August 22, 2009
legalizing drugs
This past Monday, an op-ed by Peter Moskos and Neill Franklin appeared in the Washington Post advocating drug legalization. They argued that it would reduce violence (and danger to police) by reducing street-corner drug dealing.
Both were Baltimore city police officers. Not sure what Franklin is doing (he's probably retired, having spent 32 years in law enforcement), but Moskos is now teaching at John Jay college of criminal justice in NY.
I remembered that I've got a picture of him (Moskos) that I took at last fall's Baltimore Bookfair:
I remember seeinghis late father, one time, passing through an office. (Never talked to him, but I knew of his writings.) His dad was the famous military sociologist, who may be best known as the leading advocate of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy.
computerizing your car
I just came back from an event, today, in Baltimore organized by MP3car.com with speakers from out-of-town (Phoenix, Atlanta, Lafayette (IN), Reston, and Westminster (MD)).
After that, they had a contest for cars (vehicles) with the best computerization. There were touch screens, galore. Guys came from DC, MD, and VA, of course... but there were also license plates from Ohio, Colorado, and Pennsylvania.
Quite eye-opening and provides a lotta food for thought. (One guy told me he could IM his car's computer - or was it that it could IM him?)
In any event, I'll try to post some pictures.
August 15, 2009
latest bank failure...
reminds me of...
(I took this photo last summer, when I was in LA. It was after IndyMac had failed and had been taken over by the FDIC. So far, it's been the costliest failure to the FDIC since the financial crisis began ($10.7 billion), says the AP.)