ohn Eberly wasn’t looking for controversy. The 31-year-old Ballard resident just wanted a better way to track the whereabouts of fire trucks and emergency vehicles in the city, a service he said could help people avoid traffic bottlenecks, protests or dangerous situations such as gas leaks.
For the past year, Eberly has operated Seattle911.com, a Web site that until this week took real-time feeds of 911 calls from the Seattle Fire Department and plotted them on Google Maps. The site developed a cult following, with up to 200 unique visitors per day. The Seattle P-I incorporated the service into its Web site.
…….
Schneier, the security expert, says the Seattle Fire Department’s decision raises an interesting social question about the use of public information. He said it is the same issue as posting political donations or property records on Web sites.
“What the Fire Department is saying, which is interesting if you think about it, is that we are going to rely on the inconvenience of automating this to give you privacy,” Schneier said. “The government is not saying, ‘Hey, this data needs to be secret,’ they are saying, ‘This data needs to be inconvenient to get to.’ “
Monthly Archives: October 2006
Amazing
State Rep. Steve Wieckert says he will push to rewrite state laws to enable visiting National Football League teams to continue their pre-game stays in Appleton.
First, however, Wieckert, R-Appleton, said he will request a state attorney general’s opinion on whether existing statutes allow police to restrict traffic while ushering visiting-team caravans from Appleton to Lambeau Field.
A legal opinion offered by Nancy Peterson-Bekx, a former prosecutor and current criminal justice instructor at Fox Valley Technical College, has thrown into question police escort practices in place since NFL teams began staying in downtown Appleton in the early 1980s.
Peterson-Bekx said state police agencies cannot disregard traffic laws except when responding to emergencies, or during specifically exempted duties.
British Gentry, Fiddling While the Abyss Looms
The time will soon be ripe for fresh political leadership. With a presidential election just a couple of years away, we need to start looking for viable new candidates, fellows with those outside-the-Beltway views voters are said to cherish.
I’d like to suggest the American electorate consider the merits of Captain Shotover, the straight-talking old salt currently and eternally presiding over “Heartbreak House,” George Bernard Shaw’s comedy about British gentry waltzing toward the apocalypse.
Qualifications? He has military experience and fresh ideas. And he’s not beholden to big business types, whom he colorfully refers to as “those hogs to whom the universe is nothing but a machine for greasing their bristles and filling their snouts.” Which reminds me: He already has a crack speechwriter on staff.
True, the candidate has a few glaring liabilities. The rumors about his alcohol consumption are well founded. But there’s always rehab. The attention span is a little short, but is that such a problem in politics these days? Of course he’s a fictional character too. Considered from all angles, though, that may not be a drawback. Imaginary people can’t send instant messages.
A timely, well done presentation of George Bernard Shaw’s Heartbreak House. Free ebook. Now playing at New York’s Roundabout Theatre. Thanks to the Rep’s Rick Corley for suggesting this play.
“Tagging” Air Passengers
Philanthropy from the Heart of America
In the last five years, though, something utterly unexpected has happened. The decline has stopped. More people are moving to Ord, the county seat, than leaving, and the county’s population is likely to show its first increase this decade since the 1920’s.
The economics of rural America have not really changed. If anything, the advantages that Chicago, Dallas, New York and other big cities have over Nebraska have only continued to grow. But Ord has finally figured out how to fight back.
It has hired a “business coach” to help teach local stores how to sell their goods over the Internet and to match up retiring shop owners with aspiring ones. Schoolchildren learn how to start their own little businesses — like the sixth-grade girl who made a video of the town’s history and sells it at school reunions — so they will not grow up to think the only job opportunities are at big companies in Omaha or St. Louis. Graduates of Ord High School who have moved elsewhere receive mailings telling them about job opportunities back in town.
Funny
Markets in Everything: 7:11
the Chicago White Sox] have just announced that for the next three seasons, their evening home games will begin at 7:11 p.m. instead of the customary 7:05 p.m. or 7:35 p.m. Why? Because 7-Eleven, the convenience store chain, is paying them $500,000 to do so.
Energy Robin Hood to speak Oct. 18, Pyle Center
Randy Udall sees himself as a modern-day Robin Hood of sorts, taking from the rich and giving to the poor. Udall heads the Community Office for Resource Efficiency in Aspen, Colorado, which oversees the world’s stiffest tax on energy use. The tax, called “REMP” or Renewable Energy Mitigation Program, requires owners of new homes larger than 5,000 square feet to pay fees of up to $100,000 for excess energy use. — The Osgood File, July 31, 2003
Randy Udall, whose father (Morris) and uncle (Stewart) were conservation giants, will discuss America’s energy challenges at 7:00 p.m. on October 18, 2006, at the Pyle Center, 702 Langdon Street, Madison.
Udall also write prolifically and insightfully on energy issues and the coming end of cheap oil. His articles include: Stud Muffins and Kilowatt-hours; When will the Joy Ride End?; Methane Madness; Cleopatra to Columbia.
He will also speak at 8:30 a.m. on the same day at the Monona Terrace during the Sustainability Energy Efficiency conference of the Wisconsin Green Building Alliance.
Sponsored by Madison Peak Oil Group, RENEW Wisconsin, Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, and Wisconsin Green Building Alliance.
Links:
Community Office for Resource Efficiency – www.aspencore.org
Madison Peak Oil Group – www.madisonpeakoil-blog.blogspot.com
RENEW Wisconsin – www.renewwisconsin.org
Gaylord Nelson Institute – www.ies.wisc.edu
Wisconsin Green Building Alliance – www.wgba.org
Bringing it Home: Earmarks
Charles Taylor, wealthy businessman and banker, owns at least 14,000 acres of prime land in western North Carolina. He’s also the local congressman. So when he steers federal dollars to his district, sometimes he helps himself, too.
Last year, Mr. Taylor added $11.4 million to a big federal transportation bill to widen U.S. Highway 19, the main road through Maggie Valley, a rural resort town in the Great Smoky Mountains. His companies own thousands of acres near the highway there and had already developed a subdivision called Maggie Valley Leisure Estates.
Mr. Taylor also got $3.8 million in federal funds for a park now being built in downtown Asheville with fountains, tree-shaded terraces and an open-air stage. It’s directly in front of the Blue Ridge Savings Bank, flagship of his financial empire. He is among the richest congressmen with assets of at least $72 million, records show.
The Republican lawmaker is one of at least a half-dozen House members whose public actions in directing special-interest spending known as earmarks have also benefited their private interests or those of business partners, according to congressional, corporate and real-estate records. Among them is a senior Democrat, Rep. Alan Mollohan of West Virginia.
More on earmarks.
Tammy Baldwin Ranks #22 (out of 435) in Congressional District “Grants”
$28.8B over the past 6 years.
Fedspending.org. Recipient Details:
I never heard from Tammy’s office regarding her Dane County earmarks.
Kudos to the “Sunlight Foundation” for making this information available to taxpayers.
I’m wondering if some of these are SBA or other government loans/grants?