Miscellaneous

Albany to roll out BRT, but tech features will wait

The Capital District Transportation Authority (NY) is launching its new bus rapid transit service next week but, as the Times Union points out, “some whiz-bang features aren’t yet in place.” So while passengers will be able to ride the brand-new hybrid vehicles fare-free for the first two weeks, they will have to wait a littleRead… Read more »

McGrath on Legislative Workbench Legislative Information System

Sean McGrath of Proplyon — and a member of our community — has posted Legislative Workbench (LWB) Technical White Paper, Version 1.0 (2011). The paper describes the architecture of the system that powers KLISS, the Kansas Legislative Information Services System. Click here for Sean’s earlier posts about KLISS.

Govloop Bracket Challenge – Status Update – from the Hokie Guru, your bureaucrat on Sports

Sports Awesomeness!! Yo, Yo, Yo!!! #WOO!! So, I don’t know about you, but the Hokie Guru’s 2011 March Madness bracket dropped like the 1929 stock market (so the Guru picked a good name for his bracket haha). SMH!! Without further ado, here’s the leader board update: @HokieHuddle and @RL_Bynum are best positioned to be 1-2Read… Read more »

Where Is Waldo?

George Washington University professor Kathy Newcomer likened the Obama Administration’s performance agenda to a game of “Where is Waldo?” at a Brookings Institution forum last week on improving government performance. She says “you have to look carefully” to find it. She said there was no orchestrated campaign with a band leading the way. Newcomer’s insightRead… Read more »

A declaration of war

>/sbin/reboot -n … >chown root my/life/now/loulouk >rm negativity >rm self doubt >find . name ‘inspire’*” >chmod 777 inspire >sleep 14h Original post

Government Websites Yak, Yak, Yak

I just finished judging the web entries for the 2011 Clearmark Plain Language Awards. Much better entries this year. Some real models for government agencies to use as they implement the Plain Writing Act. One of the benefits of the Clearmark Awards – in addition to the chance for some great recognition – is thatRead… Read more »

Intermodal future’s so bright, I gotta wear shades #intermodal #freight

It seems that things have never looked this good for the intermodal industry, specifically the railroads and some of the truckload carriers. The tepid economic recovery has been everything but that for them. They’ve taken the recovery by the horns, while pushing it from the rear. The industry has benefited from a double-punch of growingRead… Read more »

Wind Speeds and Wave Heights Increasing

Professor Ian Young, new Vice Chancellor of the Australian National University was interviewed on ABC Radio “Bush Telegraph” about “Ocean waves and winds increasing” (29/03/2011). This was about research indicating that ocean wind speeds and importantly wave heights have increased over the last 20 years. Professor Young was careful to say that this could notRead… Read more »