Jake Allen’s Ockhamist.com

Focus Brands, including Cinnabon, Carvel, and franchise partners (including my company) are taking a leadership role in aiding the Red Cross in Hurricane Katrina disaster relief.
Companies are aiding with out-of-pocket help, employee payroll withholding, and other forms of monetary aid to the American Red Cross. In the more than two years I have been […]

The AP has a satellite map of New Orleans, including enhanced options to see the extent of the damage.
Wow.

1) Why did it take (is it taking) so long to get relief supplies to the newly homeless? Was it really the fact that everything was ready to go, but the Louisiana governor did not fill out the proper form to request federal aid? Or, was it a breakdown in the chain of […]

I know I speak for Blandus in saying that we at Ockhamist.com mourn with our nation over the passing of Chief Justice William Rehnquist.

From across the political spectrum, all who knew him are repeating a common theme: He was kind, and had integrity.

Democrats stick to their principles.
OK, it’s a hoax after all.
Madness!

I tried unsuccessfully to run Linspire 5-0 this last night and this morning, and am downloading Xandros now.
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about Windows Vista, due to arrive in about a year, and how learning Linux could save me a bunch of money when I buy my next computer. I don’t run a […]

The New York Times helped develop the following because they can no longer trust their own “journalists“:
The LexisNexis data collection service has introduced CopyGuard, a program aimed at exposing plagiarists or spotting copyright infringement. According to John Barrie, chief executive of iParadigms, the company that developed the program with LexisNexis, CopyGuard can generate a report […]

DSC00733

Originally uploaded by Jake Allen.

This is a test post from flickr. I am using the flickr interface to to it. I am (slowly) moving most of my pictures to flickr from off my site. I can only upload 20MB per month, so it will take several months to upload everything. I […]

How to travel to Western Europe; pt. 1
I am not the most qualified person to write on this topic. Traveling oversees is a complex (but rewarding) endeavor, one that cannot be even summarized, much less fully realized in a blog. However, from many conversations I may be the person most likely to tell […]

I’m watching “Angela’s Ashes”, and it’s at the part where Francis is working for the Post Office.
Maybe I should get a job at the post office.
One day I’ll get to America too.

Why are so few people discussing the illegality of the mandatory evacuation of New Orleans? It seems that good intentions are paving the road to a loss of civil rights.
We have the right to stay in our homes. If there is evidence of a crime, then a judge can issue a […]

AIDS, poisoning, or infection?
New allegations say Israel not involved in Yasser Arafat’s death, but that he probably had had AIDS. Israeli doctor claims food poisoning. The mystery around his death will mar his image historically, as it may weaken his revolutionary status among the Che, Bolivar, and Washingtons of history. We may be […]

Here’s a whole bunch of reasons not to flush our money. Thanks Meredith. Great read. I argued with Blandus on the phone the other day about how New Orleans should be rebuilt from a property-rights standpoint. I was wrong. Flush it.
New Orleans puts the “D” into dysfunctional. Only a sadist would insist […]