Conservatives and the war

As I've mentioned previously on this blog, though I consider my political views to be liberal-leaning, I'm currently reading a few books by prominent conservative extremists in an attempt to hear the other side. Among these people is Ann Coulter- an infamous ultra-conservative who pretty much everyone considers to be insane.

Ann Coulter may very well be insane- I'm not sure- but I've got to say, she does a very good job of clearly explaining the conservative frame of mind when it comes to America's foreign policy vis-a-vis the War on Terror. Here's a clip of Ann reading from her book Treason, in which she compares her vision of the liberal view toward defending America with the conservative.

I imagine this clip will strike most people as, well, insane. As I was listening to this tonight, my initial reaction was, "Holy crap, this woman's insane!"

But you know what? As un-PC as her remarks may be, there's a degree of truth behind them. Is she really nuts? I don't know. I invite debate.

A few words on Apple

I just watched Steve Jobs' 2004 WWDC keynote speech, which was awesome. Apple and Jobs are the ultimate example of a company that takes new technology and markets it really, really well. It's really inspirational to see all of the new technology Tiger has to offer, and the ingenious, logical, and user-friendly ways in which Apple's packaging it for its users.

One big sour point though: two of the big new features in Tiger are very similar- nearly identical, in fact- to existing Mac applications. The Spotlight search functionality is remarkably similar to the shareware program LaunchBar, and Tiger's Dashboard functionality is a BLATANT rip-off of Konfabulator.

This is very, very bad.

LaunchBar and Konfabulator are awesome products- truly revolutionary programs- that were created by developers who were creating programs that harnessed the best of Mac OS X. It was Mac OS X that allowed these apps to be created. This is good. And Apple should certainly be picking and choosing the best third party utility apps for inclusion into the OS.

But Apple has got to be doing this with the cooperation of their developers, as opposed to stealing from them. Apple should have either hired the Launch Bar and Konfabulator programmers, paid them a licensing fee, or at least acknowledged their groundbreaking efforts before coopting their features.

The fact that Apple has ripped off its own developers so blatantly goes a long way toward destroying the good will of a community of people who is uniquely qualified to recognize just how awesome Apple is in the first place. It's developers like the folks who created LaunchBar and Konfabulator who harnessed the unique features in previous versions of the Mac OS to create truly unique programs- but they won't do it any more if they fear their products are only going to be stolen.

They're poisoning the well.

While we're on the topic, a lot of what made the Mac so revolutionary in the first place was ideas that originated at XEROX.

What Apple is amazing at is marketing innovation. But they must not steal the innovation that they market. Failing to realize the distinction could be Steve Jobs' Achilles Heel.

Apple's Tiger (Mac OS X 10.4) inspires Cheney-esque degrees of awe

Holy $%&*! Or as Dick Cheney might say, &@^&'n aye!

Check out some of the features Apple is showcasing in their upcoming Tiger release of OS X!

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

It's too bad Alfonso Cuaron's Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the third film in the Harry Potter series, because it's the best one by far but unfortunately, the Harry Potter formula is beginning to get old. This film is really remarkable, I'd say- the special effects are fantastic (truly a step ahead of most CGI-laden films), the music perfect, the acting certainly good enough, and the overall tone and mood one of excitement, wonder, and good-spiritedness. But all of this adds up to an overall experience that's a bit underwhelming, because we've seen these characters and settings before, and while Harry Potter's world is truly wonderful, the magic can only go so far for so long.

Fahrenheit 9/11

There's no way in hell I'm going to vote for George W. Bush this November, and I've been enraged by this moron's administration for years, but both of those facts did not prevent me from being filled with anger, fear, and sadness upon walking out of Fahrenheit 9/11.

The technology behind the upcoming G5 PowerBook

Here's an article that details some of the cool (no pun intended) technology that's being created to make the high-speed, high-heat G5 processor work in the small and power-starved confines of a laptop.

A note on my perspective

Every person who talks or writes is expressing an opinion, even when they're trying to convey "facts." That's a simple truth- we're all human, we all see the world subjectively. Therefore, everything we express comes out of some sort of filter.

When trying to form an opinion about what's going on in the world, my favorite cliche comes to mind: "consider the source." I'm not sure who said it first, but that's profound. Always consider the source.

I consider myself to be a fairly liberal person. All things being equal, I'd rather allow someone to do something that I disagree with than to impose my personal will upon that person. Everything is subjective. As long as you're not trying to kill me, or really hurt me- or kill or really hurt the majority of people in our society- then go for it.

Even that statement is tricky. What constitutes "our society?" What constitutes "hurt?" You can go all day arguing these things, and while it may seem trivial to do so on a practical level, on a philosophical level, I think it's valid.

So, everything is subjective, but for society to function, the majority of us need to agree that certain things are agreed upon by all or most. Even that is a subjective thought, but it's hard to get more objective than that and continue to move forward with this type of conversation.

ANYWAY, all of this is a prelude to saying that, liberal as I am, I am currently reading "Treason" by Ann Coulter and "Deliver Us From Evil" by Sean Hannity. These are hard-core conservative books by hard-core conservatives, but I'm reading them with an open mind in an attempt to understand the essence of the opinion that is in opposition to mine.

I'm in the middle of them both, and they're certainly causing me mental contortions, but I figured I'd mention who/what I'm reading now to give you an idea of my perspective (coupled with the fact that I consider myself to be "liberal") as you read the words on these pages.

More to come.

Torture

To me, the whole debate about the way we've been treating detainees is wrongheaded.

The United States should not torture its prisoners. Period. We should treat them with respect and due process- it is the way in which we treat our worst enemies that shows the world our true colors.

I don't care if you're a member of al Qaeda, the Taliban, or the insurgency of Iraq. If the US captures you, you should be treated with human dignity, because the US is a country that is founded on the principles of human dignity.

Now, if someone were to show me a study that proved that using harsh interrogation techniques yielded substantially more truthful information from a detainee, I would reconsider- reconsider- my position. But there's been no such proof. As a matter of fact, there's been the opposite- most "experts" who've testified about the effectiveness of torture claim that it only causes the detainees to make up "facts" to stop the pain.

So, should we kick the shit out of people because we're mad? Nope. In my view, America is a country so awesome that even when we capture our greatest enemies, we're able to overcome our base human emotions and still treat them as humans.

Disagree? Please, if you do, let me know. I'm open to facts on this issue, but so far, I've heard none that say that torture is productive.

How Apple "gets" it

Here's a great article about the naming and marketing of Apple's OS features and related products. The author does a great job of explaining what it is about Apple's products and software that makes them fun to use. Contrast Apple's "iPhoto" digital image software with Microsoft's equivelant "Scanner and Camera Wizard," and the point is made: Microsoft seems to work really hard to make their products sound boring, unsexy, unapproachable, and made-for-techies.

The Terminal

I just saw Steven Spielberg's latest movie, The Terminal. It's a great movie- funny, dramatic, romantic, poignant. Masterfully done. I highly recommend it.

Robert Scoble's Geek Dinner

I had a great time at Robert Scoble's Geek Dinner tonight. Met some fascinating people. To anyone who might have met me and is checking this out, I invite you to browse through some of my archived posts to get a flavor of my interests and opinions, and then reply, rebut, challenge, encourage, whatever. Sympathetic, antagonistic, whatever- I hope to hear from you.

The biggest problem with Bush

There's no shortage of virulent anti-Bush sentiment in the US and around the world. I've exhibited quite a bit of it myself. Conservatives and non-Bush-haters often puzzle at the reason why so many people have such a violent reaction to the man, and to me, it's simple. It's not G.W.'s apparent stupidity, naivete, ignorance, or disinterest in doing an honest, good job of being president. Rather, what makes me hate the man so much is that, even though he assumed the presidency in one of the closest and most contested elections in U.S. history, he makes absolutely no effort- none at all- to appeal to people outside of his conservative political sphere. It's like if you're not with him, he doesn't even believe you exist. And for someone who's so far to the right- and who's lead our country through some seriously controversial, ground-breaking foreign policy- it's maddening to know that he's plugging his ears and humming while the opposition pleads its case.