BusinessWeek: Top 30

Another example of a ranking done wrong.

The 30 Strongest Housing Markets in the U.S: Boulder rocks - BusinessWeek.

In this one, there are several things that make me want to question their ranking capability:

1. #6 is Pittsburgh.  If that isn't reason enough to question the entire thing, look at the median value of only $119,800.  Not many rich people there, and 'median' means that half of the homes sold for less than that.

2. Pictures on 8, and 12 are bad in some way shape or form.  #8 looks like it is falling over, and #12 looks like a scan of an old slide... almost like they found something on Flickr or Panoramio instead of something from Realtor.com or the local convention-visitor's bureau.

3. #10 is Oklahoma.  Not Oklahoma City, but Oklahoma... which was a state last time I checked.  Evidently, this article lacked the proofreading of someone with a degree higher than a GED.

4. #14 is Springfield, Ohio.  Locally, we know Springfield as the capital of antique malls.  Also, the median value is $93,500.  Perhaps due to foreclosures?

5. #22 is Bay City, Michigan.  The median value is $80,100, the annual change is -11%, and the economy is built on manufacturing (which includes a GM plant).  Take a look at some of the old steel cities (Youngstown, Ohio, for example) and look at what happens to the economy when a major employer tanks.  Not good for home values, is it?

6.  #25 is in California.  That not being enough, look at the median value (over $500k) and the annual change (-10.8%).    The 2008 National Average was 196.6.  Anything more than twice that is asking for disaster.

Some ideas to fix or avoid this:

1. Don't publish lists of things that are currently under impact by wildly irregular circumstances.  The country is in the middle of a recession caused by a complete implosion of the housing market.  There are some great places to own houses that are not on this list because they are impacted by the mortgage crisis.

2. Make sure the criteria is obvious.  I don't want to have to look for it.  When looking at the results, it should be obvious.  Don't show things in the result that don't relate or obscure the criteria.

3. Rankings should be geared towards the readers.  BusinessWeek readers are, presumably, business oriented.  Why show them half-metrics (annual change, but no indicator of which annum) or omit important metrics (change over last 5 years, change over last 10 years).

How the Mobile Stuff is Supposed to Work

I have finally been truly impressed with my BlackBerry Storm. I am in Columbus today (well, really it's Dublin). The first thing I really needed to use my phone for was lunch.

So I brought up Poynt and searched for restaurants. I got a list of restaurants, and touched the one I wanted to eat at. Then, I was able to get directions.

I was happy enough that I used my phone to write this post.

Definitions!

Tink

/tink/ n. 1. Sound a nail makes when it falls on a metal object. 2. Word overused by New Kids on the Block (specifically Jordan Knight) to generate interest on Twitter.

New Kids on the Block

/loozerz/ n. A group of 5 singers that are complete and utter losers.  They were big with 12 year old girls in the early 90s, and unfortunately, some of those girls haven't grown up (as evidenced by the number of Twitter followers they have).  One of the losers, Donnie Wahlberg, attempted to burn down a hotel in Louisville, KY with a home-made molotov cocktail.  This apparent suicide attempt marked what was thought to be the end of the band.  Their Twitter antics tend to pollute TwitScoop and overshadow more impportant things, such as the second un-retirement of Bret Favre, the death of Dom Deluise, and the general panic over the H1N1 "swine" flu.

Microsoft

/sh-it/ n. A company built up by Bill Gates only to be torn down by the loser Steve Ballmer.

Steve Ballmer

/eediut/ n. An idiot known for being the CEO of the company that released the Vista operating system, getting on stage and yelling "Developers!", throwing furniture, and laying off some 5,000 people at Microsoft.  Commonly referred to "jackass".

Vista

/vis-tuh/ n. 1. A beautiful view. 2. A set of operating systems released by Microsoft that lasted realistically for 8 months before Microsoft announced the next operating system.  During said 8 months, support for Windows XP was extended... twice.

New BlackBerry...

How great it is when everything works well.  How much it sucks when something isn't perfect.

Social Networking and Government 2.0

I just saw an article today on PCWorld discussing the differences in ages between MySpace and Facebook users.  It got me thinking about the want for Government activities, particularly planning studies, to use 'new media' to reach out and connect to people.  As stated in the PCWorld article, Facebook has an abundance of the over-35 crowd, and MySpace has an abundance of teenagers.  If done properly, this age difference can be used to connect to BOTH of these groups.

One of the most important things when using social networking in government is keeping things current.  Nobody likes a dead page, and all-too-often project websites suffer from not being kept up-to-date.  The same thing can easily happen to a MySpace or Facebook page.

Another important thing is prompt replies to questions/etc.  People don't want to wait several days for an answer.

Things to keep in mind:

• Anything on the Internet is searchable, indexed, and stored.


• MySpace and Facebook pages for governments or projects are public documents.  Be prepared for media requests about information, etc.


• The visual quality of such pages reflect on the government that is operating them.  They should be visually pleasing, not gaudy.  Keep animated stuff to a minimum.  Pictures should be of plans/alternatives, pictures of public meetings, renderings of alternatives, etc.

If done properly, social networking can be a great way to augment the public involvement in any planning (or related) process.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Corrupt OS X Address Book

I had a problem updating a contact that made its way into my address book without an email...

Watch your screenshots...

This was originally from http://www.orangelabel.com/icons.htm... They haven't fixed it yet, I'm not sure if they've even noticed, but I saw it on Twitter...

[caption id="attachment_244" align="alignnone" width="150" caption="Take a look at the IE webpage"][/caption]

Take a look at the IE webpage.