February Calendar
As part of the slow evolution of my calendar project, I've created a calendar for the month of February that you can download and print. It is a letter sized pdf file, you can download it here.
Let me know what you think!
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January 31, 2006
As part of the slow evolution of my calendar project, I've created a calendar for the month of February that you can download and print. It is a letter sized pdf file, you can download it here.
Let me know what you think!
January 26, 2006
Easy Reader Online Updates
I have received several inquiries as to why the EasyReader's website is "stuck" on December 29th.
The simple answer is that server upgrades at the EasyReader have broken some of the connections for them to update the website. Those have been fixed and I hope they will start updating the website again soon.
A deeper answer lies in the quest for readers vs. revenue.
I am currently in the midst of a site redesign for the EasyReader, and one of the items my client has placed on the table is removing the stories from the website. This would be done in order to push readers back to the paper where advertisers would also get a chance to reach them.
This obviously makes good business sense, since online advertising is not able to generate nearly the same amount of money as print advertising; and if everyone reads the paper online, why should anyone place their advertising dollars in print? This is a dilemma that all papers, local to national, find themselves.
But as a Hermosa Beach resident, there is something about this idea that I find disturbing. Is it the removal of something that we have enjoyed up to now? Is it that my client seems to be going in the opposite direction from the rest of the world? Is it really a given that without the stories online, we would pick up the paper instead?
I don't have any answers, just questions.
But maybe you do. If so, please send them to easyreader@easyreader.info.
January 25, 2006
King George?
President Bush claims that he can imprison American citizens indefinitely for the rest of their lives without an arrest warrant, without notifying them about what charges have been filed against them, and without informing their families that they have been imprisoned.
Can it be true that any president really has such powers under our Constitution?
If the answer is "yes," then are there any acts that can be prohibited?
If the President has the inherent authority to eavesdrop, imprison citizens on his own declaration, kidnap and torture, then what can't he do?
If the President has commander-in-chief power to commit torture, he has the power to commit genocide, to sanction slavery, to promote apartheid, to license summary execution.
In the words of James Madison, "the accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny."
[That's why] a president who breaks the law is a threat to the very structure of our government.
-- Al Gore, Jan 16, 2006 (emphasis added)
January 21, 2006
The Eve of a Golden Age?
Former Vice-President Al Gore, in a surprisingly bipartisan speech last Monday, discusses the threat posed by policies of the Bush Administration to the Constitution and the checks and balances created by it. Mr. Gore documents abuses of power by both Democrats and Republicans and explains why The People are the last, best hope to maintain our Democracy.
If you wave the American Flag, you owe it to yourself to listen to Mr. Gore's impassioned plea to the American People.
You can watch, listen or read Mr. Gore's speech here.
January 14, 2006
Mangled English
I found this choice morsel at the bottom of a junk mail message:
This communication was sent to you because your-person asked for to be imparted of knowledge of offers from either us or one of us associates, if you do not want to obtain extends from us again do not hesitate get hold of ourselves at this cursor.
Really.
This communication was sent to you because your-person asked for to be imparted of knowledge of offers from either us or one of us associates, if you do not want to obtain extends from us again do not hesitate get hold of ourselves at this cursor.
Really.
January 10, 2006
The Intel Macs
The Intel Macs
Apple introduces new dual-core Intel iMacs and laptops, four to five times
faster than the models they replace.