Monday, March 31, 2003

Duma Election Result Graphics Here is an interesting use of animated gifs to present the preliminary election results for Duma elections carried out yesterday in Russia.  (Check the fourth and fifth graphs for rotating results of individual precinct areas around Rostov-on-Don) 3:25:32 PM    comment []

Regulatory Services Data - Add Value to Customers The Deseret News is providing a good example of a service that the state should make available online.  The Regulatory Services division (Weights and Measures) of the Department of Agriculture performs regular inspections of service stations to verify that they are not skimping their customers on the amount of fuel they are selling.  This is a very important function, because relatively small variances can add up quickly.  The Deseret News has obtained records of those inspections and made them available online.  For example, I just checked a station where I regularly buy fuel and found out that in 2001, they were shorting customers on fuel and had water in their tanks (that's not good, we once had about a dozen state vehicles stall out after purchasing fuel with a lot of water in the tank).  On the other hand, some stations are giving gas away. Do you ever go to the grocery store and have a price ring up different than what it is labeled on the counter?  Regulatory Services also monitors that with UPC inspections.  Here's an example of some failed inspections at WalMart in American Fork.  The newspaper has performed an interesting service by making this data available.  The State should examine making this data available on an ongoing basis. 8:31:01 AM    comment []

Your Favorite Campground? Utah state parks will soon be available through ReserveAmerica which recently announced its top 100 favorite campgrounds in the United States, seven of which were in Utah.  Five of these were located at Utah state parks.  Here are their selections: Anderson Cove Mustang Ridge Fremont Indian State Park Otter Creek State Park Kodachrome Basin State Park Escalante State Park Green River State Park Although these are some great places, they are not my top picks.  If you really want a great camping experience in Utah, try one of these: Coral Pink Sand Dunes, Mirror Lake (or Trial Lake or any place else in the Uinta Mtns.), Aspen Grove, Payson Lakes, Starvation Reservoir, Bear Lake, or Goblin Valley. The Federal government contracts with ReserveAmerica for the ReserveUSA site, but Federal campgrounds are also available through ReserveAmerica.  Other good resources include recreation.gov and publiclands.org.  Outside of Utah, my favorite has to be Colter Bay on the shores of Jackson Lake in Wyoming. 7:52:47 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 David Fletcher.