Prison Pete
Friday, August 27, 2004
Day to day crap.
About the books, it works fine except for the new rule that was the old rule is back in effect. The maximum books per shipment are five!
I thought I mentioned that to you in the last letter I wrote but I guess they crossed in the mail. It does not matter if they are hard or soft cover, just as long as it comes from the publisher or a bookstore. I’m not really sure if they would allow used hard covers. New hard covers are certainly no problem, and Amazon.com is one of the companies that have no trouble getting in. You might want to purchase one used hard cover from the thrift store and include it as one of the five books.
Just for fun, please check the postmark date against the letter. Are my letters being held up for reading by the SIS department? That is the internal investigation people. Well, unless the letter is put in the unit box Friday to Sunday, the postmark should always be the next day.
It is now Sunday afternoon, about 1:00 PM and I just finished doing fourteen laps. The first twelve I averaged five minutes and fifteen seconds per lap. I need to find the exact measurement, but 2 3/4 laps is a mile.
As I finished the laps, I heard the rebroadcast of Prairie Home Companion. WV public radio broadcasts the show live at 6:00 PM Saturday, and replays it at 1:00 PM Sunday.
I got another letter from you Friday and left it in the cell, so I will bring it down tonight and see what else needs to be included. Let me type out a draft of this and see what I have written so far.
Wow, a page and one third and still nothing really worth reading. I guess I really need a life.
Actually, as I think about it, the day to day crap is the easiest stuff to write. It requires little thought to write, no feedback from you, and little emotional investment on my part. The other two areas I can think about writing are "business" ideas and "personal" stuff.
The problem with business ideas is: either I spend a bunch of time explaining an idea that you then shoot down in the first or second sentence (not a criticism, just a fact), or I write a brief idea down then you need to respond and may not be clear of my thoughts, or worse, you do not have the time or interest.
Again, not a criticism, just a realization of the limits placed on me being in prison.
The problem with the other area, the "personal" stuff, either yours or mine, is the lack of feedback on a timely basis leaves one with a good chance of putting one's foot in one's mouth by saying too much.
The preceding is not very clear at all.
I thought I mentioned that to you in the last letter I wrote but I guess they crossed in the mail. It does not matter if they are hard or soft cover, just as long as it comes from the publisher or a bookstore. I’m not really sure if they would allow used hard covers. New hard covers are certainly no problem, and Amazon.com is one of the companies that have no trouble getting in. You might want to purchase one used hard cover from the thrift store and include it as one of the five books.
Just for fun, please check the postmark date against the letter. Are my letters being held up for reading by the SIS department? That is the internal investigation people. Well, unless the letter is put in the unit box Friday to Sunday, the postmark should always be the next day.
It is now Sunday afternoon, about 1:00 PM and I just finished doing fourteen laps. The first twelve I averaged five minutes and fifteen seconds per lap. I need to find the exact measurement, but 2 3/4 laps is a mile.
As I finished the laps, I heard the rebroadcast of Prairie Home Companion. WV public radio broadcasts the show live at 6:00 PM Saturday, and replays it at 1:00 PM Sunday.
I got another letter from you Friday and left it in the cell, so I will bring it down tonight and see what else needs to be included. Let me type out a draft of this and see what I have written so far.
Wow, a page and one third and still nothing really worth reading. I guess I really need a life.
Actually, as I think about it, the day to day crap is the easiest stuff to write. It requires little thought to write, no feedback from you, and little emotional investment on my part. The other two areas I can think about writing are "business" ideas and "personal" stuff.
The problem with business ideas is: either I spend a bunch of time explaining an idea that you then shoot down in the first or second sentence (not a criticism, just a fact), or I write a brief idea down then you need to respond and may not be clear of my thoughts, or worse, you do not have the time or interest.
Again, not a criticism, just a realization of the limits placed on me being in prison.
The problem with the other area, the "personal" stuff, either yours or mine, is the lack of feedback on a timely basis leaves one with a good chance of putting one's foot in one's mouth by saying too much.
The preceding is not very clear at all.
Comments:
I'm guessing this blog in no way violates Pete's restrictions on internet access.
It may seem obvious because he's not physically accessing the internet to find information or post these himself. He is however accessing the internet (in a roundabout way) to express an opinion.
It just made me wonder how the law would view a setup like this if the relayed posts were from a 'celebrity' inmate and of a violent or inappropriate nature...
Do you, the editor of the blog who helps Pete, ever have to edit/clean up his letters, and if so do you think that's taken away from what he's written?
It may seem obvious because he's not physically accessing the internet to find information or post these himself. He is however accessing the internet (in a roundabout way) to express an opinion.
It just made me wonder how the law would view a setup like this if the relayed posts were from a 'celebrity' inmate and of a violent or inappropriate nature...
Do you, the editor of the blog who helps Pete, ever have to edit/clean up his letters, and if so do you think that's taken away from what he's written?
[Editor] Hi Dave,
I post everything that Pete writes except what he tells me is specifically not for the blog. It is not much, and usually this is personal stuff either related to me or to him. He wants to keep some anonymity, so I change names of other inmates, staff, his former gf, etc. when they appear. As for legal issues about this, I am a computer guy, not a lawyer, but I think this falls under US First Amendment rights and we are not discussing or advocating anything offensive (except for profanity, which is part of "normal" prison conversation) or illegal. Pete has recently used the internet from inside prison to do some searches, but he was not allowed to touch the computer at all, and he had to tell a staff member what to type into the search engine. It is an interesting story about inefficient use of technology and will be published here soon. I am running a little behind his writing pace but I am catching up.
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I post everything that Pete writes except what he tells me is specifically not for the blog. It is not much, and usually this is personal stuff either related to me or to him. He wants to keep some anonymity, so I change names of other inmates, staff, his former gf, etc. when they appear. As for legal issues about this, I am a computer guy, not a lawyer, but I think this falls under US First Amendment rights and we are not discussing or advocating anything offensive (except for profanity, which is part of "normal" prison conversation) or illegal. Pete has recently used the internet from inside prison to do some searches, but he was not allowed to touch the computer at all, and he had to tell a staff member what to type into the search engine. It is an interesting story about inefficient use of technology and will be published here soon. I am running a little behind his writing pace but I am catching up.
