IN SOCIALLY CONSERVATIVE NORTH DAKOTA, A GAY CANDIDATE USING THE WEB TO WIN (TechPresident)

BY Cody Lyon | Friday, August 3 2012 (from TECH PRESIDENT- PERSONALDEMOCRACY.COM Exclusively for Personal Democracy Plus subscribers: Joshua Boschee is an openly gay candidate for public office in a socially conservative state, but observers say he's got a real shot at becoming one of Fargo, North Dakota's next representatives in the state legislature. Boschee's home state of North Dakota has, according to one study, the lowest proportion of same-sex couples in the United States. It's a conservative state, although "conservative" means something different in the only state in the Union with a state-owned bank and a state-owned grain mill and elevator. LINK TO FULL STORY

Share your ride; Make some Cash- story from BIZJOURNALS.

by CODY LYON 8/4 ...FROM UPSTART-"But while riding in a car with a potential BFF sounds more fun than schlepping to a crowded, stinky bus station—and whole lot cheaper than a plane or train—what happens if you're a chatty self-professed fashion junkie who enjoys Madonna in a smoke-free, air-conditioned environment? Your idea of a perfect nightmare might be a road trip with a patchouli-wearing, pack-a-day Marlboro Man driver that prefers listening to Phish with the top down for the four-hour drive to our nation's capital. To help avoid such uncomfortable rides, users need a Facebook account to set up profiles at the Zimride website. That lets both driver and passenger check each other out in advance, see if their musical tastes jive, and determine if they have some shared friends. Established in 2007, the ride-share program is just one of three products Zimride offers. The other two parts of the business are a short-route phone app-based service that’s being piloted in San Francisco and software that Zimride has licensed to 140 universities and private companies to help ease parking congestion." FULL STORY AT BIZJOURNALS