Plaxico Burress, I don't get it.

I get that Plaxico Burress had a gun, and that he shot that gun in public, but he only shot himself... by accident... in the leg. Remind me because I can't seem to understand, why are we punishing him? How is he a danger to society?

I think it's safe to assume that Plexico learned his lesson about firearms but where is the civil threat?

Frankly, if I were the football player responsible for catching a pass that toppled perfect season of the New England Patriots, you're god damn right I'm carrying a gun. Fact I might even carry two. This is a perfect example of an individual aiming to protect himself and the state eroding that right. I'm not a big second amendment kind of guy, but I do take some level of comfort, however crazy the thought, in the fact that American can protect themselves.

Maybe I'm missing something big but from my perspective now the treatment of Plaxico Burress's case is totally not Platinum.

Platinum Links

1. Check your grammar online for free...up to 100 words.

2. This is what I will use from now on to explain computer issues to my parents. Enjoy!

3. It's really odd to be able to find out so easily something I've wondered about for quite a while...how much money my parents (well, one of them) makes.

4. This article just makes me sad. This is, check that, was a really great neighborhood that seems determined to drive away business. There are two things that come to mind when I read something like this:

1. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Everything involves tradeoffs. You can keep your neighborhood looking exactly the way it looked however many years ago you moved in, but that means that there won't be new businesses and many of the old ones will leave eventually.
   
2. "Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard." - H.L. Mencken

5. I find myself thinking about this article in the context of every job I've ever had. Great quote:

And I know this: the first sign that you are outside of your strengths is when you can’t make yourself do the work you need to do.

6. Smartlists...read the one about the defense department. Fascinating stuff.

Sonos: Triple Platinum

After almost three years coming Sonos has finally released their album, and it flippin rocks like the atomic number 78 thrice over.

They bring a mix of electronic feel, to the extent that at times it's like you're listening to Radiohead, while maintaining a Gardin State soundtrack feel. Basically get used to shivers down your spine and a sudden motivation to do something with your life. The greatest thing though, and here's the curve ball... it's all human voices. Tons of effects but all live and beautiful. Truly the next generation of vocal music.

It also helps that the beatboxer in the group is yours truly's older brother. But in all bias aside. These kids but don't take my word for it. Listen to their samples on Amazon.

No internet at my house till the end of the week...

1. For those of you wondering what I want for my birthday.

2. What's striking about this post to me is how similar it is in many ways to my own experiences. I had some good teachers, but I had a large number of awful teachers. My high school, except for one teacher, was a joke. If anyone deserves credit for the successes I've enjoyed, it's my parents. This whole article just seems to reiterate the idea that for the vast majority of students in low-income schools, there is little value add by the school and you can essentially predict their futures based on their home lives. Very depressing indeed.

3. I'm sure that there's some sort of economic idea underlying this quote from a guy who I consider to be the best sportswriter in America. The post, as they all are, is funny throughout.

You're 29. You've been dating the same girl for nearly three years. She is the best catch of her college friends. One of her less fetching friends meets a guy who is wealthier and more successful than you. Inexplicably, he proposes within seven months. It makes no sense. She totally outkicked her coverage with this guy; he doesn't even know about her "Girls Gone Wild" appearance yet. Still, the whole thing plants those "if she's getting married than what's wrong with me?" doubts in your girlfriend. She wants a ring and she wants it now. You can't believe it. You thought you had already worked this out -- you were going to wait to get married until you were financially stable. You take her out to dinner and make the following argument: Look, just because somebody proposed to your crazy friend doesn't mean that (a) she's better than you, or (b) this should affect your situation in any way.

4. This is probably the best museum website I've ever seen. It's amazing how the videos of 9/11 still visibly shake me. In case you don't know, it takes a lot to get a rise out of me.

5. And on the flipside of that equation, my college has a new website (that they designed internally). My friends and I have already had a long discussion about the website, which we think is a slight upgrade from the previous website, but which still lacks polish. I wonder whether a school has ever done a student competition for redesigning a website like this. Groups of students (art, computer science, psychology, etc.) could band together to create something really cool that actually works. Hell, open it up to students/developers all over the place. Innovate!

Platinum Transparency

I know, I know, ...long hiatus... inconsistent... no excuses... apologies abound. Moving on.

From the majority of my posts about non-platinum activities, you would think I wasn't an optimist. Here's a great up and coming technology that many government agencies have come to use since President Obama's call for greater transparency, in particular with regards to the Recovery Act funds. Learn more by clicking on the demo video, or go straight into playing around with the live applications. The three listed are Recovery Act funds, HUD Recovery Data, and TARP data. The point of the software is not only to mash together seemingly incompatible data sources (whether it's RSS feeds, Excel spreadsheets, or what ever else one could imagine), but it also draws from these sources in real time, and displays the information in a concise and clear way. For example, all of the information in the Recovery Act live application tracks every dollar spent of the money given to federal agencies, states, and even bureaus with agencies. As another example, the TARP live application indicates what banks received money, how much, how they're faring, and their track records since receiving the money. Furthermore, you can embed these applications in iGoogle and the like. My buddy Shawn would certainly be able to explain it better than I can, but I do plan on incorporating the software in the way I do data research. I highly recommend downloading it and playing around with it if you work with data.