Urban Puddle

Hello my fellow geeks. If you visit this blog somewhat regularly then perhaps you have a passion for Open Source. If you also have a passion for independently owned stores (keeping your options open goes hand in hand with F/OSS) then you'll be happy to know that Buyindie now supports OpenID.

I've talked about it before. If you live in DC you can go die in a war but you can't vote or expect any representation in Congress. It's a sham and more than a little hypocritical that the US invaded Iraq to bring Democracy (i.e. the right to vote) while in the nation's capital, its very citizens suffer from that same inequality. Perhaps the army should invade DC? Here's a write-up by DCist on the topic.

Hey, Buyindie just released Podcast #5. This one is on the glorious city of Chicago so if you're a resident or a potential visitor this is a show you don't want to miss. We talked to a concierge in Chicago named Jeff Matheis whose job it is so be in the know. Check it out here.

This weekend I finally got around to integrating basic Paypal e-commerce with Buyindie. At this stage I don't do enough in sales online to justify using Authorize.net or any comparable online credit card processing systems. But Paypal let's you buy with a credit card so hopefully nobody hates this. If you do, you can always send me a check and I'll post you a shirt. Email buyindie at gmail dot net if you're interested otherwise, just head over and buy a shirt online!

Buyindie is a work in progress. Before this version even got out of beta along came Restful rails and changed everything. The re-write is *almost* done (maybe a few weeks away) but in the meantime, the podcast just launched. You can grab it directly from our host, libsyn, here. In a few days you'll probably also be able to find it in iTunes. The RSS feed is at http://buyindie.libsyn.com/rss in case you don't want to use iTunes.

BuyIndie.Net, the other website that I run, was just mentioned on CNN the other day. Yours truly was even given a small quote in the article. If you get a minute to read and Digg it, I sure would appreciate it!

Journalism is a profession. The Press has been sometimes referred to as the 4th branch of government due to the amazing influence they have over the political process. Recently, the press used this power on two occasions. First, by ignoring Marie Johns' campaign completely instead choosing to name only Fenty, Cropp, and 'other candidates'. (Do they think Americans can't process more than 2 choices? Can we?)

Then yesterday, Marketplace conducted an 'interview' with Joseph Vranich about a new Amtrak CEO being hired. Coincidentally Mr. Vranich has a new book out calling for the dismantling of Amtrak. Again, coincidentally he is pushing his own private rail initiative.

September 12 is only the primary, but DC is so heavily Democratic that for all intents and purposes it may as well be the election itself. I had a chance to hear one candidate, Marie Johns, speak and answer a number of questions in a small private forum consisting of about 40 Georgetown residents.

True story. This guy just ran 51 marathons in the course of 50 days to raise money for Katrina victims. He is a hero. I don't want to take away from his fabulous accomplishment, but I do feel a little sad that individual efforts of this caliber are required to overcome the unbalanced efforts of insurance companies to not pay the victims of the hurricane.

DCist just posted an article on Buying Indie. I posted my thoughts along with a link over at the BuyIndie Blog.

City living is a bit of a touchy subject with most people. I think today more people live in burbs than in cities. Any city dwellers here? What keeps you there?