It’s Finally Begun
By Brian | January 21, 2009
As of noon today, Barack H. Obama is the President of the United States. As he often reminds us, he begins his presidency in the midst of war, financial crisis, and a dearth of confidence from the American people – confidence in their government, confidence in their financial markets, and confidence in their country’s standing around the world. And yet, despite all of that, Barack Obama exudes a charisma that the nation has not seen since John F. Kennedy took office in 1961. He is, in our modern terms, a celebrity. People go out of their way to see him and to hear him speak. They want to like what it is he has to say. In times like these, Obama’s ability to lead through inspiration is perhaps his most valuable asset.
Categories: Political Rantings | 7 Comments »
It’s Finally Over
By Brian | January 21, 2009
As of noon today, George W. Bush is no longer the President of the United States. His presidency was controversial from before it even began, given the extraordinary events of November, 2000. It turned tragic just ten months later, on September 11, 2001. What followed was seven and a half years of war, punctuated by an ever increasing level of criticism and scandal, which quickly evolved into accusations and outrage, and has lately reached a state of all-out vilification and rage. Today, a vast majority of the American people disapprove of the job Bush did as President. An extremely vocal minority have gone even further – declaring him a failure in every aspect of his Presidency, anointing him the “Worst President Ever,” and accusing him
Categories: Political Rantings | 6 Comments »
All My Faves
By Brian | January 18, 2009
If you’ve ever tried to put together a bookmark list, click here.
Trust me…
Categories: Random Acts of Blogging | 3 Comments »
Toys of the Times
By Brian | January 18, 2009
From Amazon.com (hat tip: Willow Gross):
Click through to the Amazon page and read the comments. They are priceless as well. Here’s a snippet from my favorite:
I was a little disappointed when I first bought this item, because the functionality is limited. My 5 year old son pointed out that the passenger’s shoes cannot be removed. Then, we placed a deadly fingernail file underneath the passenger’s scarf, and neither the detector doorway nor the security wand picked it up. My son said “that’s the worst security ever!”. But it turned out to be okay, because when the passenger got on the Playmobil B757 and tried to hijack it, she was mobbed by a couple of other heroic passengers, who only sustained minor injuries in the scuffle, which were treated at the Playmobil Hospital.
Classic…
Categories: The World Wide Weird | Comments Off on Toys of the Times
Caveat Amicus
By Brian | January 17, 2009
Since December 1st, the following things have happened to people I know:
- One guy’s mother passed away.
- One guy’s wife had a miscarriage (same guy who’s mother passed away)
- One couple’s 2-year old daughter came down with pneumonia
- One couple’s 9-year old son was hospitalized with extreme stomach pain
- One guy’s uncle died (the father of the 9-year old who was hospitalized)
- One guy’s father was diagnosed and treated for bladder cancer
- Another guy (roughly my age) was diagnosed with colon cancer
- One guy’s dog died
- One woman’s uncle died
- One woman’s sister gave birth at 30 weeks (same woman who’s uncle died.
Categories: Random Acts of Blogging | 3 Comments »
Doogie doin’ Doogie
By Brian | January 16, 2009
This (via Electronic Cerebrectomy) is very cool:
For those who want to compare, the original is here.
Categories: Primetime TV | 1 Comment »
The Gaffe Machine processes another tax return
By Brian | January 15, 2009
John Hinderaker, over at Powerline
Categories: News and/or Media, Political Rantings | 1 Comment »
Yet another step toward iPod gold…
By Brian | January 15, 2009
Back in July, I blogged about the Last.FM AppStore app for the iPhone, and how it moved digital music toward it’s holy grail – the impulse buy of a song when one hears it ambiently – such as on the radio or from some other streaming service.
I call this the holy grail because a person’s reaction to a good song on the radio is powerful, instant and short-lived. If a music vendor can provide the consumer with a “Buy it now” button while his/her toe is still tapping, the impulse purchase rate would likely be very high. And if it’s on a mobile device, which is often used in a group setting, there’s a “network effect” possibility (think a group of teens on a bus or at a party, and one says, “hey – check out this song!” and before you know it, a dozen kids have all clicked “Buy it now.”
If that button isn’t there at that exact moment, the person likely forgets about the song minutes after hearing it, and even if they have the opportunity to buy it soon afterwards, they probably don’t think to do so.Today comes news of another AppStore app from Slacker Radio, which can access over 100 Internet radio stations, as well as custom stations derived from user preferences (genre, decade, popularity, etc.). While a given song is playing, the interface has a nice big “Buy on iTunes” button at the bottom of the screen (click the image to enlarge it). This, combined with the iPhone’s ITMS purchasing capability is pretty close to the situation described above. My only pie-in-the-sky request, at this point, is to make the “Buy” button 1-click, rather than opening the iTunes app. But then again, I’m picky that way.
Categories: The Future is Now | 2 Comments »
The new “Got Milk?” Campaign?
By Brian | January 13, 2009
This from the excellent photo-blog, Incredimazing:
This is not a humorous topic, of course, but I must admit to smiling when I saw this picture. First of all, anything that makes hateful people look stupid is a step in the right direction, as far as I’m concerned. Second, I just love the fact that he thought he could clarify his error by writing the word “Zionist” in parentheses above the word “Juice.” So now, instead of just misspelling “Jews,” he’s create the concept of Zionist Juice, which I presume is made by squeezing Zionists really hard? And not only that, he’s against Zionist Juice, which I’m guessing is the opposite of the message he’s trying to convey. Ah, sweet linguistic justice…
Anyway, sorry if this offends anyone, but I thought it was hilarious.
Categories: The World Wide Weird | 2 Comments »
The Five Living Presidents
By Brian | January 10, 2009
Barack Obama had lunch yesterday at the White House with the four other living Presidents and ex-Presidents:
For the record, despite appearances, I’m told that Jimmy Carter was not played by a cardboard-cutout of Jimmy Carter. Then again, Photoshop is a powerful tool and we shouldn’t take anything for granted these days.
Anyway, the picture made me think of this picture from Richard Nixon’s funeral in 1994:
Since ’94, we’ve had two ex-Presidents die, and we’ve elected two more. All part of our Presidential replacement program, I guess…
Categories: News and/or Media, Political Rantings, Random Acts of Blogging | Comments Off on The Five Living Presidents