Maxims

Sarah Palin flow chart

2008-10-03T15:40:00.002-04:00

Over at Daily Kos, there's a helpful flow chart to understand how Gov. Palin decided to answer questions during the debate.

An open letter to Senator Obama

2008-09-03T16:09:00.002-04:00

Dear Senator Obama:

This is your chance. Leading up to the Democratic primary, you inspired us with your message of hope and change. I want to believe in it, and so do millions of other Americans. But, so far, your campaign has not delivered on your promise to end politics as usual. Now is the time to show us, through your campaign, the change that you intend to bring to Washington.

In Denver, you rejected the "politics of the past" and encouraged Americans to demand new leadership. Well, we're demanding it�of you and your campaign. We demand an end to a generic, uninspired campaign influenced by consultants and pollsters. We demand a candidate who rejects the idea that the road to victory is paved with empty promises of jobs created and taxes lowered. We demand an end to daily, fake-personal e-mails from a candidate, his wife, and his campaign manager asking us to donate money. We demand new television ads that are creative and fresh and inspiring, that make us question our belief about what a national political ad can and should be. We're ready to reject the politics of the past, but to do so, we need to see an example of the politics of the future.

The great revolutionary Mahatma Ghandi, said, "Be the change you want to see in the world." We ask you, Senator, to be the change you want to see in Washington. Let your campaign be an example to the country of what an Obama presidency would look like. I want to believe. We want to believe. This is your chance. Make us believe.

Sincerely,
Maxim Weinstein
Medford, Massachusetts

Who lacks experience now?

2008-08-29T16:33:00.002-04:00

So let me get this straight. John McCain says that Barack Obama lacks the experience necessary to lead the country because he hasn't served in the military and has only served one term as a senator. He then picks as his running mate someone who has never been in the military, has no national political experience, and has only served half a term as governor of a state with a population about the size of Boston?

I guess he's just desperate to get votes from the Christian right, who love Gov. Palin because of her fundamentalist religious views.

Urban farming

2008-08-28T14:35:00.003-04:00

Clive Thompson at Wired magazine makes a good case for why we should bring back victory gardens, even if we live in the city:

These days, we're fighting different battles. Developing nations are facing wrenching shortages of staples like rice. Here at home, we're struggling with a wave of obesity, fueled by too much crappy fast food and too little fresh produce, particularly in poorer areas. Our globalized food stream poses environmental hazards, too: The blueberries I had for lunch came from halfway around the world, in the process burning tons of CO₂.

Urban farming tackles all three issues. It could relieve strain on the worldwide food supply, potentially driving down prices. The influx of fresh vegetables would help combat obesity. And when you "shop" for dinner ingredients in and around your home, the carbon footprint nearly disappears. Screw the 100-mile diet � consuming only what's grown within your immediate foodshed � this is the 100-yard diet.

Believing in reality

2008-08-28T14:28:00.002-04:00

"Just think about this: In four months, we will have an administration that actually believes in science!" --Mark Warner, former governor of Virginia, at the Democratic National Convention

As reported by Wired's Threat Level blog.

Screwed by Diebold

2008-08-15T10:12:00.003-04:00

This is what happens when you choose a company focused more on profits than on security to design voting machines for public elections:

Love the Internet? Vote for Obama.

2008-08-14T16:11:00.002-04:00

David Weinberger explains the fundamental difference between John McCain's technology policy and Barack Obama's. His conclusion:

The two candidates� visions of the Internet could not be clearer. We can have a national LAN* designed first and foremost to benefit business, and delivered to passive consumers for whom the Net is a type of cable TV. Or, we can have an Internet that is of the people, by the people, for the people.

Editor's note: a LAN is a "local area network," typically used within and controlled by a single company or other organization.

Scary hot dogs

2008-08-01T20:45:00.002-04:00

A hat tip to Bill Harris, who linked to this little gem of a "top 5" list: Five Hot Dogs That Will Kill You. Mmmm... breakfast hot dog.

Earn more or spend less?

2008-07-23T17:35:00.002-04:00

Our financial planner, Tom Fisher, has a great blog post up about whether it makes more sense to strive to earn more or to work on spending less. The conclusion, as one might expect, is "it depends," but the more important message is that this is something that can be thought of and analyzed rationally:

In my opinion, most people never stop to figure out what they have to give up in order to earn more money. Often, we just find a way to make more (take a second job, work more hours, look for a new job, etc.) instead of actually figuring out how that will affect our lives. Our brains are not very good at connecting soft questions � like getting what we want � with quantitative ones. Surely it�s better, though, to do this kind of analysis first and better understand the consequences of the choices that we�re making for our lives.

He also provides a simple example of the type of analysis that someone can do to figure out the trade-offs for himself.

Raising political money, geek style

2008-07-19T08:14:00.002-04:00

What happens when a computer geek decides to run for state rep. (in Kansas) against a right-wing incumbent and needs to find a lot of donors? Apparently, something like this.

Evernote

2008-07-10T18:03:00.003-04:00

I'm trying out Evernote, a hybrid desktop/online note taking product whose new and improved version just came out of beta testing. It seems like a good product, though I already have one significant gripe. One of the key features is that you can take a photo of something like a whiteboard or a page of notes and send it to Evernote, and the software will scan it for text, making it searchable. Very cool. Except that, while it becomes searchable, you never get direct access to the text, so there's no way to copy and paste, edit, etc. This is a key feature in most OCR software, and has been a feature of Microsoft's OneNote (which does much of what Evernote does, minus the killer synchronization between computers/web) for a long time. C'mon, Evernote, get with the program!

14 Questions for McCain & Obama

2008-07-03T09:06:00.004-04:00

The group at Sciencedebate 2008 put together a set of 14 community-generated questions for McCain and Obama regarding their views on science and technology policy. As an Obama supporter, I'm planning to e-mail the Obama campaign to encourage it to respond publicly to these questions. I hope more people will do the same with their candidate of choice, or with both for those who are undecided.

Internet public health

2008-06-26T15:38:00.001-04:00

Over on my Harvard blog, I�ve started a series of posts about my foray into the field of public health and how it relates to the malware world. If you�re interested, please read along and post your thoughts in the comments.

Deportees

2008-06-18T07:38:00.003-04:00

Every time I listen to the Woody Guthrie song "Plane Wreck at Los Gatos," I think how sad it is that, nearly 50 years after he wrote it, the lyrics are still relevant.

Some of us are illegal, and some are not wanted,
Our work contract's out and we have to move on;
Six hundred miles to that Mexican border,
They chase us like outlaws, like rustlers, like thieves.

Video: I'm Voting Republican

2008-06-17T19:26:00.001-04:00

Bush vs. McCain - the video challenge

2008-06-11T18:13:00.001-04:00

The Democratic Diamond of Unity

2008-06-08T10:12:00.004-04:00

My friend Jon, author of Our Karl Rove, has a good post up about the fallout from the Democratic primary and what it means for supporters of both Obama and Clinton going into the general election.

The key take-away is to acknowledge that if you strongly support either candidate, you're experiencing planned animosity towards the opponent. The sooner Democrats step back and understand that this is planned and not personal (and "see the diamond"), the sooner the Democrats can coalesce around the presumptive Democratic nominee.

The "diamond" is a metaphor for the separation that occurs between candidates during the primary and the desired convergence on behalf of party unity that occurs as the general election nears.

Coke Zero

2008-05-28T09:32:00.005-04:00

A few years ago, when I started trying to lose weight, I realized that cutting juice, soda, and other caloric drinks out of my diet was key. Unfortunately, I found that water, seltzer, and the flavored varieties of each were unsatisfying to me. So, I turned to diet soda. Now, despite a long-held prejudice against diet soft drinks, I found that there are many that taste good: Fresca (yes, it's diet), Diet Barq's root beer, Diet 7-Up, Diet Mountain Dew, etc. The weak link, though, was diet cola. Coke has been one of my favorite soda throughout adulthood, and I couldn't bear to drink Diet Coke, which, as my wife says, "tastes like carbonated battery acid."

But then came Coke Zero, and angels sang, and sunlight filled the sky. The ingredients list for Coke Zero looks pretty much identical to that of Diet Coke, right down to the aspartame sweetener. Yet Coke Zero actually tastes like Coke. While a true side by side test reveals a difference (esp. the way the sugared variety coats your tongue with the feel of sugar), Coke Zero is a true substitute for Coke for those who don't want to (or can't) drink sugar.

Now, if they'd just come out with Caffeine Free Coke Zero for the evenings...

Books = Money

2008-05-22T18:52:00.003-04:00

This past weekend, the Friends of the Medford Public Library held their spring book & bake sale. Remarkably, this sale and its fall counterpart, which rely on donated books and volunteer help, raise $15,000 to $20,000 per year for the Friends, in spite of most items being priced between $0.50 and $1.25. Pretty darn impressive if you ask me.

What's wrong with hats?

2008-05-22T08:47:00.001-04:00

I'm a big fan of Wired columnist Lore Sjoberg, and his current entry is a typically entertaining (especially for geeks) look at warnings that should be included on movies:

"WARNING: Indiana Jones is a fictional character. His movies are all set decades ago. He is more physically attractive than 98 percent of humanity. These are all reasons you should not attempt to dress like him."

For the record, though, I've been wearing an Indiana Jones-like hat since before I even knew about the new Indiana Jones movie, and I look darn good in that hat, if I do say so myself.

Birthday weekend on the Vineyard

2008-05-10T15:11:00.001-04:00

We're spending a couple nights at The Madison Inn in Oak Bluffs, a town on Martha's Vineyard. Cute place, cute town, though not everything's open for the season yet. Tomorrow, we'll explore Vineyard Haven and some other parts of the island. For now, it's nice to not have to think about dishes, my to do list, etc.

Epicurious.com won't delete my account

2008-04-28T18:53:00.004-04:00

A few months back, I created an account on Epicurious.com to test out the Facebook Beacon advertising feature that was in the news. After playing with it a bit, I decided I really didn't want an Epicurious account, so I e-mailed their customer service department asking them to remove my account. No response. So, I contacted them again. No response. I e-mailed their parent company's customer service. No response again. It's now been several months, and I haven't so much as gotten a response, and the account is still active. I've since noticed in their privacy policy that they make no commitment to remove accounts upon request. Talk about terrible business practice. They may have my e-mail address, but they'll never be getting my business (or my ad views).

Daylight savings tricks

2008-03-13T16:03:00.001-04:00

Another one of life's little "a-ha" moments: when you realize that the reason your Palm has been reminding you of things an hour late all week is because of the time change five days earlier.

Comcast should be ashamed

2008-02-27T13:09:00.002-05:00

Not only did Comcast pay people to fill seats and cheer them on at a recent FCC hearing where Comcast's practice of discriminating against certain network traffic was being questioned, but they have a ridiculous "defense" of why they did so:

Comcast spokeswoman Sena Fitzmaurice said it hired seat-holders only after an advocacy group called Free Press urged its backers to attend.

"For the past week, the Free Press has engaged in a much more extensive campaign to lobby people to attend the hearing on its behalf," Philadelphia-based Comcast said in a statement.

Does Comcast really not see the difference between paying people to fill seats and cheer for a cause they've been told to cheer for and organizing citizens to voluntarily attend an event and cheer on a cause they're invested in? I really wish the broadband market was more competitive so that people could actually cancel their accounts in protest.

United we fly?

2008-02-21T17:52:00.002-05:00

Thanks to a combination of my own stupidity and the stupidity of United Airlines' policies, I had quite an adventure trying to fly home from San Francisco to Boston yesterday. Here's how it went down:

I skipped my usual practice of checking the flight status and time the night before my flight because my 24-hour wireless Internet access that I'd paid for had expired.
Believing, as I had all week, that my flight left SFO at 10-something in the morning, I checked out at 7:45. Before getting a cab, I decided to use the free wireless in the lobby to check the flight status.
Oops! The flight was 8:31, not 10:00 or later, as I'd thought. Uh-oh.
I hopped in a cab and arrived at SFO at 8:10, 21 minutes before flight time. And the departures board said the flight was "delayed," though it didn't specify how long.
I tried to check in (quickly, of course), but I learned that I was too late. Apparently you can't check in less than 30 minutes before flight time, even if the plane hasn't started boarding yet.
I had to call the Continental reservations line to rebook myself onto a 1:00 flight. No chance of standby on the 11:30 flight, because it was way oversold. After confirming a seat for me at 1:00, the reservations agent told me that I should call back after 9:00, because then the change fee for reticketing me will only cost $50, not $100, because the price goes down within four hours of flight time.
I ate some breakfast and then called back at 9:05 to reticket, which went fine. I was now out $50 and had a confirmed seat on the 1:00 flight.
Around 9:20 or 9:25, I decided to go through security so that I could take advantage of the stores and restaurants within the secured area of the terminal.
At 9:30, I got through security and checked the departures board. The 8:31 flight that I'd "missed" was now listed as departing at 10:00 (ironically, the time I'd originally thought it was supposed to leave).
Since I had nothing better to do, I walked over to the gate where that flight was departing, and I saw that it was just boarding. I asked the gate agent if there was any way to fly standby, since I was booked on a later flight. Amazingly, he said, "yes."
Five minutes later, I had a boarding pass for my original flight. Shortly after 10:00, I took off. Depending on your perspective, I was either an hour and a half late, right on time, or three hours ahead of schedule!

Now, my most important lesson from this experience is that it's important to double-check to make sure you know your departure time. However, I'm also convinced that United's policies are out of whack. Why lock out check-in before the flight starts to board? There's clearly enough time to check in, get through security, and get to the plane if boarding hasn't even begun yet. And why is it cheaper for me to change my ticket at the last minute than farther ahead, especially if both are on the day of the flight? And, just for good measure, why is the 11:30 flight heavily oversold but the 8:31 flight swimming in extra seats? Shouldn't United contact some of its 11:30 flight customers to see if they want to switch to the earlier flight?

Oh, well. At least I got home safely and even without sitting around the airport for several hours. I'm still a little bitter about the $50, though.