Political | David Marcucci's Doorstep

17Mar/09

2 Wrongs Don’t Make a Right, But Sometimes 3 or More Do

Posted by David Marcucci

Today Chuck Schumer proposed confiscating the bailout money from AIG employees by taxing the crap out of them. (See link below.) Well, we all learned that "two wrongs do not make a right" back in pre-school, but how about three wrongs? Four? How many "wrongs" will it take before this mess gets straightened out. Hey Schumer, here is an idea, when you give someone millions of dollars (of our money) how about you find out what they are going to do with it first? Maybe you could attach some strings too, ahead of time, not after the fact.

Am I the only one who sees the government acting a little tyrannical lately.

Tagged as: Political, Rant, Taxes Continue reading

10Mar/09

Getting the facts on the U.S. Congress

Posted by David Marcucci

Sparing the (long) back story, I worked on a project once that I thought was a waste of time. I said “no one will want this service!” Then I was presented with a chart showing demand for the service generated from data collected from a voluntary survey. I was amazed. I thought, “Wow, I was wrong, it appears people do want this.” A coworker said, “Do you have access to the raw numbers?” I did. He suggested I skew the charts by modifying the groupings by 1 unit. So a bar showing 1 to 9 now showed 1 to 10, while the bar showing 10 to 19 did not include the “10’s” anymore. The chart almost reversed, showing little interest in the service!

This was when I discovered, “if you want to know the truth, evaluate the raw data yourself”, and I live by that today. I am constantly picking apart articles and news reports for potential skewing of the data. (Whenever they show “deaths caused by (big bad) guns” I ask, what is the number of deaths by guns used in a legal manner per year? Good luck finding it.)

Anyway, stripping away the BS is the point and that is why I like this site: http://www.govtrack.us/

It tracks the votes of our U.S. Congress and it’s open source! Sure there are summaries that are skewed a little (but not much), still you can get to the raw data. That actual text of a bill, not a summary. Who voted how or who didn’t vote. You can see what is really going on. It gives a good picture of what the democrats are supporting, what the republicans are supporting, and what votes are really bi-partisan. (Sorry Nancy, getting 5 republicans to support your crazy idea is not “bi-partisan support”.) It has RSS feeds too so you can track changes with ease. I suggest everyone go check it out, you deserve to know what is really going on.

Tagged as: congress, Political, Review No Comments

15Feb/09

Apple Says iPhone Jailbreaking is Illegal

Posted by David Marcucci

Why do you care? Likely you don't since only a small percentage of owners actually jailbreak their iPhone. Even myself (although I don't have an iPhone) once jailbroke my iPod due to the number of VERY useful apps I could get in the "free market." Still, I rebuilt my iPod and left it "locked" because the Apple started offering many of the apps I had on iTunes.

However, this really isn't about Apple and iPhone, this is about the DMCA in general. This stance, if it is approved by the courts, set a precedent. That precedent is that you can't use stuff you buy the way you want. So most people will just say "so what." With iPhone I kind of agree. Apple gives a majority of the people what they need and a slightly majority what they want via iTunes. Still, what about other things you buy.

Think about a few items in your house right now and imagine if all of a sudden the makes tell you how to use it. Your coffee maker will only take coffee from certain makers. Your toaster will only toast certain brands of bread. Your car will only allow you to put in "super" grade gas. It may seem ridiculous but I bet 50 years ago people would look at things today and find a few of our everyday experiences ridiculous.

Link: Apple Says iPhone Jailbreaking is Illegal | Electronic Frontier Foundation