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I opened my browser today to get a check of the headlines from the Washington Post, using their “mywashingtonpost.com” custom portal. I was quite disappointed at the message I received today:

Thank you for being a loyal reader of washingtonpost.com and a user of our customized mywashingtonpost.com page. Over the years, washingtonpost.com has developed new technology and methods to customize the delivery of our news, features, multimedia and more. As a result, we will be discontinuing mywashingtonpost.com as of February 23, 2009.

[Links omitted]

Thank you for your understanding as we offer more ways to get you the washingtonpost.com content you want quickly and easily.

Sincerely,

David Heyman
Director, Customer Care

Anyone who had accessed the site in the last several months would have guessed this was coming. The articles on the site were often stale or out of date. The weather widget never reported accurate information. In fact, the site never really developed after its initial launch. The feature I enjoyed most was that mywashingtonpost.com allowed me to strip down the sections to what I wanted most: international, metro, politics, and technology.

As newspapers have struggled to cope with the new era of instant information, a number of different models have come and gone. The NY Times, for example, tried to charge a subscription fee to accesses much of the site’s content. This model, of course, doesn’t work with casual observers, but it was worth a try.

There is a real danger, in my opinion, of the WP’s lack of innovation will only hurt its position on the internet. As news aggregator sites and other third-party sites continue to pull headlines, the relevancy of visiting the WP’s site is becoming more and more diminished.

I will, however, miss mywashingtonpost.com. In fact, I’m not sure how I’ll access the Post’s information in the future. While I have a number of RSS feeds in my aggregator already. I deplore the main page layout — it’s too overrun with adverts, cluttered and poorly organized, and focuses too much on “fluff.” I especially hate the WP’s overuse of poorly written, browser slowing javascript. And don’t get me started on “autorefresh.”

Of course, I may just be complaining unnecessarily. I haven’t spent much time on the WP’s main page. I could very well adapt to using the site in this way, or give the RSS another try, or some combination of the two.

Happy Year of the Ox!

Vanessa and I went down to watch the Chinese New Year celebrations in Chinatown. We couldn’t have asked for a better day to go out in Washington, either. The weather got up to about 60 degrees today without a cloud in the sky.

While there was a lack of overall organiation at the event, it was neat to see. There was the typical dragon dance, another dragon dance, and yet another dragon dance. The drum groups were pretty cool.

The biggest disappointment, however, was the failure to light the giant firecracker.

I’ve also uploaded a few snapshots to flickr. Click the image below to view.

The Washington Post is reporting that Metrobus’s ontime rate is at 73%. As a regular rider of the bus, I find this statistic hard to believe. Frankly, I would have placed the number higher. 40%, perhaps?

I can certainly attest to the ‘N’ line busses running late or simply not arriving at all. On a regular basis. Usually when I need it. The worst problem, though, is when the bus comes early. Instead of slowing a bit to try to match the schedule, it simply speeds along its route, leaving those who get there when the bus is scheduled to wait even longer for the next one.

Here in Washington, D.C., we see a lot of lobbying advertisements, far more than the rest of the United States. Since most of the Congressmen and their staff reside here, we are the target market for these “issue ads”.

Today, I saw a link to an issue add from Northrup Grumman claiming that “KC-45: It won on the most American of Values: Merit”. As you may remember, the decision to award the contract to Northrup and EADS, the European manufacturer of Airbus, was somewhat controversial. However, the only argument put forth by Boeing seems to have been “we’re Boeing. We’ll give you the privilege of giving us lots of money through sub-standard leases in exchange for a substandard aircraft”.

From what I can remember, this is the first time I’ve seen an ad asking to keep a contract award, to to be given one.

[From America's New Tanker - KC-45]

Congratulations to Barack Obama for obliterating Hillary Clinton in Maryland, Virginia, and the District. Now that you’ve won the delegates in the District (90% registered democrats), we won’t be seeing you again until January 20, 2009.

I’ve been going through the DC Voter Guide for the primary election on the 12th. In the booklet, each candidate has the high-school-student-government statement about “why I should be president”.

For comparison:

Barack Obama

At this defining moment, we need to unite this nation around a common purpose. That’s why I’m running for President.

I’m running to tell special interests that their days of setting the agenda are over. I’ll invest in jobs and affordable housing. I’ll forge bipartisan solutions, and pass universal health care. I’ll make world-class education affordable from birth through college. And I’ll end the Iraq war.

Over my two decades in public service, I brought people together to solve problems and make a difference in peoples’ lives. Let’s stop settling and reach for what we know is possible.

Hillary Clinton

Hilary Rodham Clinton, 60, graduated from Wellesley College in 1969 and Yale Law School in 1973. She was the First Lady of Arkansas from 1979 to 1992 and the First Lady of the United States from 1993 to 2001. She was elected twice, in 2000 and 2006, to the U.S. Senate to represent New York. She is a proud supporter of the District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act and the No Taxation without Representation Act. She believes District residents should have the right to elect two Senators and a Representative whose political powers equal those of other Members of Congress.

That’s right, Hillary Clinton just copied and pasted from her resumé. I haven’t gone looking for similar statements in other states, but I image the template looks something like this:

Hillary Rodham Clinton:

[insert resumé material here]

[Reference Bill Clinton here]

[If not in south, Mention I live in New York]

[Insert pandering state issue #1 here]

[Insert pandering state issue #2 here (space permitting)]

Vote Obama, DC. He’s not running as ‘First Lady’.

Metro (WMATA) is proposing another fare increase, although this one is a bit more modest than earlier proposals. According to WMATA, the fare increase is necessary to make up for a projected budget shortfall. It doesn’t matter how much the fares increase on Metro; no fare increase can alter the fundamental fact that Metro is one of the worst designed mass transit systems in the country, if not the world.

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It’s cliché, but true; you can never really go back home after all.
I flew home from Amsterdam last Friday (01/06/07) via London Heathrow. Coming back to the US after 5 months of being away certainly opened my eyes to my own lifestyle, not to mention those of my fellow Americans. The stereotype of the US as fat, lazy, and arrogant is somewhat well deserved.

Before I left, I used to think that Washington, DC was one of the most sophisticated cities in the U.S. To some extent, I still think that’s true. But having been in Europe, and lived among the Europeans, I noticed that DC is really not any different from the rest of the US. Certainly, as I was told by my international friends who have visited Washington, it is the most European-like city, but it is a far cry from Paris or Den Haag.

Since my return, I’ve had an interesting time readjusting to being home. In some ways, it feels like I never left; in other ways, however, I feel completely detached from society. I’ve certainly never been one for popular culture or trends, and having been away from US culture for a while, I feel even less in touch with the general culture. I’m not sure exactly where I fit in, but I’m not so sure it’s here anymore.

I’m certainly not claiming to want everything to be European. I think that the European approach to life is very nice, but it is radically different from the US, and I do not think that it would do well here. In some ways, European attitudes are quite backwards from those in the US (for example, European life still revolves very much around the home, and many public arenas are closed quite early), although the US is not exactly leading the way in every area (we are quite conservative socially, as a general rule).

Overall, I would like to say that I had a great experience. I’m now to the last stage of my study abroad experience: reflection. Maybe after a few more weeks, I’ll be able to make more out of the entire trip.