Entries from October 2008 ↓

SCENE: Unnamed strategy room in the West Wing.

Bush: Hey, Gatesy. Look, our boy M.C. Cain is running a bit behind in the polls. This economy thing is really a drag. We need to do something militaristic to make M.C. look like the choice.

Gates: What do you have in mind?

Bush: Maybe we can bomb someone, or invade someone? How about Iran? They’re downright Un-American!

Gates: Sir, with all due respect we’re already stretched a bit thin with our operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Bush: Well, c’mon. There’s gotta be something. That’s what I pay you for. Figuring out who to invade. What can we afford?

Gates: I think I’ve got a free helicopter in Iraq. We could send that into Syria. Take out a couple of civilians.

Bush: Syira? Are we at war with Syria?

Gates: Of course not. But, that would certainly stir things up a bit.

Bush: Gotcha. Okay, let’s rock and roll!

Whatever the local military factors involved in this US operation, it would be unthinkable to imagine that an incursion into Syria would not require a policy decision at a high-level.

At work, I’ve been busy with our various products, and trying to squeeze in some time to prepare for my four (!) talks at PyWorks. Yowza.

At home, I’ve been busy with the usual things that one is busy with when you have a child, a wife and a house. In addition, I’ve been working on a top secret project that has been brewing (in my head, and only recently in reality) for a long time.

Blogging will pick up again. This is just the way things go!

A company called OLO Computer is working on a small laptop that’ll cradle your iPhone and allow you to use it with a large screen and full keyboard.

[From DVICE: OLO to turn your iPhone into a laptop]

This thing looks cool. It just needs to:

1. Come into existence
2. Work
3. Not cost a fortune
4. Not somehow get shutdown by Apple

I was thinking that the eeePC looks pretty neat, but this could be even nicer.

This is not surprising:

In the most unsurprising revelation imaginable, two former Army Reserve Arab linguists for the National Security Agency have said that they routinely eavesdropped on — “and recorded and transcribed” — the private telephone calls of American citizens who had absolutely nothing to do with terrorism. The two former NSA employees, who came forward as part of journalist James Bamford’s forthcoming book on the NSA, intercepted calls as part of the so-called “Terrorist Surveillance Program,” whereby George Bush ordered the NSA in 2001 to eavesdrop on Americans’ calls in secret, without first obtaining judicial approval as required by the law (FISA). That illegal eavesdropping continued for at least six years — through 2007.

[From Major shock: Eavesdropping powers abused without oversight - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com]

It’s just sad. President Bush has done so much damage to our country in so many ways. This is why it’s disappointing that the clock has run out to impeach Bush.

Fantastic-looking new Mac-only, WebKit-based web browser from the creator of Fluid: Mecca.

User scripts and plugins make it more like Firefox. It has some really nice looking UI features.

While I generally agree that there is more than just openness to choosing between iPhone and Android, I do take issue with this quote in an article that compares iPhone development and Android development:

The first generation iPhone sold pretty well, but was only after the debut of tools like push email — intended for business use — that sales of the iPhone 3G soared.

[From Macworld | iPhone Central | Opinion: iPhone trumps Android]

To try to make the connection that the iPhone sales increased because of features like push mail completely ignores the fact that iPhone sales increased after the price dropped to $199. The ability to install new applications and a huge price drop undoubtedly did a lot more to grow iPhone sales than push email.