Jun 18, 2009
Where'd You Get That Dress (Video)
A shout-out to Mr. Danny Montoya, kindergarten teacher extraordinaire and short subject film-maker.
Check out this link to his end-of-year video with my daughter's kindergarten class.
Where'd You Get That Dress?
Check out this link to his end-of-year video with my daughter's kindergarten class.
Where'd You Get That Dress?
Jun 2, 2009
May 14, 2009
Candidate Change, Meet President Perseverance
The Wall Street Journal reports that President Obama is considering detaining terror suspects indefinitely.
While this continuation of the previous administration's policy may disappoint those who need to believe that every element of the Bush/Cheney foreign policy was evil or incompetent, it's not terribly surprising if you think about it for a clear-headed minute.
Nearly 3,000 civilians were killed in the 9/11 attacks.
Let's say you're the President and your military and intelligence agencies have managed to track down and capture a number of suspected terrorists. Under no duress, these suspects applaud the 9/11 attacks, claim responsibility (perhaps boastfully rather than truthfully) and pledge themselves to commit their lives to the further killing of Americans by any means possible. And just in case there's any doubt, they're all in favor of the extermination of Israel and maybe the overthrow of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
As President, would you release such suspects to threaten American citizens again? Remember, the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers were the second successful attack in eight years. So what's a President to do? He's sworn to protect, preserve and defend the Constitution, but as Commander in Chief he's also required to protect and defend the citizens. It would be convenient if these suspects could be tried, convicted and thrown in prison for life; but a civilian criminal trial may be a dicey proposition if the specific evidence is primarily confessions that may sound more like boasts.
In an era of rougher justice "...shot while trying to escape" would be one likely end to this awkward predicament. Or perhaps the suspects would be quietly extradited to a country whose legal system makes a specific judicial outcome more certain.
But we live in the current era. Meanwhile President Obama -- unlike candidate Obama -- is privy to the dossiers on these suspects and responsible for the security of the nation. He has a track record of respect for the Constitution and clear-headed, practical thinking. I'm prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt here. From the vantage point of the Oval Office, he seems to be doing the same for his predecessor.
While this continuation of the previous administration's policy may disappoint those who need to believe that every element of the Bush/Cheney foreign policy was evil or incompetent, it's not terribly surprising if you think about it for a clear-headed minute.
Nearly 3,000 civilians were killed in the 9/11 attacks.
Let's say you're the President and your military and intelligence agencies have managed to track down and capture a number of suspected terrorists. Under no duress, these suspects applaud the 9/11 attacks, claim responsibility (perhaps boastfully rather than truthfully) and pledge themselves to commit their lives to the further killing of Americans by any means possible. And just in case there's any doubt, they're all in favor of the extermination of Israel and maybe the overthrow of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
As President, would you release such suspects to threaten American citizens again? Remember, the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers were the second successful attack in eight years. So what's a President to do? He's sworn to protect, preserve and defend the Constitution, but as Commander in Chief he's also required to protect and defend the citizens. It would be convenient if these suspects could be tried, convicted and thrown in prison for life; but a civilian criminal trial may be a dicey proposition if the specific evidence is primarily confessions that may sound more like boasts.
In an era of rougher justice "...shot while trying to escape" would be one likely end to this awkward predicament. Or perhaps the suspects would be quietly extradited to a country whose legal system makes a specific judicial outcome more certain.
But we live in the current era. Meanwhile President Obama -- unlike candidate Obama -- is privy to the dossiers on these suspects and responsible for the security of the nation. He has a track record of respect for the Constitution and clear-headed, practical thinking. I'm prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt here. From the vantage point of the Oval Office, he seems to be doing the same for his predecessor.
Apr 21, 2009
Pruning Facebook
Interesting post on Fred Wilson's blog.
"... I started visiting Facebook every day and I found it way too busy. I was having a hard time finding the information I cared about inside all the other information there, most of which I was already seeing on Twitter."
Pretty much as I suggested a few months ago.
"Also, social networks in the real world rarely grow indefinitely and infinitely large. Maintaining relationships in the real world requires an expenditure of effort, which puts an upper limit on effective network size. As we move through the paces of our lives, we often prune the outer, less intimate branches of our social networks. On the internet, it's easy to "add a friend" and the maintenance costs (a little storage at pennies per gigabyte) are low and getting lower. But there is almost certainly an inverse relationship between the value of (personal) information shared on a social network and the size of the audience, which ultimately is a negative network effect."
"... I started visiting Facebook every day and I found it way too busy. I was having a hard time finding the information I cared about inside all the other information there, most of which I was already seeing on Twitter."
Pretty much as I suggested a few months ago.
"Also, social networks in the real world rarely grow indefinitely and infinitely large. Maintaining relationships in the real world requires an expenditure of effort, which puts an upper limit on effective network size. As we move through the paces of our lives, we often prune the outer, less intimate branches of our social networks. On the internet, it's easy to "add a friend" and the maintenance costs (a little storage at pennies per gigabyte) are low and getting lower. But there is almost certainly an inverse relationship between the value of (personal) information shared on a social network and the size of the audience, which ultimately is a negative network effect."
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