posting legislation BEFORE passing it

makecongressread2.jpg

This isn’t a new idea, but I started thinking about it after I heard a commentator on some political show mention that people wouldn’t know what was in some legislation until after it got passed. What about the idea that congress should post the text of a bill BEFORE it comes up to a vote. Once a bill has been typeset, it is pretty much simplicity itself for the congressional printing office to also put up a copy on-line for the American people to review it. I love this idea. It would give the chance for a million eyes to find the loopholes and pork. It is impossible for a small congressional staff to read one of these 7,000 page bills and really get all the nuances in the short time between when they get the bill on paper and when the congressperson has to vote. It would also help eliminate some of the stupid crap that gets passed into law because it would give the American people to call BS beforehand.

Downsize DC has even posted the draft test of the “Read the Bills Act” and is collecting signatures.

The Seattle micro-startup community is organizing

I was around and in fact active in the first web bubble in Seattle. It was a heady time, cocktail parties and pitches. Companies grabbing up every inch of pioneer square loft space and such. Then it all went away and I retreated back into the corporate world so that I could pay the bills. When the new bubble came a knock’in it seemed that Seattle wasn’t jumping on the bandwagon as fast. I would hear about events and some new companies, but it didn’t seem like a tectonic shift like last time.

However, it seems like the Web 2.0 bubble hasn’t completely passed Seattle by. The Seattle PI has a nice article: Coffee, muffins and entrepreneurs, that is covering some of the local gatherings of entrepreneurs around Seattle. It seems like, this time around, the companies are keeping it on the down-low and small at first.

Here some of the links:

Parkour

So, I guess that if you grow up in Europe and want to show how bad-ass you are, but skateboarding is too American, then Parkour is your sport. This stuff is seriously cool.

Dear Airlines

yeah, those days are gonePlease make up your mind.

Either, enforce your rules about carry-on bags or make the overheads infinitely large.

“Two Bags only, one bag and one briefcase or purse” you announce over the loud speaker. Meanwhile, I’m walking down the jetway behind some other business traveler who has a roll-away large enough for me to fit into, a backpack, a briefcase, and a garment bag. I then have to watch him stuff them into TWO overheads, filling both. He then walks to the back of the plane where his seat actually is. So not only does everyone have to wait for him, but then, everyone else has to scramble for overhead space. Of course, he isn’t the only problem. Half the people are carrying on over-sized bags that either take an entire overhead compartment or most of one.

I fly enough now that this is really a pain in the ass. It leads to people trying to board early so that they can make sure that they can stuff their bags into the overhead. It makes the entire trip crappier for the rest of us, especially if we have to put something into the overhead. (my bag takes up 1/4 of an overhead, thank-you-very-much).

Sure, if you actually start enforcing your rules, it will be a painful transition, making it take longer to get people through the gate, and annoying those who think that their bag really can fit even though it can’t. Long term though, all your passengers will be much happier.

In the meantime, GFY.

ok Apple, now you are really starting to piss me off

At this point, I’m just used to the horror show that developing software for the mac is. But as a user, it has always been sweetness and light mostly and with Apple service, it has always been awesome.

Now, Apple is crossing the line. My 30 GB iPod photo is busted. It has been lovingly taken care of, never dropped, doesn’t have a scratch on it. The problem? Sometimes (not always), the buttons on the scroll wheel are treated like you are pressing the middle button instead. This will last for a while and then go back to working. However, when you are trying to pause your iPod and you just keep flipping between the song, the rating, the position, the cover art, etc… it can be insane making.

So I put the details into a service report and got a box delivered lickity-split. Score one for Apple service. 3 days later, I got a box back! Joy! Apple service would remain in my heart. Until I opened it and read the note that said, (I paraphrase) “works fine, no problems found”. When in my description, I had said that the problem was intermittent, so I hope they did more than try it out for half a second. They reformatted it, of course. I tried it and it seemed to work ok. So I loaded up my music onto it and was able to repro the problem again within 10 seconds. I didn’t update the OS of the iPod, I just put music onto it.

So, I sent it back, saying in my service report, “no really. you have to try it before reformatting it. It really does happen. It is intermittent.”

I just got it back. Same story. “works fine, no service performed”

So, now I have to drag my ass into the genius bar to get some pimply faced UW freshman to ask me stupid questions since there is no fucking phone number I can call to talk to anyone at Apple service. The net result of which will probably be that they drop the DHL box in the mail for me and I get it back reformatted AGAIN with no service performed.

It is this kind of crap that made me switch to Apple in the first place, and it will be this kind of crap that will make me switch again.

One more Bush administration scandal before bed

The firing of the US District attorneys has focused more attention on hiring practices across the justice department, and everything comes back to Monica Goodling, the 31 year old graduate of a law school founded by a televangelist that considers their main textbook to be the bible. She became the person in charge of hiring and firing in the justice deparment and she took it on to herself to make sure that only good republicans worked for the government. It didn’t matter if the position were political appointments or normal civil servant jobs. Intollerant of those who didn’t hold her views, she also took it upon herself to remove people she suspected were democrats. I’m delighted that she didn’t take the deal. I think she should serve jail time, along with Rove, Rumsfeld, Cheney and Bush.

Colleagues Cite Partisan Focus by Justice Official (nytimes)

Ms. Goodling would soon be quizzing applicants for civil service jobs at Justice Department headquarters with questions that several United States attorneys said were inappropriate, like who was their favorite president and Supreme Court justice. One department official said an applicant was even asked, “Have you ever cheated on your wife?”

Ms. Goodling also moved to block the hiring of prosecutors with résumés that suggested they might be Democrats, even though they were seeking posts that were supposed to be nonpartisan, two department officials said.

And she helped maintain lists of all the United States attorneys that graded their loyalty to the Bush administration, including work on past political campaigns, and noted if they were members of the Federalist Society, a conservative legal group.