Bayosphere

Didn’t I read an article about you looking at the SE P-800? Your analysis is why I decided on a P-800 last year. But the fact that no US carrier has picked it up has me worried. And it was so late, maybe I should go for a newer model. Anyway, have you given up on a phone / PDA-lite combo?

I’m still leaning that way. I’m just waiting for the price to drop slightly, or for the rumored P810 upgrade to arrive…

Whoa. Cycling with honour has meant very little for decades of the sport and this statement would be greeted with sniggering from anyone who follows it. Cycling has been one of the most scandal and drug-ridden sports in recent years, with much criticism levelled at the sport’s governing bodies’ willingness to utterly ignore same, especially, unitl recently, in the Tour de France. Few followers — and I might add, several cyclists I know who nearly went professional — believe many in the pro peletons are not doping at some point, whether in training or surreptitiously in competition. Note: I am a devoted cyclist and love watching cyclists but I’ll believe it’s an honourable sport when every single pro cyclist willingly accepts drug testing on a regular, not random, basis.

If I wanted to give an example of sporting with honour, I’d suggest the incredibly courageous athletes of the Special Olympics, whom I recently had the humbling experience of watching compete at the World Games in Ireland. There, athletes competed with bravery, dedication, and love of their sport. And have to overcome sometimes utterly astonishing personal challenges against their ever being able to do so. And never whine about contracts, pay, managers, television rights, product endorsements or any of the modern day afflictions of so many of our pampered pro sportspeople.

Karlin, you apparently haven’t followed the news about cycling during the past several years.

Cycling HAD lots of athletes who were doping. But during the past several years drug testing has been forced upon every pro cyclist in the Tour. The results have been that the dopers were kicked out. Indeed for that reason, many renown professional cyclist are no longer racing in the Tour de France.

All the top placers in every daily stage of this Tour de France are required to undergo drug tests, as are all the top cyclists in the daily standings. Plus, all the cycles who didn’t place are required to undergo the random test you mention.

So, when Tour leader Lance Armstrong was accidentaly knocked over by a spectator during a race stage earlier this week and the leader of that stage and his main challenger, Jan Ullrich, stopped racing until Armstrong could remount his bike, that’s cycling with honor and without drugs, which is what Dan’s posting was about.

I stand by my comments. I live in Europe and follow the Tour de France every year. Indeed, I took great pleasure in watching it here in Ireland within those ‘past several years — when that particular Tour ultimately became a farcical event in which raids on teams would be followed by a day of cycling and then more raids on teams, the amassing of evidence that the Tour was riddled with drugs, and charges being brought against several cyclists.

Because the competition times have not altered since the supposed crackdown on drug-taking, I find it very, very hard to believe that this Tour, or the sport as a whole, is much cleaner than it has been in the past. There are many, many ways to test negative, as any doctor familiar with doping problems will tell you. And as many Olympic athletes could also explain. The sport is willing to look in the other direction, and always has been.

I don’t know any European cycling enthusiasts who believe this is a clean sport, or that tests as they are currently done mean much. And in respoinding to Dan’s comments I’m addressing the larger reputation of the sport, not a single incident within one competition.

I stand by my comments. I live in Europe and follow the Tour de France every year. Indeed, I took great pleasure in watching it here in Ireland within those ‘past several years — when that particular Tour ultimately became a farcical event in which raids on teams would be followed by a day of cycling and then more raids on teams, the amassing of evidence that the Tour was riddled with drugs, and charges being brought against several cyclists.

Because the competition times have not altered since the supposed crackdown on drug-taking, I find it very, very hard to believe that this Tour, or the sport as a whole, is much cleaner than it has been in the past. There are many, many ways to test negative, as any doctor familiar with doping problems will tell you. And as many Olympic athletes could also explain. The sport is willing to look in the other direction, and always has been.

I don’t know any European cycling enthusiasts who believe this is a clean sport, or that tests as they are currently done mean much. And in responding to Dan’s comments I’m addressing the larger reputation of the sport, not a single incident within one competition.

I think a big issue that involves information design and useability is that these charts are often dual purpose. They are used in a live presentation and then passed on in hardcopy and electronically as a standalone package. It is hard to get the two uses to coexist effectively. Does anyone have any suggestions?

reply first before i can comment.

My name is Roger and I live and operate a bed and breakfast here in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. I am searching for forums that discuss accomodations to see whats new and different in the hospitality industry as there may be something this Halifax Bed and Breakfast owner may learn to enhance his quaint relaxing feel at home haven for people who enjoy a bed and breakfast atmosphere. Your comments have been very enjoyable reading.

Take care and God Bless
Yours truly
Roger B. , of aHalifax Bed and Breakfast

Ok, I appreciate the Right of free speech. As a pilot, I also respect the rights of a craft’s captain, which traditionally have been broad. Yes, an airliner may be a common carrier to some extent. But at the end of the day, the command authority of an airline captain is going to rule.

Free speech should be protected. But those who practice it should also work with a bit of common sense. Just as you cannot yell, “Fire!” in a crowded theater, carrying a button that says, “Suspected Terrorist” on an airplane is certainly in bad taste and worse.

Causing the delay of a flight to make a political statement is, to me, rude. If you effect yourself, fine. But when the captain of an airliner give a passenger an order, generally the passenger has to follow it. That’s the way it is on any airplane. If I had a passenger interfering with my duties, they’d be off in a sec. That’s my perogative.

We need in any free society those people who stretch the outer limits of propriety in exercising the rights many of us take for granted. In their course to expand all our rights, sometimes those people are inconvenienced.

P.S. Be glad that the passengers of this flight don’t sue John for impinging on their vacations.

Ok, I appreciate the Right of free speech. As a pilot, I also respect the rights of a craft’s captain, which traditionally have been broad. Yes, an airliner may be a common carrier to some extent. But at the end of the day, the command authority of an airline captain is going to rule.

Free speech should be protected. But those who practice it should also work with a bit of common sense. Just as you cannot yell, “Fire!” in a crowded theater, carrying a button that says, “Suspected Terrorist” on an airplane is certainly in bad taste and worse. And causing the delay of a flight to make a political statement is, to me, a bit on the rude side.

When the captain of an airliner gives a passenger an order on conduct, generally the passenger has to follow. That’s the way it is on any airplane. If I had a passenger interfering with my duties, they’d be off in a second; my perogative.

We need in any free society those people who stretch the outer limits of propriety in exercising the rights many of us take for granted. In their course to expand all our rights, however, sometimes those people are inconvenienced.

I’m not a free-speech absolutist, and I have no trouble at all with what British Airways did here. If Mr. Gilmore wants to have his little joke, he can do it on the ground. Most of us fly to get from point A to point B, not to make political points. If making such points is what really matters to Mr. Gilmore, then congratulations to him. Mission accomplished. Just don’t put him on the same plane with me, okay? Not that there’s much chance they’ll let him aboard until he grows up.

Please. It’s just challenge/response technology, combined with extra data appended to the email so that the White House can more easily sort the email automatically. That’s all they’re doing. Please don’t read conspiracy into everything. Regardless of political beliefs, keep in mind that it’s good to be more efficient sometimes, and that’s obviously what’s happening here. Along with the need to probably reduce spam…

One can easily infer from this that there is a script that deletes any message where the writer clicks the disagree button.

If it were simply a way to sort the mail, it wouldn’t ask whether or not you support the policy.

>If it were simply a way to sort the mail, it wouldn’t ask whether or not you support the policy.

Do you think politicians avidly scan their mail for policy ideas? The only thing Bush or any other politician cares about is whether or not voters approve of his policies.

If the gauntlet of web pages reduces the number of emails the White House gets, that is a good thing. Why should my tax money pay for several dozen drones to filter out spam, drunken ramblings, and messages typed in all caps?

It’s been a long time since anyone insulted my intelligence as badly as the third sentence of the quoted article:

“In the past, to tell President Bush