Tuesday, October 19, 2004

Google Desktop Google has done it again. First it was the original Google web search engine. Then the Google Toolbar, the first good integration of a search engine into a browser. Then Google News, using the Google search technology to build a newspaper drawn from thousands of news sources around the world. Then Froogle, another use of the Google search engine to search for product prices. And now, Google Desktop, an application of Google technology but this time to the information on your personal computer -- integrated into the Google web search so that you can search one place for material either on your PC or on the World Wide Web. Very impressive.

Monday, October 18, 2004

Without a Doubt This is an incredible piece of writing from the New York Times Magazine of October 17, 2004. It is long, but once you start reading it, it's hard to put down. Although I obviously disagree with George Bush on just about everything, I found this article insightful about how he thinks and the direction he wants to take this country.

It seems that with little knowledge of history or of the world, and lacking the ability to analyze and think deeply about issues, George Bush falls back on his intuition mixed with the Bush-family bravado / confidence and labels his "no discussion" decision making process "faith-based" and himself "called by God" to make these decisions. The "Faith-based Presidency" is in contrast to the long history in the USA of "Reality-based Presidencies" where issues are debated and differences of opinion encouraged as a tool for arriving at the best decision.

Included is a roadmap for Bush's second term including the appointment of at least one Supreme Court Justice, with the possibility of a total of 4 Justices. I am more worried then ever before for our country and the possibility that George Bush might be re-elected. I used to think the article in Slate about the "Faith-based Missile Defense System" was a funny spoof. Now I see that Slate was prophetic about the entire Bush administration. And it's not funny anymore.

Click here to read the article.

Paris 2004   Marsha and I traveled to Paris for 16 days in September and October. We took a lot of photos and kept a diary of our experiences. Although I still have a lot of work to do to present the photos in the context of our diary, you can see what I have in place now. I will be updating this site continuously in the next month, so check back to see new pictures, panoramas, videos, and maps of our trip.

Click here to see our Paris 2004 travelog.