The decision by the US to continue imprisoning people who are too difficult to prosecute but too dangerous to release amounts to imprisoning them for a thought crime. The situation is exactly the one P.K. Dick’s (and Steven Spielberg’s film adaptation) Minority Report warns against, which is the situation of people being convicted for nothing more than the strong possibility they will commit a crime. Now in the US, some people are treated as guilty even though they are legally innocent.

Public and pundit opinion is divided on Apple’s iPad. The reaction to Steve Jobs’ portion of the iPad announcement was noticeably tepid. Some are saying the iPad is just a big iPhone, betraying the fact that they understand nothing about user experience. They also overlook the fact that the iPhone is a runaway hit whose adoption rates are increasing.

On the other side, some Mac faithful set their WABAC machines»WABAC machine explained.« to 8 years and 3 months ago and exhumed Rob Malda’s editorial comment regarding the iPod’s debut: No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame. Nearly a decade later and they’re still mocking someone for failing to predict the success of a consumer device»which statement is more opinion than forecast.«. Even though the iPod was monumentally successful, the phrase “get over it” comes to mind.

For my part, I do think the iPad will generate computing markets whose vitality will surprise everyone, including the cheerleaders. I think the price points are good to start and suspect they will improve in models to come. But mainly, I’m really looking forward to using Aji Reader PDF on an iPad come May.

A few days ago I had a conversation with an old friend. He hails from New Jersey and New York City and presently teaches at a small Midwestern liberal arts school. My friend was pretty angry about the current economic and political situation in the United States. His complaints seemed unrelieved, and their tone reminded me of the tone of my own complaints when I was teaching in Ohio.

I think I understood some of what my friend was feeling. I don’t think there are any easy solutions. It’s much easier to observe the fact of social dysfunction than it is to heal it. Mark Morford’s sprawling recitation of the bitterness of disappointment and the acridity of complaint exactly characterizes the U.S.’s ascendant maiaise. Morford finishes

The obvious question is where do such people go next.

This video just blew me away. It gets especially sick right at 8:40. Worth every second.

I miss Fall 1989, when I listened to Belladonna and The Wild Heart almost daily.

This is awful news for everyone, including those not obviously affected, namely families whose household incomes are north of $100,000 per year. The lack of jobs for the nation’s poorest not only strains overextended social programs. It also exacerbates the conditions which produce and sustain poverty. Low service, low education, low outlook.

How can this be made right? This is one of the defining questions of the second decade of the 21st century.

This is parenting I can get behind.

Asa Watten, the son of my friends Barrett Watten and Carla Harryman, is an advisor for GTECH, a non-profit that works to renew and reclaim blighted urban soil for new development.

Presently, GTECH is 11th in the Pepsi Refresh Project»I know.« which will award $50,000 to the top 10 ideas. I hope you cast a vote for GTECH if you think it a worthwhile project.

The real question is who were those 325 assholes?

Remember when earthquakes were rare»This question and the premises on which it is based are purely impressionistic, backed by no statistical data whatsoever.«?

I’ve been avoiding news stories regarding the recent earthquake in Chile. I’ve been nervous about being shocked. I don’t like the idea of vulture blogging. I’m saddened more than 300 people died and feel guilty for feeling relief because the toll was not higher.

The pictures below speak for themselves»I never featured pictures from Haiti because I was too scared to look at the pictures.«. I’m curious about the buildings that remain standing in the first two pictures.