• Blogs Wot I Read

    Map Fun

    A few days ago, I listened to an interesting piece on National Public Radio about “Google mashups” – fun projects that combine Google’s mapping technology with feeds or GPS data or something completely off-the-wall. One of the examples given was dartmaps – the Dublin Area Rapid Transit systems live-time system maps. Annie from Going Underground has recently been riding the DART, so I thought she’d get a kick out of this. They’re useful, and cute, too – all Thomas the Tank Engine and not at all what you’d expect from a regional transit outfit. Due to the time difference, I…

  • Hot Off The Presses

    Marketplace in China

    I’ve really been enjoying National Pulbic Radio’s Marketplace from American Public Media show this week – they’re broadcasting live from Chongqing, China. Not only that, but all the music is performed by Chinese musicians. And there’s photos of the musicians on a Flickr set! In fact, their Flickr page is packed with interesting photos. I really enjoy Marketplace, and the China shows have given excellent coverage in a way that really pricks up your ears. Not only that, but host Kai Ryssdal lived in China some years ago and speaks fluent Chinese, so you get lively sounding interviews with people…

  • Politics, Schmolitics

    Obama: Point Man

    The Chicago Tribune | The Swamp blog reports that Sen. Barack Obama‘s new task is to be the “face” guy for the Democratic Party’s ethics and reform initiative. I’m pretty happy about this (actually I’m very happy about this) because I think Obama is the best choice for this job, and also because of his standing in the minority party (he jokes that in spite of his high profile, he’s ranked about 99th or so in seniority) he can’t get much legislation passed unless it’s a total bi-partisan no-brainer. UPDATE: His remarks today on “Honest Leadership and Open Government” from…