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I thought the speech was great, and this was my favorite bit: In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom. For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life. For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth. For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn. ...

I haven’t really mentioned it yet, but I’m celebrating the 10 year anniversary of this blog this year. I consider the birth date of the blog to be December 18, 1998, but I didn’t really get going until January 1, 1999. Here’s one of the first posts, from January 2: See original at archive.org.

Via Bruce Schneier: Remember, if it’s in the news don’t worry about it. The very definition of news is “something that almost never happens.” When something is so common that it’s no longer news—car crashes, domestic violence—that’s when you should worry about it.

I linked to Tim Bray’s argument that Twitter is not a safe place to keep your words. Here’s the other side: James Governor says Twitter is the new London. I find myself agreeing with both arguments.

Matthew Yglesias notes that Martin Luther King should be remembered not only for his views on racial justice but also on his believe in nonviolent protest. For me, King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail will always be the ultimate statement on the urgency of confronting injustice and the proper means by which to do it. The letter was a response to a statement made by eight Alabama clergymen that King and his movement should wait on the courts to address unjust laws rather than engaging in nonviolent protest and civil disobedience. ...

One of the small but persistent questions that’s hounded Barack Obama since he announced he was running for President was whether or not he’d be allowed to keep his Blackberry. The arguments against are based on security (which I don’t really understand) and the archiving requirements of the Presidential Records Act, which came into law in 1978. Today I read that White House employees will be barred from using instant messaging due to the Presidential Rights Act. ...

A couple of weeks ago I noted that music DRM is dead. While that is basically true, other forms of DRM are going strong, and not just in the world of online video content. The EFF produced a helpful report listing other forms of DRM that Apple uses to shackle its products. Consumers demanding fewer contractual and technical limitations on how they could use music that they purchased killed music DRM – hopefully consumer demand will wipe out other forms of DRM as well. ...

Just a quick note on two companies that recently had layoffs. I respect this a lot more than this. Honestly I have no idea what O’Reilly is doing in terms of outplacement, so it would be wrong to pass any kind of judgement on how they’re treating the people who were laid off. The lack of transparency is a bit unsettling. These are tough economic times and layoffs are happening all over the place, but I still think employers ought to take Tim’s advice and make sure they’re creating more value than they capture in their relationship with their employees. ...

Tim Bray asks whether publishing on Twitter is a good long term strategy. The network effect of writing on Twitter is incredibly powerful, you toss your words out there for a bunch of people to read, and the responses they provide are incredibly valuable. I love being involved in a running conversation with a bunch of interesting people all day every day. At the same time, my Twitter posts would in some way constitute a journal of what I’m up to on a day to day basis. I’d sure like to feel confident that they’re not going anywhere. I’m not terribly concerned about it right now, but it bears watching. ...

Over at Talking Points Memo, they’re holding a panel discussion on Barack Obama’s relationship with Google. Are they too close? Here’s a specific question that was asked today: Today over at the Mothership (that’s the TPM Front Page) we see one of the “wire” stories that the General Services Administration is negotiating with YouTube (a Google service) to post federal hearings, etc. Given the uncomfortably close relationship between Google execs and Obama, should we be worried about this? I think so. YouTube is already the default video platform on the Web. But it does not have to be. And there is no clear reason for the government to solidify YouTube’s market dominance. In fact, there is no reason why the GSO could not mandate that all federal agencies post their videos in open forms – accessible, repostable, and mashable – on their own sites. ...