BijanBlog

Students today

The story about the kids in Boulder is an inspiration. 50 students walked out during the Pledge on Thursday. They objected to the "under god" phrase. Even the principle was impressed.

I'm still digging into the background of this story and whether other students around the country are going to do something similar. Or maybe they already are?

Someone should ask our presidential candidates what they think about this. I'd love to hear what they have to say about separation of church and state.

What's wrong with Apple lowering their prices?

A bunch of people are upset with Apple's decision to drop the price of the iPhone price.

And so Steve even apologized.

The folks at Wired have a blog post called the 4 Mistakes Apple Made with the iPhone Price Drop.

But I just don't get all the drama. People are upset that Apple lowered their prices?

There is one group that I kinda get in the "i hate lower prices" crowd. These are the folks that bought an iPhone and just don't like it. For whatever reason. And they wanted to sell it on eBay. And now their slightly used iPhone isn't worth a lot compared to their original month1 purchase price.

Other than those folks, I'm with Wired reader Mike who had this comment to the Wired post.

Technology and Buddism

I've been following the very good TEDBlog's coverage of TEDGlobal 2007 this week. Well worth reading. Powerful information.

A few days TEDBlog posted an earlier video of Bob Thurman's talk (taken on 12/06) about how an all connected world, delivered by technology means that we can know anything at anytime. From TEDBlog:

"And this mass enlightenment, says Thurman, is our first step toward becoming Buddha. When we can know everything, we can see how everything is interconnected -- and we can begin to feel compassion for every living being."

Wow.

Here's the video. Hope you like it as much as I did.

War czar ?

The White House is now looking for a war czar. They are actually looking for a new leader to run the war in Iraq and the policy there. Shocking but true.

As usual the Daily Show has a hilarious follow up.

(this video expires 5/11, link to video here)

Bill Clinton speech from the TED conference

I hope to attend TED one day. It looks amazing and everyone I know that has participated has come back inspired and charged up to make a difference.

This years TED prize winners talks are now online.

I really enjoyed Bill Clinton's speech about his efforts to make the world a better place. It's a bit lengthy to watch on your computer but highly recommend it. Very powerful.

More than a feeling

The NYT op-ed piece today calls out President Bush and the White House on their past and present attacks on those against the war in Iraq.

In particular, the President was even nastier than usual in his recent attacks against citizens against the war. The latest Bush attack cites that people against the war whose children are at risk are  too "emotional" to judge things clearly. Ridiculous.

This is making me sick.

Apple Store meets the Back Bay

Apple is building a store in the back bay and the demolition started a few weeks ago. My office is just a few blocks away so I can't wait. Here's a blog dedicated to the construction project complete with web cam and other info.

I found this blog on Outside.in which I'm loving by the way. Awesome local content.

I guess this means I should blog today

My horoscope today :)

Breaking the curse

  googleplex07 
  Originally uploaded by shspaceflight.

Last week when I was in California I had a meeting at Google and saw the Googleplex in Mountain View. It brought back a bunch of memories that I'm just processing now.

For folks that have never lived in Silicon Valley or just moved there recently you might not be familiar with the significance of this building. It used to belong to SGI.

When Microsoft bought WebTV we moved from Palo Alto to Mountain View across the street from SGI's newest building. SGI built this building when they were the darling of Silicon Valley. It was gorgeous. (In fact we sneaked into the building on occasion because the cafeteria was amazing.) By the time we moved across the street the writing was on the wall for SGI and the building became the latest victim of the curse. The curse that haunts companies when they decide to build a huge campus - and once they do their business goes downhill. Sun and Borland probably started this curse. Maybe there were others before.

Google has been renting the SGI building since '03. But last summer they officially purchased the building from SGI. Would they fall victim to the curse? It's only been 8 months since they took ownership but it's pretty cool to see a young company fend off the curse and kick butt.

I'm still cheering for Google.

Local Tragedy

I was in Denver today for a board mtg. Lauren called me mid-morning and told me that a 15 year old boy was stabbed in our local high school by a fellow student. He died. I don't know the family of the victim but I feel sad and sick for them. I was thinking about it all day. Absolutely tragic.

I need to think about what I'm going to tell my kids in tomorrow.

Here is full the story if you are interested.

MLK

Remembering Martin Luther King Jr. He would have been 78 today.

Celebrating a man of peace.

We Shall Overcome (live) cover by Bruce Springsteen

Dangerous

Both Dems and Republicans are calling W's plan for more troops dangerous.

It's not only dangerous. It's tragic. It's also opposite of the Iraq Study Group's recommendation. Regarding troop increases they said:

“adding more American troops could conceivably worsen those aspects of the security problem that are fed by the view that the United States presence is intended to be a long-term ‘occupation."

We gotta get out of there now.

Carbon Neutral

I did my homework and TerraPass looks like a very good choice.

I just signed up and am doing something to reduce my carbon footprint. My car and house are now carbon neutral for the year.

I'm sure there is more I can do besides offsetting my house and car and the recycling we do already. But it's better than nothing.

Give it a try or at least consider it.

Freaky weather

Yesterday it was 63 degrees.
Today it's supposed to be 60.

in Boston.
in January.

This is getting very freaky. maybe it's time we actually watch this dvd which has been on our mantle for months

Free Hugs Campaign

I know many of you have already seen this video but since this blog has become my journal of sorts I gotta post about it.

At first I was a bit shy frankly to share this on my public blog for some reason. It's embarrassing to admit that. But I agree with Dave Winer when he says "it feels good to let go"

If you haven't seen this video than you are in for a treat.

Click here to learn more about the Free Hug Campaign and how it started .

To my friends in SF :-)

My friends in SF tease me a lot for moving to Boston. They make fun of the weather here amongst other things.

Well it's late December and the weather this month has been so mild.  Today it was 52 degrees and in SF it was a lot messier.

For today at least, I'm loving beantown!

Poverty

I don't know why it took me so long to make a donation to the One Campaign.

But I did tonight and it's the right thing to do.

Inspiration

My friend just sent me this link from NYT Op-Ed piece today. A reminder why today is a Federal Holiday.