tapman.net

On Friday I picked up a Palm Pre.

The purchase was fairly painful, not a good sign for Palm or Sprint. First, I visited the Sprint website to try to purchase online but the only link took me to a list of stores for an in-person purchase. I found a nearby Sprint store and made an appointment for the next morning at 10am.

At 10am I arrived at the store, signed in, and waited for a few minutes because the store employees had already taken people from the initial queue instead of asking if any one with an appointment was there (I was the only 10am appointment on the board).

Over the last few years I've noticed a gradual comprehensive change in my working habits because of the propagation of computers and networks throughout my environment. Today I live in a house with access to the Internet through two connections, cable Internet service and wireless Internet service via Verizon Wireless (Blackberry data connection); and that doesn't count the three or four other wireless networks from neighbors that I could theoretically piggyback on.

Apparently I'm unusual in that I believe people have a right to freedom. I say this because a recent NY Times article, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/21/us/politics/21gitmo.html, states that a 14% recidivism rate among ex-Guantanamo Bay detainees is so high that we shouldn't let any of the rest out.

Let's see, 14%, 1 out of 7 people...I'm guessing that we'd never release another prisoner from any prison ever again if we used that benchmark.

Over the last few days there have been several stories and many commentaries on Obama's change of direction regarding prisoners related to the fight against Al-Queda. Many of these stories and comments suggest that Obama's decisions are a step back to the policies of the Bush administration, and this belief angers the "liberal" camp. Unfortunately, the media is once more missing the point and misleading the country, just as they did under the Bush administration.

I've often been asked, and participated in discussions, about the reasoning behind man versus zone defense in Ultimate Frisbee. Learning the 'why' behind the two defenses helps players play better defense because they can coach themselves through the infinite series of questions that arise during any point.

The ongoing debate over the legality and efficacy of the interrogation methods used after the September 11th attacks is both painful and necessary, and with luck it will follow this course.

First, the senior officials and lawyers who wrote and approved the memos that authorized the interrogation methods that were specifically illegal according to international and previous American standards should be indicted (provided there is enough evidence to convince a grand jury to do so).

Second, each of the officials should be appointed, or allowed to select their own, legal counsel.

Everyone lies. Everyone whines. Everyone should practice lying to make the whining seem a little more reasonable. Take this quote from a WSJ article, for example:

In an effort to boost sales earlier this year, the auto maker offered its dealers cash to take new vehicles to help drive revenue and keep its factories going. That program stuck Mr. Shuman with about six months' supply of vehicles, if he continues to sell about 100 new cars a month. He said he has about 200 vehicles more than he would like.

I've read a few interesting discussions about the Linux community over the last few weeks and jotted down some notes. I'll post this now just because I'm never going to get around to cleaning it up.