Tag: money

Articles that I have read that are interesting – July 26, 2009

Articles that I have read that are interesting – July 26, 2009

38 ideas for stimulus bill revisited

38 ideas for stimulus bill revisited

I am not a big fan of federal government spending.  There are few times when I think that the government can do a more effective job of spending than my local municipalities where they are far more accessible to my influence.  However, the current economy definitely needs a kick-in-the-butt and so I supported the stimulus bill (now called “Economic Stimulus Package Act of 2008“) if it really is going to be used for getting things done on a local level.

I wrote about this back in February in my article “38 ways to fill the stimulus bill with pork and save our economy“.  I still question that the stimulus is being adequately implemented but an article in the Sunday edition of the Cincinnati Enquirer gives me some hope.  This is exactly what we should do as a stimulus – create hundreds of small projects that will get people in the local communities working.  I only hope that most of the jobs the article cites were contractors as opposed to government workers.  As contractors, this will insure that these entrepreneurs stay in business and can augment this public money with some private sector jobs and keep these workers on their payroll.

Perhaps more of this money should be doled out to the local municipalities instead funding TARP.

In keeping with my tradition, I am not reprinting the article in its entirety.  Please click through and read the entire story but here is the beginning discussion.

The sidewalks on Mandarin Court in Forest Park are set to be replaced using federal stimulus money.

 

Stimulus benefits big – and small

President Obama may have been thinking big with his $787 billion stimulus package, but his counterparts in local government are thinking decidedly small.

As local cities and counties put together their applications for some of their first tastes of stimulus money, they’ve come up with block grant applications where the typical project costs less than $250,000.

The city of Covington, for example, has broken down its line items as small as $1,650 each – to replace 117 curb ramps in the neighborhood around Decoursey and Winston avenues, to make them handicapped-accessible. Cincinnati is giving out grants as small as $8,556 for a program to prevent teen pregnancy and violence.

The list of local applications for the Community Development Block Grants also includes $61,200 for sidewalks in Forest Park, $93,000 for air conditioners in Sharonville and $56,008 for playground renovations in Hamilton.

In Woodlawn and Lincoln Heights, taxpayers will spend $100,000 to resurface one-seventh of a mile of Prairie Avenue, and install curbs for 20 houses along the way – a project that Rev. Jesse O’Conner hopes will stop the flooding in his basement.

Without curbs or gutters, rainwater comes down the street and settles on his property. He’s even had precast concrete parking blocks installed in place of curbs in an effort to prevent floods like the one that put eight inches of water in his basement last week.

“We need to get people working again, spending money,” said O’Conner, a General Electric retiree who’s lived on the street since 1954. “It needs to be spent, not put in the bank somewhere.”

Those projects may sound like small potatoes in the context of a spending plan usually measured in the millions, billions and even trillions. But local officials say it’s important that smaller communities aren’t forgotten in the effort to pump federal taxpayer money into the economy.

“So far, everything coming out of the stimulus has been mega-projects that only big communities get,” said Hamilton County Commissioner David Pepper. “We heard a lot of discussion from smaller communities who said, ‘What about us?'”

Local governments in the region have been allocated more than $5.3 million in additional community development block grants, Applications for specific projects were due Friday, and governments are guaranteed to receive the funds as long as they meet federal criteria.

They hope to get some of that money in time for summer construction, though it may come as late as Sept. 30.

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-05-31

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-05-31

  • Thoughts on Memorial Day weekend…the thrill of the race…the fun of the barbeque…the REAL meaning of the day. http://hub.tm/?VHjaL #
  • “We cheat the other guy and pass the savings to you.” This encapsulates the Obama profile! #
  • RT @tibco: TIBCO Positioned in Leaders Quadrant for BPM Suites Magic Quadrant: http://bit.ly/ORyng #gartner #
  • I continue to be amazed that people don’t understand that school taxes come from homes in Ohio. People need to get a clue. #
  • Check out: http://bit.ly/rPN57 I think the comments on Michelle’s shoes, Cheerios, and soft drinks is off but it is spot on. #
  • RT @tibco: TIBCO is recognized as an industry leader by appearing on the 2009 VAR500 list published in the latest issue of CRN magazine! #
  • Yes, there is money in Columbus. Deal just closed. WOOHOO!! #
  • TIBCO expected to unveil cloud computing offering at the NOW Virtual Online Summit: http://bit.ly/16PhOo #cloudcomputing (via @tibco) in reply to tibco #
  • Sitting at the high school acedemic awards meeting trying to figure out what my son accomplished. #
  • “…there is a problem here when we talk about temperament and empathy…we are not selecting a house pet.” Turley on SC nominee Sotomayor #
  • Great day. Two baseball games for the youngest. Now I’m laying on hammock listening to tunes. A bottle of wine is calling me for dinner. #

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-05-24

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-05-24

  • Star Trek movie. A great way to re-invigorate the property and with an alternate reality from the series so they can break with tradition. #
  • RT @twinmamacita: What is up with baseball coaches wearing uniforms anyway? My comment: basketball / football don’t look like a player! #
  • Beautiful day to drive to Columbus. Now let’s hope someone has money up here! #
  • Robert Morris women’s basketball coach David Heeb resigns http://cli.gs/THNTjy #ncaaw (via @hoopfeed) in reply to hoopfeed #
  • There’s three sides to every story: Yours and mine and the cold, hard truth – Don Henley (Eagles) #
  • Why does this not surprise me We want to surf while we drive. Smartphones Selling Far Better Than Dumb Ones http://bit.ly/svtGE #
  • Watching Reds beat the Phillies. I am amazed it is so empty! C’mon Cincinnati leave Chikfila and go to stadium! http://yfrog.com/15qhij #
  • If I would have known Obama would renege on so many campaign promises and Pelosi would be so incompetent, I may have voted for him! #
  • Developers, check out TIBCO General Interface Open Source Project Home Page http://gi.tibco.com/ #opensource (via @tibco) in reply to tibco #
  • Just finished watching eldest son receive award for joining National Honor Society. #
  • Star Trek and Terminator. Two very different views on the future of mankind. #

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Who Owns Your Name on Twitter?

Who Owns Your Name on Twitter?

I don’t love the social networking sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and MySpace.  I do understand the importance of their presence though.  It is moderately important to VERY important (depending on your web presence and its importance to your income) for you to do the land grab and get your name, nickname, or company name out there.  Don’t let a cybersquatter get in your way!

If you want to follow me on Twitter, please do so: @soshaughnessey

The Wall Street Journal has an excellent article on the subject.  I don’t like to reproduce whole articles here (due to copyright issues) so here are the highlights.

Nowhere is this fact more evident than in the doling out of domain names. On the Web, domain names are available for sale on a first-come, first-serve basis. If someone else buys your name first, you can try to buy it from them. If you’ve trademarked a name, you can fight for the name in the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers’ domain-name court system. This makes sense: money and the law are acceptable remedies in our capitalist democracy.

But social media domain names – such as Twitter.com/yourname – are a whole different ballgame. They can be doled out arbitrarily. Even if you get a name first on a social network, you are not allowed to sell it and it can be reclaimed by the social network at any time. Legal remedies for dealing with imposters or trademark issues range from murky to nonexistent.

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Still, there is some hope if you want to get your name – or reclaim it from someone else who has it. Here are some approaches:

Get There First. Since domain names are free on social media sites, it makes sense to grab yours quickly, even if you don’t plan to use it immediately.

Many sites dole out domain names on a first-come, first-serve basis. The most democratic is LinkedIn, which hands out “vanity URLs,” such as LinkedIn.com/in/JuliaAngwin, to the first person who asks for it. As long as the URL is really your name, you can keep it.

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Plead Your Case. If someone grabbed your name already, you can appeal to the site to get it back.

MySpace has an automated – and somewhat strange – process for booting imposters. You are required to send in a picture of yourself holding a piece of paper with the URL of the imposter profile written on it. This is called the “MySpace Salute.” If MySpace deems the offending profile to be an imposter, it will delete it.

To protest a Twitter name-squatter, you must send in a ‘tweet’ to Twitter containing the word ‘squatter’. If Twitter decides to reclaim the name, it often keeps the name dormant for several months before handing it over.

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Negotiate a Side Deal. Most sites do not allow users to sell names to each other, but that doesn’t mean that deals can’t be cut. After all, it’s easy to transfer control of a social media profile by handing over the username and password.

Consider the gymnastics CNN went through to gain control of the Twitter.com/CNNBrk account. A CNN fan set up the account three years ago to automatically tweet CNN’s Breaking News e-mail alerts. Eventually, CNN wanted control of the domain and its huge audience (it now has 1.5 million followers).

Twitter offered to reclaim it for CNN, says CNN spokeswoman Jennifer Martin, but CNN didn’t want to take an aggressive stance against a fan. Instead CNN chose to hire the owner as a ‘consultant’ to train CNN staffers how to use Twitter.

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Give Up. Even if you get the domain you want, somebody can still pretend to be you on a social media site.

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And after a stint in the rogue states of social media, maybe we should all be more appreciative of the democratic embrace of a simple Web domain name.

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Tom Daschle on taxes

Tom Daschle on taxes

I guess this only holds when you are actually in office.  Once you are in the private sector, taking money from corporations in excess of $1M per year, and being chauffeured around DC it no longer applies.

“Make no mistake, tax cheaters cheat us all, and the IRS should enforce our laws to the letter. ” Sen. Tom Daschle, Congressional Record, May 7, 1998, p. S4507.

Tim Daschle should remove his name from consideration as the HHS Secretary.  He is an embarrassment to politicians, private citizens, and President Barack Hussein Obama.

This is simply another testimony to the fact that BHO is simply the most inexperienced President ever and is being controlled by forces that may not have the best interest of the country.

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