HerringLaw: Civil Rights & Discrimination Law in Iowa

For the lawyers: there are all sorts of free iPhone apps. in the App Store which provide the Constitution, the Federal Rules [various or all of them], and other types of helpful information. And they'll work on your iPad as well.

Why the heck can't the Republicans be forced to Filibuster?

Filibuster 2.0: How 41 Senators Control The Country Without Actually Filibustering | TPMDC

When Republican Scott Brown won the special election for Ted Kennedy's old senate seat last week, the GOP rejoiced and Democrats fretted about the legislative implications of losing their filibuster-proof, 60-seat supermajority. With their advantage whittled to 59-41 -- still a huge advantage, at least in the context of history -- Democrats wondered whether they could pass their signature health care reform package. Some media outlets even declared that Democrats had lost their majority (they hadn't).

via tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com

I've now watched several interviews of Doris Kearns Goodwin on the television explaining that the Republicans should be forced to filibuster.  And I tended to agree.  But, this commentary explains why it's not a practical way to push legislation through Congress.

On the other hand, I'd like to see the Republicans have to own up to being obstructionist.  It's easy to say NO!, it's harder to try to come up with an answer to a problem.  

Daring Fireball: The iPad Big Picture

There was a meta-message in today’s Apple event, not about the iPad in particular, but rather about Apple as a whole. Jobs’s brief preamble included a bit of extra emphasis on the fact that the Apple now generates over $50 billion per year in revenue. (Apple also emphasized this $50 billion revenue thing in their PR two days ago announcing their Q1 2010 financial results.) He also said that when you consider MacBooks as “mobile” devices, Apple generates more revenue from mobile hardware than any other company in the world...this is Apple’s way of asserting that they’re taking over the penthouse suite as the strongest and best company in the whole ones-and-zeroes racket.”.

via daringfireball.net

Buying my Apple stock back in the days when everyone else thought it was stupid [at $7 a share or so - not lots of shares tho, unfortunately] looks pretty good now and for the future.

What We Learned About Apple Yesterday

When I woke up today, it took me about half an hour to get up to speed with the iPad. After I’ve read a couple of articles, I already knew everything there was to know about it (and more): its advantages, its flaws, and its potential.

via mashable.com

Looking at the iPad, a number of people have asked where's the camera, why no flash...etc. This essay makes a good point - that what's not there is as deliberate a choice as what is there.

Engadget: The Apple iPad Examined

The 3G version runs on AT&T and comes with new data plans: 250MB for $14.99 and an unlimited plan for $29.99 a month contract-free. Activations are handled on the iPad, so you can activate and cancel whenever you want. Every iPad is unlocked and comes with a GSM "micro-SIM," so you can use it abroad, but there aren't any international deals in place right now -- Steve says they'll be back "this summer" with news on that front.

via www.engadget.com

Loads of pictures and reviews and details are on Engadget if you can hardly wait == I'm saving my pennies now!

Catalog Choice - Control the catalogs you receive in the mail

The City of Seattle passed a non-binding resolution asking the State of Washington to set up a do not mail registry and directing the Seattle Public Utilities agency to evaluate the existing mail preference services as…

via www.catalogchoice.org

A year or so ago I went to Catalog Choice and signed up, listed all sorts of catalogs I was receiving and really didn't want or need and since then I have had very few unwanted catalogs come to me.  It's a great way to save trees, save landfill, and time as well.  

And most other sources of mailings are probably willing to trim their lists as well.  I was getting snail mail mailings from my phone carrier [QWest] frequently and would just toss them in the recycling bin.  That seemed sort of silly, since they were spending money to mail me and I was just tossing the pieces.  I wrote Qwest [emailed customer service] and they've taken me off their mailing list.  I know where I can reach them if I need to change or improve service.  It's nice not to be getting deluged by all the useless advertising fodder.  So kudos to Qwest as well.

If you need help with an Apple product, some suggestions

Times come that require help, perhaps answering hardware questions or software issues.  I recently sent an email out to my list of "Mac Using Friends" [a list I send to from time to time some helpful information] which discussed this and I thought it might also be helpful to note what I have found helpful in dealing with various Apple products:

First, an excellent ebook series is put out as downloadable pdfs: http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/. If you are a member of a MUG [Macintosh Users Group] there are frequent sales, but the pricing isn't too high anyway.

Also, when I have an issue I frequently check directly with the Apple site, through AppleCare, an inquiry to an expert and with the Community Discussion Forums.  My general advice was:

Support at Apple - in lower left corner is area to "Speak to an Apple Expert" [particularly for those either within the 90 days warranty or with Apple Care] - you can click thru and put in the notes area all the information that may be helpful and set up for you to call at a certain day/time OR for Apple to call you back [I use the latter].

And, if you go to the Communities area [Discussion forums] you can search them for issues and answers or if you want to post and have an Apple ID, you can post  your own questions. 

 I find the Apple Support site, with video tutorials etc., excellent.  Another video resource is ScreencastsOnline.com, where there are tons of tools and free tutorials, and there's a free podcast as well.

Finally, if you're using Leopard you can use iChat's "Share my Screen" ability to let a knowledgeable friend or service provider to come in via the internet to 'see' your screen [not to have access to it] and walk you through issues and answers.  Jon Thompson here in Des Moines [Evolve] uses it all the time [excellent Mac service, fee is reasonable] and has assisted me with various issues.

I hope this is of some help.

Real Life Intrudes: Why those on the L and R who want to kill reform are selfish

and wrong.

From Talking Points Memo: 

If I feel abandoned, it's not by Obama and the Democratic party, it's by those on the left advocating to kill the bill.

I am unemployed and have a pre-existing condition that requires daily medicines, quarterly doctors visits and an annual test. I am on COBRA, which runs out mid-2010, when I will have to find new health insurance. I will need to purchase some kind of health insurance, assuming I can find provider who will insure me

I don't pretend to understand all the intricacies of the health care reform bill, but I do read a lot. From what I can glean, if the bill passed, I would be able to find health insurance because I could not to be turned down due to my pre-exisiting condition. And based on my income at the moment, my premuims would be subsidized.

Am I disappointed in the reform effort? Yes. I believe in single payer. I was terribly disappointed the Medicare buy-in for 55 and older was dropped, not because I give a rat's ass about Lieberman or the political wrangling involved, but because I am two years shy of 55 and I would have loved to be able to tough it out on the private market for a little while longer knowing Medicare coverage was just around the corner. Believe me, it's scary being 52 and unemployed with a medical condition. Any form of security is vital.

My case is not unique or unusual. In fact, it is common. I am one of thousands if not millions with the same issues that this bill would affect. And when I read or hear people from the left arguing against the bill that would likely provide me and people like me with some modicum of security because the bill doesn't accomplish everything they had hoped it would or it doesn't help every last person or the insurance industry will benefit, I do feel abandoned.

Health Care Reform, analysis by Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight fame

Nate Silver is a statistics guru whose analyses of the 2008 election were usually precisely correct.  He recently examined the Senate bill and sought to explain why the present Senate bill, though not perfect, is still better than where we are now in the real world.  Crazy to Kill the Bill.

And he writes further today:

So, we've talked a lot about what the bill isnot. It's not structural reform. What is it, then? At the end of the day, it's a big bleeping social welfare program -- the largest social welfare program to be implemented since the Great Society. And that's really what it's been all along: fundamental reform like single-payer or Wyden-Bennett was never really on the table. The bill comes very close, indeed, to establishing what might be thought of as a right to access to health care: once it's been determined that people with pre-existing conditions cannot be denied health care coverage, and that working class people ought to receive assistance so that they can afford health care coverage, it will be very hard to remove those benefits. It's the sort of opportunity that comes around rarely -- and one that liberals will greatly regret if they turn down.

So, there I was, procrastinating...

and I'm at my MacPro and open the system preferences to check into something.  I wanted to use my headset [which I have never, yet, used but plan to in 2010] to Skype with my daughter.  Curious, I saw the Speech preference and decided to check into it a bit.  

There is a Speech Recognition and a Text to Speech option;  for the former you can have Speakable Items and have the computer follow your commands.  I'd never done that, so got the headset on, did a brief calibration so it could recognize my speech, and tried it.  

I could [and did] ask 'What Time is it?" and it spoke back to me and in writing in the 'chat' box, "5:50 pm".  Then I said "get my mail" and it opened up my email programs, but I'm not sure whether it really got anything, but just that amazed me.  Same thing with the "What day is it?" command.

There's also a speech command for "Tell me a joke".  I did and got a knock knock joke [shades of halloween] and did it again and got another one.  The computer speaks the response and types it into the chat area.  

There are of course more useful commands, but this did amaze me.