Interesting Concept: Podcasting and Government (Local and Federal)

Federal government and all committees and sub-committees released their recordings via Podcast to the general public. Perhaps we could extend this idea a bit
further, and require all state, county and city governments do the same. Most American’s, including myself, don’t pay enough attention to local happenings.

Of course, they would probably screw it up and no one would listen anyway.. But, I’m just being cynical.. right?

Technorati Tags: podcast, politics

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Monday morning quickies…

What an excellent race! Congrats Dan Wheldon! Also, Congrats to who
I am sure will sweep the 2005 Rookie of the Year honors, Danica Patrick!
Now, the quickies

1. Stuck with a Windows PC? Wanna try PodCasting? Check out Doppler Radio. From About Doppler:
   

   Doppler is a podcast aggregator. It?s a tool to subscribe to RSS feeds which supply downloadable files. Doppler will go out and fetch the files enclosed in the RSS feed and will automatically add them to your preferred media player. And it does this in a very smooth unattended
   manner. It?s simple! Really.

2. Another good site with a list of popular PodCasts is PodFeeder. Some of the Podcasts on the list are not kept very current, but you can usually tell by looking at their website.
3. ITEC Conference and Exposition is on June 8 - 9, 2005 at the Indianapolis Convention Center and RCA Dome. This is about the best technical/IT show that comes through Indianapolis, so it’s worth a few hours to go.
4. This is for all of those annoying Mac evangelistical types.. They are SO annoying! (duck)
5. Reason #1, 468 to NEVER have nude pictures of yourselve taken.
   There should be an IQ requirement before you can file suit… This women was the dumbass for allowing the picures to be taken in the first
   place! Duh!
6. What’s next for BitTorrent? Wired has the scoop… Of course, I predict it won’t take long before this is sued into oblivion.
7. Scott Berkun has an excellent piece regarding How to give and receive criticism. Interesting read, and I certainly catch myself doing some of the bad habits listed here..

As many of you may have noticed, the blog took a bit of a
political turn last week. This will occur from time to time as the
need arises. However, it seems our right-wing friends can’t handle a
bit of what they dish out, so they have decided to not contribute any
longer to the blog.

This is a real bummer, because I think there is less and less dialog
between people with different opinions. Perhaps someday, all of us
will learn how to deal and coexist with different ideals, concepts and
people. However, that day is certainly not today.
Hate, intolerance and ignorance have no place in the future of any
civilized society, yet all 3 of these seem to be making a comeback in
our society.

Perhaps we need to look at our leaders to understand why this is.

Technorati Tags: bittorrent, mac, podcast, sports

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Phishing and corruption in the U. S. banking system

10:30AM, this morning….

You receive this offer in your email, offering a great product for an
amazing price, or saying you need to update your on-line bank info from
Bank One, or something equally obnoxious. You click the
link.

The website asks you for your email, CC # and some other types of
verifying information (SS#, Drivers ID, Mother’s Maiden Name,
etc). You really don’t think anything of what’s going on, because
the site looks JUST like Bank One, so it must be Bank One..right?
Days past, and nothing happens…

A few weeks later, you pick up your mail. You notice here is a
charge on your credit card statement from “Hot Swedish Teens” for $49.95. You begin to
freak out, then realize that you had probably been..well..had.

What to do…

Different ways to handle this begin to circulate in your head.
Contact the bank to dispute the charge..oh god….I can’t let my wife
see that… That’s out.. Well, it’s only $49.95…big deal,
as long as it doesn’t happen again.. I’ll just let it
slip.. So, a check is written and quietly mailed and nothing is
ever said…

Is this you or someone you know? Tell me what’s wrong with this
picture, besides the obvious? Well, as far as the bank was
concerned, it was a legitimate transaction with no dispute or
signature. Bank One happily collects it’s credit card percentage
fee, and then transfers the rest of the money into some account in
Bendoveristan. Wanna bet this doesn’t happen a thousand times a
day? 10,000 times? How about an hour?

Now, explain to me again why any bank would want this exposed
and have what I am sure is massive cash flow decrease or cease?
Wanna bet which bank is first to fall on the sword and say this is a
real problem? Sucker’s bet..

Technorati Tags: security, business

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More on the Wiccan family in Indianapolis

court really seems to have overstepped its bounds in this case,
and the snapback should be quick. This article quotes some legal
experts saying that it will not stand. So far, the national media
has not picked up on this yet. They should, it is a really
pertinent story that gets at the heart of what the current
administration is trying to do.

I’d be surprised if the judge doesn’t back down very quickly from this
issue. Even if he does, there should be an investigation of how
this clause even came to be in the order. Anyone with a
rudimentary knowledge of our country would instantly realize that was
not appropriate and those responsible should be dismissed from their
position within government. Maybe the local church is hiring.

Simply put, this is an outrage.

This was a conscious decision on someone’s part to include this section
in the order. Who was it? Why did they do it?

The judge should ultimately be held responsible and should issue an
immediate correction and apology. If not, we may very well have a crazy “10 Commandments” situation right here in Indianapolis. Isn’t this more suited to Alabama?

Technorati Tags: indianapolis, politics

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Right-wing Judge refuses to remove restriction on religious beliefs right here in Indianapolis

It is a myth that the judicial branch is corned by liberals.

This is going to be a huge shit storm in the media over the coming few
days and weeks.. As it should be. Simply put, this is an
outrage and fellow Hoosiers should be ashamed. Kansas and
Alabama, watch out.. we’re in a race to the bottom…and Indiana has a
slight lead.

This hits very close to home with a very dear friend of mine, and
hopefully he will share his opinion regarding this story here
soon. Stay tuned!

Note: Mr. Jones, I would love to hear your side of the story, and I’m positive I’m not the only one.

UPDATE: This story is beginning to be picked up outside of Indianapolis. Here is another blog entry. Yes, the Judge’s first name is Cale. Irony is a wonderful thing.

Technorati Tags: indianapolis, politics

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Corner Coffee (Rediscovered)

Corner Coffee shop at 251 East 11th Street in Indianapolis.

The have great seating and food. Best of all, they provide free
high-speed wireless and have a full copy/print center available for
use. Very nice and I have caught myself spending many hours there
lately. Not to mention, the friendly and fun customer service.

Kudo’s to the staff of Corner Coffee!

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How to make $158 Million in less than a week

earned over $158 Million in it’s first week, shattering the previous Spider-Man record set in 2002. This is a huge number, but does not surprise me. However, even this massive number can not stop the overall trend of the big screen losing numbers. I think this movie will have “legs” also, because many people have waited to see the movie to avoid the crowds.

Time Magazine has released an “All-Time 100 Movies” list.

This Salon Blog written by Dave Pollard talks about how to train yourself to think differently about something you may already think you know. Everyone is
guilty of “knowing they are right” sometimes, except Republicans… They always think they are right, but rarely are. *grin*

It’s my blog, and I’ll be bias if I want to… bias if I want to…..You would be to if it happened too you…

This article by the same author talks about Appreciative inquiry, complex systems and the four practices of open space. Interesting reading.

Here is an article on how to correctly use RSS. RSS is another piece of technology that has exploded in the past 12-18 months. Lots of Web Development tools here, also. Piturequest has a ton of royalty free images on their site. Good resource.

Kuro5hin has an excellent piece with lots of links for web development professionals.

Remember all the hubbub over the RIAA shutting down TV bittorrent downloads? Mindjack has an article that claims how Bittorrent actually HELPS some series get noticed, including Battlestar Galactica and the new Dr. Who from the UK.

This technology is currently fairly immature, however as it matures, Bittorrent (or what comes next) will become more and more troublesome for the RIAA and MPAA.

Finally, the next time some right-wing nut cases goes off on you about the nonsense of Creationism, this site will give you some good counterpoints.
Seriously, is it really too much to ask to keep religion in your
church, and OUT of public schools? Evidently it is for some
morons.

Technorati Tags: bittorrent, media, pop culture

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Here comes PodCasting!

If I haven’t said it here before, I will now… Podcasting
is going to be HUGE. Some would argue that it already is…  I bet
XM/Sirius are sweating bullets as to where this technology will go.
Basically, Podcasts can provide the same quality and level of services
as the satellite providers, but with a fraction of the infrastructure
costs (web servers vs. launching many satellites).

Some new tools are already showing up such as GarageBand’s PodCast Studio which just unveiled the first consumer on-line tool to Record, Mix and Publish Podcasts. Apple is getting into the game by building-in Podcast subscriptions into the next release of iTunes and providing Podcast content via the iTunes Music Store. (Look, Audible.com just pissed their pants, also!)

If you enjoy listening to quality talk shows on your own existing
equipment and schedule, all or mostly all free of costs, podcasting may
be just what you’ve been waiting on.

(Thanks to TWH for the links!)

Technorati Tags: podcast, social, web20

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Scientists, journalists, the public, and the Climate

Good site with lots of good science relating to our global climate. When I lived in Seattle, WA during 1999-2000, I learned how a community can be proactive regarding the local environment. When I moved back to Indianapolis, I was reminded just how much a community can ignore their surroundings. Indiana is such a beautiful state, and it kills me to see the brown smog hanging constantly over the city. Don’t believe me? Look out a high rise building in downtown Indianapolis anytime between June - late Sept and try not to cough. It isn’t a pretty site.

It isn’t hard to imagine that this mentality affects all of us in a more personal and physical way, also. Men’s Fitness tends to agree with me. An “F” for nutrition?? Ever see the slew of fast food restaurants on our roads and highways here? Not a huge surprise… We have gone from 5th fattest in 1999 to 12th fattest. Good job Indy! I’ll drink a beer to that! (or 2…or 3)

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Colts get new Turf

The Indianapolis Colts home field turf in the RCA Dome was voted “Worst in the NFL” in 2004, so they are getting a new one. Maybe that’s why we lost to the Patriots in Foxsboro, but I digress…

I still say they should not build the Colts a new stadium until they can prove they can win outside in winter.

Note to the Colts organization and the City of Indianapolis: Leave the dome open until they actually WIN an AFC Championship… Then we’ll talk.

Technorati Tags: indianapolis, Colts, nfl

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Monday Morning Quickies

I am still getting use to the new blog software and have not installed a spell checker yet. Please forgive any errors for now.

http://www.moveonpac.org/images/fristposter_sm.jpg

Here we go with a batch of quickies:

Watched Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith this weekend. I give it a highly favorable review and enjoyed the movie very much. George Lucas has redeemed himself for episodes I & II.

I also enjoyed MoveOn’s take on SW:RotS.