Air Force One

I was inspired by this article to create my own Air Force One flyover photograph.

Neocons and Torture

Unfortunately, the defense being mounted by Bush, Rice and the rest of the neo-conservative crowd is that torture was effective. The effectiveness of a tactic has nothing to do with the legality.

As many people have pointed out, the waterboard used by Pol Pot is on display in the genocide museum in Cambodia. It should not take that type of reminder to remember that torture is bad and against the American and Human ideals.

The only way to prevent torture and preserve human rights in the future is to bring people who authorize torture to justice. Obama very cleverly has exempted the perpetrators from this because as the Milgram experiment showed, they were just following orders.

If there are international or domestic criminal charges levied against the people who authorized torture then Neo-conservatism, and perhaps conservatism, will be haunted forever.

Sun and IBM Talks

Did anyone else notice that neither Sun nor IBM have actually commented on the swirling acquisition rumors. The story today is very sensationalist. As a shareholder of one of the companies, I would love to know what is really going on. Maybe one day there will be a book about the deal, similar to Barbarians at the Gate.

The current assumption is that there is going to be some consolidation in enterprise hardware/software. Market values of many technology companies have fallen significantly, and there are many companies sitting on cash hoards. I would not be surprised to see big deals being made once the credit markets have returned to normal.

Bruins Playoff Commercials

The Boston Bruins have a new set of commercials that are must-see Youtube. Here for your viewing pleasure. The first is definitely my favorite, though I like the “live fish” effect in the third.

Wal-Mart Health Records Part 2

I was contacted by some representatives of Software Advice, a website with electronic medical records reviews. They have written about the Wal-Mart and eClinicalWorks relationship on their blog.

In my post I noted how the move was quite unusual for Wal-Mart and how it was a radically different strategic direction. I believe that Wal-Mart making this shift for a few reasons. Top on that list would be Wal-Mart’s ever-growing need to be part of the healthcare market.

Unfortunately, the medical software market for SMBs still is not very mature. I do not think that a small doctors office could load up the software and set it up for their practice, like QuickBooks. The ever-changing regulatory environment, along with the customization required by each organization, makes it unlikely that doctors will flock to Sam’s Club to adopt this.

Ultimately, I agree with the folks at s that this probably is not going to be a highly successful venture. However, it does provide Wal-Mart and eClinicalWorks a buzz and another channel to market their wares.

Retro Seiko Clock

I was at the Marriott in Pearl River, NJ for the last two weeks. For some reason I was booked in without my status, so I had to stay with the plebes on a non-concierge floor.

I didn’t mind giving up some luxury because of the clock that was in the room. I usually do not rely on hotel clocks because they are usually impossible to figure out. However, I made an exception in this case because this is minimalist and simple to understand.

The only thing I had to worry about was the battery. At any rate, seeing this clock made me think that I should ditch my 80s clock radio for something similar to this.