“ Someone making rational, informed choices might choose free software, but they might decide that certain functionality or even aesthetics is worth paying for and accept the inherent risks that come with closed source products. They might decide that open source isn’t necessary for their purposes as long as they have open data.”
— Watts Martin on the blind spots of open source zealots
tofias dot net
log | a bucket full of thoughts
Nix the Share Buttons on News Sites?
Most of the time a journalist puts a question mark in a title it’s safe to infer that their answer is no. In this case, Doreen Marchionni seems to be implying yes. Cool.
i hope next week we start making some noise about nixing the share buttons on university websites. UWM is up to seven (7!!! and Pinterest? really?) on the homepage alone. Still no RSS feed though.
Hotel Apple
How to get the most out of your hotel, prison, OS, blogging platform, what have you:
Take some care to be sure that the data you care about most, the data you create, be it writings or images or code isn’t locked in a proprietary format.
→ Go read my whole Hotel Apple (Such a Lovely Place) response to the EFF crystal prison thing.
The Mischiefs of Faction
A new blog from some of my favorite political scientists: Gregory Koger, Seth Masket, and Hans Noel. Self-recommending, as they say.
11 Reasons Your Infographic Isn’t an Infographic
Via Jim Ray.
You May Vote in Wisconsin
If you will be 18 years old or older by Election Day.
If you are a U.S. citizen.
If you will be a Wisconsin resident for at least 28 days by Election Day.
If you have registered to vote – or you register to vote on Election Day.
To register at the polls on Election Day, bring a document with your name and voting address.
You may vote in Wisconsin even if you don’t have a driver’s license or photo ID.
For more information see: Know Your Voting Rights (via ACLU—Wisconsin).
“ I illegally downloaded the Lower Dens record to make sure people were sharing it at 320 kbps. They were; it sounds good.”
— Jana Hunter of the Lower Dens
WEST
“ [T]he Republicans, led by Ryan, have made a strategic decision that the economic crisis offers them an expiring window of opportunity to pass the agenda of their dreams. Should they win the election, it is vital that they use their majority immediately and to maximal effect. That’s why Ryan insisted on boxing the party in by getting his fellow Republicans to take dangerous votes on his budget in 2011 and again this year despite having no chance of signing into law under Obama. By making virtually all Republicans in Congress take the vote now, they will have a hard time claiming next year that voters don’t want such radical change.”
— Jonathan Chait
