Peter's Place

Today is an important day in the annals of the struggle to obtain equality in matters of love: forty years ago, to this day, the Supreme Court of the United States of America ruled that two consenting adults, who are in love with each other, have a fundamental right to marry each other, regardless of their respective race. I've previously blogged about the struggle same-sex couples face in their struggle to achieve " marriage equality ." I've written letters to my congressional representatives in support of extending this fundamental right of marriage to same-sex couples. I've even blogged about the various levels of judicial review that guide courts' decisions in determining the constitutionality (or unconstitutionality) of particular laws passed by various legislatures in our great nation. Finally, we are able to look back a mere ten years to see that little, if any, has changed in the fight to achieve marriage equality. Today, however, a voice fr...

I recently sent the following questionnaire to a group of friends and associates. How would you answer these questions? Feel free to e-mail your responses to me , or leave a comment : What do the terms blog(s) , blogger(s) , and blogging/to blog mean to you (it's okay if you don't know--just say so)? Do you consider blogs to be part of the press ? Regardless of whether or not you think blogs to be part of the press, do you think they should be considered part of the press? Do you consider blogs to be part of the media ? Regardless of whether or not you think blogs to be part of the media, do you think they should be considered part of the media? Do you think there is a difference between the press and the media? If so, what is it? Do you think anyone can create and maintain a blog or are there certain qualifications/skills one must possess in order to do so? Regardless of whether or not you think there are any such qualifications/skills one must possess in order to set up ...

Google ( GOOG -- don't you wish you had bought their stock during their IPO ?) recently announced a developer release of a new service called Google Gears . Gears is a browser extension (mini-programs that extend the functionality of one's web browser), which allows one to access web-based applications off-line (which may sound like a paradox). While this is a developer release (which means it's in the very early testing stages), Google Gears has the potential for becoming a very useful and routine tool for people who use mobile computers to access the Internet when an Internet connection isn't available ( Ms. Berger provides a great web-site that explains, in pretty simple English , a lot of common computer jargon ). For instance, one of the uses of Google Gears is to enable one to read off-line up to 2,000 entries that have been set up in Google Reader , even if one isn't able to get on-line. This is because the entries will be stored locally, on one...

Not too long ago, I had blogged about being out of the political landscape for far too long. To recap, this realization came to me when I discovered that Bill Schmidt -- someone I consider to be a good friend -- had lost his bid for re-election to the City of Peekskill 's Common Council . As it turns out, Bill recently announced that he'll be running for Mayor of Peekskill. I've since offered to help him on his campaign, in ways that will probably become clearer to me as the campaign gets off the ground. Over the past few months, I can now admit that Bill confided in me that he was interested in seeking office again although, at the time, he wasn't certain which position he would seek. The conversations that I've had with him energized me, and as I've alluded to in other posts, I believe that these conversations and the cursory involvement I've had in launching his campaign have helped to bring me out of an indescribable depression (although I've at...