In our last interview, [Former US Senator Evan] Bayh complained of the poor opinion the public had of him and his [Senate] colleagues. “They look at us like we’re worse than used-car salesmen.” Yes. They do. And this is why.
Ezra Klein of the Washington Post, from his post The sad, hypocritical retirement of Evan Bayh.
Our Government is Stupid
For every buck we spend we borrow forty cents and if that isn’t stupid. You’ve got a country that is stupid. A government that is stupid.
-Former US Senator Alan Simpson, co-chair of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, on our government.
New Theme on My Droid 2
This is what I love about Android: the customization and the community.
Here I’m running a customized Honeycomb theme (here) for a community built ROM (Liberty, here) that runs on the open source Android operating system on the Motorola Droid 2. I’ve customized it with icons, a different launcher (LauncherPlus Pro), and a weather/time widget from an HTC version of Android. I’ve completely customized the look (and functionality) of the home screen.
Community ROMs (versions of Android, basically) introduce new and great features, while fixing bugs. I don’t have to worry about not getting an updated version of Android software on my Droid 2, because I know that other community members will release ROMs with the features.
And if I don’t like something, I can fix it on my own. That’s open source.
Can you do any of this on your iPhone/iPad?
Horsetail Fall at Yosemite
Another Article about UGAKey.com
The Red and Black has a followup article about the Koofers acquisition of UGAKey.com, a startup that I co-founded. I was really heartened to see this quote from a UGA student:
“It’s definitely different and I’m still getting used to it,” said Lois Kim, a freshman from Suwanee. “But Koofers has a lot more on it than the Key did and I think it’s a good change.”
As I told the Red and Black, we wanted to improve the access students had to information that would help their academic career, and I think Koofers exceeds that goal.
Game day at KU’s Allen Fieldhouse
TechCrunch had a great interview yesterday about the new office for Gavin Newsom, the new Lieutenant Governor of California.
Newsom announced that he will forgo an office in San Francisco and will workout of an office/coworking space for entrepreneurs called the Founders Den. Why?
To bring innovation back to our state government. Founders Den provides the kind of collaborative and creative atmosphere to foster new ideas not only for emerging new businesses, but government as well.
Take a look at the interview, where Lt. Governor Newsom compares government (specifically California’s current cash strapped situation) to that of a startup and the need for entrepreneurial energy in government.
Stop Printing, Get a Kindle (or Four)
From the London Review of Books:
Taking the lower figure, that means that New York Times, if it stopped printing a physical edition of the paper, could afford to give every subscriber a free Kindle. Not the bog-standard Kindle, but the one with free global data access. And not just one Kindle, but four Kindles. And not just once, but every year. And that’s using the low estimate for the costs of printing.
Mule Deer on the Way Home
I spotted this herd of mule deer two days in a row, while taking the scenic route home from work. There were about 40 mule deer (look at the first image and try to count all of them). I might put more up later, but click on the pictures to see bigger images.
Great dinner of bison meatloaf, a baked sweet potato, and steamed broccoli (and a dinner roll!). This is my heaven.
