March, 4, 2002 archives

it must not be very much fun to be bill gross these days, as 25 new plaintiffs join the idealab suit. i still believe that at its core, idealab is a great idea, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired (especially if the allegations in the suit are true). attending the shareholder's meeting on march 14 could be entertaining.

and i guess it's worth mentioning that my former employer is being acquired by loudcloud—for $12-13 million in stock, but they had $10 million in cash on hand.

finally, the state offices. there's one non-partisan election (superintendent of public schools), and i'm going to be voting in the republican primary so i can cast a vote for riordan.

for superintendent, i'm going to have to go with lynne leach, although i may still change my mind. her website is the least embarrassing. (it isn't great, but compare with those of katherine h. smith and jack o'connell. the fourth candidate, joe taylor, goes right out for listing himself as a political consultant. that's supposed to be appealing?) the la times recommended jack o'connell.

for lieutenant governor, the choices are ellie michaels and bruce mcpherson (no website). downloaded the song, i'll be voting for bruce.

there's three candidates for secretary of state: mike schaefer, barbara jean marr, and keith olberg. i like what keith olberg has to say, so he looks like my guy.

dick ackerman is running unopposed for the republication nomation for attorney general. i'll skip this race.

there's four candidates for the always-exciting position of controller. w. snow hume, dean andal, tom mcclintock, and nancy beecham. andal almost had me until he touted his support for the defense of marriage act. beecham's right out for using frames (and supporting term limits). snow's out for having a silly name (and being a little too anti-things-i'm-not-anti). that leaves mcclintock, who doesn't seem all too objectionable.

there's just two candidates for treasurer, greg conlon and mary a. toman. conlon wins for most obtuse domain name, but i can't discern any real reason to favor one of these two, so i'll take a pass.

finally, there's three candidates for insurance commissioner: stefan “watchdog” stich, gary mendoza, and wes bannister. again, i can't really discern a reason to pick somebody, so i won't.

to summarize:

• prop 40: no
• prop 41: no
• prop 42: no
• prop 43: no
• prop 44: no
• prop 45: yes
• governor: riordan
• lt. governor: mcpherson
• superintendent: leach
• sec. of state: olberg
• controller: mcclintock
• la county measure a: no
• la county measure b: no
• la county measure c: yes
• la county supervisor, 3rd district: yaroslavsky
• la county assessor: auerbach
• la county sheriff: baca
• city of la prop q: no
• city of la prop r: yes
• superior court judges: just skip 'em all

finding good information about the various candidates and issues has been hard. all of the newspaper websites have little-to-no information and it is impossible to find. i wish i'd taken more time to follow the money (not just on the propositions, but all of the races).

i also wish i had discovered jim dimov's website earlier. he has the scientific data to convert garbage into gasoline!

go vote!

although there's no actual nudity involved, abc digitally altered diamonds are forever to change the color of plenty o'toole's panties and add a bra. she still gets thrown out the window, though. (this story is even more frightening, and i have to say that edit sounds like a good idea. the quote at the end of the article is priceless, though.)

the msnbc/newsweek commentary (via doc) on the news about the news is very telling. instead of commenting about how it might be better to measure the success of news media by how well it informs the public, it focuses on how they will find new ways to cram down advertising with the news. yeah, right.

here's one thing that “the practical futurist” really misses the boat on: producing text, images, and even video for the web, twenty-four hours a day, does not require technology with high-priced maintainence and regular upgrading. the journalists are what cost money. the hardware is only getting cheaper, and you don't really have to be on a treadmill these days, despite what the hardware and software vendors would like you to believe.

to this chump, it's all about cramming more product down the throats of consumers. bite me.