“The heatmap essentially shows the evolving enquiry of people looking for a place to eat. There isn’t an actual time display or timeline slider to investigate – but I imagine there are interesting trends during meals, and particularly after normal eating times when people don’t have a plans on where to eat. In addition, a timezone lag that would show shaking progressing east to west.”

“This past week we received a question from a town records clerk in Wyoming asking us what we thought the ideal municipal website should contain to promote open government. We responded that ideally cities and towns should post every public record online, including the following…”

“How easy is it for you to obtain information about what your local and state governments do on your behalf? The Massachusetts Campaign for Open Government’s goal is to make access to information about local and state government actions and decisions as easy as possible for every citizen, by raising public awareness about the Massachusetts Open Meeting law and the Massachusetts Public Records Law, by supporting changes to those laws to increase access, and by encouraging greater use of the internet by local and state governments as a mechanism for providing access.”

“Attention, Cook County workers: Read the fine print before you agree to give part of your paycheck to charity. County employees can pick from a list of charities to support. But, it turns out, not all of the cash goes to the charities they pick. Charities designated to receive employee donations give back 3 percent of what they collect to the “Cook County Charity Fund” — a discretionary fund controlled by County Board President Todd Stroger’s administration.”

“The reason so much political coverage on cable is crap is that there is an effort to portray the campaign as this floating spectacle; it’s devoid of public interest. Not to be too conspiratorial, but there is an economic interest at stake because you want people to come back and watch the same drivel the next day, in the same way that I obsessively check the sports section to see how the Cubs did. That’s why the VP speculation is so perfect for cable; you can fill up all that airtime without any reporting.”

“Cars always will vastly outnumber bikes, he reasons, so allotting more street space to cyclists could cause more traffic jams, more idling and more pollution. Mr. Anderson says the city has been blinded by political correctness.”

“There was unfolding, after all, in New York in the late 1990s, a seamless citywide transition from nicotine culture to cellular culture. One day the lump in the shirt pocket was Marlboros, the next day it was Motorola. One day the vulnerably unaccompanied pretty girl was occupying her hands and mouth and attention with a cigarette, the next day she was occupying them with a very important conversation with a person who wasn’t you.”

“What happens when the sheriff puts himself in jail? Well, Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran has done just that. After a press conference yesterday morning, Curran was processed into the county facility in downtown Waukegan, where he’s spending a week wearing inmate clothing and mixing with the general jail population.”