The
Tennessean found that 42
percent of all measures passed by that state's
legislators have no force of law. They are feel-good measures that soak up
money and time. One legislator filed 167 resolutions of congratulations,
memorials and such. The paper says:
Tennessee lawmakers sponsored more resolutions than anything else
this legislative session, lauding people like pop star Justin Timberlake and
expressing solidarity with a Turkish religious movement, among other endeavors.
A Tennessean review of more than 6,000 records shows that 42
percent of all measures filed were resolutions with no force of law.
And while not all passed -- Timberlake didn't, religious freedom in
Turkey did -- the drafting of such
"memorial" resolutions cost about $70,000, by staff estimates.
Most resolutions honored local teachers, soldiers, sports teams,
administrators or students for outstanding achievement.
Among them was Hendersonville Christian Academy valedictorian Jamie
Wallmark, 17, who earned a 4.125 grade point average.
Traveling Lawmakers
Here in Florida,
state lawmakers rolled back local property taxes and told the counties to suck
it up and cut spending by a billion dollars.
That
is why there are some raw feelings about 80 state lawmakers who still plan
to spend tax dollars to attend state-legislature conferences this year.
It raises an interesting question of who from
your local and state governments is traveling to conventions -- and where this
year. One of the most attended gatherings is the National Conference of State
Legislatures meeting next month in Boston.
Here is
the impressive agenda packed with stuff that lawmakers could use to be more
insightful and effective (if they actually attend the sessions).
Big Change in Web Measurements
Yesterday,
Nielsen/NetRatings said page stickiness, not page views, will be what
counts most in measuring Web traffic. It
means that online ratings will be much more like TV ratings, looking at how much
time people spend online, not just how many pages they click through.
It is time for
that change since sites using Ajax and other technologies allow
site updates without the user pulling up new pages.
If
an online user watched a three-minute streaming video, the current system would
not credit them even for one additional page view. The new system would see
that the user is online for three minutes, engaged in a page.
YouTube,
eBay and AOL's instant messaging sites will be big winners in this new
measurement since they suck up tons of online minutes but might get counted as
only a few page views per day per user. The
typical YouTube user watches each page for 46 seconds, twice as long as the
average user looks at a Google search page. So, you see, they should not be
counted the same.
How
will this change journalism sites? For one thing, sites will be rewarded for
posting online videos, chats and other interactive activities that engage, not
just inform readers. Multimedia sites will get more leverage to start
generating some revenue.
The 'D.C. Madam' Phone List
You
can now download
a list of Deborah Jeane Palfrey's alleged prostitution clients'
phone numbers. This is the list that snared one U.S. senator already. The
list runs from 1994 to 2006. I dabbled in the lists and found an
amazing number of calls to California and Florida. Already,
blog sites have taken the numbers and made them easier to search.
Just
click here, plug in a number and see if it comes up. There are a fair number of caveats on the numbers -- remember that whoever once had a number on the list may not have it now.
Spas Cater to Kids
MSNBC says:
According to the International Spa Association, more than
half of the nearly 14,000 spas in the United States offer packages for families,
teens or kids. A growing trend is for mothers to ask for products and services
designed for themselves as well as their children.
Al's Morning Multimedia
You
know about Myspace and Friendster, but have you tried Dogster and Catster?
Dogster has more than 300,000 dogs registered
with their own sites, with 400 new sign-ups per day.
Catster has more than 125,000 cats
online. You can find the critters nearest you by typing in a city name.
We are always looking for your great ideas. Send Al a few sentences and hot links.
Editor's
Note: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story
excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as
original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly
from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided
whenever possible. The column is fact-checked, but depends on the
accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. Errors and
inaccuracies found will be corrected.
According to some people, this isn't such a good way...
