Don't Back Down

So I've been trying to get my new Audiovox SMT 5600 working with ActiveSync. Enabling a synchronization with the desktop was super easy. Really. Getting it to work with Exchange has been less so.

Since he has the same phone, I asked Scoble for some insight. Despite an amusing interlude where he thought I worked at Microsoft and tried to point me to some intranet sites, it wasn't terribly useful. Scratch that. It wasn't useful at all. It was entertaining. So I Googled and I Googled and I finally Googled some more. Nothing.

Read "Exchange 2003 ActiveSync" »

This year sure seems to be having its problems with voting. There are those in the Carolinas who are finding out their email requests to receive absentee ballots weren't valid. Nevermind that the request was sent via a link on the board of elections page saying that it was allowed. Someone in Pennsylvania is having a similar problem with their abesntee ballot that went missing in the mail.

Tell me, please, why our country has so much difficulty with the concept of elections? Home to some of the largest technology companies in the world (arguably the largest, but many of them are international), home to companies that produce not only hardware but software, surely someone someplace could figure this out. Is it really so difficult?

Not too terribly long ago, the City of Charlotte (technically, the City Council of Charlotte) decided to spend more than $400 million on a basketball arena. This building was then essentially given to the owner of the new basketball team to operate as he sees fit.

Read "Roads or Basketball" »

"Government can do certain things very well, but it cannot put hope in our hearts or a sense of purpose in our lives."

I like that one. Sums it up nicely. There are undoubtedly some things that the government - any government - can do well. Very well even. But it cannot do everything. What I don't get is why people (okay, politicians) continue to insist that government can solve all problems.

Read that again. Government cannot give us hope. It cannot give us a sense of purpose. I agree with these things wholeheartedly. Government is welcome to do what they do well, but those things ought to be in the background.

Read "The Place of Government" »