Coming within 20 feet of Jesus

Today as I was leaving Moscone West to head on over to Moscone South, I noticed a group of people at the corner, one of the women had an Apple badge that said Events (not an expo badge, but a permanent one); then I saw that she had an Exhibitor VIP badge holder for the Macworld Expo. I thought it was interesting, but continued walking. As I was waiting for the light to change so I could cross I heard some commotion behind me and saw Jesus, I mean Steve Jobs, in that group of people crossing the street with me. I'm kind of surprised that no one else even noticed or didn't say anything. With so many Mac fans absorbed in the reality distortion field, I expected some type of uproar.

I continued walking and went on my way. I have no idea where Steve and his Entourage went.

Macworld off to an excellent start (at least for me)

Even though Macworld Expo 2008 hasn't even started, it is off to a good start. 2 companies, Fujitsu announced the ScanSnap S300M (similar to the S300 which doesn't work on the Mac; the Mac specs aren't online, yet) and I.R.I.S. announced the IRIScan2. Both scanners are portable scanners similar to the Pentax DSMobile and make them perfect fits for ReceiptWallet and DocumentWallet. I'll go visit their booths tomorrow when I'm at the expo and check them out. The problem is that I have to buy 2 more scanners; just what I really needed!

Illegal Immigration vs. Speeding

My views on illegal immigration keep shifting, but after a discussion I had yesterday, I think I have nailed down my position (at least for now). It is quite apparent that the US economy wouldn't survive without undocumented (illegal) workers. How many of the former auto works would go out in the fields and do backbreaking work to pick crops? How many would do the low paying jobs just to survive? There are so many industries that undocumented workers take jobs that no one else wants. We should be grateful that they're there to fill in the gaps.

We know that coming over the border illegally is a crime and working in our country without proper documentation is also a crime, but how bad a crime is it? People speed all the time; that's a crime and if caught, people pay a fine (if they speed too fast, they might goto jail) and that's the end of it. The comprehensive immigration reforms packages have proposed that people pay a fine and then they're on their way to a legal status. What's wrong with this? Some critics say that illegal immigrants commit crimes. A large majority of them don't, so why punish everyone?

Let's get realistic about immigration. Sending undocumented workers back is not an option. There must be a way that "we can all just get along". I'm not saying reward those that commit a crime of coming here illegally, but make the punishment fit the crime; who is the crime hurting? If there are specific requirements, i.e. learn English, have no criminal history, have a job, etc., then what is the harm in accepting them into this country?

Flip-flopping is the sign of intelligence

Some candidates in the current presidential race (and prior races) have been accused of flip-flopping their positions on various topics. The media and other candidates make this out to be a bad thing.

We make lots of decisions every day; some good, some bad. We also take up positions on various topics all the time. All of our decisions and positions are based on the information available at the time of the decision. If we gain more information or the information turns out to be false, our decisions and positions may change. Anyone that periodically re-evaluates these is, to me, an intelligent person and if he/she changes a position or reverses a decision, it shows that he/she is unafraid to admit that the original decision or position may not have been correct.

While I don't regret many decisions I've made nor do my positions on topics usually change, sometimes they do. If I were to run for political office, I might be called a flip-flopper and my reply would be "Thank you"!

(I don't endorse ANY candidate and as a non-partisan voter who didn't pick either the Democratic or American Independent parties primary ballot, I didn't vote for any candidate in the primaries; yes, I already sent in my ballot.)