It is, at last, finished. At least, most people understand that after a long, hard-fought race, Barack Obama has won the Democratic nomination. Most of the holdouts should come around when Hillary formally concedes on Saturday. Unfortunately, there are still a few rumors and loose ends that should be sorted out so nobody goes into the general election with the wrong impressions.
Toward the end of the race, the facts got a bit muddy as both campaigns tried to put a bright face on the situation. Unfortuantely, with all the competing messages, some of the facts got confused. In the end, people will decide on their own who to vote for in November—but I would like to make sure they have their information straight.
I’ve been following politics pretty closely the past few months, and I’ve come to some conclusions about the media: there is not enough information on the Internet, blogs are too filtered, and instant communication hurts the distribution of information. This may surprise a few people.
My parents, knowing I’ve been something of a political... Read more
It’s very likely that an iPhone update is imminent. But while nearly everyone has agreed on that, nobody knows anything definite about the specifics: when will the update happen, and what will it change?
I disabled comments on Marco.org tonight. It might be permanent — I haven’t decided yet.
Marco.org has had 263 articles published since 2003. Comments were enabled in March 2006, and we received 2,216 approved comments.
Most comments were idiotic. Many spewed ignorance, hate, sexism, and racism. Others were from confused people mistaking... Read more
Jonathan Tran wrote Stand on the Shoulders of Giants, an article arguing that software developers, and specifically web developers, should avoid replicating features available elsewhere. His argument is that we should build our applications on top of third-party services by the “giants” (e.g. Google, Yahoo) via their APIs instead of wasting... Read more
After the filly Eight Belles suffered a fatal breakdown following her strong second-place finish in the Kentucky Derby, there are plenty of questions floating around. Since when do racehorses break down after the race? (Never before, in anyone’s memory, by the way.) Could something have prevented this? Some folks are just asking themselves why... Read more
These bother me.
The jobs that full-time students can get during the school year are usually low-paying, part-time retail or food-service positions. Many colleges are in small towns where nothing else is available even if students did have time to devote to them — but they don’t. And many students don’t work paying jobs at all during the school... Read more
Third-party applications created with the iPhone SDK will be available for sale in June. Apple has created an incredible platform here — how much will these applications cost?
From a developer’s point of view, let’s see how much potential the market holds. This will determine what a developer needs to charge to make the effort worthwhile.
As of... Read more
Politicians can be myopic. Under current party rules, my state’s delegation will not be seated at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. All of Michigan is disenfranchised. Prominent Democrats are franticly searching for a way to seat these delegates in a way that doesn’t appear to compromise the ongoing primary process. They worry that... Read more
I just read that Hillary Clinton might be winning in “the only count that matters.” Really? And what innovative accounting method is this? Apparently, Hillary would be ahead if we were counting the electoral votes in states she has won. This winner-take-all system is now the system that “makes sense” and Hillary should be winning. Let’s do... Read more
We all know that climate change is a problem. We know it is caused in large part by greenhouse gasses like carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere and trapping heat. If we can’t find a solution to global warming, we’re in all sorts of trouble. That solution will involve cutting carbon dioxide emissions. So far, most of us are in... Read more
This is a good one. The US Department of Justice approved the much-needed merger between XM and Sirius yesterday, leaving the final decision in the hands of the FCC.
Clear Channel wrote to the FCC, claiming that the only fair way to proceed would be to apply the same “decency” regulations to satellite radio that have always applied to AM and... Read more
Dawn makes bad coffee. At least she realizes it. That’s the first step to overcoming this terrible affliction.
Here’s roughly how to make good coffee:
Start with fresh beans. They should have a strong smell and look slightly oily.
I cancelled my cable TV service in January. Nearly all of the time, we don’t notice.
I didn’t have anything to do this weekend. Tiff was out of town. Nothing was happening on the internet. When I had cable, I would have watched a lot of TV.
TV is the easy way out. When you have nothing to do, it’s the default. But without cable, we’re... Read more
Tonight between 02:30 and 05:00 UTC (6:30 PM and 9:00 PM central time), the US Navy will fire a series of SM3 (standard missile 3) interceptors at a disabled National Reconnaissance Office satellite. The satellite went out of control several weeks ago, and is currently spiraling down into the atmosphere. Without any intervention, it will re-enter... Read more
