TroySchneider.com

OK, so GrandCentral under Google is now 0 for 2. First they turned off the custom MP3 feature, and now they're dropping "a very small number" of the phone numbers that have already been issued:

Hmm. Wasn't the whole point to quit giving out your home/work/mobile numbers, and instead steer everyone to this cool new GrandCentral number "that you can keep for life"?

If memory serves, that quote is from former White House Spokesman Mike McCurry -- it's probably my favorite example of the off-the-record attitude that pervades Washington DC.

That "maintain deniability" mantra doesn't apply to today's web, obviously. From the blogs to Facebook to now Twitter and Pownce, it seems like there's now nothing that won't be posted for posterity.

The Materialicious blog -- one of my new favorites, by the way -- posted on pin foundations today. Very, very cool -- especially if you're putting up a prefab building to begin with.

If I'd known about these three years ago, our backyard wouldn't have had to look like World War I trenches...

Hopefully the politicians in Prince William and Loudon Counties read their morning papers today.

The Telephone EXchange Name Project came to my attention this morning. It offers a database of the old two-letter abbreviations that used to precede five-digit phone numbers, before seven-digit (and now 10-digit) dialing became the norm. So if you weren't using your current phone number back in the early 1960s -- in which case you'd already know this -- you can find out what your exchange letters were, and what word they stood for.

Toyota's announcement that they're testing plug-in hybrid cars (see NYT, Jalopnik for details) is great -- if for no other reason than it holds GM's feet to the fire on the Volt project.

Jeff Jarvis, posting at both PresVid and his own BuzzMachine, has some interesting thoughts on the CNN-YouTube presidential debates. My favorite quote:

...the YouTube debates are a crack in the wall of control of elections, politics, and media. Bring your chisels.

Occasionally -- OK, roughly once a week -- I tell Tracy that I'm going to get a studio apartment. Or build a garage so I can go hide there.

Not permanently or anything. I like our house, I love my wife and kids, and I usually enjoy having the dog and cats around. But there are times when a mancave sounds really good.

As noted a week or so ago, I've been playing with Twitter and trying to see if it's actually useful for someone who doesn't live via mobile-phone text messages OR feel the compulsive need to microblog. For me, at least, the answer was "not yet" -- since there was no way to prioritize different feeds, or effectively "mute" those that you don't want to hear from 24/7.

New America's Climate Policy Program just rolled out an online version of its "Building Blocks" for state and regional governments that have tired of waiting for national-level action and want to start curbing greenhouse gases themselves. It's interesting stuff, and the bottom-up approach is more practical and market-friendly than it sounds.