Otherwise, YMMV/ your holes, your choice and enjoy. Do what you gotta to do what you want, and try not to hurt any piano-playing baby animals or celebs gone viral in the process.

For a second, lets forgo the obvious, and envision what the iPad promises to its end users. Its a tablet type device, with many, if not all of the features of an iTouch or an iPhone. Okay, so its a large scale iTouch/iPhone then (depending on whether you opt for the 3G version or not). Once you connect, you can iEmail, iPhoto, iText, iSurf, iZoom, iMessage, iClick, iSave, iDelete... well you get the point.

The iPad is based on Apple specific device usage, and is not just an Apple specific device in and of itself. I think a lot of what Apple hangs its hat on, as do the many thousands of Apple faithful, lies in the adoption of Apple usage methods. Let's call it Apple's "iAdoption". After all, what better way to get widespread adoption of a product, then to [subconsciously] train people to use it the way YOU want them to? This is the Holy Grail of product design -- to combine good design features along with great adoptibility. Its basically the product and the user "meeting in the middle," where the product offers what the end user wants, with the caveat being that the end user just needs to "learn" how to use the product.

The iPad leverages the adoption of the iTouch and iPhone usage methods, and scales it up into a bigger "super size" family version. No longer will you need to tap wildly on a little touch screen while typing a message; you can now tap wildly on a big "computer sized" device. The iPad is an extension of the iTouch/iPhone, now that thousands of people have "trained themselves" in use of Apple "i" products. ... (Gil Laroya, HuffiPo, April 02 2010)

I've had texting capability and book-reading capability for over a decade (off my 10+ yr old beaming palm) and can wifi/roam/surf with my old school netbook that accommodates various OS's without penalty. It flexes to my need for storage without the Nanny databasing of, eg, iTunes.

I dumped the HQ sound/vid of my old mp3/4/x player because of the inflexible corporate monitoring and I don't like being stealth-charged for media I already legitimately bought and ripped using pro-level media-tech.

I also have access to considerable archives of mass and multi-media that aren't available online and, sadly, disappearing in the crevasse formed between contemporary obsessions and degrading original media.

Until I really really need to listen to a Fartface Presents sh!tty upload while simultaneously texting random brain fragments with my besties, being un/available as suits me is my preference.

There are a whole lot of assumptions that you have made about the rationale for the war in Afghanistan. I don't agree with any of them.

But that isn't even my point.

I think that there is an absolute parallel between the war in Vietnam and the war in Afghanistan. I'm talking about the situation as it currently exists. Bob Herbert expresses it very well - which is why I linked to him.

In general the iPad-special apps are the best. The blown up iPhone ones are kind of hit and miss. Some of them look blurry if they have not been optimized yet.

The iBook app is lovely. I also got Pages and Numbers from Apple, and a National Geographic atlas and the iPad version of the Stargazer app I use on the iPhone.

As far as the native apps go, I take a lot of digital photos and I love the different things you can do with photos on the pad. From the lock screen you can set a slide show going like a digital frame. I have seen those in the stores for $200 alone.
I'm syncing more photos to it now.

The calendar and contacts are nicely done as well. I don't plan on listening to music on it, so I didn't try that.

Watched a little bit of 'Up' to try out the movie viewing and it was an excellent picture, and easy to use. It is a different experience with both movies and reading when you don't have a keyboard and an extra few feet between yourself and the screen. I can see myself watching video or reading in bed with it, where I never would with my laptop.

I think the big deal is the immediacy of the experience. Two taps and you are watching a movie, at a decent enough size when it is only a couple of feet from your eyeballs. One tap and you are at a web site. And as I said before it is screaming fast on the web.

Thirty four states currently have their own high risk pools.

Kathleen Sebelius has written a letter to the governors and insurance commissioners asking of their interest in creating their own high risk pools.  It's an interesting letter; portions follow:

I would like to draw your attention to one of the immediate changes that will be implemented this year. Section 1101 of the new law establishes a "temporary high risk health insurance pool program" to provide health insurance coverage to currently uninsured individuals with pre-existing conditions. The law directs HHS to carry out the program directly or through contracts with states or private, non-profit entities.

We are interested in building upon existing state programs in this important initiative to provide expanded access to health coverage for individuals who cannot otherwise obtain health insurance. To that end, I am writing you today to request an expression of your state's interest in participating in this temporary high risk pool program, consistent with one of the implementation options described below. We understand that final decisions in this regard may be subject to the availability of additional details, approval from your state legislature, and other factors. HHS will engage individually with each state that indicates its intent in response to this letter, both in the preparation of its potential application and during the application review process, as appropriate.

[snip]

Beyond the minimum statutory requirements, HHS's goal is to grant the flexibility needed to permit successful and expeditious implementation of the program by interested states. For example, we recognize that there are different avenues for states to carry out the statutory requirements for a high risk pool program. A state could consider the following options:

Operate a new high risk pool alongside a current state high risk pool;

Establish a new high risk pool (in a state that does not currently have a high risk pool);

Build upon other existing coverage programs designed to cover high risk individuals;

Contract with a current HIPAA carrier of last resort or other carrier, to provide subsidized coverage for the eligible population; or

Do nothing, in which case HHS would carry out a coverage program in the state.

In reviewing the existing state high risk pools, there is much common ground in the benefits currently provided. Since HHS is considering establishing a floor set of benefits that all the new high risk pool programs must cover, we anticipate that these benefit requirements would take into account benefit lists currently used by existing state high risk pools. Similarly, states would have the option to follow pre-existing condition criteria for determining eligibility established by the Secretary, or propose their own, subject to Secretarial approval. We are committed to working with states to identify other areas where flexibility is appropriate.

All bold is mine.

Her letter raises some interesting questions, most notably, whether the criteria for participation that each state establishes might make ineligible some people who think they will be eligible under the legislation.

With these pools being temporary until the exchanges are operative in 2014, how many states that do not currently have the infrastructure to administer a pool will choose to create one for such a short time?

If HHS establishes a floor set of benefits for new high risk pools, how will they differ from benefits offered by the 34 states that currently have pools?

Can states that already have pools reduce the benefits offered to current enrollees if they offer better coverage than what HHS decides they are required to offer?

The new statute establishes some specific requirements surrounding the eligibility, benefits, and funding for the new high risk pool program. Specific statutory requirements include but are not limited to:

Eligible Individuals Must:
Be a citizen or national of the United States or lawfully present in the United States;

Not have been covered under creditable coverage (as defined in Section 2701(c)(1) of the Public Health Service Act) for the previous 6 months before applying for coverage; and

Have a pre-existing condition, as determined in a manner consistent with guidance issued by the Secretary.

Benefits/Coverage Must Have:
An actuarial value of at least equal 65 percent of total allowed costs;

An out-of-pocket limit no greater than the applicable amount for high-deductible health plans linked to health savings accounts, described in section 223(c)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (that is, $5,950 for an individual); and

No pre-existing condition exclusions.

Premiums Must:
Be established at a standard rate for a standard population (that is, not exceed 100 percent of the standard non-group rate); and

Not have age rating greater than 4 to 1.

Looking at the quoted section on benefits coverage and costs, I see a lot of people falling into a terrible position where they are ineligible to get coverage under Medicaid and do not make enough to afford premiums and the out-of-pocket costs.