terrorism paranoia in the uk

some cops detained, arrested and released an innocent man on the tube because he was “suspicious”: The police decided that wearing a rain jacket, carrying a rucksack with a laptop inside, looking down at the steps while going into a tube station and checking your phone for messages just ticked too many boxes on their …

josh’s ten insane ideas

Josh Ledgard, a program manager at Microsoft, has an interesting blog entry: “Ten Insane Ideas for Microsoft.” Some of it is pretty mundane, like towel service, but he makes a few great points: 1. The “2 Secrets” Rule So, I propose the “2 secrets” rule. Every VP must tell their groups what the two protected …

bush a wimp on genocide

Nicholas D. Kristof calls George W. Bush “A Wimp on Genocide in Sunday’s New York Times: Mr. Bush’s position in the U.N. negotiations got little attention. But in effect the United States successfully blocked language in the declaration saying that countries have an “obligation” to respond to genocide. In the end the declaration was diluted …

Justice Denise Bellamy lays the smackdown

Jim Coyle writes in the Toronto Star about the toronto computer leasing scandal: The first volume of the Toronto Computer Leasing Inquiry report was called Facts and Findings. It was called this, presumably, because the title Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them has recently been taken. Otherwise, it’s easy to get the impression …

ui designers at large

From Membranophonist: a good fix for the iTunes CDDB dialog he then points out a vestigial modal dialog indicating something was succesfull. Lots of other good stuff there too. Next, ThinkMac rethinks the spotlight window. Their design is lacking a few things, like an “all” button. I’m not convinced. In a satire of iTunes 5, …

great mac os x software

Over the past couple of years, many of my friends have started using a Mac. I often find I’m recommending software to them. Sometimes it’s because they ask; sometimes it’s because I’m so enthusiastic about a program I just have to tell them. The single most indispensible utility for me is LaunchBar. I use it …