Archive: June 14, 2004

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more under God

Monday,  06/14/04  07:44 AM

The other day I noted my objection to the phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance.  I don't hold this view that strongly nor is it something I feel is particularly important to settle.  My main concern was that lawmakers seemed to be emotionally overreacting on this issue instead of treating it as a legitimate test of the constitutionality of blending church and state.

Well, the Supreme Court has ruled, and they essentially wimped out.  The case was dismissed because the plaintiff, Dr. Michael Newdow, did not have sufficient custody of his daughter to represent her in this action.  They did not speak to the central issue of whether a national tradition like the Pledge of Allegiance could or should contain references to religious deities.

So be it.  I imagine this will merely open the door to another challenge at a later time.  Perhaps it is just as well, we hardly need another issue to divide the country right now, and this would have been far from the most important...

 

Monday,  06/14/04  11:43 PM

If you're an L.A. driver, check out this great interactive traffic map.  Best of all, it works perfectly on my Treo 600 (in "wide mode").  This is great!  [ via Jason D - thanks! ]

I have a little Pioneer GPS map in my car - I've often thought the killer application would be live traffic updates for the GPS map.  A two-way service, you get traffic updates in exchange for telemetry from your car reporting on traffic (essentially, your position and velocity).  Great recurring revenue business which could ride on the two-way paging networks.  I'd subscribe!

Cult of Mac reports on cool zoetrope ads being used in Tokyo subways.  The idea is to put a whole bunch of images on the subway walls adjacent to each other, and as the subway passes them you see a movie, kind of like thumbing through the pages in a flip book.  What a cool idea!

Congratulations to Dave Winer for two years of non-smoking.  Wow.  Glad you're still with us, Dave, and not just for your excellent blogging.

Time Magazine: Meet Joe Blog.  I always think of Dave Winer as Joe Blog :)

This is interesting, AlwaysOn reports Starz has partnered with RealNetworks to provide a video-on-demand service.  $13/month for unlimited movies.  This is the first time someone has tried a subscription model for VOD over the 'net, I predict it will work.

And here comes news that Netflix is planning video-on-demand in 2005.  Not surprising.  I always thought of Netflix as a nice service based on transitional technology; they must realize the future of movie distribution is online, and they want to be part of it.

I'm now using SnapperMail 2.0 (beta) on my Treo 600.  Not an earth-shattering upgrade, but nice.  In fact, I like nice; I didn't have to re-learn a whole new UI or anything, it is just better in a few important ways.  If you have a Treo 600 this is the application to use for email.  In fact, if you don't have a Treo 600 you might want to get one just so you can run SnapperMail :)

Have you seen the new Apple PowerMacs?  Water cooled!  Dual 2.5GHz on the high end.  In addition to the performance improvements, the other new thing is a faster DVD burner - now 8X.  Wow, I want one!  (And please give me credit for not saying, "wow, these are cool" :)

Apple has been on a roll recently - the new AirPort Express, new G5 models, and so on.  And in just two week they have the Apple Worldwide Developer's Conference, traditionally a wild "just one more thing" Steve Jobs demo affair.  So with all these announcements before the conference, one wonders what they're going to announce at the conference!

And here we have - a TV wristwatch!  When you absolutely must have "reality" intrude on your reality.  According to the review the battery lasts an hour.  It is really small, but still too big to practically fit on your wrist.  Oh well, it is cool.

Adam Curry reports "The producers of 'Gilligan's Island' are teaming with the producers of the "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette" to bring you The Real Gilligan's Island'."  And one of them could be you!  Unbelievable, but inevitable.

 
 

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