Blowing Up the Budget
It may not be quite “blowing up the boxes,” but "blowing up the budget” will send a similar message. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected to corral the budget beast. His announcement yesterday that he plans to veto the Rube Goldberg-style budget plan sent to him by the legislature is a righteous stand against California’s out-of-control budget process.
In December 2003, buoyed by the power of the recall election, the newly minted governor had the power to fix the problem he was elected to address—California’s unbalanced and spending-addicted budget. However, as a new governor, he chose not to use his mandate to force the necessary budget changes upon the legislature.
Information Super-“Seaway?”
Technology’s rapid innovation cycles force internet users to constantly upgrade their IT systems. Could this constant battle against technological obsolescence be so pervasive as to include even our internet metaphors?
Google has announced plans to store their supercomputers that power the internet on barges up to seven miles offshore. Ahoy! The information superhighway has set sail.
As The Times explains, “The “water-based data centres” would use wave energy to power and cool their computers, reducing Google’s costs. Their offshore status would also mean the company would no longer have to pay property taxes on its data centres, which are sited across the world, including in Britain.”
At fault, Metrolink fires its messenger.
Within 48 hours of the fatal Metrolink crash Friday afternoon in Chatsworth, the transit agency’s board of directors dumped its top spokesperson, Denise Tyrrel, over a dispute on how information was shared with the media.
That’s a shame because I found her candor and visibly emotional distress over the tragedy refreshingly human while she quickly provided information that was painfully obvious—a Metrolink engineer screwed up.
Like many other Angelenos, I spent several hours over the weekend looking for news updates on the Metrolink crash in Chatsworth. Unlike other fatal accidents that occur in Los Angeles regularly, this crash seemed different to me, and with Denise Tyrrel, I felt the pain she was experiencing and a sense of guilt that a colleague at her agency had not done his job. Her honesty and human emotions moved me and I am sure thousands of other Angelinos whose hearts went out to the victims’ families.