Memorial Day Diary

There is a lot to remember on this holiday. As a product of the Viet Nam era, I am constantly reminded of the potentials of war gone bad. But rather than dwell on a potentially divisive issue on this day (I'll leave that for another post), I'd like to offer some numbers for your reflection. Warriors die in wars. An axiom, that. But so do the innocent, many children. So consider this:

War has claimed the lives of 2 million
children in the past ten years.

Today, about 20 million children have been forced to leave their homes and communities because of war.

Landmines, one for every 29 children around the globe, remain ready to claim their next victim.

Speaking about war zones check out this article in the U.K.'s Guardian News for a great analysis of the recent U.S. - Iran talks about Iraqi security.

On the technology front, I am intrigued by the news that Facebook has opened its API, creating an open platform for third-party applications. Everybody's Widgit will work on Facebook. I am quite impressed, as this is so NOT MySpace philosophy or behavior. Kudos to the Facebook team for having the good sense and the cojones to take this stand. Now if someone will just hand me a ready-made app to mine political data and trends from the social network space, make that a dashboard with multiple functionalities, I'll be ready to rumble.

For a real political rumble, check out this very gratifying video of former Presidential aide extraordinaire, Andrew Card being BOOed at the UMASS commencement - where he was awarded an honorary degree. This is just wonderful footage of popular outrage. Gotta love it.