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California unbans the use of electric skateboards in bike lanes
In 1977, California banned the use of powered skateboards on state streets; largely because the only reliable source of power back then was noisy two stroke gas engines. However with the development of larger-capacity and quieter lithium-based battery power, skateboards have become about as noisy and polluting as bicycles. That's why, last Sunday, California Governor Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 604, which once again makes riding powered skateboards in the bike lane legal.
Jeb Bush's email transparency experiment goes horribly wrong (update)
Today Jeb Bush posted archives containing thousands of emails from his time as governor of Florida for public viewing. That's great as a push for transparency from a potential presidential candidate, however as The Daily Dot and The Verge have found, the release leaked private info from thousands of people who never knew their messages would be released in this manner. The information contained includes email address, home address, phone numbers, social security numbers, job information, medical info and more. At least some of the governor's responses mention that messages are a part of the public record and may be released, but it's still troubling to have the information out there.
Rhode Island attempting to default on 38 Studios' debt
The AP is reporting that Rhode Island is attempting to default on the debt it owes for 38 Studios' $75 million loan and subsequent bankruptcy. The state has a proposal before lawmakers that would keep it from having to make any payments to bond holders. Supporters of the move to default say that the insurance company will compensate bond holders, while the EDC, which approved the loan, says that defaulting will hurt future project and bond ratings. One lawmaker and default proponent, Rep. Charlene Lima, said that the 38 Studios fiasco harmed the reputation of the state and constricted its future economic development. The proposal is being opposed by Governor Lincoln Chafee, who wants to see the debt repaid.
Rhode Island EDC sues Curt Schilling and more over 38 Studios loan
Back in May, Project Copernicus developer 38 Studios became embroiled in the controversy of the year when the studio officially shut down and fired all 379 of its employees. The story quickly turned political as the studio had been granted a loan of $75m US by the state of Rhode Island and it became known that the tax-paying public could be hit for an estimated $150.7m US due to the studio's closure. The story of mishandled taxpayer money has played a big part in the politics of Rhode Island. Today that story developed further as the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation (EDC), which granted the original loan and may therefore be responsible for the public debt, filed a lawsuit against the people who created the deal. The defendants named in the case include 38 Studios founder Curt Schilling, CEO Jennifer McLean, former EDC executive director Keith Stokes, Wells Fargo Securities and even Barclays Capital. Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee released a public statement about the lawsuit on YouTube.
Wakfu celebrates President's Day by detailing its political system
Unless you're a school kid or a federal employee, you might not have known that today is a U.S. national holiday. Yep, it's President's Day, and aside from being a spectacularly silly reason for taking a day off from work, it also marks an opportunity for the developers of Wakfu to hype the game's political system. The upcoming MMO from the makers of DOFUS allows for players to run for the governorship of their nation, accessing privileged information on zone status, weather forecasts, and the number of mobs roaming the wilds. All of this info comes via interaction with Clan Member NPCs, and these select members of Wakfu's elite ruling class have been "granted special powers by the ancient gods," according to a new press release. Potential player governors will need to declare their candidacy and gather votes, and if they're lucky enough to secure a victory, they will then have two weeks with which to "regulate laws and sales taxes." There's no word on whether Wakfu politicians can indulge in fiscal irresponsibility or illicit affairs, but player governors can declare war and attempt to conquer the territories of neighboring nations. Head to the official website for more info, and check out four new screens of the political system in action courtesy of our Wakfu gallery. %Gallery-116491%
Steve and the Governator mark transplant bill signing
In a ceremony commemorating California's SB 1395, the world's most well-known liver transplant recipient and the world's only former killer future robot turned politician posed for photos. Jobs and Schwarzenegger were at the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital in Stanford, CA to mark the signing of the transplant bill into law. Both men have been active sponsors of the measure, which establishes a live donor registry for kidney transplants and sets up a binary opt-in/opt-out system for organ donation via the DMV. While Californians were able to register as organ donors before when getting or renewing a driver's license, the new system requires that they explicitly choose to be a donor or not to be a donor. Jobs received a liver transplant in 2009; he chose to register as a transplant candidate in Memphis, TN rather than in California in order to improve his odds of getting a donor organ in time to salvage his health. In his remarks at the March announcement of the bill, Steve noted that 400 Californians died waiting for donor organs in 2009.
GamersFirst CEO to run for Governor of California
Unfortunate timing made nearly everyone think it was another April Fool's Day prank, but today's news confirms that it's not: "Joshua Hong, CEO and founder of GamersFirst, has declared his intent to participate in the 2010 race for California Governor; replacing Governor Schwarzenegger; who is ineligible for re-election this year." Hong, whose company GamersFirst offers free-to-play games such as Sword of the New World, will be running a lighthearted campaign, on the premise that people are sick of weighty, "overexamined" issues like schools, healthcare, and the economy. "What people really care about is entertainment and video games." He sums up the campaign pretty clearly: "From experience, players are sick of big corporations charging exorbitant costs for video games and consoles. I want to incorporate the ideas of Free2Play, which I brought to this industry and trademarked. I will use my gubernatorial term to propagate and instill Free2Play to Californians. With our loyal Free2Play community of nearly 5 million in California, the strength of that bond will push me into the position of 39th governor of California!" Is he serious? Well, his camp says yes, and he only needs 10,000 signatures by the August deadline to get on the ballot. Are you interested to see how far he can carry this? Head over to vote4josh to add your support, and keep your eye on Massively -- we'll be talking with the candidate himself very soon to see where this is all going.
Potential Lt. Governor of Guam is also a hardcore WoW player
Guam is a territory of the United States and has one non-voting member in the U.S. House of Representatives. It's the largest of the Mariana Islands, as well as the most southern island of that grouping. It's also home to a potential future Lieutenant Governor who is also a serious WoW player.Senator Ray Tenorio wrote GamePolitics.com to say that he would be running for Lt. Governor alongside his friend Senator Eddie Baza Calvo, who is the one running for Governor. He also said that he wanted to let people know that gamers are the same folks who "fight and die for democracy, conduct intricate procedures in professional careers, and, Yes, even make policy." And while that sounds like a lot of political season rhetoric, the Lietutenant Governor has already established his gamer credentials.Senator Tenorio's character Paleray is a Dwarf Priest in the Knights of the Mariannas on Silverhand. I'll save you the trouble of looking up whether he qualifies as "skilled" or "nub." Not only is he rocking several Hard Mode Achievements out of Ulduar, but he's an old-school player. Senator Tenorio is a Knight-Lieutenant from the old PvP system. While it wasn't one of the worst "grindy" titles, it certainly shows that the Senator has spent some time around Azeroth. Best wishes to Ray on going from Knight-Lieutenant to Lietuenant Governor.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry: For developers, everything's better in Texas
If we had to summarize thismorning's E keynote speech by Texas Governor Rick Perry in three words, it would be "Texas is awesome." If we had a few more words, we'd say "Texas is awesome, and so is the game industry."After a short introductory video featuring a few Texan developers (including Warren Spector), Perry launched into a laundry list of the business virtues for the Lone Star state, including a legal system low on frivolous lawsuits, an income-tax free revenue structure that "lets workers keep their wages" and a "sensible regulatory environment," whatever that means. Texas also has more Fortune 500 companies than any other state, making it an economic powerhouse."The weather is hot, the barbecue is hot, the music is hot, and we want to see the game industry even hotter," Perry said, gushing about the 2,800 new jobs created by 22 Texas game development companies (the third highest concentration in America, but Perry is "gunning for No. 1"). The governor lost us a bit when he said the industry average salary of $63,000 a year "may seem like pocket change to those of you here from California or Washington," Personally, we'd love to make that kind of scratch.
Governor Steve?
Peter over at Engadget has the scoop on some possible political plans (don't ya love alliteration) of Steve Jobs. Actually, it's all largely conjecture based on an article about the current Governator of California. However, we know that Steve reads Engadget, so if he wasn't really thinking about it, now maybe he is. There's evidence for this being a logical move for Steve. He's recently made the tough type of phone calls that politicians must sometimes make. He's given commencement speeches, and he's as American as Apple pie. He even has his own plane should he have to fly to the other end of the state for a political emergency and he already receives odd courtesies from public enforcement officers.
