A Ray Kroc Quote

“It’s easy to have principles when you’re rich. The important thing is to have principles when you’re poor.”

Ray Kroc

The Spam-as-Free-Speech Argument

A convicted felon is appealing his spam conviction. His lawyer is arguing that the legislation against spam violated free speech:

“…Lawyer Thomas M. Wolf said the state law that makes bulk e-mailing a felony is unconstitutional because it fails to distinguish between commercial messages, which are not covered by the First Amendment, and protected political and religious speech.”

link: U.S. court urged to hear spammer’s appeal

If Mr Wolf would like to volunteer his primary email address, the internet community certainly would like to send some ‘free speech’ to his inbox.

Catherine Forsythe
Director of Operations
FlyingHamster

A Ray Kroc Quote

“It’s easy to have principles when you’re rich. The important thing is to have principles when you’re poor.”

Ray Kroc

Big Brown Draws the Inside

Big Brown has the inside position at the Belmont Stakes. He will be starting from the ‘Number One’ hole. In a shorter race, this might be a concern. Big Brown could be boxed in and not have a free run. However, the Belmont Stakes is not a short sprint. It is a mile and a half; and the inside position may give Big Brown a shorter run over the initial furlongs:

“…”I just can’t see a post position getting him beat,” trainer Rick Dutrow Jr. said. “As long as we break good, I can see us getting a good trip. There is not a lot of speed in the race. If we need our horse early on, he’ll be there for us.”"

link: Big Brown draws rail for Belmont Stakes

For all this confidence that Rick Dutrow has in Big Brown, there is a legitimate contender in Casino Drive. Big Brown’s jockey, Kent Desormeaux, knows Casino Drive well and he knows that the horse can have a good run. And even in a small ten horse field, there always can be a surprise as Big Brown tries for Triple Crown history.

Catherine Forsythe
Director of Operations
FlyingHamster: http://flyinghamster.com/

Turning Computer Technicians into Pseudo Police

There is possible legislation in Michigan to require computer technicians to report images of child pornography found on a computer. The argument raised with this type of legislation is considerations of privacy versus security:

“…”The most important thing is, right now we are not required to report any cases of child pornography,” Tomaszewski said. He noted current laws do offer a computer technician legal protection should he or she tell authorities about suspicious child pornography found on a client’s computer.”

link: Computer techs may be made to report child porn

Although the technicians are not allowed to search for images on a computer, should they be compelled legally to report questionable pictures? It opens a whole legal quagmire about what technicians should or should not be doing. The legislation, with all its positive intentions, may leave the computer technicians legally vulnerable, no matter what they do.

Catherine Forsythe
Director of Operations
FlyingHamster: http://flyinghamster.com/