AUTHOR: Drew Bryden
DATE: 6/12/2003 10:28:43 PM
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<strong>This was originally printed as a letter to the editor of the <a href="http://www.capecodonline.com/">Cape Cod Times</a>:</strong><br /><br />We need to escape our reliance on fossil fuels and develop alternative forms of non-polluting energy, but not in our back yard! We need jails to house our criminals and keep them off our streets, but not in our back yard! We need housing for the homeless, but not in our back yard! We need a well-trained military to protect us, but do not train in our back yard! We need tourism to support our economy, but stay off our streets, out of our stores and off our beaches!<br /><br />Wake up Cape Cod! We do need all of the above and we must find a way to achieve these things while sharing an ever-shrinking back yard. This "not in my back" yard syndrome is making this peninsula an increasingly negative place to live. It will be this negativity that drives the life-blood of our economy (tourists) away, not the Cape Wind farm or any other addition to our landscape. <br /><br />This is our back yard Cape Cod, and we must find our solutions here.<br /><br /><em>Visit <a href="http://www.cleanpowernow.org/">Clean Power Now</a>: a citizens' grass roots group supporting the timely, considerate development of offshore wind power on Nantucket Sound.  <br /></em>
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AUTHOR: Drew Bryden
DATE: 6/12/2003 09:40:35 PM
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<strong>Now I've heard it all...</strong><br /><br /><a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/91764p-83249c.html"><em>Inmates at the federal jail in Brooklyn are copyrighting their names and filing multimillion-dollar liens for unauthorized use in legal papers and transcripts.</em></a><br /><br />If this isn't an example of what our legal system has become, I don't know what is. It is not bad enough that inmates have more money spent on them than middle income salaries, and receive better health and dental care than the average Joe. Now they are trying to collect for copyright infringement on their names? I read a story the other day about a jail that was considering adding more cable channels to reduce inmate tension. Reduce inmate tension? Try taking their televisions and music away - that would reduce tensions! Mandate they not talk for the rest of their sentences. A silent environment may help reduce stress.<br /><br />These people are in prison for violating our laws and we are footing the bill for these dead beats. Inmates should lose all their rights when they go to jail! They had no respect for the rights of others when they comitted their crimes. It is time they be treated in a manner equal to their offenses. The only rights they should have are the rights to food, water and basic health care.They should no longer be allowed the access to resources for pursuing such time and money wasting suits and liens.<br /><br />Our criminal justice system is in dire need of an overhaul!
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AUTHOR: Drew Bryden
DATE: 6/8/2003 09:07:00 PM
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Hard to believe, but I have been without an internet connection for  the last five days! Earthlink technical support was very helpful. Unfortunately, hours on the telephone were required to solve the problem (hopefully permanently). Still no explanation as to why and how my connection configurations suddenly changed, and why they were so difficult to reset. What I first thought was a router problem, then thought a modem problem, then a password issue, turned out to be a big fat  question mark with no explanation as to why my networking configurations seemed to be configuring themselves.<br /><br />I should become a technical service guy. These would be my two favorite answers:<br />1) "Well, computers are just quirky things - sometimes they just do things we can't explain."<br />2) "Do you have a Windows disk? Yes... well, try deleting everything."  
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