DISQUS

One more thing - I agree with Lessig (at least what he seemed to be saying) - you need someone who is both geek and evangelist. But also, that person needs a huge amount of political / diplomatic deft, the ability to negotiate, and (while bold) they do need a sprinkling of personal humility. Find me *that* among geek evangelists... ;)

Having served in that role for a Governor, I can tell you the cross-agency politics are maddening and incredibly difficult to navigate - even at that level and even with the full support of the Executive. At the federal level, across the entire Executive Branch, I can't even begin to imagine how compounded that would be compared to my own experience... Having said that, I do think it's a worthwhile goal to try to integrate the thinking, the policies, and the action with a *strong* CTO - if the person is really given the authority he or she needs to be effective. I also believe this person could not be a token mid-level appointment. They need the ear of the President and his backing to go out and kick some butt.

Chris,

I love this, such important points for us all - and easily applied even beyond speaking/writing.

Well put.

You can kinda sync a gCal / google calendar with your iPhone liek this:

Wherever you sync your iPhone, open iCal and "subscribe" to your Google calendar. [Calendar-Subscribe.] Enter your calendar sharing URL. (you will find this private URL in your Google Calendar settings.)

Then go to iTunes and choose this calendar as the one you want to sync onto the phone. This'll at least keep a fresh copy of your calendar on your phone, but you won't be able to add/edit events on the phone.

Also, I think Calgoo makes a gCal iCal sync product but I have not tried it.

You can kinda sync a gCal / google calendar with your iPhone liek this:

Wherever you sync your iPhone, open iCal and "subscribe" to your Google calendar. [Calendar-Subscribe.] Enter your calendar sharing URL. (you will find this private URL in your Google Calendar settings.)

Then go to iTunes and choose this calendar as the one you want to sync onto the phone. This'll at least keep a fresh copy of your calendar on your phone, but you won't be able to add/edit events on the phone.

Also, I think Calgoo makes a gCal iCal sync product but I have not tried it.

"[The superdelegates] have got to be looking at this and saying, 'this is a campaign that probably needs to be put out of its misery real soon.'"

- Howard Fineman, Newsweek

I agree with Thomas H .. I still check into Facebook, but it's getting tedious. I don't blame Facebook, I blame the small percentage of my friends who insist on inviting me to every group and application they come across.

It also has me asking: who is my "friend?" For example, just because we went to high school together doesn't make us friends. If we haven't had a substantive conversation in two decades, how am I to respond to a "friend" request? Then again, that's not Facebook's fault either.. I digress. ;)

Google doesn't own the property and thus, they weren't asserting property rights. I shouldn't have referred to the Moscone as public property, and I apologize.

But under prior case law, I still think the company's ability to have a "reasonable expectation of privacy" (the legal standard to which they referred in their Google Street View statement to the New York Times) at a trade show - one that is open to the public and where photography is permitted - is effectively zero.

As for the actual owners, the TechWeb / O'Reilly folks are not going to ask Moscone to bar photography at this event. The other exhibitors and attendees would not have it.

Anyway, about an hour later, Google straightened out the booth personnel and photographs were allowed.

Sucks that in American politics, being too honest is "screwing up." But I guess it is.

I agree with you - this is going to bite them back badly. And, I suspect, in more than one way. First, that they look desperate and sleazy (Penn mentioning "cocaine" on Hardball was the latest sleaze ball tossed).

Second, now the media is forced to ask - what about you, Hillary? What about your school-aged drug use. Surely no one survived Wellesley in the 60's without some recreational drug use?

I think you are right - esp on your latter point - we are already seeing this unfold. (See Citi/Abu Dubai for one example)

Also I am surprised to be hearing healthy holiday numbers for retail. I was expecting it would be a bad season.

no, even better: i gave him money. ;)

The Fed is in a nasty place.

They can raise rates and cause a bloodbath on Wall Street - hardly palatable especially in light of current volatility. This, of course, would reverberate broadly throughout the economy.

Alternatively, they can lower rates and possibly send the dollar off the cliff it's been teetering on... it's been in freefall over the last couple of years anyway due to several factors, including our unlimited appetite for debt, our adventures in the middle east, etc... This too would create great pain in the economy but it's probably the "best" option despite the high likelihood it will bruise the dollar very badly.

Frankly I think they'll sit still tomorrow and pray - but I'm no economist.

eh stay tuned and time will tell. :)

Photographers: please download The Photographer's Right, a great flyer by attorney Bert Krages. [h/t Marty Lyons]

Actually anonymous, "she" said exactly that - I didn't misinterpret a whit. Allow me to quote "her:"

"After all, what kind of fucking idiot makes a fat joke without first noticing the weight of the person they are talking to?"

E-mail from a reader a few days ago:

"Something about VA just caught my eye. I don't know if this means she is a he, but it seems awfully strange to say the least.

Okay, in the post linked below VA tells the story of how she hates tailgaters, blah blah

http://www.violentacres.com/archives/56/pet-peeve-2-tailgaters

Now, what caught my eye was the mention of her being 19 years old when the incident happened. She said she picked up her cell phone in the car and called her friend.

Assuming she is actually early 30's, ie. 31 to 33, then that would be roughly 12 years ago, circa 1994. From my weak recollection, in 1994 cell phones were still pretty large, expensive things and not the province of mere end users, but business guys, drug dealers, and spoiled rich kids. Unless she is one of those three, I find it highly unlikely that she had a cell. So, this could mean that the event happened more recently, or she/he/it is making this stuff up."

Digger - I don't think it's as simple as having a "position on the US."

Agree with you re: physics & racism - perhaps that's within a generation or two.

And while I also agree on the God thing, I think it'll take a lot longer than a couple generations to shake that out.

I remain convinced otherwise. Sure, I could be wrong. I just don't think so.

thanks Josh - wow, I like hers a lot better. ;)

it's embedded, some folks can't see them.

i'll insert a link.

Also: you can buy many liquids inside the "sterile" gate areas of most airports. So, are people somehow being de-liquified at the gates prior to boarding? So stupid.

The only common sense on the matter I've seen in the press all day has been Tucker Carlson's show, where he is asking all the right questions (such as "Are we thinking deeply about why these people are willing to kill themselves to hurt us, and what are we doing about that?")

A couple tidbits from his exchange with Bush security advisor Frances Townsend:

Townsend [on profiling]: "We find that offensive.."

Carlson: "Yes, it's offensive. On the other hand, so is waiting in a line for three hours or destroying the American economy.... why aren't we smarter about it?"

Townsend [on the 'airport inconveniences']: "Do I resent [the inconvenience at the airport]? Yes. But I'm not angry with the government and I'm not angry with the screeners. I'm angry with the bad guys who've put us in a position to make us have to go through that.."

Carlson: "Simply because there are bad guys trying to hurt us doesn't give us the right to be dumb."

Thanks Tucker, we need ya buddy.

Try 20 years buddy.

And that, IIRC, was the end of my beloved Letterman hat.