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News & ArtsTuesday, June 12, 2012
News The Tuesday Morning News
Posted by Goldy on Tue, Jun 12, 2012 at 8:42 AM
Someday This Could Be Us: After 45 seasons, the Los Angeles Kings won their first Stanley Cup championship last night, defeating the New Jersey Devils 6-1 in game six. Following that formula, Seattle could etch the Metropolitans name back on the cup sometime around 2060.
Occupy Moscow: Thousands of anti-Putin protesters converged on central Moscow in defiance of both drenching rain and the Kremlin's efforts to intimidate leaders and crack down on protests.
Syria. It still sucks there.
So Long Google, Hello Facebook: At its World Wide Developer Conference yesterday, Apple took the wraps off iOS 6, the next iteration of its iPhone/iPad operating system. Gone will be Google's familiar mapping application, replaced with an Apple developed app. New to iOS 6 is close integration with Facebook. Hey, remember those good old days when Apple used to get into pissing matches with Microsoft?
Violent Crime Is Up in Seattle. Who knew?
The Initiative Process at Work: North Dakotans will get to vote this November on whether to entirely eliminate their state and local property tax. Yeah, that should work out well once all that oil revenue runs out.
The Initiative Process at Work for Tim Eyman: Initiative profiteer Tim Eyman has raised another $600,000 of out-of-state money for his latest tax-limiting initiative, this time from Big Alcohol and Big Soda, on top of the hundreds of thousands he's already raised from Big Oil. I'd call him a whore, but as has been pointed out, that comparison is disparaging to prostitutes.
Party Like It's 1991! The Great Recession has left the median American family with no more wealth than it had in the early 1990s, destroying 20 years of accumulated wealth. But the top 1 percent are still doing okay, so party on!
Frequent Flyer: Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn was a busy man yesterday, meeting with NBA commissioner David Stern in New York to beg for a team, and then heading to DC to meet with US Justice Department officials to beg for forgiveness on behalf of Seattle police.
Are We There Yet? An American Airlines flight from Anchorage to Dallas was diverted to Sea-Tac early this morning because none of toilets on the plane were working.
A Dingo Ate My Baby! What do you know...? A dingo really did eat her baby, according to an Australian coroner, settling a 32-year case over a missing infant. Does this mean the phrase isn't funny anymore?
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it never was funny, because a wild dog dragging your infant away from a campsite and eating it is a nightmare.
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Those sodbusters in North Dakota might think about leaving their property tax in place to build pipelines for bringing water IN from neighboring states, after all their own groundwater is fracked and left to die by the oil companies. Ms. Beehler won't even be able to sell her home, much less have it taken off her hands by the state, if she can't get drinkable water out the tap.
It's interesting that all the other states mentioned in that NYTimes article with moves afoot to eliminate prappity taxes are big on fracking already, or about to take the plunge. Even North Carolina.
Heavens, could the oil companies be trying to weaken state governments in order to avoid burdensome regulations?
It's interesting that all the other states mentioned in that NYTimes article with moves afoot to eliminate prappity taxes are big on fracking already, or about to take the plunge. Even North Carolina.
Heavens, could the oil companies be trying to weaken state governments in order to avoid burdensome regulations?
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RE: Party like it's 1991.
The article states that the average income for the wealthiest Americans fell more sharply than it did for the median Americans. The recession apparently reduced income inequality somewhat.
I'm sure the wealthiest aren't eating out of trash cans or anything, but they did apparently get hit too.
The article states that the average income for the wealthiest Americans fell more sharply than it did for the median Americans. The recession apparently reduced income inequality somewhat.
I'm sure the wealthiest aren't eating out of trash cans or anything, but they did apparently get hit too.
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Strange to have a conclusive coroner's inquest in this dingo case, considering the baby's body was never recovered. What special insight could this coroner possibly have?
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Wow. HD screens. A mapping app. Marriage with Facebook. Apple is really going all out on this one.
At least they recognize their enemy. Too bad Google has already won this fight.
Microsoft, on the other hand, understands exactly with whom they're competing. Rumor is the next IE will ship with tracking turned off. Google's entire existence is collecting and selling user data. Microsoft could ship a new IE with this single feature and come out ahead.
At least they recognize their enemy. Too bad Google has already won this fight.
Microsoft, on the other hand, understands exactly with whom they're competing. Rumor is the next IE will ship with tracking turned off. Google's entire existence is collecting and selling user data. Microsoft could ship a new IE with this single feature and come out ahead.
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@5
No similar dingo attack had been documented at the time, but in recent years the wild dogs native to Australia have been blamed for three fatal attacks on children. Few doubt the couple's story today, but the latest inquest — which the family had fought to get — made it official that Azaria was killed in a dingo attack.
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@5, in addition to the what was posted @7, the murder conviction was overturned in the 80s when the baby's sweater was found in/near a dingo den. The coroner's report was just a formal, written finding that puts this to rest for the family. Lindy Chamberlain has dealt with the court of public opinion for 32 years and she wanted it on record that the state found her cleared of any and all wrong-doing.
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If you do get a hockey team and name it the "Metropolitans" in honor of the bygone team of nearly 100 years past, people will just call them the "Mets." You want to root for the Mets? I don't think you do.
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@9, Well, yes, they might end up being called the Mets. Which isn't so bad; it makes for an easy rally chant (Let's Go Mets!) and has the added benefit of being confusing. Always fun.
But you never know, they could end up with a strange nickname. The Pittsburgh Pirates are the Bucs or the Buccos. Because pirates are buccaneers. (And the Tampa Bay Buccaneers can fuck off.)
But you never know, they could end up with a strange nickname. The Pittsburgh Pirates are the Bucs or the Buccos. Because pirates are buccaneers. (And the Tampa Bay Buccaneers can fuck off.)
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Well of course Facebook will partner with Apple --- just as Jobs' Apple Inc. partnered with AT&T, and speaking of that network neutrality:
Global FAQ
What was the number one ranked communications corporation in 1950?
What is the number one ranked communications corporation in 2012?
Who actually owns AT&T?
Who invites Jeff Bezos (Amazon) and Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) to those international banker forums known as "Bilderberg forums" (as in "divide and conquer"?
Who lobbied fervently for the passage of NAFTA?
Who lobbied for China's entrance into the WTO?
Who established banking operations in Beijing and Moscow in 1973, immediately after Nixon's trip there?
What was the name of the senator from West Virginia who was the lead in congress in the passage of the legislation granting retroactive immunity to AT&T and the telecoms?
Who wants to end any semblance of network neutrality so they can control the Internet?
What was the name of that old German pop song with the lyric,
"Rock...e...feller....Rock..e.... .Rock ...e ..feller"?
Global FAQ
What was the number one ranked communications corporation in 1950?
What is the number one ranked communications corporation in 2012?
Who actually owns AT&T?
Who invites Jeff Bezos (Amazon) and Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) to those international banker forums known as "Bilderberg forums" (as in "divide and conquer"?
Who lobbied fervently for the passage of NAFTA?
Who lobbied for China's entrance into the WTO?
Who established banking operations in Beijing and Moscow in 1973, immediately after Nixon's trip there?
What was the name of the senator from West Virginia who was the lead in congress in the passage of the legislation granting retroactive immunity to AT&T and the telecoms?
Who wants to end any semblance of network neutrality so they can control the Internet?
What was the name of that old German pop song with the lyric,
"Rock...e...feller....Rock..e.... .Rock ...e ..feller"?
12
The Church of England warns gay marriage will undermine religion. Same argument was used against gay service members in that they would undermine unit cohesion. Why do they use fear against us all the time? If anything, The Church of England undermines itself with it's fear mongering nonsense.
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Is mapping going to be the stumbling block that brings down Apple? Maps is one of the few things that Google does indisputably better than anyone else, and they have a huge investment in it. Doing maps correctly is a monumental task, because in addition to navigating around satellite images it is essentially a database of the commerce of the entire world. The biggest flaw of Google Maps is their hopelessly screwed database of businesses and addresses, which is nonetheless the only real qualifier in its category, "Yellow Pages replacement". (Yelp, for instance, is sorry not just in practice but by design, and has succumbed to their business model, i.e., "blackmail"). Remember Mapquest? Me neither.
How on earth is Apple going to compete with that? The last guys who tried, Bing, failed laughably. Seriously, Bing Maps guys, you are on the short end of one of those high school football 140-0 scores. Apple might be able to run a touchdown or two, but can they actually win? By, say, 2020?
How on earth is Apple going to compete with that? The last guys who tried, Bing, failed laughably. Seriously, Bing Maps guys, you are on the short end of one of those high school football 140-0 scores. Apple might be able to run a touchdown or two, but can they actually win? By, say, 2020?
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Fnarf @13,
My understanding is that Google Maps will still be available from the App Store, just not as a default that ships with the unit. So worst case, Apple's mapping software is Internet Explorer -- an annoying and inferior default you can't get rid of, derided by enthusiasts, while more sophisticated users take the two minutes to download something else.
If they actually kick Google out of the App Store, well, that's a different matter entirely.
My understanding is that Google Maps will still be available from the App Store, just not as a default that ships with the unit. So worst case, Apple's mapping software is Internet Explorer -- an annoying and inferior default you can't get rid of, derided by enthusiasts, while more sophisticated users take the two minutes to download something else.
If they actually kick Google out of the App Store, well, that's a different matter entirely.
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@13: (MS employee here, any opinions are my own, blah blah blah.) How did Bing Maps fail laughably? In terms of actual functionality, or just in terms of adoption?
I'm not being facetious or disputing your claim; I'm just genuinely curious. I'm really not an MS cheerleader by any means, but I've never had much trouble with it. I do find myself defaulting to using Google Maps more often than not, but I don't think I've ever had a bad experience using Bing Maps.
I'm not being facetious or disputing your claim; I'm just genuinely curious. I'm really not an MS cheerleader by any means, but I've never had much trouble with it. I do find myself defaulting to using Google Maps more often than not, but I don't think I've ever had a bad experience using Bing Maps.
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um, just to point out, this is being voted on TODAY, not in november. I live in North Dakota, I voted against it already.
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It sounds like North Dakota may step back from the brink with their property tax gambit. At least a few people there have stared into the abyss and don't like what could be coming.
They have a booming oil industry, small labor pool, and lots of land with low prices. Lower that land cost even more by eliminating the taxes, and you're guaranteed to start a real estate bubble, with all the wonderful hustlers that come with it. The flood of bribe money coming into the capitol may be nice for a while, but the corrupt laws that result will be devastating for the long term residents.
They have a booming oil industry, small labor pool, and lots of land with low prices. Lower that land cost even more by eliminating the taxes, and you're guaranteed to start a real estate bubble, with all the wonderful hustlers that come with it. The flood of bribe money coming into the capitol may be nice for a while, but the corrupt laws that result will be devastating for the long term residents.
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@15, it fails by not being even remotely global, by having much inferior coverage even within the US, by being confusing to operate, by being slower, by not having anything remotely like the base of data. Google's far from perfect -- in fact, I rail against bad data in Google Maps every goddamn day, both personally and professionally (trying to get a DV shelter's location out of their data is basically impossible) -- but no one else comes anywhere close. In Google Maps, I can see every street in Streetview in Tepic, Mexico, including my cousin's house; in Bing...not so much (awful low-res satellite images). I just looked at Melbourne, Australia in Bing Maps -- fail. Good-looking maps, but not what I'm looking for at all.
Bing's got the bird's eye view thing, which is cool, but not cool enough to visit very often.
Bing's got the bird's eye view thing, which is cool, but not cool enough to visit very often.
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Another problem with Apple's maps: no transit information. Apple, being deeply suburban in culture and location, doesn't care about transit -- if any Apple employees ride the bus, they ride the special Apple-only buses (just like Microsofties), so they don't care.
http://seattletransitblog.com/2012/06/12…
http://seattletransitblog.com/2012/06/12…
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Maps question for Fnarf (or anyone else who might know): why are directions in Google sometimes spectacularly fucked up?
For example a couple of years ago Google directions from BWI to Sloatsburg, NY gave several options. None of them was the easiest and fastest route (the friggin NJ Turnpike). The preferred directions went through Philly and wound its way through NJ. Hunh? Those directions remained up for over two years. The correct route is now the first result.
Just recently Google maps/directions from BWI to Dewey Beach, MD showed several options...none of which is the easiest, shortest, fastest route.
How does this happen?
I have a suspicion that somehow some previous search/route is being saved (like someone wanting the most scenic route), but would love to know how this happens and why it can remain for so long.
For example a couple of years ago Google directions from BWI to Sloatsburg, NY gave several options. None of them was the easiest and fastest route (the friggin NJ Turnpike). The preferred directions went through Philly and wound its way through NJ. Hunh? Those directions remained up for over two years. The correct route is now the first result.
Just recently Google maps/directions from BWI to Dewey Beach, MD showed several options...none of which is the easiest, shortest, fastest route.
How does this happen?
I have a suspicion that somehow some previous search/route is being saved (like someone wanting the most scenic route), but would love to know how this happens and why it can remain for so long.
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One thing I do like about Bing maps more than Google maps is its interface for saving points on the map: much more intuitive than Google's geek-land solution. ("Create a new map? What???") Plus, Bing's maps are more aesthetically pleasing - better transitions, smoother scrolls, softer tones. Very soothing. I haven't had any trouble with the data, but then I just use it for Seattle.
One thing that drives me nuts about all computer based maps is that scroll action (e.g., using the mouse wheel) zooms the map in and out, instead of - you know - SCROLLING THE FUCKING MAP. How many times have I made that mistake? A thousand times, that's how many.
One thing that drives me nuts about all computer based maps is that scroll action (e.g., using the mouse wheel) zooms the map in and out, instead of - you know - SCROLLING THE FUCKING MAP. How many times have I made that mistake? A thousand times, that's how many.
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I've never looked at an overhead or bird's eye view of a map for any serious purpose. Then again, I have never been to Tepic, Mexico, so what the fuck do I know?
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@25, you think you're being clever, but your link proves my point. One of the streets there has the wrong name, and the faked (in this instance) "Bird's Eye" has distorted the shapes of the streets. The quality of the aerial shot is abysmal, I'm sorry. And I have to say, it's an unusual defense of a maps program to say "maps just aren't interesting to me".
Over on Google, meanwhile, you've got streetview. Some of those streets are pretty interesting; this one is all hat and boot shops. The cathedral is two blocks away.
Over on Google, meanwhile, you've got streetview. Some of those streets are pretty interesting; this one is all hat and boot shops. The cathedral is two blocks away.
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