Month January 2011

For me and my prison friends, Egypt is personal

Maajid Nawaz, co-founder and executive director of Quilliam. I’ve been dragged through the dungeons of Egypt’s underground state security headquarters myself. The infamous al-Gihaz sits in the middle of Cairo and inspires fear in all who walk past. Anyone taken…

Jerry Brown to California cities. Stop your sobbing

At League of California Cities luncheon last week, Gov. Brown harrumphed that this was no time for “turf wars,” telling attendees they needed to deep-six their “narrow perspectives.” All of this might have sounded lofty and high-minded, as the governor…

New media, social media analysis from Baekdal

Thomas Baekdal has impressed me for a while by consistently providing in-depth insight, research, and analysis on the ever-changing, continually more important world of social media and new media. He recently started Baekdal Plus, which gives you access to even…

Michael Vicks’ dogs make a comeback

Sue and I do cat rescue and fostering. Currently we are fostering two kittens that were found abandoned by a road. They were traumatized and starving when we got them. Now they are happy and playful, as well as…

Really Bad Idea of the Day

Shining laser beams into the eyes of pilots landing at airports. Imagine the surprise of the pranksters doing it when they get arrested and discover it’s a federal offense. Kids: leave those laser pointers at home when you go near…