The Kingdome? This Kingdome?

That was March 26, 2000. So the map data is almost a decade old. Yikes. Apologies to anyone looking for Qwest Field. Check back in 10 years.

(photo by Seattle Municipal Archives via Creative Commons)

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog.

Google’s New Map Data is REALLY Old

AP reports that for 8,200 deals — the most common — buyers traded in their old Ford 150 pickups for new Ford 150 pickups. Fuel economy for the new trucks is just 1 to 3 mpg better than the clunkers — less than 20 mpg.

Right on Ford’s bumper were big old Chevy and Dodge pickups that were traded in for big new Silverados and Rams.

Overall, more than 95,000 new vehicles — about one in seven — got less than 20 mpg. On top of that, taxpayers subsidized scores of deals — totaling $562,500 — for new cars and trucks that got worse mileage than the trade-ins.

Seriously, why on earth do we trust the government to create and run programs like this? The same government that used to pay $6,000 for a screwdriver? Have you been to the DMV lately? And you want the government to solve our problems?

Sigh…….

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog.

Cash for Clunkers = FAIL

Google has clearly recognized my devilishly handsome looks and decided that the world needs to see more of me, too, without having to click the “Images” button. I agree.

Seriously, I have no idea why a vanity search on my name is suddenly showing images. And if you ask one of the Google Images engineers — which I did — you’ll get the regular “we can’t share the secret sauce” reply.

And yes, I regularly do vanity searches like this.

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog.

Google thinks I’m cuuuute

So let me suggest you download and use the Readability bookmarklet from Arc90. Just choose your settings (you can control text size, font, etc.) and then drag the bookmarklet to your browser’s toolbar and you’re all set. When you’re reading news online, just click the bookmarklet and you’ll instantly get a perfectly readable, ad-free version of the article. Like this:

Before

(you can click for a larger version)

After

(you can click for a larger version)

So much better, isn’t it? Yep, you’re welcome.

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog.

Readability: The Best Web Tool Ever

“Sometimes we have to stand up for what is right and not be so narrow-minded in our partisanship.”

Amen.

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog.

Ron Paul on Obama winning the Peace Prize

It’s been probably 20 years since I could say that I liked U2’s song “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” The version with the choir from Rattle and Hum was way overplayed, and I basically became apathetic toward the song at that time and have stayed that way ever since. Before seeing any of the shows on U2’s current tour, I was talking with a friend named Donna and we both agreed that “I Still Haven’t Found…” is a song we’d just as soon not hear again, even though we both knew that U2 has been playing it at every show.

I’ve now seen three shows on this tour, and guess what song has brought me to tears at each one?

Yep. That one.

Now, it’s not at all unusual for me to cry at a U2 show. I can count on one hand the number of shows that didn’t bring me to tears. (Look, I’ve got almost 30 years of my life invested in this band and these songs. I’ve been loyal to them since 1983 and no other band has even come close to having the same meaning for me. This is the soundtrack of my life.)

It is unusual for me to get hit hard by this song, though. It seems to happen at the same point each time: When Bono sings the line “Yes, I’m still running”:

I believe in the kingdom come
Then all the colors will bleed into one
Bleed into one
Well, yes, I’m still running

You broke the bonds and you
Loosed the chains
Carried the cross
And my shame
All my shame
You know I believe it

For some reason, that line is packed with all kinds of emotion for this 41-year-old. I keep thinking about it, and I think that line says a lot about where I am right now: trying to be a great husband, trying to be a great dad, trying to be a great friend, trying to be a great Christian. Trying to set the right examples for my kids, my friends (the ones who need it), my sisters, relatives, peers, and so forth.

Realizing that your life is probably more than half over seems to refocus everything. I cherish the Good Things more than ever. I have less and less patience for pettiness, silliness, and stupidity.

Those lyrics remind me about how blessed I am. They remind me of the sacrifice of the cross. He did that for me. Me! (And you, too, by the way.) They remind me how great life is, especially the past four years. I get to work from home. I get to see my kids and my wife every day. I get to do what I love for a living. I get to run a U2 web site that reaches people on every populated continent and I get to do it with some of my best friends. Every so often I get to hear — face-to-face, fan to fan — how much that site means to other U2 fans, and it’s the most amazingly humbling thing imaginable. I got to hear that last weekend in Raleigh. I also got to hear those lyrics again, during one of the best U2 concerts I’ve ever been to — a night that was filled with unexpected blessings that no one deserves, certainly not me.

But those lyrics also remind me that, in the grand scheme of things, there’s still so much ahead. I’m going to send my son off to college in 7 years, and my daughter four years later. Then it’s me and Cari time again. We’ll work. Will we move? Will we travel? I hope. Will we be healthy? I really hope! The kids will get married. We’ll have grandkids, and then it all starts again … this time trying to be a great grandparent.

Yes, I’m still running. Probably always will be. You know I believe it.

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog.

Yes, I’m Still Running

For some reason, surrounding myself with fellow U2 fans that share the same deep passion and curiosity about this band renews me like nothing else. It happened in 2003 when @U2 co-presented an international U2 fan event at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and it happened again this weekend at the first U2 academic conference. (lots of photos here)

It helped that I also saw one of the best U2 concerts of my life Saturday night in Raleigh, right in the middle of the conference … and that @U2 hosted a super-fun post-conference event Sunday night in which I got to host a Q&A chat for nearly an hour with my favorite journalist, Neil McCormick.

But ultimately, it’s being around the U2 fans that wins the day for me. Sure, there are a few bad eggs in every group. But the vast majority of U2 fans I’ve met are special people. They make my U2 life all the better. If any of them are reading this, thank you.

I’ll probably have some more U2 stuff to write about in the near future. Lots of stuff going through my mind and heart at the moment.

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog.

U2 Fans FTW

Hmmmph. I much prefer the “Ruud Questions” interview that’s just been posted on Search Engine People. Ruud Hein asked me questions about U2, faith, SEO, blogging, and much more. Really fun Q&A with a lot of variety. Although I suspect U2 fans will recognize that I kinda-sorta borrowed the opening line from Bono a wee little bit. But it’s true, and that’s what matters.

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog.

Am I a snarky techie?

Thanks for nothing, G.

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog.

Google FAIL

(Note: This is a blog post that I began well over a year ago and am only posting now.)

As the story in Carr’s book goes, Edison was inspired by a trip through the Rockies — on seeing the Platte River he thought there should be a way to use electricity to harness the river’s power. Edison became focused on how to produce large quantities of electricity, how to transmit it safely into the home/office, how to make it usable for lighting, how to measure the amount of electrical use (for billing purposes), and how to make money doing all this. Within two years, he and his team had developed a new type of lightbulb, blueprints for a central generating station, and a way to get the power from the station into the building to power the lightbulb.

He formed the Edison Electric Company to license this system, then formed other companies to sell the products and material needed to make it happen. But Edison’s system was built to serve very small footprints — a square mile or so for each generating station. His system was good for residential areas and small businesses. But large industrial companies bought their own electrical systems to run factories — they didn’t rely on getting power from the electric company (Edison).

Edison hired a guy named Samuel Insull as secretary and financial adviser, and Insull quickly became his main assistant. Insull helped oversee Edison’s company as it grew and merged into General Electric. Insull eventually left for the Chicago Edison Company, one of those tiny electric companies licensing Edison’s system. He grew the company and started buying small competitors, and eventually pretty much owned the Chicago electrical business. His idea was to create large electrical utilities that served mass amounts of customers, not the smaller stations Edison preferred. Insull basically created the first major electrical utility, the Commonwealth Edison Company and as more large customers (factories, etc.) signed on, he was able to lower prices and gain even more customers. (As we know now, this was the way of the future … not Edison’s vision of much smaller generating stations.)

Edison stuck with his direct current electrical system (DC), even though it was limited in reach. Nikola Tesla developed the alternating current system (AC) which had far greater reach. When the public started to realize the benefits of AC, Edison started a propaganda war to try to convince Americans that AC was too dangerous. If you read the Wikipedia entry about this, there’s even talk of Edison employees electrocuting animals in public to show the dangers of AC! Holy $#!@#$. Tesla worked for Edison at one point, but Edison apparently reneged on a promise to pay Tesla $50,000 for help in improving Edison’s DC generating stations. When Tesla came to collect, Edison called it an “American joke.” Ouch.

Anyway, Edison had a hand in inventing or improving the telephone, telegraph, the light bulb, the stock ticker, motion picture camera, and hundreds more inventions. He has more than a thousand patents in his name. A thousand! And, as explained in Carr’s book and even the Wikipedia entry, there’s all kinds of intrigue and compelling storylines in how all of this happened.

So, I ask again, how come there’s never been a major Hollywood movie made about his amazing story?

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog.

How come there’s no Thomas Edison movie?