Powell: Close Guantanamo Now, Restore Habeas

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This morning on NBC’s Meet the Press, Gen. Colin Powell strongly condemned the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, calling it “a major problem for America’s perception” and charging, “if it was up to me, I would close Guantanamo — not tomorrow, this afternoon.”


He also called for an end to the military commission system the Bush administration has created to try Guantanamo detainees. “I would simply move them to the United States and put them into our federal legal system,” Powell said. He scoffed at criticism that the detainees would have access to lawyers and the writ of habeas corpus: “So what? Let them. Isn’t that what our system’s all about?”


“[E]very morning I pick up a paper and some authoritarian figure, some person somewhere, is using Guantanamo to hide their own misdeeds,” Powell said. “[W]e have shaken the belief that the world had in America’s justice system by keeping a place like Guantanamo open… We don’t need it, and it’s causing us far more damage than any good we get for it.”


Watch it:



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Powell also sounded off on conservatives, including Vice President Cheney, who oppose diplomacy with Syria and Iran, calling their view “short-sighted.” Powell endorsed direct talks “not to solve a particular problem or crisis of the moment or the day, but just to have dialogue with people who are involved in this region in so many ways.”


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(Via Think Progress.)

WWDC Monday at 10:00AM PST / 1:00PM EST, set your alarms

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Monday morning El Jobso takes the stage to discuss Apple products for the first time since the iPhone unveiling in January (no, we don't really count D where he chatted with Mossberg and sat down with Gates). As always, you know where to turn for the whole spread, including real-time blow-by-blow coverage, live photography, and only the largest ring of iBookies taking bets on what Steve's gonna announce with Leopard and the iPhone.

Go here and bookmark this page, it's where the action happens Monday morning.

7:00AM - Hawaii
10:00AM - Pacific
11:00AM - Mountain
12:00PM - Central
1:00PM - Eastern
5:00PM - GMT
6:00PM - London
7:00PM - Paris
2:00AM - Tokyo (June 12th)

P.S. -Feel free to leave the usual timezones / predictions / wish lists / "STEVE I LOVE / HATE YOU!"s in comments.

(Via Engadget.)

Wikipedia’s Real Problem: Nerd Bias

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There's been plenty of debate over the past couple of years about the merits of Wikipedia, generally focusing on how "trustworthy" the site is because of its anonymous contributors and lack of professional editorial review. But SomethingAwful has cut to the heart of Wikipedia's problems: its apparent nerd bias (via TechCrunch). The site, rather amusingly, compared the length of articles on related topics, such as modern warfare and lightsaber combat, or Buzz Aldrin and Jean-Luc Picard, concluding that the "nerdy" topics were more thoroughly written. Of course, many of the topics the article highlights reflect more of a pop culture bias (such as Aristotle vs. Oprah), while the sheer length of the article isn't a real comprehensive test of quality. The underlying point, though, is that people contribute in areas which they're passionate about, and in which they have some knowledge. While on the face of it, this piece would appear to give more ammo to Wikipedia's critics, perhaps the point to take away from it is that the site can serve as a useful reference on areas that tap the knowledge of its contributors, and illustrate that the community is capable of creating comprehensive reference works. While the SomethingAwful piece oversimplifies and overstates the gap in quality among the supposedly nerd and non-nerd topics, the challenge for Wikipedia is to keep growing the community, so level of knowledge that's being shared across the board continues to rise.

(Via Techdirt.)

Travel: Use a map to keep track of your vacation photos

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The HP Digital Photography site has a list of camera bag essentials that can make your travels a bit easier to document.The most intriguing tip for me was this:


Whether you've planned your trip right down to the last detail, or you're just seeing where the wind takes you, bring along a map to keep track of what photos were taken where. This will help you better remember your trip when you return, and also serve as a nice complement to a slide show or scrapbook.

And of course, with all the awesome Google Maps mashups out there, this would be pretty easy to spice up.— Wendy Boswell



Traveler's camera bag - get tips on what to take [HP Digital Photography via etc ]

(Via Lifehacker.)

Efficiency: Eliminate chronic lateness

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Are you chronically late? Productivity blog ZenHabits suggests getting in the habit of overestimating:


Make a conscious effort to start getting ready earlier, and to leave earlier. This also makes driving less stressful. Time yourself to see how long it actually takes to get ready, and how long it actually takes to get somewhere. You've probably been underestimating these times. Once you know these times, you can plan backwards so that you show up 10 minutes early each time. It's a good feeling.

A good habit to get into, that's for sure. Have you conquered the lateness monkey? Let's hear how in the comments. — Wendy Boswell



20 Ways to Eliminate Stress From Your Life [ZenHabits]

(Via Lifehacker.)