An ongoing poll at the WSJ had some surprising early results in regard to illegal immigration, at least to me. I expected more concern for privacy and profiling, yet most respondents are more concerned over illegals crossing our southern border with costs taxpayers higher social service taxes and bringing associated drug crime. (testing posting an external poll below)
Should police be required to question people they suspect of being in the country illegally about their immigration status?
President Barack Obama harshly criticized a proposed law in Arizona to crack down on illegal immigration and said his administration would examine the measure to see if it is consistent with federal law. It was the first time the president addressed the controversial bill that would make it a crime under state law to be in the country illegally. The bill would also require police to question people they suspect to be in the U.S. illegally about their immigration status.
Few of us remembering the first Earth Day back in 1970 will argue that mankind was not damaging the environment or that seeking to pollute less wasn’t worthwhile goal. Now looking back 40 years, we can’t deny the significant improvements in both personal and industrial practices — at least in the United States. Still, there continues to be a debate as to just how much is too much (both ways) and how damaging we are to the ecosystem. The question of how do we regulate society when in comes to using resources and impacting the environment continues. There is little disagreement when it comes to obvious blunders and purposeful abuse, but there is also a healthy dose of skepticism toward those building a bureaucracy around debated global warming theories and CO2 contributed by humans. (button photo credit to friend Clyde Witt who writes the blog My Witt’s End.)
For this year’s April 22nd’s 40th anniversary, I found it ironic that an offshore oil rig would be burning, leaking crude oil and sinking into the Gulf of Mexico. Who isn’t bothered by an obvious environmental disaster like this … with an immediate human toll as well: 11 missing workers. It’s not an accurate comparison to Cleveland Ohio’s Cuyahoga River burning in the late 1960’s, but seeing the image above and remembering that a “river caught fire” was the wake up call to many Americans that something needed to be done. For me hearing about oil spilling and watching the black smoke billow is a sickening reminder to me that careful stewardship of the planet is something in our best interest.
The good news was that we have made strides to address our abuse in the 20th century and in the case of this weeks “oil drilling platform” … the oil spill may not be as bad as feared.
The Deepwater Horizon had burned violently for nearly two days until it sank Thursday morning. The fire’s out, and officials had initially feared as much as 336,000 gallons of crude oil a day could be rising from the sea floor 5,000 feet below.
Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry said Friday morning that no oil appeared to be leaking from the well head at the ocean floor, nor was any leaking at the water’s surface. However, Landry said crews were closely monitoring the rig for any more crude that might spill out.
At some point in collecting and bookmarking websites for research and the organizational complexity that comes with doing it can be daunting. My XMarks synced bookmarks have become so unwieldy that I don’t even use them anymore – same for those I’ve archived with Delicious.com. I’ve turned to use an Instapaper’s “ReadLater” bookmarklet, a PDFit add-on for Firefox which captures pages to a PDF file … or a Pagenest offline browser archived version of a website. Still it isn’t easy and oftentimes just searching for the site I’ve ‘marked’ is so difficult that it is easier to search all over again. So when I read Katherine Boehret WSJ article this week I decided to give the iCyte.com bookmarking and page saving option a try.
iCyte is a way to collect a copy of a page for later reading or research and also offers an easy way to share or collaborate information on particular subjects with other. It offers a bit more since there are options such as including tags, notes, comments and even highlighting. The highlighting feature works well with the two currently supported browsers, Firefox and Internet Explorer, and helps when trying to assemble the bits and pieces one might want in developing a paper, articles or project. The management features of iCyte.com have made it easy to search the many sites being marked all of which is currently free.
Another helpful option is developing an RSS feed for a project. Since I run a sidebar RSS reader (Sage Firefox add-on), it is handy to keep a feed running for a project where all sites being archived are easy to access … of course iCyte also has a built in button for the browser that pulls up their own sidebar too. (tested the embed feature above in this blog)
Perhaps one of the best reasons to capture a page is for those that eventually disappear from the parent site or get relinked differently in a site update or rebuild. When reviewing a marked page you’ll have the option of viewing the captured ‘cyte’ or clicking a ‘liveview’ that links to the origination page (helpful if there is updated information, comments or attached media … I was unable to capture video)
The the WSJ article reviews a few more of the details if you are interested in reading further before signing up for a free account.
What are you doing when you click the Facebook“Like” button?
You might want to think twice before you divulge your taste to companies who might be interested in marketing to you … especially if you prefer your privacy.
The social networking giant Facebook has a potential goldmine of user information that can be marketed to those with an interest and the dollars … and that information is on the grow. After a rollout of the new “Like” button, which is placed on other websites that drives traffic back to Facebook, the click generates a user’s interest in the content which in turn “could” be used to market right back at them. Though … according to a WSJ article, “Facebook said it isn’t currently launching any new ad-targeting products in conjunction with the service.” But call me a skeptic when I hear that Facebook is just mapping out “connections between people and their interests, gathering more explicit information about users’ favorites in order to deliver them a more personalized experience on Facebook and on other sites.”
For now, share your information and Facebook “Likes” with care as the profile they are developing is not unlike retail shopping cards … and could be marketed to companies interested in selling something to you based on your clicks.
There are time when we think we’ve heard it all when it comes to how big the ‘nanny state’ can grow and oversee our lives. Take Europe for example, Americans have a love-hate relationship with our cousins across the pond. Thankfully most of us still prefer the politics of individual liberty and freedom from and overly oppressive government … but as “social justice” is bantered around by Liberal Democrats and Progressives I’m not sure how long before the U.S. resembles the EU?
As if the 4 day work weeks, 5 week “holidays” and painfully high taxes weren’t enough to cripple productivity and ambition, how about paying for someone else’s travel or vacation … it’s being proposed … I kid you not.
It was a pleasant spring evening on the back porch after opening the pool on Monday. We are a bit late this year in getting the cover off and I expected to see some pretty grungy water … but was pleasantly surprised; I think it’s the best it has ever looked after pulling the cover off. While filling the pool I starting to think we were experiencing an earthquake since the water in the pool began sloshing even without anyone in the water, although it turned out to be the level of water rising to just the right level to where the pump pressure caused the sloshing action. (Palm Pre photos both direct and using Twitpic as well as non-audio cellphone video embed of the ‘sloshing’ below)
All in all it was also a nice evening to put the cushions back on the chairs and enjoy a fire in the outdoor fireplace. The wind was light to non-existent as evening approached and the fire just about perfect for taking off the chill and reading a book.
Delayed or no delay? In an interview with Fox Business News, Adobe‘s CEO Shantanu Narayen commented that Flash 10.1 for mobile devices would be available in the second half of 2010. Earlier this year many Palm webOS users expected to have Flash available much sooner (link) and have been disappointed in the delay. Some suggest that it is because of a public beta for Android devices that will soon to be available — sign up here. Others, like InformationWeek‘s Eric Zeman says “everyone has it wrong” and that Adobe will release Flash for mobile devices by “the end of the first half of the year — by June 30th.” He writes: Adobe spokesperson Stefan Offermann told InformationWeek via email, “Adobe is still on track making Flash Player 10.1 for first mobile platforms including Android available before the end of the first half of 2010.”
“… this trip is the one that ends more than half a decade of living in Jerusalem and moves me back to the US. It is with no small amount of doubt that I packed my bags and left the Middle East. The threat of a conflict with Iran is still out there. Gilad Shalit has yet to be released by his Hamas captors. Hizbollah has re-fortified its weapons stockpiles on Israel’s border. Any of these factors could spark a major news event. It’s hard to explain the mindset of a reporter, but as horrible as these events could be, I’d hate to miss a chance to cover it.
However, 6 and a-half years ago, I shook the hand of one of our network VP’s, promised to do at least 2 years in Israel and fell in to the trap so many US Presidents have. I got studied up on the Israel/Palestinian conflicts and reached the conclusion that the solutions were easy; draw some lines on the map, make some compromises and everyone moves on to a better future. That is why we saw both President Clinton and President Bush make a concentrated effort on the conflict at the end of their terms. It seems like an easy win. I foolishly thought I could be the guy who could stand there and announce to the world ‘It’s over.’ Everyone leaves frustrated.
The flaw in the thinking comes at the compromise. All parties are painted into a corner and so concerned about the perception of weakness that they cannot make a move. Taking the lead from President Obama, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas put out his ultimatum: ‘No peace talks without a freeze on settlement construction’ and now he can’t back down. Prime Minister Netanyahu can’t stop building for fear the right wingers in his government will leave his coalition and his government will be toppled. The way Roger Cohen wrote it in the New York Times, “Day by day, square meter by square meter, the physical space for a second state, Palestine, is disappearing.” Sitting here today the two state solution seems out of reach.
I’ve watched the lives of Palestinian families go from limited to miserable. I’ve watched Israelis protectively pull themselves into a shell like turtles fending off an attack and I’ve watched journalists covering this conflict slip into bitterness, alcoholism and worse. People talk about conflict journalists suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome because of the violence they witness. The violence never got to me. It’s the hopelessness that breaks your heart.
Don’t get me wrong, I’d never trade the experiences gained over the last 6 years and I’m grateful to Fox News for presenting me with the challenge. Through it I’ve gained the friendship of brave people like Jennifer Griffin and the crew out there. We went through the good, the bad and the ugly. We were rocketed, mortared, shot at and stoned together. We froze on the hilltop and sweltered in the desert. When some got married, we danced at the weddings. When others had babies, we attended the christening/briss together. While we covered everything from Christmas to Kytusha rockets, we argued, had heart to heart talks and always found occasion to laugh so hard our ribs got sore.
Moving forward, I think I’ll be able to serve you much better from Chicago. My humble beginnings as a broadcaster came in 1986 as a disk jockey in a bar there on Division Street. I’ve been a spectator to bare knuckles Chicago politics before. That region has a talent for producing red-meat type of news. Reporting from the same side of the globe, I’ll be able to hit Greta’s show without staying up till 5 am. And if the boys start playing rough overseas again, I’ll be first to put my hand up and ask for a plane ticket.
In the meantime, take a look at the spoof video the Jerusalem crew put together for my departure. Slathered in an extra helping of machismo, it should give you an idea of the sense of humor we shared out there.
All the best and thanks for all your feedback, it put a lot of wind in my sails.
Mike
Although I’d like to see new jobs in our country, it sure would be nice if they were not on the backs of taxpayers.
In a WSJ article this morning, cities looking to transform themselves into ‘green central’ are finding out that it isn’t easy and that they are pinning success on incentives from government.
“Joliet is discovering what cities across the U.S. have found: Declaring that a city is going to replace yesterday’s lost jobs with new green ones is a lot easier than actually doing so. Cities from Tulsa to Honolulu proclaim themselves destined to become leaders in green jobs, a broad classification for work tied to renewable energy and energy efficiency that includes insulators and solar-panel installers.” Full WSJ article
After noticing the color saturation and sharpness in photos coming from my Palm Pre smartphone were not the same as the first photos I took, I realized that just a cursory wipe of the lens wasn’t good enough.
So let this post serve as a reminder to clean the lint, oils, dust, etc. out of your cellphones tiny camera lens with a cotton swab or eyeglasses wipe once in awhile. Many experts recommend avoiding alcohol or any harsh glass cleaners, opting instead for a plastic surface flat screen TV or computer monitor ‘safe’ cleaner. While alcohol may not hurt most plastics, I’d error on the side of caution and use something intended for delicate plastic surfaces … when in doubt, a dab of bottles water with a drop of vinegar is excellent. Remember too, plastic displays and lenses on most cellphones scratch easily.
As a test, below is an unretouched photo merge (besides resizing and adding text) taken on a bright sunny day (click photo for larger view).
