I’m trying to use custom post formats on my blog. The quote format is messing it up because I like to include commentary, hat tips, etc., but there’s nowhere to put it.
Congress may revive a bill prohibiting U.S. tech companies from working with governments that digitally spy on their citizens. Bruce Schneier responds:
“Of course, the bill won’t go anywhere, but shouldn’t someone inform those members of Congress about what’s been going on in the United States for the past eight years?”
Use whatever social media you want. Feel free to use it on company time. Just use common sense and remember that if you publicly identify yourself with the company’s brand then act in a manner consistent with that brand. It’s in all of our best interests to do so.
President Obama posted the full text of the speech he’ll deliver to students tomorrow. Here’s an excerpt:
And no matter what you want to do with your life, I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You’re going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.
And this isn’t just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.
You’ll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You’ll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You’ll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy.
We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don’t do that — if you quit on school — you’re not just quitting on yourself, you? re quitting on your country.
Was this speech that Obama planned to deliver the whole time? I don’t know. I don’t care. I’ll give Obama the benefit of the doubt. I want my son to hear this and be inspired to learn.
Update (Sept. 8, 2009). Imagine my surprise when Jamison told me he hadn’t heard Obama’s speech at school today. I never imagined that a public school in Oregon wouldn’t show the speech to 6th graders.
No one will ever stand up in most of your churches and say something really stupid, and that’s a shame, because the pastor shouldn’t be the only one who gets to have fun.
Mr. Obama won the White House while promising that his brand of kinder, gentler diplomacy would better rally the world against bad actors. Now would be a good time, and North Korea the right place, to prove it.
President Obama spoke these words in his commencement speech at Notre Dame earlier today. I may not always (or often) agree with President Obama, but if this will be the tenor of his office — and those who disagree with him — then these next few years can be focused on policies and not politics.
Please, let’s make this more than a pretty turn of phrase.