Could he wear a Christmas shirt?

I don't get this: a court intervening in school policy.

I wonder what the same court or ACLU would have rule if the school had done the same for a student that had a t-shirt about Muslim terrorists? Or, heaven forbid, a "Merry Christmas" message? You won't find the ACLU fighting for THAT kind of free speech.

I hate to say it, but Michael Savage is more and more right every day. That's scary.

WTF! Where did the summer go!

How the hell can this be the end of August?

Remember this point in history

For the past couple weeks I've been pondering my assessment and conclusion that the blogosphere has surpassed the mainstream media in terms of credibility when it comes to the news. Melanie Phillips summarizes it best:

Second, with a few honourable exceptions the mainstream media are no longer to be believed in anything they transmit, either in words or pictures, about the Middle East. It is only the blogosphere which is now performing the most elementary disciplines of journalism: to aspire to objectivity, to separate facts from prejudices, to apply basic checks to claims being made by partisans to a conflict, and to be particularly wary of those with a proven track record of lying.

Granted, the media is a competitive business, and the media is simply providing their customers content that they want (lies are apparently more profitable than facts). And that's the problem. For the past ten years I've questioned the notion that the mainstream media in America qualifies as "The Press" that is protected in the First Amendment. Seems to me that in order to qualify as the press, as protected by the First Amendment, you must commit to the truth (as in facts) and relaying the entire story. Unfortunately, I haven't seen any media channel that would qualify. And I've seen plenty of bloggers that would.

How backward is that? Remember the Israel-Lebanon conflict of 2006. The conflict that turned the media world upside down.

Product Trial: Samsung SGH-t709

I was asked by T-Mobile to participate in a product trial for "an exciting new service from T-Mobile." After accepting, I received a Samsung SGH-t709 Wifi phone and a T-Mobile/DLink co-branded wireless access point. I already have a DLink access point (looks like the exact same model as what T-Mobile sent), so no need to open that box.

So, I transfer my SIM to the new phone, fire it up, it finds my wifi network, and I place calls. Very easy and seamless, as it should be.

The phone is slick - small, is a "slider phone" which slides opens to expose the keypad, and the interface is very intuitive. Navigation buttons are easy to use. And, using my wife's LG phone, which felt like a cheap piece of plastic, this is very well crafted.

Wow, imagine this working out and my dumping my Vonage service. Cool.

Not sure what the exciting new service is, unless they are talking about Wifi (bor-ing).

Pretty soon will see if the switching between Wifi and cell network really works.

Go ahead and Spy on me

Spy on me. Do what you will. So what if the government finds out how much toilet paper I use on a daily basis, how much xbox 360 I play, what internet sites I surf, or that the gist of my phone calls home at 5:40pm always include a “what’s for dinner?’ If it makes this world a safer place, I am all for it. I haven’t heard anything yet that proposes limiting my rights as protected by the constitution.

Spy away, and I support any politician that supports securing the country from all enemies, foreign and domestic.

Wrapping up a week of vacation

For only the second time in my professional life, I took a break away from work longer than two days. I really needed this one, as a death march getting a product out the door that was four months behind schedule (on a 5 month time estimate) really took its toll on me.

I spent the last week in Evart, Michigan, which is where my mother grew up and my folks now own a nice piece of property - Emerald Lake just south of Evart. I did my best to stay away from work and spend some good quality time with the family, which I think I accomplished.

Spencer had a good time on the lake, of course, whether it was a paddleboat ride or fishing off the shore. And Garrett had his first sample of navigating around the lake house, enjoying bonfires at night, and plenty of spoiling from the grandparents.

The older I get, the more I look at life and wonder whether I am balancing my work and family life properly. That I look at it as two different lives means I am not balancing it perfectly. My challenge is how to bring the two into agreement. The things I know how to do that generate a larger income to provide for the family don't align with my desire to spend more quality time with my family.

This past week gave me ample room for reflection on my career and where it should go. Lots of questions, no answers, and lots of options for playing my hand moving forward.

Enjoying my week off

Can't find internet access to save my life, but I am enjoying the time away from work, with my family, and away from any sign of civilization :)

Grabbed my 100th cache today, went through 400+ work emails (argh), and trying to get back in touch with the world's events.

Airport on Monday was not bad, except for the travellers showing up 4-6 hours before their flights. At least United had the sense to move people up in line around those that think they need to check in for their flight a week early.

Can't complain so far, looking forward to another couple days of R&R.

Getting away from civilization for a week

Going to take a week off and head back to the midwest and spend a week at my folks' place in Evart, Michigan. Hope to get some geocaching in, hope to get away from my email, hope to get some relaxation. Looking forward to seeing some family I haven't seen in well over a year (probably two years).

Not looking forward to the airport first thing in the morning, where I am sure I will observe the epitome of stupidity which is a sure sign that. Between the TSA's clueless screeners to travelers insisting on arguing with them, tomorrow morning will be interesting. Hopefully more people will check baggage meaning a smoother plane-boarding process.

Signs that America has peaked and is on a downswing:

• the popularity of Friends (the TV show)
  
• MySpace
  
• The public's continued obsession with securing airplanes but not the Mexican or Canadian borders
  
• cell phone usage by people in public
  
• NYTimes (no, wait, they are simply a catalyst to the downswing)
  

The next word to be added to the Merriam Webster dictionary...

Fauxtography.

How pathetic is it that terrorists think we are so stupid to fall for staged scenes and fake photographs? How pathetic is it that leftist media thinks the public is stupid enough to fall for it?

At least one blog is having fun with it. Note to NYTimes, that blog is joking... those aren't real pictures, ok?

It is NOT racial profiling

It's terrorist (or criminal) profiling. Big difference.

Sunday we leave for a flight to Chicago. I wonder if they will pull Amy aside and search her and the kids again? After all, they MUST fit the terrorist profile. History is chock full of white mothers carrying a toddler and an infant hijackind and blowing up planes.

Great example of idiocy at its peak - the political correctness of securing the nation by targeting those most unlikely to commit an act of terror.

Inspired by one of my favorite blogs, Blame Bush.

Don't let my wife get a hold of this

A really cool applcation from Frucall. Very dangerous, though, as it combines talking on the phone and shopping! A miracle product for women...

I can't believe John Knight didn't think of this

Too hilarious! Someone caught their neighbor using his Wifi access point, and instead of blocking them serves up some fun content for them. Maybe only geeks will appreciate.

Here's an amazing stat

I started my blog in November of 2004, and was late to the game (I first learning about blogs in late 2003, but took a year to actually start my own).

At the time, there were 4 million blogs. Today? There are 50 million. The number of blogs double every 6 months.

Click here for more cool blogosphere stats.

How does woot.com get to bypass MAP?

Online retailers are not allowed to advertise any price below the "minimum advertised price" set by distributors. So, I checked out today's woot, and as custom headed over to Amazon to see what it was priced there, and I got the "Too low to display" message (which indicates that the price falls below MAP and must be added to your cart and displayed in your cart).

So, why does Woot get to bypass this? Or are they just unaware of MAP? Or do distributors set different MAPS with different customers? Or is it a case of different distributors? My understanding was that the manufacturers recommend the MAP to have consistency across distributors.

Just curious...