Author: Ashley Bischoff

Police Endorse Decriminalization Initiative

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I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the Nevada Conference of Police and Sheriffs have endored [ballot] Question 9 — which would decriminalize possession of 3 ounces or less of marijuana in Nevada.

“The historic endorsement of the marijuana initiative by Nevada’s largest law-enforcement organization is good news for Nevadans because it means that we’re one step closer to ensuring that law-enforcement officers will have more time to go after murderers, rapists, kidnappers and other violent criminals,” said NRLE spokesperson Billy Rogers.

NCOPS President Andy Anderson said, “As a former law-enforcement officer, I know that a simple marijuana arrest can take me off the street for several hours and sometimes for over half of my shift. … We could better spend our time responding to more life-threatening and serious incidents.” […]

Instant Runoff Voting in Alaska

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It’s been theorized that there is no perfect voting system, but Instant Runoff Voting still has a lot going for it. And, if passed, ballot measure 1 in Alaska would ensure Instant Runoff Voting would be used in Alaska for all state and federal offices, including the President and U.S. Senate (but not including the governor, for state constitutional reasons).

If you’re not familiar with Instant Runoff Voting, check out this “how it works” page for a simple walk-through. In a nutshell, voters rank each candidate on their election ballots.

Rock on. I hope that passes.

New Orbit Theme

Ashley Bischoff1 Comment

For those of you using the Orbit theme for Mozilla, there’s a new version available. Well, ok, I suppose that a June 27th release doesn’t make it all that “new”, but it’s certainly newer than the last version I spoke about. One of the things that I noticed in this newer version is that it provides for greater degree of theming for the preferences dialogs.

If you haven’t tried the themes for Mozilla beyond the built-in Classic and Modern, there are now quite a few good ones available (including my current favorite, Orbit).

TGI Friday’s

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As I was looking around for some TGI Friday’s links for yesterday’s entry on the MetaFilter Meetup, I came across this history/critique of TGI Friday’s:

The result is bland food, hyped like the Second Coming, and delivered by an absurd cheerleader. Portions are huge, and up-selling suggestions from servers and table trees encourage you to pile on the extras. After a couple of beers, it all starts to make sense, and it's a lot of fun to drop $6.49 on a half-pound “Tuesday Burger” within a stone’s throw of McDonald’s (another chain famous for its consistency). […]

In some ways, I think TGI Friday’s gets a bad rap. Sure, their prices aren’t always cheap, and sometimes you can get better tasting food elsewhere. But, it’s still pretty tasty, and I know what to expect there.

Also on ArborFood — where I got that earlier link — is this article titled “Chain Gang”, comparing various chains in the Ann Arbor area (including TGI Friday’s, Applebee’s, and Chili’s. According to that article, it looks like Max & Erma’s came out on top, so I’ll have to keep that in mind (for instance) when voting on future Meetups.

Meetup gone Awry

Ashley Bischoff6 Comments

I had planned on attending the MetaFilter Meetup this evening. So, after getting home from the gym around 7:30pm, I soon headed off to the TGI Friday’s on North Market street. I got there in good time, put some quarters in the meter, and walked inside. I asked the server about the “MetaFilter Meetup Group”, but he hadn’t heard of that. But, he assured me, he’d let me know if any groups arrived under that name.

So, I just sat on a bench in the lobby and waited. And waited. Eventually, my watch read “8:30”, and I headed home. I quite enjoyed the Slashdot Meetup (I’ll have to remember to write about that), but this particular Meetup didn’t go so well :-/.