New Media Douchebags

I would find this more funny if I didn't feel a bit like one myself already, and if I weren't required to sound like one to get at that sweet sweet honeypot of J-School scholarships. Ah well, at least I have some standards (e.g., I've taken an oath of Twitter celibacy).

via swissmiss

Bundt pans! Bundt pans! Bundt pans!!!!!!!

More words on this later, but for now enjoy tooling around the Wiscontrepreneur 100-hour Challenge entries (I like that the site shuffles the list of entries each time the page is reloaded).

The OK:
-AquaTreat water purification system
-Pins N' Balls
-Squirming Squirrels Drinko (Plinko+party games=pure, wholesome, triple-distilled fun)

The Bad:
-The Sculptured Fish Tank (Does this constitute animal cruelty?)
-The Sweet & Low Chair (Is this a Hell Ride?)
-The Puddle Pan (Hmm, wonder why they can't show the product in a gym locker... oh, maybe because coat hangers can't fit in gym lockers?)
-Biodiesel Reactor (Don't let this guy blow up your car.)

The So-Bad-It's-Good
-Wiscontrepreneur Party Enforcer 3000
-Team POWER Lamp (Make sure you're sitting down before watching this video)
-TrashWow! (Obviously riding the coattails of ShamWow!, but I like the claim that Time dubbed it one of the 50 greatest inventions of all time)
-Pitcher that pours two beverages at once (Straightforward)

The Inexplicable:
-WE CONSERVE TOO
-Dehydrator (I'm not sure if broadcasting "I grow shrooms" is the best way to get judges to deem you an innovator)
-The Arcobaleno (")
-Convelope (It's an envelope... for condoms! Wayyy overthinking it, but nice choice of host site)

ASM constitution voter turnout

In light of today and tomorrow's ASM constitution vote, here's a 2005 University of Iowa study on Voter Turnout in Undergraduate Student Government Elections (Note: must log in with UW account to view)

The only student demographic variable to reach significance is the percentage of full-time students. The positive coefficient for this variable indicates that turnout tends to be higher at schools with more full-time students.

...

Online voting appears to increase turnout, as indicated by the positive coefficient for this variable. The final significant variable, and the only election specific variable to reach significance, is the campaign advertising index. The positive coefficient means that turnout tends to be higher on campuses where student campaigns use many forms of advertising. ©Kimberly Lewis and Tom Rice, 2005

I guess two for three isn't bad... I'll put my bets at 16.4 percent.

2004 Piccolo Guy documentary

Blaze Orange is a 16-minute documentary that came out five years ago about Tom Ryan, aka "Piccolo Pete" or "the Piccolo Guy," who plays every day on Library Mall.

Did you know:
-He's been playing on Library Mall for at least 23 years
-He lives in a used U-Haul truck that he bought
-He plays in the University Band (I'm curious to know how he pays to take it)
-He has a Web site (with FULL FRONTAL NUDITY!!!) that was actually updated semi-recently
-He plays in a jazz band called Piccolissimo
-He watches Jeopardy! every day at the Crystal Corner Bar
-Playing on Library Mall is his main source of income—he makes around $12 on a bad day and can make up to $38 on a good day
-He majored in Computer Science (not specified whether he went to UW-Madison, but he mentions that after he graduated he took classes at MATC)
-Some Library Mall vendors are whiny tightasses.

Enjoy!



link

Design nerd fare

First: Kerning vs. keming

Next: A friend showed me this shirt from MySoti.



Also: KERN iPhone game demo by Jason Franzen and Adrian Johnson.



via Hello Bauldoff

Happy Friday.

(link)

Even though I embedded this, I strongly recommend watching this on YouTube in HD. Yes, it is supposed to look like that, and no, I do not smoke pot.

District 8 primary voter turnout

Here's a graph my partner made for a presentation we gave today about Tuesday's District 8 aldermanic primary voter turnout compared with turnout in past years' primaries, general aldermanic elections and presidential elections. Thanks, Paul!


Ideally, this would be scaled a bit more clearly, with percentages instead of raw vote counts and error bars and other statistical flourishes. Still, that's a discrepancy of about 6,500 votes between the general presidential election and the aldermanic primary election.

In a race where the district is 98% students and all the candidates are students, the fact that seven votes determined the runner-up is pathetic to say the least.

Can anyone help a sister out with the total number of registered District 8 voters this year/in past years?

Source: Dane County Clerk's Office
NOTE: If you want to use this graph, do NOT appropriate it without asking my permission first!

(Bi-)partisan gridlock

Nice Isthmus piece on the myth of non-/bi-/post-partisanship

During the 2007 budget deliberations, the state Assembly was controlled by Republicans, and the Senate and governor’s office were in the hands of Democrats. As months went by with the budget conference committee barely even meeting, the Capitol press corps wrote incessantly about "partisan gridlock." The sides were so far apart they could no longer even speak to each other.

The truth is that the two sides weren’t meeting because one side didn’t want to. The GOP’s budget strategy was to not pass a budget. Because they were outnumbered and Gov. Doyle had veto authority, GOP leaders decided to hold out so long that Democrats would cede to some of their demands just to stem the flow of reporters' questions about Madison’s poisonous partisanship.

It worked.

Miss Madison-Capital City Pageant 2009

Uh. muh. gah.


Is that a red velvet dress?


Why, yes it is. (Photos by Phil Ejercito)

When I asked the night's winner, Kristina Smaby, what drives a person to enter the pageant world, she immediately noted that it is "the world's largest scholarship program for young women" and cited her own experience netting thousands of dollars in scholarship money since starting competing at the age of 18.

...really? The largest scholarship program for women? Sad panda.

Brushing off the dust

Sorry about the lapse in posting, but hey, look! These guys won $10,000 in this contest for their creation of an iPhone alarm clock app that supposedly helps people sleep better.

Developed by electrical and computer engineering senior Justin Beck and psychology and neurobiology senior Daniel Gartenberg, the application serves as a sophisticated alarm clock that wakes users up during the light sleep phase of their cycle, meaning they will be less groggy and more alert during the day. In the morning, users play an easy game that tests alertness, and the software then automatically reconfigures as it learns the user's unique sleep cycle. Called Proactive Sleep, the software could be on sale in the Apple application store in the next few months.

Interesting idea, but can it live up to the Ocarina or Hammertime apps? Only time will tell.

I'm also excited for the upcoming 100-Hour Wiscontrepreneur Challenge Feb. 18-22... how's that homework machine coming along, btdubs?