Koplowicz.com

That's right, I'm an official Starcraft 2 beta tester.  I don't have as much time to burn as I did with Starcraft 1 (to say nothing of Warcraft, WCII, or WCIII), but I spared a few minutes to poke around.  Many things I like, but some I don't.

For years, there have been two Holy Grails for mobile devices: (1) Beat the iPhone, and (2) Run Flash.  The first has proven to be surprisingly hard, even after years of innovation and millions (billions) invested by several competitors.  Personally I prefer my Droid because it has a physical keyboard (and other advantages), but the conventional wisdom still weights in favor of the iPhone.

But the second chalice is about to be seized.  By Google.

The New York Times is covering a bill introduced by two Republican senators to strip someone of their citizenship if they've aided terrorists.  Although I support the War on Terror, I can't get behind this.

Why?  It's not because of what the bill does, but what it allows.  It's also about our attitude as a nation toward our citizens.

The New York Times just published an article covering an experiment at a New York high school, in which half the student body stopped texting for two days.  The article lauded the results, which included students finishing homework faster, and having time to spend with their parents.  It also suggested that texting somehow gets in the way of normal social development, by making it too easy for students to communicate without having to actually face their peers.

I just found out that the caterer from our wedding is being prosecuted by the Federal government for hiring illegal aliens.  In response, I want to give this caterer my highest praise.  If you need any kind of event catered in the San Diego area, I highly recommend The French Gourmet.

In my ongoing quest to catch up with my photo backlog, here are the photos from when Yelena's best childhood friend and their mothers came to visit last year.

The New York Times published an op-ed by Gail Collins, complaining about the Governor of Alabama proclaiming April as Confederate History Month, and more generally about Southern revisionism.  I think Ms. Collins is slipping into the classic partisan mode of taking certain things for granted and being unable to fathom the possibility that the other side might see it differently.  True, I do believe the current socio-political chasm in this country is mostly the fault of the conservatives who hunt for wedge issues, but this type of myopia doesn't help.  The truth is, the state vs. federal debate was far from closed at the end of the Civil War, and legitimately lives on today.