Friday, June 29, 2007

Random Thoughts Redux

More random thoughts. I'm getting good at random thoughts.

The car bombs in London are sobering. I am not convinced that things are very secure here and I still don't believe our agencies cooperate with each other like they do in England. The Department of Homeland Security is still run by a man who didn't know that the civic center in New Orleans was a human disaster----and it was being shown on TV all morning. I believe that my lack of confidence may be very justified. It doesn't make me happy, however.

Roger Clemens is 1-3 pitching for the Yankees who are paying him an obscene amount of money to pitch half the season. It has to make you wonder.

My wife, Janet, sent this quote to me from Sojourner's.

The church has only two alternatives in its confrontation with the world: either it adapts itself to the world and betrays the gospel, or it responds to the gospel and enters into conflict with the world.
--Rene Padilla

My sense is that we are better at the former than the latter.

The recent Supreme Court ruling on racial issues in schools concerns me.

John Roberts' words that the only way to end racial divisions is to end racial divisions is on many levels very true and good. Idealistically we should not need to be creating the diversity that we are creating to assure a good education to everyone. The problem is that it doesn't work out this one in the real world. I fear that we have taken a huge step backwards.

Crystal Meredith, the Louisville mother whose lawsuit brought this case forward said this:

"My son is my world and I will never regret fighting for his rights." "I only hope this case has brought attention to the school board and to the community that each child's education is more important than their plan."

I, as a parent, understand children being 'our world' but in all cases we, as communities, need to see what is best for all the children of the community and not just some. What concerns me is that her fight was about what benefited her son and not what was best for everyone's children.

Lisa Nowak's attorney has stated that it is outrageous that it was reported that his client wore diapers on her road trip. There were diapers in the car but not on her and her attorney has stated that these claims were made to make her look bad. I don't want to justify anything but has anyone come up with the obvious here? She lost it and had a mental breakdown. It seems amazing to me that we put very bright people in very stressful and dangerous situations where they are under intense scrutiny and they break---and we throw them to the dogs. I feel for this woman, I really do.

Finally, on I Phones. They have batteries that, when they die (not just need to be recharged), you have to replace the entire phone. Every have a cell phone battery die on you and need it to be replaced?

Consumer Reports has consistently ranked ATT/Cingular pretty much at the bottom of effective cell phone providers. You need to sign up with them to get an I Phone.

They are using a wider but slower network----all these 'extra' features of watching video clips and "You Tube" on your phone will need high speed access and it won't be as high as it probably needs to be.

Why do I want to watch movies on a 2 inch screen?

Finally, it looks great on TV. Have you ever purchased a computer product that worked as well as they advertised? Admittedly Apple has a better track record than Microsoft but I'm just curious to see how this works out.

Finally, I Phones are really expensive and the plans you need for them are really expensive. I am paying enough as it is.

Speaking of Microsoft. They've probably done a great money saving favor for many people. People don't want to purchase new computers right now because all new computers come with Microsoft Vista and Vista has helped Mac sales a great deal. Bill, Bill Gates, XP worked well! Still does. Vista is a dog! Learn a lesson from Coca Cola. New Coke didn't work!!! They pulled it.

Wow, New Coke. I wonder what rocket scientist dreamed that one up. Makes you wonder if Michael Chertoff used to work for Coco Cola...

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