It's funny what the little things tell people about you...

HOW TO: Wrap Gifts

Every Christmas season, I am thankful to QuizWedge's mother who taught me how to wrap gifts at my very first paying job. (I wrapped hundreds of gifts for her clients.) But every year, I have to carefully dig up the lessons from memory and work hard to warm up the old muscle memory. So, as a service to Mod-Bloggers (and everyone else), RealSimple.Com has up a great how-to on wrapping gifts. If your presents always wind up looking like a mish-mash, this may be the key to improving your presentation!

Made me laugh

From here.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy birthday, CRChair!

Let's all wish CRChair a VERY happy birthday. He's a good brother, a great friend, and a faithful member of the Mod-Blog team. Please leave your birthday wishes below in the comments.

If you need to laugh today...

Zynga Takes Back Stock Options

Zynga, a company famous for its many online games such as FarmVille and Words With Friends has issued an ultimatum to some of its employees: give up some of your unvested stock options or be fired. Being fired, they would lose all of their unvested stock options. When choosing to work at a startup, stock options are typically part of the benefits package and may be given in lieu of a market salary. Zynga said that they are trying to balance expected payout with performance and reclaim some options to give out to attract new talent. What Zynga is doing is wrong. Personally, I would be leery of joining a company with stock options that had just taken some back from employees.

A Moderate's Take on Occupy Wall Street's Eviction

Being a moderate is not refusing to take a side. It is having a mind open to both sides of an argument, willing to listen and sensitive to perspectives. It also means willing to call out sloppy and foolish thinking when it rears its head. The eviction of Occupy Wall Street from Zucotti Park is a good example of this kind of thing. Liberals see it as black, Conservatives see it as white. The truth in in between.

The Case Against the Protesters

On the one hand, the comments by protesters show their complete loss of context. They criticized police for "destroying my home", for "exercising authority I do not recognize", and "evicting people without due process". A park is NOT a home. You don't own it by squatting there. And the authority of the NYPD over a NY park is not in question. It was right to clean out and clean up the park. The violence and health risks in the camp needed to be addressed, and the NYC authorities have shown remarkable restraint up until now.

The Case For the Protesters

On the other hand, the protesters are exercising their rights of free speech, free assembly, and the vast majority were peaceful. So, they have a point when they object to being forcibly removed AND not allowed to return. While we are annoyed and bored with the whole thing, we can't deny them these rights. At the very least, we must ensure they have somewhere else to gather (although not necessarily to encamp). Remember, the whole point of free assembly and peaceful protest is to allow an airing of ideas that are contrary to the establishment without requiring violence. The annoyance that we feel is the weapon they have to draw our attention to what they perceive as great evils. If we deny them this outlet, their only alternatives will be to tolerate evil or fight it violently (i.e. with riots).

Ignore or deride Occupy Wall Street (or the Tea Party for that matter) at your own risk. Better to engage them in dialogue... if they are willing.

Breast Milk contains Stem Cells

The use and harvest of stem cells has been a moral quagmire for the last decade. On the one hand, stem cells - the undifferentiated cells that will eventually form all of the highly-specialized cells throughout your body - could be extremely useful for treating diseases ranging from cancer to Alzheimer's disease. On the other hand, the primary source for stem cells is aborted fetuses, many of whom were created and aborted specifically to harvest these cells. When one believes human life begins at conception, it is a case of trading one human life for another, without consent.

But new research may offer hope for stem cell therapies without the moral complications. It turns out breast milk may be up to 2% stem cells. This may provide a cheap and renewable source of stem cells for research and therapy, and may allow pregnant women to "bank" a supply of stem cells during their reproductive years for use later on if they develop disease.

Star Wars vs Social Ills

Can't help wondering if they had to can Jar-Jar's anti-drug campaign. "Meesa no like whoopie-whoopie pills!"

Equal Time - Rick Perry Fights Back with Humor

Points for trying!

Farewell, Rick Perry Campaign. We hardly knew ye.

Last Night: Governor Rick Perry


1992: Admiral Stockdale

REMINDER: 2 PM is the first NATIONAL test of the emergency broadcasting system

Today is the first ever test of the National Emergency Broadcasting system, which can only be triggered by the White House. It will go off at 2 PM EST, and will preempt all television and radio programming for about 1 minute. Some radios and TVs may turn on automatically in response to the signal, and some may fail to show the "This is only a test" infographic. But don't panic - it is only a test.

Adobe Surrenders in the Flash Wars

When the iPhone was released, Apple was castigated for one serious omission in their otherwise superlative web browser - THERE WAS NO FLASH PLAYER! Flash had been an important part of making the web more interactive. Surely, Steve Jobs wouldn't exclude this important technology, right? "Not so," pronounced Apple, "HTML5 could do everything Flash did, and better, with superior battery life for mobile devices." The critics grumbled, but consoled themselves that eventually Apple would come around. And competing mobile Operating Systems made "Flash support" a central part of their marketing campaigns.

Five years, five iPhones, and two iPads later, Apple still hasn't included Flash and yet remains the dominant player in the mobile space (although Android now ships more phones). And Adobe? Adobe has surrendered, ceasing all development of Flash for Mobile Browsers. Instead, they will focus all efforts on enabling developers to build Apps and deploy HTML5 solutions.

Election Day!

It's election day! Use this Google Gadget below to find your local polling place!

Will Cain-Gingrich debates remind us of Lincoln-Douglas?

Political debates have steadily devolved over the decades from critical discussions of important issues into soundbite showcases, where candidates struggle to belt out pithy one-liners in hopes they'll make it onto the evening news. This frustrates candidates - who feel their nuanced positions are reduced to slogans - and it frustrates voters - who feel like they're not voting for a candidate, but for a bumper sticker. So, it is exciting to see two of the major Republican candidates experimenting with a different style. Calling back to the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates which solidified Abraham Lincoln as the leader of the anti-slavery movement in the Republican party.

The long-form format of the Cain-Gingrich debate will consist of only three or four basic questions, a moderator who will try to stay out of the picture and a great deal of crossdiscussion.

The debate will focus on federal entitlement spending — on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Gingrich will be specifically required to defend his criticism — later retracted — of U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan’s plan to reduce a $14 trillion deficit.

Cain will be required to explain the intricacies of his “9-9-9” plan — a measure that includes a 9 percent corporate tax rate, a 9 percent personal income tax rate and a 9 percent national sales tax.

Will this work? Will it cause the fortunes of these two men to rise or fall? I have no idea. In modern America, we sometimes expect our candidates to be shrink-wrapped perfection. But it is a bold and interesting experiment, and if it can raise the tone and incrase the depth of the current cycle, I am all for it.

Rights can't be taken, but you can lose them

Our society is obsessed with Rights. We invoke them at every turn to justify all kinds of stupid and antisocial behavior. So, it is nice every once in a while to be reminded that even the most sacred rights can be lost, if you actively abuse them. The Right to an Attorney is one of the most basic rights in the Constituion, guaranteeing fair trials, but even that is not absolute.

Monson, 28, already charged with attacking two defense attorneys, allegedly stabbed his third attorney Tuesday.

Snohomish County Superior Court Judge David Kurtz refused to declare a second mistrial. Instead, the judge ruled Monson has forfeited his right to be represented by counsel because of his courtroom behavior. The judge cited case law. He told Monson he's on his own in a trial on a felony drug charge.

Remember, folks, Rights aren't magic words that automatically get you out of trouble. They are cherished protections offered by God or by Law, to preserve freedom and ensure justice. Respect your Rights, or be ready to lose them!

OLPC continues its descent into madness

I was very excited about the potential of the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) project at its outset. The dream of putting a working, low power computer into the hands of poor children to empower education was exciting. And the prospect of escaping a world of $1000+ portable computing was engaging as well.

But the reality of OLPC has been depressing. The OLPC XO-1 was delivered underpowered (both in terms of CPU and battery life) and overpriced. It failed to make serious inroads in poor nations, and generally wound up becoming expensive doorstops and showpieces for donors to the "Get One Give One" program. It's real legacy was showing computer makers that there was a demand for low-priced, highly portable computers, which lead to the Netbook revolution and ultimately set the stage for game-changers like the iPad.

But still, the OLPC project's founder continues to dream dreams with no connection with reality. The newest brainstorm of Nicolas Negroponte? Throwing tablets out of helicopters onto unsuspecting villagers in poor nations. No, really. The expectation is uneducated tribespeople would welcome these new and exciting tools... ignoring the fact that many have probably never seen a computer.

Oh, well. OLPC lost my faith - and my donations - years ago. Here's hoping they do more good than harm before the charity is finally forced to admit its failure and fold.

Loved, Missed, Never Forgotten

"Occupy" protesters target Iowa Caucuses?

Normally, when you are trying to make an argument, you lay out your facts, show how they hang together, express your strong sentiment, and then let your listener respond. Apparently, not so for the Occupy Wall Street Movement who is threatening to "shut down" the Iowa Caucuses (both Democrat and Republican) unless their demands are met. Those demands remain nebulous.

The plan, Cordaro told CNN, is, “people coming to Iowa, occupying every presidential (candidate’s) office, shutting them down until they start talking real turkey about what’s going on in this country, where the 99 percent of the people who are not benefiting, at the expense of the 1% who are getting away with murder.”

The irony of asking for an expression of the public mood, then threatening to shut down a public forum, is apparently lost on Occupy Iowa.

“It’s ironic that this group would choose to disrupt the most grassroots-oriented process in national politics – the Iowa caucuses,” he said, explaining that that those who volunteer in campaign officers are trying to make a difference in the country’s direction and demonstrating “true grassroots.”

Does the "Occupy" movement really have an agenda and a plan? Or are they just trying to keep the fun going as long as possible, regardless of outcome?

As a moderate with sympathies with their original stated goals (holding people accountable for the market meldown), I am losing patience waiting for an answer.