Magnum Russ Feingold Tim Michels George Bush John Kerry
VOTE!
I've linked to some local races here (senate and house). I will also post a link to the Dane County election site, which summarizes voting cross the area. Google has posted a handy zeitgeist, which summarizes political search data (think about the data google is collecting with their cookies and more troubling, the desktop search tool).
Sunday's all important Packers Redskins game (at least from an electoral perspective) generated a great deal of commentary around the internet. Check out these links: Michael Wilbon Mark Schlabach AP Snopes
