We should declare a truce in the war on paper:
However, the World Wildlife Fund has taken this to the extreme with a new nonprintable electronic document. Patterned after the highly successful PDF (Portable Document Format) that has revolutionized electronic document sharing and storage, the WWF format takes the decision away from you.
Intellectual purity may be satisfying, but it's not necessarily effective:
Every ideological stripe has those people. There are people who argue that Obama isn't a true progressive because of X, or that so-and-so isn't a true conservative because of Y. The difference isn't in the existence of these people, but the percentages of these people. Libertarians seem to have a higher percentage than most other groups, and this may be why we are so ineffective.
Beware, anonymous posters:
The Indianapolis Star has asked the Indiana Court of Appeals to decide, possibly for the first time, whether the state's journalism Shield Law and state and U.S. constitutions protect media outlets from being forced to disclose the identities of anonymous posters to their websites.
A state worker who was supposed to inspect the miniature train that derailed Saturday — killing 6-year-old Benji Easler of Gaffney and injuring 28 people — resigned Monday after he told officials he falsified an inspection form last week that cleared the train for use.
Amen on liking the notification:
A new program was adopted that promised better customer service while saving the state of Indiana $2 million. It turns out the program may be failing to get some renewals out on time.
Blogging has been a little light this week. I'm on the panel that got to interview 17 high school students for the journalism scholarship we award each year, and this was also the week the editorial board began doing endorsement candidate interviews for the May primary. I'll to pick up the pace next week.
(The students were exceptionally bright and talented this year. Usual crop of candidates so far, though.)
Eyes on the road, people!
Most drivers who admitted to using the internet while driving said they were most likely to do so while at a stop light or stuck in heavy traffic, but ISP troopers say fender benders are just too common when using a cell phone.
The study reported that just under a quarter of drivers with smart phones admitted to using the internet while driving.
Wishful thinking from a delusional NFL fan:
But what happens if a game or two is lost from the season? What happens if this thing drags into November? What happens if — gasp! — there is no NFL in 2011?
It would be smart to make a plan to keep that denial from turning into panic and despair. With that in mind, here are a few suggestions to help make those long, empty Sundays a little more bearable.
I am both a huge "Jeopardy!" fan and a science fiction reader who has wondered a lot about artificial intelligence and the singularity. So it couldn't be anything but Must See TV for me on Feb. 14, 15 and 16, when the two best "Jeopardy!" champions of all time are taken on by IBM's supercomputer, Watson. What is involved in Watson being able to compete is remarkable:
I've been hearing these annoying ads for the 5-Hour Energy drink on radio lately, going on and on about what a hassle coffee is -- you have to brew it or buy it, wait for it, fix it up and blah, blah, blah. But, instead, we could just be throwing down a shot of this booster and be good to go instantly, just like people do 7 million times a day! But I don't consider coffee a hassle -- it's a ritual, and I like my rituals. It makes a nice sound while it's brewing, and it smells wonderful.
