Archive for the ‘ Opinions ’ Category
To be perfectly honest, I don’t watch this guys show and even after seeing this I still probably won’t, but it’s an incredibly poignant commentary on the state of affairs of the 2008 elections.
I heard a great interview on NPR yesterday with Ben Popken, editor for The Consumerist, about the recent phenomina of grocery store shrinkage — and no, this isn’t about teenage box boys and their aversion to cold water. This is a much more serious problem, sorry guys.
The scoop: There’s a good chance that you’re paying the same amount of money for a product that is slightly smaller than before. As inventory is turned over, there are reports of the different sized products sitting on the same shelf, for the same price.
The reason: To decrease production costs, rather than raise prices. Sounds kinda nice, right? Manufacturers of CPG’s (Consumer Packaged Goods) continue to make the same profits as before in the face of sky-rocketing transportation and production costs, and consumers won’t know the difference.
It’s an inoculation of the worst kind.
The problem: Manufacturers are helping the general populace to ignore the greatest problem facing the human race today — energy. By pulling the wool over our eyes and tricking us into believing that everything is fine, we become complacent and unknowingly ignorant to the realities of the age. Gas prices have gone through the roof and now the entire country is paying closer attention to their driving habits. It hurts, gas stations are closing, but we’re reaching the end of an era and change is supposed to hurt a little — we’ll appreciate the end result more.
Kinda sounds like some war that’s going on right now…
Now that I’ve been judging at tournaments for a short amount of time, I feel that it is only fair to myself and those that I comment on to divulge some personal feeling of the sport. When I joined collegiate forensics (speech and debate), I had no idea what I was really getting myself into. Really. After my first tournament I was hooked though (hey, quarterfinalist in debate helped). In the past two years I’ve never been on such a fast-track of shifting ideas, but as always there is a price.
After my last tournament as a competitor I was so relieved that I wouldn’t have to look at anymore ballots that criticized my speaking and performance. I realize that the goal is to become better, but I think it just wore on me. I also realize that I have lots to learn, but because of the move, I decided that I needed to learn the other side of this game: judging. I must say that it wasn’t what I expected either. Just like when I first forced myself into Public Speaking 101, I also purposefully positioned myself to become a critic, at least for a short while. What I wanted to learn from it was how to have a certain power and wield it responsibly. For those of you reading that haven’t participated or observed a forensics tournament, the judges really do hold an air of authority that is recognized by the vast majority of the competitors. Undeservingly I undertook the challenge, and it has been an awesome learning experience. Once again, the debate community has impacted my outlook on life. Still, now that I don’t carry the nervous tension of someone who is going to deliver 30 speeches over the weekend, I carry the burden of explaining to talented peers that their performance wasn’t as good as the others. That was the challenge that I didn’t expect.
And for the record (and the point of this entire post): Everyone who has stood in front of me to speak this season has deserved my 1.
[tags]forensics, speech and debate, debate[/tags]
I saw another post regarding this call to action via online publishers. I would agree that it just doesn’t make sense to leave adult content behind a stupid link that reads, “Over 18?”. Yeah, I wonder how many kids are going to click on the other one? Do we leave PlayBoy magazines sitting on the counter at the local convenience store? I think not. The clerk at the counter can and will verify your age before handing you your favorite copy with Paris Hilton on the cover. If websites are to be regarded as an online representation of a brick and mortar establishment, then they should be held to same standards of identification before the burden is pushed onto non-technically savvy parents.
Blogger Power: Safeguard the Web for Children
Please require a password-protected login before allowing even free access to explicit adult content. We understand that selling porn is your business and we respect your right to make a legal living. But understand our legitimate concerns and work with us. You already have the “warning adult content” on your websites. Yet kids, who are not legal customers of your product, ignore the warning. So to prevent them from having direct access to explicit images, texts and sounds, the simplest way is to have a password-protected login. No more “free tours” before a visitor supplies basic information.
[tags]blogger power, Internet, child protection[/tags]
A few weekends ago I attended another convention in Las Vegas. The previous one was more of a trade show for the entire industry of mail and parcel centers, whereas this one was specific to our primary software vendor (and about 3000 other users). While the point of the convention was focused around various learning sessions, in the case of our company being there it was mainly for networking and public relations purposes. I found myself continually following, what I felt to be, an odd line of thought throughout the weekend.
I thought about conventions fifty, one hundred, and then three hundred years ago. I thought about the people that might be sitting in their seats, listening to a charismatic speaker giving his pitch. I imagined looking at those black and white photographs in my history class — the ones with the sullen, long-faced men and women, looking blankly at the camera. I wondered if they were inwardly excited about their involvement in whatever it was they were attending. Did they think they would change the world? Then I applied that thought to myself. This is the battle that I’ve faced for many years as I’ve integrated more and more into an 8-5 M-F corporate-ladder type job. Many men and women before me have done the same exact thing that I have done, and I want to ask them a single question: Was it worth it? Was the opportuniy cost of life worth it? Otherwise, why bother. Lately I’ve doubted that entire model to begin with though, and I pray that I’m not the only one. As I talked with different people in our own company and those that we work with, I had this sense that I was regarded as someone of importance. What I’m wondering is: “Does that make me unique?” After much thought these past few months, I’m pretty sure the answer is: “No”. I’m becoming fairly certain that just by assuming this position in Phoenix and using my knowledge to make a few dollars I will ultimately become a failure. More than likely a very successful one. I can’t be kidded into thinking that I’m unique in this regard. Countless threads of life have winked out of existence thinking they were unique, but only a handful found what they were looking for.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/08/17/domesticspying.lawsuit/index.html
A federal judge on Thursday ruled that the U.S. government’s domestic eavesdropping program is unconstitutional and ordered it ended immediately.
In a 44-page memorandum and order, U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor struck down the NSA program, which she said violates the rights to free speech and privacy. (Read the complete ruling — PDF)
The defendants “are permanently enjoined from directly or indirectly utilizing the Terrorist Surveillance Program in any way, including, but not limited to, conducting warrantless wiretaps of telephone and Internet communications, in contravention of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and Title III,” she wrote.
She declared that the program “violates the separation of powers doctrine, the Administrative Procedures Act, the First and Fourth amendments to the United States Constitution, the FISA and Title III.”
Her ruling went on to say that “the president of the United States … has undisputedly violated the Fourth in failing to procure judicial orders.”
All I can say is it’s about time! I’ll still be biting my nails through the appeals process though. I’ve had to argue for this crap in debate rounds and I still see very little value of having a warrantless wiretapping program. It just doesn’t make sense given retro-active warrants. Under FISA law the government has up to 72 hours to get a warrant after they’ve tapped your lines! Now why would anyone say lets just skip the whole warrant process in the first place?
This program being defeated doesn’t hurt national security. If anything it bolsters our democratic system in ways that will only benefit security in the long-run. Think about it. I have.