A lot of the iPad ads around the neighborhood are being amended by someone with a big marker. I have to admit that ads with all that white space are really asking for it.
I missed getting a photo of the one that said iFad, but I managed to remember that my phone has a camera on it so I was able to get a bad photo of iPad Thai

I've really been meaning to start posting more, but keep finding other things that seem more important.

However, I've made a commitment to myself to write at least two posts a week for the next couple months.

Now, I can't decide what to write about so I decided to start slow with something silly instead of highly political or technical.

I got a funny email yesterday. Someone in Canada searched the words hotels.com confirmations back on bookings using google. That led them to my two year old rant about hotels.com. Somehow they decided to click the "Get in Touch" link at the top of the page and use the contact form to make the following request of me:

I booked on line with Hotels.com and have Not received a confirmation of my booking. This is a booking for only the Roosevelt Hotel and cannot be changed because of my meetings scheduled with clients in your hotel. Must have a confirmation back today. No other Hotel will be suitable, Thank you for your prompt assistance on this matter.

Well, Mr. Pederson, I wish you luck but as I'm sure you figured out: I have nothing to do with your reservation or hotels.com.

This past Saturday was the 7th NYC Drupal Camp, and apparently something I said started a little bit of a twit-storm.

As part of the introduction to the event, I was asked to give a quick introduction to Open Source/Free Software. I've given similar presentations at many of the past camps and other conferences, and it was a busy week so I did not really prepare as well as I should have so I improvised a bit more than I usually do.

I pulled out one of my earlier presentations and gave the fastest possible history of the GPL, Free Software and the relationship between the copyleft nature of the GPL sofware license and the community-centric development process of a tool like Drupal.

I'm wondering why there has not been any real discussion in the press or information distribution by activist organizations about New York State Ballot Proposition 2. The wording of the proposition seems very different from the actual change to the State Constitution that will be enacted if the proposition passes. Is this about allowing prisoners to volunteer at nonprofit organizations or is this about allowing prisons to force inmates to do unpaid labor?

The past week has been very difficult. After a long struggle to provide care for her at home, we admitted my mother to a psychiatric hospital. Sadly, it's the only care option we have that does not require winning the lottery.

Even with what we thought was good insurance and medicare, the sad reality is that the options we would prefer are all beyond what my parents, my brothers and I could afford. There is still a good chance that providing for her care long-term will bankrupt my parents despite their once reasonable retirement savings, pension and social security.

According to recent estimates, 2.4 to 4.5 million people in the United States have Alzheimer's disease. [1]

Alzheimer's is the seventh-leading cause of death in the US. [2]

Neither Medicare nor private insurance covers the type of long-term care that people with Alzheimer's need [3]

While there is no movement in private insurance to add care and services for Alzheimer's dementia patients, in 2001 political pressure forced an increase to the list of services that are available via medicare. [4]

While this still does not provide coverage for the things that most experts feel are the most effective, at least it's a start.

When care decisions can be made by doctors and government bureaucrats, there is the potential to apply pressure to force changes that benefit patients. With those decisions in the hands of accountants concerned with profit and shareholders, care continues to be limited. It seems that the only times for-profit health insurance expands what is covered it's because elected officials have passed laws to force them to do so.

I wish there were fewer accountants and more bureaucrats between my parents and their healthcare.

1: http://www.nia.nih.gov/Alzheimers/Publications/adfact.htm

2: http://www.alz.org/alzheimers_disease_facts_figures.asp

3: Chronic illness By Ilene Morof Lubkin, Pamala D. Larsen page 481

4: http://www.alzinfo.org/alzheimers-treatment-overview.asp