Dickie's Quickies

The Seattle Times reports today that monorail foes appear to be ahead in a couple of races for seats on the Seattle Monorail Project Board. That doesn't bode well for the future of the project, though it doesn't hurt to have a skeptic or two on the board. The Stranger's employees think only one of them will win. Meanwhile, in the comments section to my post on the monorail, someone pointed out the 2045 org and it's pro-monorail stance, which is a good read. If you're from Seattle and pro-monorail then perhaps you should give it a looksie.

You know when I was most pro-monorail? When a proposal was floated to have a large monorail system that also connected to the Eastside communities. Heck, I'd even be more pro-light rail if such a plan were in action. And therein lies my problem with all of this. Some people live on the Eastside and work in Seattle and vice versa. Transportation is a headache for everyone around here. We need a regional, comprehensive plan that includes Seattle, the Eastside communities, and some regions of southern Snohomish County. If such a plan were proposed and checked out financially with taxpayers (including businesses) paying for the plan, then I think we'd see it pass. This piecemeal crap of a monorail and a light rail and only thinking of Seattle city proper isn't going to do much for anybody in the long run. The rest of the region will still face the problems it currently has and few will benefit. Can we have some goddamn leadership here?!!? Cooperation, negotiation, trust, and risk taking, puleeze!

MozillaZine reports the release of Firefox 1.07, which addresses the security concerns reported recently.

The Wall Street Journal Online reports today on a NJ record store which sells CDs. No story there except if the buyer returns the CD within 10 days, the store will refund 70% of the purchase price. The idea being that the buyer takes the CD home and rips it while the store gets a cut of the sale regardless. I'm sure the RIAA is going to pitch fits about this, but really, how different is this from NetFlix or Blockbuster? Aren't these guys just renting the CD for a few days? Don't Ask, don't tell.

Finally, my favorite songwriter/novelist turned politician, Kinky Friedman, has a new animated commercial on his website promoting his run for governor of Texas. Why the hell not? It's in Quicktime or Windows Media.