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Monday, May 3, 2004
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Dave Winer - OPML
Dave Winer: "Wow, this is cool. The next release of Microsoft's OneNote will import OPML outlines. Very good. Of course it should export them too. The old Microsoft would never have done this, in fact there's an old Microsoft guy running around the syndication community, he's one of the biggest advocates of reinventing everything just for the sake of revinvention. It takes a lot for a big company like Microsoft to adopt a format developed outside, esp one not developed at another BigCo. Thanks for setting a great example. Google, please pay attention to this. You lose nothing by keeping the number of formats small, by building on other people's work instead of undermining it, by not being evil. You already knew that, at the top, but perhaps some of the new guys don't understand what it means. It's in the company prospectus. So I hope you won't mind if we hold you to a higher standard. I assume that's why it's there."
6:14:21 PM 
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Colorado Water
Here's a Denver Post article on the ongoing drought in Colorado [May 2, 2004, "Drought's a tricky phenomenon"].
Here's an article written by Chips Barry about front range water needs from the Denver Post [May 2, 2004, "Drought is just a temporary condition"]. From the article, "The only rivers of size that drain the Front Range are the Arkansas and the South Platte. Neither has reliable water left to be appropriated for new growth. The only option is to purchase water from existing agriculture, which can cause economic and social dislocation in the communities dependent upon that irrigated agriculture. Conversion of agricultural water to municipal uses requires that the water be purchased, often at a very high price, and then changed to a different use. A change-use case in water court can be difficult and time-consuming. In both the Arkansas and the South Platte River basins, agricultural water converted to municipal use must be transported back to the metropolitan area by pipeline. Pipelines are expensive to build and costly to operate."
Melinda Kassen discusses the need to conserve water and change our attitudes about water use in yesterday's Denver Post [May 2, 2004, "Change assumptions about development"]. From the article, "In the 1920s, states along the Colorado River entered into an interstate compact that divided up the river's water. The compact requires the Upper Basin (including Colorado) to deliver 75 million acre-feet of water every 10 years to the Lower Basin. Compact negotiators believed this was half the river but, in reality, in an extended drought, it isn't. Worse, climate change will likely further reduce the amount of water the Colorado River produces. While state agencies have calculated that Colorado has at least 400,000 additional acre-feet of water to develop, long-term drought and/or climate change could wipe that quantity off the books. For 40 years, the Upper Basin states assumed Lake Powell would act as a savings account and protect cities and farms from having to curtail water use to meet its obligation to the Lower Basin. Now that Lake Powell is less than half full, it may no longer be prudent to assume that Colorado can develop new water supplies without worrying about the possibility that its water users could be shut down to meet our down river obligations. Thus, building water projects that take very infrequent wet-year flows to the Front Range where we can't send it back down the Colorado River may no longer be prudent."
Colorado Luis thinks that the ongoing drought may increase urbanization in the west.
6:35:45 AM
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Denver November 2004 Election
Supporters of FasTracks kicked off their campaign yesterday. They are asking voters to support a sales tax increase to fund the project, according to the Rocky Mountain News [May 3, 2004, "FasTracks drums up support"]. Here's the coverage from the Denver Post [May 3, 2004, "FasTracks backers begin petition drive for ballot"].
Here's a short article about Small Donor Committees from the Rocky, [May 3, 2004, "Campaign clout"]. From the article, "Small-donor committees were created under the campaign finance reform measure Amendment 27, which voters passed in 2002. The idea is to reward grass-roots campaigns by allowing their committees to make larger donations to candidates, said Pete Maysmith, executive director of Common Cause in Colorado, one of the measure's sponsors. The committees, which can be formed by anybody, cannot accept donations over $50 from each contributor. But they can give 10 times more to candidates running for state office than individuals or political action committees can. For example, a regular PAC or individual can donate up to $400 during an election to a candidate for state Senate or state House. A small-donor committee can donate as much as $4,000 per candidate. For statewide races, the limits are $1,000 for PACs and $10,000 for small-donor committees."
Mike Miles is not giving up his run for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, according to the Denver Post [May 2, 2004, "Miles to go in Senate race"]. From the article, "Miles, a candidate for the Colorado U.S. Senate nomination, appeals to Democrats who complain that Salazar isn't enough a Democrat. In much the same way, Bob Schaffer has won the devotion of Republicans who aren't sure about Pete Coors' Republicanism. It's the passionate vs. the pragmatic. Coors and Salazar are supported by money and power. The wise guys and the pundits assume they'll be the candidates. But just as it's a mistake to say that Schaffer doesn't have a chance against Coors, it's wrong to think that Miles isn't going to make the primary ballot either."
Colorado Luis: "MyDD breaks down the latest polling information on the Colorado Senate race. Basically, Ken Salazar has a double digit lead over both of his possible Republican opponents, ranging from 11 to 16% depending on who you ask. (And Coors has a pretty healthy lead against Bob Schaffer in the primary.) Ralph complains that the media continues to describe the race as a toss-up, while if the situation was reversed and Peter Coors had a double digit lead they would be saying the race is over."
6:09:59 AM
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© Copyright 2009 John Orr.
Last update: 3/14/09; 6:50:52 PM.
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