Monday, April 27, 2009

Free University Courses

The Master List of Free Online College Courses

This is the most comprehensive and up-to-date collection of free online college classes available to the general public. We'll be updating this list frequently, so please bookmark it for future reference and let us know about any broken links or free online courses we've missed.

masterlist

General Collections

Stanford on iTunes U - Download courses and play them on iTunes or your iPod
UC Berkeley Webcast - Current and archived courses from one of the nation's best public schools
Johns Hopkins - Provides access to the school's most popular courses
MIT OCW - Open CourseWare from one of the nation's eminent technology schools
NYU - A link to some of New York University's math programs
Open University - A UK site which provides free access to course materials from Open University
Tufts University - Open Courseware from Tufts University
Yale University - Free Yale college courses online
Berklee School of Music - A great resource for musicians or aspiring musicians with videos for instruction
Notre Dame - Another Open Courseware program from a respected institution
Gresham College - Provides free public lectures in London, but podcasts and videos are available on the site as well
Utah State University - More open courseware - this time from Utah State
Utah Valley State College - Free online courses and open educational resources
Carnegie Mellon - Open Learning Initiative enacts the kind of dynamic, flexible, and responsive instruction that fosters learning
University of Washington - A handful of courses selected by UoW Educational Outreach
Delft University of Technology - Free courses in engineering
Kutztown University of Pennsylvania - Accounting open courseware - registration required but courses are free
University of Alaska - Free Principles of Accounting course online
UC Irvine - A course on Fundamentals of Personal Finance
U.S. Small Business Administration - A vast resource of learning tools and courses from the U.S. government
University of Nottingham - A member of the OpenCourseWare Consortium, u-Now offers an opportunity for knowledge to be shared

Math and Science

History:

Arts & Humanities:

Business & Economics:

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Win7 Adds Virtual WinXP - Awesome

Windows 7 reveals XP mode AKA the IT guy's wet dream

by John Biggs on April 25, 2009

So there's going to be an XP mode in Windows 7. What does that mean? For users of Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate - sorry, lower-end users! - you will get a full copy of Windows XP that will run under a virtual processor. However, instead of creating a new desktop environment, the XP mode will bring the application up as a window inside Windows 7. This means you can run applications like IE 6 "natively" without booting a virtual machine.

The virtual machine will also offer a desktop interface but applications you install under XP will show up in the Windows 7 start menu, an interesting move. The XP app will, in short, appear as a Windows 7 app with a bit more loading.

Why is this happening? Mostly because Vista has long been seen as a plaything and not a serious option for IT departments. By adding an XP mode the final argument - "It's not XP!" - against Windows 7 is dead. I've played with Wn7 and am looking forward to it and, as a former IT guy, I can state unequivocally that this is a big deal.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

20 Plugins for Safari

20 Excellent Plugins for Safari

Categories: Extensions, Plugins, Safari

These days we have great choices for Web browsers: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Opera, Chrome and the list goes on.

Each browser comes with its own set of advantages and features and one of the greatest benefits of Firefox has been the ability to fully customize it through the use of plugins and add-ons.

This feature is especially important for those of you using Mac OS X, when deciding whether to pick one of the two heavyweights: Firefox or Safari.

But Safari actually does support plugins. While the choice is nowhere near as extensive as that of Firefox, there is still a good variety of them to choose from.

Here's a list of 20 useful plugins for Safari for OS X.

Please note that many plugins work through something called SIMBL (Simple InputManager Bundle Loader), which is basically a little tool that helps developers manage and run their code as plugins for the different applications on OS X.

You can grab SIMBL for free here. If any of the following need SIMBL to run, just install SIMBL and drop the plugin file into your "~/Library/Application Support/SIMBL/Plugins/" folder, though be sure to read the instructions that come with each plugin as well.

1. Xmarks

Firefox had a very popular plugin called Foxmarks. This plugin still exists but the name has changed to Xmarks, and with the name change also came the support for other browsers, namely Internet Explorer and Safari.

Xmarks provides a seamless solution for syncing your bookmarks across many computers, as well as the ability to view your bookmarks online.

If you use several computers and want to have the same set of bookmarks across all of them without any fuss, Xmarks is the solution for you. Plugin website

2. Pith Helmet

PithHelmet is a blocker, but it blocks more than just ads. PithHelmet allows you to block things like Flash movies, Shockwave apps and those annoying midi sound loops.

Customize the filter however you like. Currently doesn't support Safari 4 beta. Plugin website

3. DeliciousSafari

del.icio.us is a bookmarking service that lets you store and share all your bookmarks in one place on the web.

You can also tag your bookmarks allowing for better methods of browsing through them. The DeliciousSafari plugin fully integrates with the service, allowing you to bookmark all your favorite sites without having to go to the site itself. Plugin website

4. Safari Tidy

This is a great plugin to help you validate your code. When running, it adds a little icon in the status bar together with the total number of warnings or errors that the current page has.

If you view page source using Safari, you'll see any lines that were mentioned in the warnings and errors highlighted, and you'll also see a summary of them at the bottom of the source view. Plugin website

5. SafariSource

The default Safari page source view leaves a lot to be desired. This simple plugin adds syntax coloring, which makes scanning source code a lot easier.

You can customize colors and fonts in the preferences pane that the plugin adds to the Safari preferences window. Plugin website

6. SafariStand

SafariStand is a useful little plugin that adds a thumbnail sidebar and a bookmarks shelf.

The shelf lets you easily save your browsing sessions and then resume them at the click of a button.

Other features include site alteration (e.g. modify the minimum font size on a particular site, use a custom style sheet or a different user agent) and an Action Menu, which allows you to easily browse the various assets that a site has, such as Javascript, CSS and cookies. Plugin website

7. Saft

Saft is like a Swiss Army Knife. It does so many things that it would take too long to list them all here. Here's a link to the full list of features.

Some notable ones include: ad blocking, always open new windows in tabs, block animations, undo support for closing tabs, sidebar, Growl support, Kiosk mode and full screen browsing. Plugin website

8. Cooliris

Cooliris is a great plugin for viewing image and video galleries, such as those on Google image search, Facebook, YouTube or Flickr.

At the click of a button the gallery on a web page turns into a full screen view where you can see all the photos and videos as well as zoom and pan around using the Cooliris interface.

It features a beautiful interface with smooth animations and transitions that delivers a very satisfying browsing experience. Plugin website

9. Inquisitor

Inquisitor is a great plugin to enhance the Google search field.

It runs the search live as you type it and brings in the results in a little window that pops up below the search. It can list results and search suggestions and you can customize how many of each you want to see.

It's a very high quality plugin, so much so that Yahoo has recently purchased it and is working on versions for Internet Explorer and Firefox.

Note: the Yahoo purchase also means that the search engine powering Inquisitor has now been changed from Google to Yahoo, so this is something to consider before you install the plugin. Plugin website

10. Safari140

Find something interesting on the Web that you just have to share on Twitter? The Safari140 plugin makes this easy.

It allows you to write Twitter messages from an integrated menu in Safari, and will even pre-fill and shorten the URL address of the current site you're browsing. Plugin website

11. 1Password

1Password isn't just a plugin, it's a whole password management service that comes with browser integration.

The benefit of using 1Password is that you can automatically generally really strong passwords and the service will then remember and automatically fill them in for you. The service costs $39.95, but there is a free trial available. Plugin website

12. TabExposé

OS X comes with a great method for managing windows on your desktop called Exposé, which at the click of a button shows you an overview of all of your open windows.

The TabExposé plugin works the same way, but for opening tabs in Safari. Plugin website

13. GreaseKit

Power users of Firefox utilize a plugin called Greasemonkey to modify any website they browse using bits of JavaScript.

This really enhances your browsing experience as you can, for example, modify the font sizes and colors on your favorite sites to make them more readable.

GreaseKit aims to fulfill this need for Safari, as well as other WebKit applications on OS X. Plugin website

14. SafariStretch

One of the key differences between window management in OS X and Windows is the maximize button.

In Windows, the maximize button makes the window full screen, and in OS X, the window becomes only as large as its content.

SafariStretch allows you to have the Windows-like full screen maximize in Safari. Plugin website

15. Glims

Glims is a plugin which adds a whole collection of features and functionality to Safari and aims to be the alternative to Saft.

The full list of features can be found on the Glims website, but some notable ones include: thumbnails in Google and Yahoo search results, full-screen browsing, favicons in tab labels, auto-close download window, always open links in new tab, close tabs using middle mouse button and dated download folders. Plugin website

16. CosmoPod

CosmoPod lets you download and convert Flash, DivX, WMV and Real Media videos from the Web to your Mac, iPod/iPhone or AppleTV. CosmoPod works with most sites and will automatically detect any videos it can convert.

With just a click you can then download the video to your iTunes library. Full license costs $10. Plugin website

17. CutX

CutX is a plugin that lets you create a filter for sites that you want to block.

This is useful as a parental tool to ensure your children don't visit the wrong sites, or for filtering those productivity drains from the workplace.

CutX lets you customize site filters for individual users and access to the preferences pane is protected by a master password. Plugin website

18. DownloadComment

DownloadComment is a simple plugin that makes use of the Spotlight comments section in the file properties on OS X.

Whenever you download a file, DownloadComment will attach the URL address of the file into this comments section allowing you to later see where a file has been downloaded from. Plugin website

19. Safarilicious

An alternative to the DeliciousSafari plugin, Safarilicious is a standalone app that will export your Safari bookmarks to del.icio.us, a popular bookmarking service.

Safarilicious can also generate del.icio.us tags from your bookmarks folder structure as well as letting you add your own.

You can also pick which folders get exported if you only want to share a certain set of bookmarks. Plugin website

20. Safari Microformats

Microformats are a set of data formats that aim to make information sharing easier across the Web.

For example, hCards and hCalendars contain contact and calendar information respectively and are formatted in a consistent way to allow different applications to read this data.

The Safari Microformats plugin reads any hCards or hCalendars present on a web page and notifies you with a little icon in the address bar.

When you click this Microformats icon you can add these addresses or calendar items to your Address Book and iCal. Plugin website

Monday, April 13, 2009

Great Quote - April 2009 Roald Dahl

Watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it." ~ Roald Dahl

Saturday, April 11, 2009

5 Phases of Social Media Marketing

Five Phases of Social Media Marketing

I've been creating and executing social media marketing strategies for the past couple of years for clients. The crowds are swarming, and interest - in the days when program dollars are being cut to save jobs - is growing from all sorts of organizations. I hear some very common questions from a wide swath of interested parties, and would like to clarify how to approach social media.

We need to start by recognizing that social media marketing is not free.

BusinessWeek, in their excellent February article called Debunking Six Social Media Myths, exposed this brilliantly as Myth #1, and stated that $50,000 is a beginning point for a two- to three-month social media campaign. In my experience, I believe that's about right. In spite of the free tools out there, every brand needs a strategic approach to social media in order to gain any traction.

In my experience, a strategic approach to social media success takes five phases:

Phase 1 - Discovery

In this phase, we explore three variables:

People: Who are your prospects and customers, and how do they feel about your brand, service and products? Are they talking about you online? If so, what is your online reputation? (Positive, negative, neutral?)
Competition: What are your competitors doing online? Where can we leapfrog them? What is their online reputation?
Spiders: How easy is it for you to be found by an average searcher who may be searching for your products online? (Keywords, site optimization, Search Engine Optimization [SEO], etc. come into play here.)

Phase 2 - Strategy

In this phase, we explore the opportunities and establish the objectives of a social media plan - based on the lessons we've learned in the Discovery phase. Questions include:

What do you want your prospects and customers to think of you, and how do you want them to experience you, once you've begun your dialogue?
How is this different from their current perception?
How might we further pay off your brand promise, and distinguish your customer experience from competitors?
and many more

This Phase is usually highly collaborative; and involves key players from around an organization, not just the marketing folks.

Phase 3 - Skills

Once we have developed a Strategy, we?ll review an organization's internal resources to identify gaps. Whose skills need building? How might we best train participants? And to what extent would it be wise to train the employee base about what to expect?

(Hint: I always recommend getting everyone up to speed on any social media program - when I was at Marqui, that turned out to be one of the most valuable things we did in support of, and preparation for, one of the most controversial, viral programs I've ever managed.)

In my experience, getting your employees up to speed on social media marketing usually requires a couple of training sessions held on-site. These are generally in-depth training sessions tailored to select audiences in the company ? e.g. your marketing and PR teams, your customer service folks, your executives and the entire organization.

Phase 4 - Execution

As we prepare to implement our strategy, we determine which tools to use, how they interface with your existing infrastructure, and ensure the processes and platforms are properly tied together. We explore the following:

Are your systems all operating together as desired?
Is there a crisis communications plan in place? Do participants know what it is?
Are your company policies updated for blogging, texting and IM and other social media tools?
Are your employees aware of your policies? If not, do we need to train them?
Will your CRM system interface with your social media tools? How will you move people into your sales process? etc.

Phase 5 - Maintenance

After the launch, Maintenance becomes key. In this phase, I make myself available for whatever comes up; checking in weekly with the team, make suggestions on content, make reminders for activities, and generally ensure the organization is thriving online.

Any experienced social media expert (and we're crawling out of the woodwork these days, believe me) will have a stepped approach and methodology to launching an organization safely into the social realm.

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Avg Man Taxes

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Facebook and Your Brand

5 Tips for Optimizing Your Brand's Facebook Presence

Steve Coulson is a partner at The Advance Guard, a new media company that creates radical marketing programs using disruptive technologies, community platforms and social media.

So – you've set up a Facebook public profile for yourself, your brand or your company, and you're starting to post content. Now what?

If you're like me – a tinkerer and tweaker – you might be interested in ways to fine-tune your profile for maximum affect. So here are five tips to optimize your activities on Facebook, including the right way to create profile and thumbnail graphics, how to show different content to Fans and non-Fans, creating DIY vanity urls, and how managing what and when you post can lead to greater success.

This post is part of Mashable's Facebook Week. To discuss everything Facebook, join our authors and community at Mashable's Facebook Page.

1. Creating the perfect profile picture

Facebook specs recommend that profile pictures should be 200px wide, while height can vary as needed. What is less documented is how the thumbnail that Facebook uses across the system is generated from this picture.

You'll find the system crops images when generating a thumbnail, losing information around the edge. After some initial testing, we've determined that there's a "title safe" area within all images. So when you create your profile image that's 200px wide, allow a 12 pixel border around crucial information (such as typography or a logo) to allow for automatic cropping.

Also bear in mind that regardless of the shape of your profile image, Facebook thumbnails are square (with rounded corners), and sized based on the length of the shortest side of your image. So when designing rectangular profile pictures, make sure to keep your desired thumbnail imagery within a square boundary.

2. Optimizing your website's Share Preview

A key strength of Facebook – especially for the new Public Profiles – is the viral spread of shared links into news feeds, using the Links application. When anyone links to your site using this, the application presents the user with a number of images from the page that can be chosen as a thumbnail to accompany the link. But if your site is mainly Flash-based, or has no suitable graphic components for a thumbnail, you should define a custom Share Preview image.

Facebook provides specific information on how to do this here - with a snippet of code to add to the HEAD of your website pages that points to your desired image.

Again, no guidance is given as to the perfect size for a Share Preview, but we've found that a 100 pixel square preview is optimal. This not only requires no resizing by Facebook, but also provides a suitable shape for Digg (), which uses the same code to pull its own Share Preview (albeit reduced down to 48px square).

Note that the Facebook Links application will also pull the "Description" Meta Tag from your site into the news feed, so ensure that you have made this sufficiently explanatory. (You can also define the media-type icon that Facebook uses in feeds for your site e.g. blog, news, picture, video, etc – full details to be found at facebook.com/share_partners.php )

3. Displaying different content for Fans and non-Fans

Public Profiles now allow separate default landing areas for Fans and Non-Fans. This allows brands to display a "Become a Fan" incentive in an FBML box or Tab. A common request we've heard from brands is "Is there a simple way to display different content for Fans and non-Fans?" This allows for some interesting scenarios, from displaying a simple "Thank you" to people who become Fans, to incentivizing visitors to "Become a Fan to see exclusive content/promo code/offer."

So here's a quick hack for creating an FBML box that can be used on the Wall or Boxes page (or in its own Tab) that displays different information to different users, depending on their Fan/logged-in status:

1. Create a 1 cell borderless table, with a fixed height and width; for example, 100px.

2. Create and define a background image for that cell to the same dimensions, which contains the information you want NON-fans to see.

3. Create a same-sized image that contains the information you want Fans to see and insert that into the cell.

4. Use the following FBML tag to surround the cell contents - <fb:visible-to-connection><img src="insert your image URL"></fb:visible-to-connection> .

This FBML Tag only displays its content to Fans who are logged in. So what we're actually doing here is creating a table with a background image, and then covering it up with another one IF you're a Fan. It's a bit of a hack, but only takes five minutes to do.

Here's some example code if you want to try it:

<table width="xx" height="yy" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tr>
<td background="http://www.yourdomain.com/linkto/nonfans.jpg">
  <fb:visible-to-connection>
<img src="http://www.yourdomain.com/linkto/fans.jpg" height="xx" width="yy" />
</fb:visible-to-connection
  </td></tr></table>

4. Creating your own vanity URL

While it's rumored that Facebook will eventually open up vanity urls to all brands, for now only preferred partners get these (eg: http://www.Facebook.com/mashable). Until then, you can create your own with a domain redirect. If you own your own domain (and frankly, who doesn't), set up http://facebook.mydomain.com to point to your profile. Easy to remember, easy to share. Obviously, the same tactic applies to profiles you may set up on Twitter (), LinkedIn (), etc, but this is most useful with those tricky Facebook URLs.

5. Defining a publishing schedule for your content

This isn't really a tip, but more of a best practice. By creating a calendar to guide your updates, you will achieve the following benefits:

1. You can spread updates out so that you carry on a persistent but unobtrusive dialog with your Fans. Post too often and your page updates will start being hidden, or you'll lose fans. Too seldom and you'll be forgotten. Try to mix up different update types – a status update, a Link, a Note, a Photo or video update.

2. By creating a calendar, you can also schedule moderation periods for comments if you feel this is necessary for your brand. Most Interaction activity (including comments) will occur within 24 hours of an update before it drops out of Fans' news feeds.

3. By recording all activity on a schedule, it's easier to map it against exported stats data from your page's Insights. This can show you Total Interactions around different content types to gauge which gets the most traction/conversation, and track Removed Fans against certain update types.

Steve Coulson is a partner at The Advance Guard, a new media company that creates radical marketing programs using disruptive technologies, community platforms and social media. He is also the author of About Face – a free white paper that steps businesses and brands through setting up their Facebook Public Profiles.

More Facebook resources from Mashable:

- 5 Elements of a Successful Facebook Fan Page
- You Might Not Love the New Facebook, But Brands Should
- New Facebook Pages: A Guide for Social Media Marketers
- HOW TO: Survive the New, New Facebook
- 30+ Apps for Doing Business on Facebook

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

How to Land a Job in a Jobless Market

How to Get a Job When No One's Hiring

by Jia Lynn Yang
Monday, March 30, 2009

David Perry, a longtime headhunter, says you're wasting your time if you're looking for job postings online. And he should know: he's often the guy on the other side helping companies lure new talent. Perry, who's based in Ottawa, says that in the last 22 years he has accomplished 996 searches totaling $172 million in salary. And the bottom line in today's economy, he says, is you have to tap the "hidden job market."

Perry's also the co-author of "Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters" and he recently spoke with Fortune.

Just last month, Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis warned lawmakers at a high-profile Congressional hearing on the government's $700 billion rescue plan that he had no doubts 2009 would be an "awful year" for the credit card industry.

What's the "hidden job market"?

When companies say, 'We have a hiring freeze,' that doesn't mean they're not hiring. It just means they're not adding headcount. Every year there's 20-25% turn over. So in a 1,000-person company, 200 or 250 people are going to turn over, either through attrition, or someone moves. Those companies are still hiring but they don't want to tell you.

So how do you find these jobs?

What you have to do in a recession is map your skills to employers to where you know they have a problem you can solve. My advice to job hunters is pick 10 to 20 companies, no more, and pick companies you're interested in, and that you think you can add value to. That requires researching companies, and so that list may take you two weeks. If you're trying to crack the hidden job market and you know the job position you want reports to vice president, find that vice president on LinkedIn and look at his profile to see who else he's connected to and go ask them, 'What's this guy like to work for?' Do the research before you even pick up the phone.

How can you get someone's attention?

We can go into billboards, sandwiches - that stuff only works once. It's only for one person who figures it out once, once in a city. If you're looking for fun stuff, we have this thing called the coffee cup caper, 30% of the time it will result in an interview. You send an employer a coffee cup with a little $5 swipe card with a little note that says, I'd like to get together and talk with you over coffee. I'll be calling soon. And you send it by U.S. post two day delivery, and that gets registered. So when they've signed for it, you wait about 20 minutes and then you call them. And then you go, Hi, I know you just got my package.' You're proving you're imaginative and creative.

What something people should avoid during a job interview?

This drives me insane: I've seen people mentally deciding in the interview whether they want the job. That's the last place to decide. You go into an interview, and you sell like your life depends on it. You've got to get the job first. I've seen it thousands of times. There's this point in the interview, where people go 'Hmm, do I really want this? You can see their body change. The employer picks it up and it's gone. If the employer is telling you, 'I love you,' and you're not saying 'I love you too,' it's over with.

How about following up afterwards?

If you really like the opportunity, don't go home and write thank you very much. Go back and write a letter that says, upon further reflection of what we were talking about, here's what I bring to the table, here's how I see myself fitting into the organization, including a 30-60-90 day plan.

How can someone attract a recruiter's attention?

You have to go to ZoomInfo and LinkedIn and create a profile. All corporate recruiters and probably 20% of the headhunters in America have ZoomInfo accounts. When we start a search, companies aren't going to advertise. The headhunter goes to ZoomInfo, types in requirements that we need, like skillset, degree, city, functional title, and up will come anywhere from a hundred to several thousand people who fit that criteria. Then we go to LinkedIn and run the same search. If you're in ZoomInfo with a picture, we're going to call you first. Just reverse engineer what recruiters are doing so you get found.

How can you really impress a potential employer?

It hasn't worked in years just to bring in your resume, except only in the most junior positions. I concentrate on directors to CEOs, and the last interview for us regardless is always a Power Point presentation of what you've learned, pain points, and how you intend to fix that. Everyone talks about being a great leader and great communicator, so prove it. Don't go into an interview and treat it like it's just another business meeting. Your career is your biggest asset now - because it's certainly not your house.

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Green Energy, Healthcare and Budget

Norm Stamper - Retired Seattle police chief, member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition - Posted March 28, 2009 | 05:57 PM (EST)

Marijuana No Laughing Matter, Mr. President

The president's busy. He's got important things to do, like rescuing the economy, saving jobs and mortgages and industries. But we ought not to let him off the hook for his frivolous dismissal of a widely popular question he faced in Thursday's Online Town Hall.

At the top of the televised event, the president announced that of the 3.5 million votes on the thousands of questions received in advance, one topic "ranked fairly high." It was whether legalizing marijuana would improve the economy and encourage job creation. He responded: "The answer is no, I don't think that is a good strategy to grow our economy." He then asked rhetorically what the question says about "the online audience."

Get it? His in-the-flesh audience got it, chuckling politely at the allusion to a Stoner Nation plugged in to the "internets."

The problem for Mr. Obama is that marijuana reform was at or near the top of the list of all questions in three major categories: budget, health care reform, green jobs and energy. Our leader doesn't seem to understand that millions of his interlocutor-constituents are actually quite serious about the issue.

Which is not to say that drugs, particularly pot, doesn't offer up a rich if predictable vein of humor. Cheech and Chong's vintage "Dave's not here!" routine is still a side-splitter. As Larry the Cable Guy would say, "I don't care who you are, that's funny right there."

But there's nothing comical about tens of millions of Americans being busted, frightened out of their wits, losing their jobs, their student loans, their public housing, their families, their freedom...

And show me the humor in a dying cancer patient who's denied legal access to a drug known to relieve pain and suffering.

Having just returned from Minnesota whose state lawmakers are entertaining a conservative, highly restrictive medical marijuana law, I can tell you what's not funny to Joni Whiting.

Ms. Whiting told the House's Public Safety Policy and Oversight Committee of her 26-year-old daughter Stephanie's two-year battle with facial melanoma that surfaced during the young woman's third pregnancy. The packed hearing room was dead quiet as Ms. Whiting spoke of Stephanie's face being cut off "one inch at a time, until there was nothing left to cut." She spoke of her daughter's severe nausea, her "continuous and uncontrollable pain."

Stephanie moved back to her family's home and "bravely began to make plans for the ending of her life." The tumors continued to grow, invading the inside and outside of her mouth, as well as her throat and chest. Nausea was a constant companion. Zofran and (significantly) Marinol, the synthetic pill version of THC, did nothing to abate the symptoms. Stephanie began wasting away. She lost all hope of relief.

Joni's other children approached their mother, begged her to let their sister use marijuana. But Ms. Whiting, a Vietnam veteran whose youngest son recently returned from 18 months in Iraq, was a law-abiding woman. And she was afraid of the authorities. There was no way she would allow the illicit substance in her house. As she held her ground, her grownup kids removed Stephanie from the family home.

Three days later, wracked by guilt, Joni welcomed her daughter back. "I called a number of family members and friends...and asked if they knew of anywhere we could purchase marijuana. The next morning someone had placed a package of it on our doorstep. I have never known whom to thank for it but I remain grateful beyond belief." The marijuana restored Stephanie's appetite. It allowed her to eat three meals a day, and to keep the food down. She regained energy and, in the words of her mother, "looked better than I had seen her in months."

Stephanie survived another 89 days, celebrating both Thanksgiving and Christmas with her family.

Shortly after the holidays, Stephanie's pain became "so severe that when she asked my husband and me to lie down on both sides of her and hold her, she couldn't stand the pain of us touching her body."

Stephanie died on January 14, 2003 in the room she grew up in, holding her mother's hand. A mother who, as she told the legislative committee, would "have no problem going to jail for acquiring medical marijuana for my suffering child."

Following Joni Whiting's presentation, it was all I could do to hold it together during my own testimony. Such was the power of this one woman's story. And of the sadness and rage roiling inside me as I reflected on the countless other Stephanies who are made to suffer not only the ravages of terminal illness and intractable pain but the callousness and narrow-mindedness of their leaders.

When I finished my testimony, a local police chief, a member of the committee, angrily accused me of disrespecting the police officers in the room--who'd shown up in force, in uniform, to oppose medical marijuana. Wearing a bright yellow tie with the lettering "Police Line, Do Not Cross," the chief charged me with placing more stock in the opinions of doctors than of Minnesota's cops. Guilty, as charged. Who are we, I asked him, to substitute our judgment for that of medical professionals and their patients? Who are we, for that matter, to deny the will of the people.

There's much value in humor, even during times of pain and tragedy. So long as the joke is not at the expense of the suffering.

It's been a bad couple of weeks for the president. His Leno comment about the Special Olympics while self-deprecating and not malicious was certainly tone deaf, followed soon after by his casting gratuitous aspersions at serious advocates of marijuana reform.

But Barack Obama is a decent and honorable man, compassionate and wise. I can't believe he would do anything other than what Joni Whiting did if, God forbid, he faced similar choices within his own family. I can't believe he doesn't realize the political value of taking a more reasoned, courageous stand on drug policy reform in general. Or of at least providing honest, thoughtful answers on the issue.

Perhaps we should show him what's in it for him? Perhaps we should make certain that in every future "town hall" the president is reassured of the seriousness of the legions of voters working to end cruel and ineffective drug laws.

Git-er-done!