Local Blogger Ann Althouse takes a drive through Lodi (with some pleasant photos).
Monthly Archives: February 2005
Valentines Day: Orchids or Chocolate?
The benefits of Madison’s (Winter) Farmer’s Market: Cross Country Orchids [map | phone] offered some gorgeous orchids Saturday Morning. Click here to download a 1024 x 768 desktop picture version for your mac or pc.
Another great option is Candinas [map | www site]
Based on web traffic, I think Candinas is having a big year. I’ve only seen one other firm pay as much attention to packaging and branding (wrapped around a superior product) as Markus – that would be Steve Jobs Apple Computer’s iPod packaging.
The Gates: Christo & Jeanne-Claude Opens in Central Park
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The Gates opened Saturday. More on Christo & Jeanne-Claude.
Meet Ben Moga: Candidate for Madison Alderperson, District 5
Ben Moga is running for Madison’s District 5 Alderperson. Meet him, via this Quicktime Video (MP3 audio is also available).
Meet Will Kuehn: Candidate for District 13
Meet Will Kuehn, Candidate for Madison Alderperson District 13 (Quicktime Video/MP3 Audio). Check out Will’s website and blog.
Wisconsin DPI Candidate Primary
Alan Borsuk posted a brief summary of the four DPI candidates for Tuesday’s primary here.
Milwaukee Vote Problems: Absentee Ballots
Greg Borowski continues to look into Milwaukee’s recent election:
In a review of the Nov. 2 election, Milwaukee officials on Friday blamed a massive crush of absentee voters for problems in getting ballots to everyone who requested one, and for not getting all the returned absentee ballots to the polls before they closed.
The two problems, which have almost become footnotes amid more recent election questions, are both serious. In the first case, some residents who sought ballots were unable to vote. In the second, 238 ballots that did come almost missed being counted.
Quad Graphics: Vertically Integrating Health Care & Saving Money
Interesting trend to watch (props to John Robb for the pointer). Wisconsin based Quad/Graphics spent about $6,000 per employee [last year] on medical costs, 30% less than the average company in its home state of Wisconsin. Its 12,000 workers spend fewer days in the hospital and take their medicines more regularly. Vanessa Furhmans.
Age Verification Technology
i-mature and RSA announced a partnership that uses bone scanning technology to determine a person’s age:
The partnership will work towards a unique solution that would genuinely improve the safety of the Internet for children, by enabling both adult and children’s sites to restrict their content more reliably to their appropriate audience.
i-Mature has developed an innovative technology that can determine, through a simple biometric bone-scanning test, whether a user is a child or an adult — and thereby control access to Internet sites and content. AGR technology could help prevent children from accessing adult Internet sites and prevents adults from accessing children’s sites and chat rooms.
Dave Farber has posted an extensive discussion of this topic here, here, here, here, here and here.
Nokia: Local Advertising on Your Cell Phone :(
Point Server by Nokia (via Geekzone):
Nokia is introducing the Nokia Local Marketing Solution, a mobile solution that brings services to customers’ smartphones via short-range radio technologies, such as Bluetooth. With the Nokia Local Marketing Solution, operators and service providers can easily advertise their own and partner services in relevant places, at relevant times, thereby providing added value service to their customers. The Nokia solution supports multiple languages, and it can be customized according to the service provider’s brand preferences.
The solution is based on the concept of point server, which distributes information to users on a reduced area or environment.