This was taken in the evening of November 14, 2008 on the corner of West 33rd and Greeley Square, here in NYC. It was a chilly night and, as you can see, very foggy. This was one of those great moments where you see a picture right in front of you, so you take it and the picture rocks. Yeah, that is the Empire State Building. :) Not bad for an iPhone, huh?
Foggy Evening at West 33rd & Greeley Square
by ThePete 3:35 am 2008-11-23
Bad Girls Club on Oxygen for Women Living Out Loud (and dressed real hot!)
by ThePete 5:07 pm 2008-11-22
Huh, “Bad Girls Club” on Oxygen, a channel for women. If it’s a channel and one assumes a show for women, why do I want to watch it now?
In other words, what the hell is Oxygen doing advertising or even running a show like this which seems to be aimed more at men than the women the channel is supposed to be for. And if women enjoy women dressed up like “bad girls” I think it’s time we start dealing more with women’s issues. I can see a TV show with a token promiscuous hot chick on it, but seven of them??
Do women really like this? Or is it just to get men to watch the channel (that is supposed to be for women)?
LOLbama: I CAN HAZ HOPEBURGER
by ThePete 1:19 pm 2008-11-22
Nicked this from poobah.tumblr.com/post/59688866
I think this bit of photomanipulation really captures the almost absurd level of hope they many Americans are putting on BHO.
I’m just waiting for that economic stimulus check he promised to get to us before winter!
I Want Hugh Jackman’s Dentist
by ThePete 12:48 am 2008-11-22
When I can finally afford to go to the dentist again (Mr. Obama, I’m ready when you are) I think I’ll go with Mr. Jackman’s. Look at those choppers!
Yes, it’s the weekend, time for fun posts!!
Obama’s Possible AG nom: Former Lawyer for a Corporation that Supported Terror
by ThePete 1:35 pm 2008-11-21This is where I get to start showing my independent stripes, folks. This is also where you get to show your commitment to the law and to morality when I start pointing out the bad things Democrats in power do. The Obamessiah, as some on the right call him sarcastically, is being looked at with an extreme level of hope from many in America. Yet, the reality is that Barack Obama is a politician like any other. When you're a politician, it's hard to keep your own hands clean, let alone the hands of your friends. That said, it's usually a good thing to avoid hiring lawyers who have defended terrorist-supporting mega-corporations as your top cop for the country.
This is what will happen if Eric Holder gets the job of attorney general, as is being reported in the news. Sure, he'd be the first black guy to run the Department of Justice, which is great, but check out what Democracy Now reported a couple days ago:
Since leaving public office, Holder has worked as a partner at the D.C. law firm of Covington & Burling. His clients have included the fruit giant Chiquita. Last week on Democracy Now!, journalist Mario Murillo criticized Holder’s ties to Chiquita.
Mario Murillo: “There’s been talk about a close ally and friend of Obama as a potential Attorney General for the United States, Eric Holder, who is currently defending Chiquita Brands International in its defense against dozens of plaintiffs here in Colombia, working families who were targeted by paramilitaries who were funded to the tune of $1.7 million over the last several years. It’s a major scandal. And if this guy becomes the Attorney General under an Obama administration, then it’s going to be really hard to find justice in this case coming from the United States.”
In a speech to the American Constitution Society in June, Eric Holder said the next president must “move immediately to reclaim America’s standing in the world as a nation that cherishes and protects individual freedom and basic human rights.” Holder is an opponent of the death penalty but has called for stiffer penalties for some drug offensives. In 2005, he was part of the legal team that developed strategies for securing reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act.
YIKES!
And you thought Democracy Now was a left-leaning news source!
Actually, they are–which is what's scary about them going after stuff a Democrat is doing–if DN are lefties and they're pointing out bad stuff the Dems do, does that mean the Dems are… <em>righties?</em>
Regardless, good for DN for sticking to their morals and not bowing to politically correct pressure (YAY! A black man!) or partisan political pressure (YAY! A Democrat!).
Just so you know that Democracy Now isn't the only one who is saying Holder defended a major American corporation against people suing because said corporation supported terrorists, here's a little excerpt from Holder's Wikipedia.org article:
In 2004, Holder helped negotiate an agreement with the Justice Department for Chiquita Brands International in a case that involved Chiquita's payment of "protection money" to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, a group on the U.S. government's list of terrorist organizations.
Double-yikes! When it's put that way, you can really see how this guy was morally corrupt. He defended a corporation that just had to do business in Columbia that they paid a terrorist group to NOT kill them–of course, they had to know that protection money would fund the killing of others.
But hey, they have a right to make a living, right? Just like those De Beers guys, even when people die for it.
So, this, apparently, is the change we need. A black guy (great!) who doesn't seem to mind defending companies that pay folks to kill (not so great). Not that I wish McCain had won–his picks would have been even worse–I'm sure he would have gone with someone like John Negroponte, who some know as the American diplomat to Honduras who didn't seem to mind Honduran deathsquads on his watch.
MACROSS II (1992)
by ThePete 1:22 pm 2008-11-21Every Friday I review the latest anime that I’ve watched recently. This week, it’s Macross II
 Click to buy! |
Positive Experience/Entertaining? Sure, but only in a way that most un-crappy Japanese animation is. Lots of explosions, sexy anime women and transforming robots.
Technically any good? First off, this isn’t a movie. It’s a video series they cut together to make a “movie.” I’m feel lucky they left the Japanese language track on it since I seem to recall too many “movie” versions of anime series being in English only. Speaking of which, the acting is just fine. The animation is more like Macross: Do You Remember Love than the original Macross series, which is a good thing. However, the story is the pits. It’s still got the love triangle that Macross fans love, but the music is kind of peripheral and the alien stuff just feels trite and cliche after watching everything else in the Macross Saga. The action was fun, but if you don’t care whether characters live or die there’s not much excitement in things going boom.
How did it leave me feeling? Disappointed. I just can’t recommend this one. I suppose if you’re a Macross purist you should check it out, if only to know how not good it was. This was the first attempt at a real sequel to the original series and thankfully, later attempts were much more successful at being entertaining.
Final Rating? DNS - Do Not See. Just check out Macross Frontier. Let’s just pretend that’s the final chapter in the saga. ^_^
Time: BHO=FDR
by ThePete 4:27 pm 2008-11-20
I saw this on a news stand the other day while I was out with my fried
Keith and it cracked me up. Don’t know if I agree or not. I just
hope BHO doesn’t let a Pearl-Harbory thing happen the way FDR did. Oh
and building the bomb–that was pretty lame, too.
MURDER BY DEATH (1976)
by ThePete 12:00 pm 2008-11-20 Click to buy |
Positive Experience/Entertaining? Wow, not really. I watched this a bunch of times as a little kid and remember loving it but as an adult, it had its moments but was surprisingly unfunny.
Technically any good? It’s a send-up of famous movie detectives and tries to take them to task for their various foibles–whether it’s Charlie Chan’s inability to speak proper English (despite his brilliance) or Miss Marple’s inability to let us in on what she knows before she names the killer (or was it Poirot who did that?). Either way, you can’t fault the acting–well, except for Truman Capote who was amusing, in his own way. The rest of the cast is stunning–David Niven, Peter Sellers, James Cromwell, Maggie Smith, and more, believe it or not (Alex Guiness!!) all did wonderful jobs.
While this movie does have flashes of true inspiration, I have a feeling the script was written at a point in Neil Simon’s life when he was riding off of the success of other projects. The plot feels weakly pulled together and while I get that the ending isn’t supposed to make sense, that doesn’t stop it from being stupid. If you want to make something not make sense in your movie, fine, but you can’t have not make sense inside the universe of the story. The sets looked great, though. :)
How did it leave me feeling? Disappointed. I think I was very easy to please as a kid.
Final Rating? DNS - Do Not See. I’m no fan of Clue but I think I laughed more at that then I did at Murder By Death. Sad to say, I guess.
Democracy in Danger: Hey, Until We Start Hand-Counting Paper Ballots…
by ThePete 12:45 am 2008-11-20Yep, this is a topic I'm just going to track like a bloodhound–or as best as I can–until we stop using unreliable, untrustworthy, secretive computerized ballot machines. Sure, Obama won, but as I've said many times before on ThePete.Com, there have been plenty of irregularities and even some serious strangeness. First off, I'd like to once again point you to VotersUnite.org and BradBlog.com. Both of these sites have been very good at posting news on problems people have had voting. VU's "Daily Voting News" posts that they cross-post at BradBlog.com are particularly thorough. In fact the post for November 14, 2008 includes a HUGE number of links to stories on the web covering various types of problems with elections. This includes everything from recounts, arrests and a lot more–in short, things are still very much a mess.
But let me tell you about the stories I've come across. Firstly, you've probably heard that Alaska spitfire Senator Ted Stevens has actually lost his senate seat to his Democrat challenger. This could not have happened to a nicer guy. This moronic loudmouth was just convicted of corruption and somehow thought he would win his seat for another term. In fact, as of November 5, 2008, it looked like a win was actually in the bag for him. Then they find 90,000 uncounted ballots and start counting them. By the thirteenth of November, Stevens was losing the race by 814 votes. Finally, yesterday, AP.org reported that Ted Stevens had lost his senate seat for sure. WHEW!
Ironically, according to ADN.com, officials were surprised to see how low voter turnout was in Alaska–then it turns out that by this past Monday, there are so many votes counted that they came to believe that this may mark the highest voter turnout in Alaska history.
Sorry, Ted!
Meanwhile, the recount in the Franken/Coleman race in Minnesota has commenced, while, in the background, loads of Republicans suddenly sounding like we election-integrity freaks spouting off about how funny things look. Brad Friedman, of BradBlog.com, calls these guys tin-foil hat wearers based on their lack of proof, while I simply call them late to the party. If they have hard evidence that the fix is in for Franken to win, I'd love to see it. Apparently, they don't have any, however.
Here are another couple of stories from the BradBlog I thought were worth pointing out:
FL Election Integrity Advocate, Candidate For Election Supervisor Arrested at Direction of Election Supervisor, Opponent
Ellen H. Brodsky Jailed Overnight After Being Barred From Oversight Several Times by Incumbent SoE Brenda Snipes
Third Such Arrest of an EI Activist Since Summer…
A candidate for Supervisor of Elections in Broward County, FL, was arrested yesterday, following threats and orders from her opponent, the current Broward SOE, Dr. Brenda Snipes.
Ellen H. Brodsky, the county's first non-partisan candidate for SOE, had previously been barred from public counting and oversight on a number of occasions, at the county's official Canvassing Board site and voting machine warehouse in Lauderhill, Florida.
After being taken into custody yesterday afternoon by three uniformed police officers, Brodsky was held overnight at the Broward County Jail even though the $25 — that's twenty-five dollar — bail had been posted for her by her son by 8pm last night. She was finally released well after 5am this morning.
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6668
Isn't it nice when indies running for office get messed with? Seems like it's often the folks brave enough to be outsiders that get messed with. Ah well.
Now, one of the promises of electronic voting, computerized ballot boxes, touchscreen voting, blah-blah-blah, and all that other voting technology, is that it's easier and will speed up the whole process so people can get back to work (because clearly, democracy is like fast food). Well, it seems like that's not the case. Here's a nice little headline, excerpt and link from the BB that reports the opposite:
Machine Problems Worsened 2008 Voting Woes
Voting Machine Issues, Confusion Compounded Delays Faced by Untold Thousands of Voters This Fall
Though Even That Number Fails to Reveal Untold Counting Errors on E-Voting Systems Across the Nation…
Guest blogged by Steven Rosenfeld of AlterNet
The electronic voting problems in the 2008 election are broader than recently-publicized snafus such as machines not turning on, voter databases omitting names, or touch screens not properly recording votes, according to an analysis of 1,700 incident reports from the nation's largest voter hotline.
Moreover, the voting machine issues and the confusion they caused among poll workers appear to have compounded the delays faced by untold thousands of voters this fall, a preliminary analysis of 1-800-OUR-VOTE reports by Joseph Lorenzo Hall, a researcher at Princeton University and the University of California, has found…
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6671
I really hope the Obama Administration gives this country's leaders on all levels an fracking enema. I'm so tired of reading about how leaders across the spectrum of responsibilities are letting us down. Is it me or is money causing more problems than it ever has in the history of our country? All this money influencing our leaders–all this outsourcing our elections to private companies while all of these supposed leaders quite literally buy into the promise that technology is perfect and can protect democracy. As I've been saying for years, now, anything can be hacked. Simply anything.
It's like that old story about how NASA had to spend millions to develop a pen that would write in space while the Russians just used a pencil. This is what we should be doing with our elections. Paper and pencils and humans counting. Sure, it'll take a long time, but I think knowing for sure who our leaders are is a good thing, don't you?
Diamonds are for Terror: My Favorite Part About the Yes Men Parody of the New York Times
by ThePete 9:47 pm 2008-11-19So, you have probably heard of that parody version of the New York Times the infamous Yes Men gave out recently in Times Square (of all places). Well, they went full tilt and put up a website for it, too: http://www.nytimes-se.com/
If you're not aware, the Yes Men are high-end pranksters that don't just play dumb jokes on people, they play jokes on entire corporations. Democracy Now's Amy Goodman reported on the Yes Men's NYT parody last week, explaining that "One previous prank had a Yes Men member posing as a Dow Chemical
spokesperson to announce responsibility for the Bhopal chemical
disaster, forcing the company to remind the world it had done anything
but."
Whoops!
Obviously, I dig these guys. They've got a movie and a book that goes into more detail regarding their activities, so I'll stick to the depressing stuff.
 |
While their humor is pretty much brilliant (and a little dry–they way I like it), one of the sharper jabs I'm sure got missed by most folks checking out the http://www.nytimes-se.com/ was the ad for De Beers diamonds. This was great–it promised that "Your purchase of a diamond will enable us to donate a prosthetic for an African whose hand was lost in the diamond conflicts. De Beers. From her fingers to his."
Zowee. See, what corporations do (this is true of other corps, not just De Beers) is go into 3rd world nations and effectively bribe the governments into letting them take most of a particular resource and most of the profits made from that resource, as well. The people of the country see little or no change in their standard of living and in the case of the the diamond conflict, were caught in the middle. Rebels rose up against governments and tried to convince locals to work with them, not the government. According to Amnesty International, Sierra Leone's Revolutionary United Front's "signature tactic was amputation of civilians: Over the course
of the decade-long war, the rebels have mutilated some 20,000 people,
hacking off their arms, legs, lips, and ears with machetes and axes."
AA also reports: "People had their hands chopped off by RUF units and were sent wandering hopelessly to spread the message of terror."
Weee! God damn! Is greed a horrible thing, or what? Those rebels may have represented the interest of the people in wanting their piece of the diamond pie (like Alaskans get of the Alaskan oil pie) but the RUF and all others in positions of power took things way too far. You may feel the urge to suggest that De Beers has "got the right to make a living" but can you say that when other people are dying for that living? Or are being horribly mutilated?
The selling of high end gems taken from mines in countries where poverty is rampant is unfair, cruel and just plain shitty.
When are we going to start talking about greed being reeeeally bad? When is De Beers going to start talking about making up for their greed?
Well, thanks to the Yes Men, they might just have an opportunity to be guilted into doing it right now.
Don't buy diamonds. They're pretty, but pricey in more ways than you probably want to consider.
Reuters: Everything Good is Bad Again
by ThePete 1:13 pm 2008-11-19
Spotted this article on Reuters.com this morning called "October consumer prices and home starts plummet" and found it really fascinating. If you read it, it talks about things like housing prices dropping and deflation as bad things. Think about that for a moment.
Houses dropping in price means more people can afford houses and fewer new loans will be defaulted on.
Isn't that good for the economy?
It's certainly good for people who want to buy homes.
But the Reuters article insists that the economy is weakening even further than it has.
The article also mentions deflation as another example of an ever-sinking economy. The thing is, what do we mostly bitch about when it comes to money?
Inflation.
So, shouldn't deflation be a good thing to us?
I say yes.
While the article also reports on consumer prices dropping and a few other things that generally the economy is weakening, I say prices dropping are part of the system working. Yep, that's right–this is ThePete saying capitalism and free market economics both work just fine when not abused. Leaving them be, letting losses and crashes occur means that things were getting to big for the system to support. Now we can rebuild on more stable footing.
Prices dropping is a natural function of the law of supply and demand. We American consumers have stopped spending as much as we used to–THIS IS A GOOD THING.
This fills my heart with hope for humanity that we're not just a bunch of dumb sheep doing what we're told. This is proof we can react to what is really happening and do the right, logical thing.
So, we stop spending, prices drop to entice us to buy, to a certain degree we do, and slowly but surely, the economy builds back up again.
Color me malfunctioning, but my memory circuits tell me this is how things are supposed to work.
Bailouts now would just delay our economy's recovery.
Tell me I'm wrong–please–and tell me how so I can learn. Thanks.
One last thing about this article. Since it puts everything in terms of its level of badness for the economy, despite those things being good for consumers and really the stability of the whole system, doesn't this article end up coming off like an advertisement for the corporate greed mindset? That we all need to be buying and borrowing at all times to keep the economy moving and growing and dominating (despite it's complete crashing and bleeding out recently)? It reminds me of how the media isn't liberally biased, it's biased toward money–and the furthering of the belief that "greed is good."
Gordon Gecco is dead. Let's leave him buried, shall we?
Cheney and Gonzales Indicted! But not for what you think :(
by ThePete 12:22 am 2008-11-19
Well, it's not all bad–anytime there is as much evidence of criminal activity as there is against people like Cheney and Gonzales, I'm happy to see them get indicted for anything. Hell, Al Capone had to be brought down on tax evasion charges. But as you can see from the screencap attached to this post (check out the original article on CNN.com from earlier today), Cheney and Gonzales are being:
indicted on separate charges related to alleged prisoner abuse in federal detention centers, Willacy County, Texas, District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra told CNN Tuesday.The indictment stems from Cheney's investment in the Vanguard Group –
an investment management company that reportedly has interests in the
prison companies in charge of the detention centers, according to The
Associated Press. It also charges Gonzales halted an investigation into abuse at the detention centers while he was attorney general.
NICE. Well, not the best thing that could happen to two men who will hopefully be remembered as two of the luckiest horrible men to live in modern times. Not Hitler-level-horribleness, but almost as amoral. So, yay Willacy County, Texas, District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra!! Take these bastards on and please don't let this be a reason for the next AG to not bring Cheney and Gonzales up on all sorts of other charges, too–at the very least these guys should be put on trial for stuff like domestic wiretapping and all that fun enemy combatant stuff.
Oh and can I just say that "Juan Angel Guerra" is one of the coolest names I've ever heard? Translated into American, that's "John Angel War."
Seriously cool name.
USG Says Bailout is Working, but Forgets to Mention Why We Should Trust Them
by ThePete 12:04 am 2008-11-19
The screencap in this post comes from an article dated today, entitled "Regulators: Bailout is working" and is just more evidence, to me, of how stupid our government thinks we are. It's also nice evidence of how the media either thinks we're morons or are morons themselves.
Seriously, how much more crap from our government are we going to buy? Like anyone in a position of leadership saying anything means anything to me since they've all been so wrong over the last 8 years.
The Obama folks coming in better restore some fricken respect to their positions because the spineless way the Dems have allowed the Republicans to get away with all this stuff has not won them any points from me.
I remember back during the Clinton years how the Repubs said Clinton "besmirched" the office of the President for cheating on his wife and then lying about it. Yeah, well, Bush did a helluva lot worse than besmirch it and what happened to him?
Nothing.
Well done, Democrat kids! Enjoy trying to regain my trust.
Oh and talking mean to Paulsen, Bernanke or even the car guys doesn't count.
Let the American automakers die and replace Paulsen with someone who has a fucking clue about money. Take some action, losers. DO SOMETHING.
As for Bernanke? I think we're stuck with him for 12 more years, or so. Good thing he's the people's banker–oh wait, we don't elect the Federal Reserve Chairman.
I almost forgot.
The way our financial system is set up, it's a little like the fox not only guarding the hen house but managing it, supplying it and hiring the hens.
Climate Change at the American Museum of Natural History
by ThePete 9:00 am 2008-11-18
The Climate Change exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History is open now and runs until August 16, 2009. Tickets are $24 for adults (cheaper for kids, students and seniors). Check out the ANMH website for more info: www.amnh.org/exhibitions/climatechange
Read on to find out whether I think it’s an exhibit worth checking out!
Recently, I got invited to a thing last night at the American Museum of Natural History–they opened up the Climate Change exhibit and their Butterfly Sanctuary for families and media (like me!) to come check it out sans crowds. They fed us and let us have at both exhibits.
In the shadow of a dinosaur skeleton they fed us. :)
Now, if you’re wondering if it’s worth it to check out an exhibit on Climate Change, don’t doubt it–it’s worth it. Especially Climate Change which is now open at the American Museum of Natural History until August 16, 2009. Now you may be wondering how I can fairly say that since I didn’t have to pay to get in–well, just keep readin’ tough guy!
It’s easy to assume that you know everything there is to know about Global Warming and Climate Change, but have you seen what a fricken’ 1 ton piece of coal looks like in person?
Have you ever seen a timeline, right in front of you, that chronicles the temperature of the Earth from the dawn of man through to present day? This isn’t some cinematic Powerpoint presentation (not that there’s anything wrong with that)–this exhibit allows you to get up close and personal with the facts–the seemingly endless stream of facts that all point to one thing–the climate is a-changing.
Maybe you’re a naysayer or know someone who doesn’t “believe” in Climate Change. This is an exhibit for the naysayer, too–I’m a healthy skeptic myself and while I knew the evidence is overwhelming, I found all of the evidence in one exhibit to be pretty damn persuasive. I think if people are unsure or even think Al Gore’s movie is just propaganda they should check out the Climate Change exhibit at the AMNH. The amazingly long stack of evidence that Climate Change is a real and growing threat will help those on the fence get off of it.
Check it out–one of the things they have in the exhibit is a bank of three touchscreen computers that connect to one large projection screen. Each of the touchscreens allow you to work out just how much CO2 you spew into the sky due to the car you drive or the light bulbs you use or how many trees you don’t plant. As you work through your answers, they show up on the bigger projection screen in one of the three rows. The thing that I found most interesting about this part of the exhibit was, that for me, the one with the cars was useless since I don’t drive (I sold my car back in 2003 and now I’m a New York City resident). So first, I told it my commute from back, before I sold my car: 45 minutes into Hollywood and 45 back to Westwood, every day.
It told me my car and I were responsible for over 22,000 metric tons of CO2 for each year I drove. Then it asked me how much I could cut back–I told it I’d cut back to zero miles driven, the reduction in CO2 was obvious–but then, on the bigger screen in front of us, it showed us how much CO2 would NOT be in the atmosphere if everyone in America cut back to the same level:
Yeah, man–that’s right–if everyone stopped driving we’d stop nearly 1.3 billion metric tons of CO2 from getting into the air.
See, I think it’s these (not-so-)little facts that really put things into perspective.
Sure, you can sit around searching Wikipedia all night for this stuff, or you can go check these facts out in person.
There’s plenty more to see there, too–videos, murals, and an actual-size model of one metric ton of coal. There are also plenty of things for kids to be entertained and educated by, as well. They can play with little wooden ice-shelves, learn about weather patterns on cool spherical video screens (I want one of these for home!!) and check out this poor polar bear:
I actually heard one little girl ask her mom why the polar bear was sad. Turns out that as Climate Change messes with the weather, the eating habits of polar bears are being changed, too. As a result they’re moving further south in search of food and end up stumbling into areas where we humans live. I’m guessing that bear has just trashed an Inuit’s summer home (the placard wasn’t specific for what was in front of us, just saying the poor furry white guys sometimes end up in people’s trash).
There’s one last thing I want to point out to people about the Climate Change exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History, whether they go or not–it’s this picture:
That’s a chart they had on display that makes one of the most important points there is to make about Climate Change and Global Warming and oil, coal and all of this stuff.
There is not just one solution–there are several. We all need to change in many different ways. Something else to note about that great chart is that most of that stuff isn’t up to you and me to do–it falls on the doorstep of big business and government. We can’t make sure that nuclear power or renewable energy sources are used by our power companies. What we can do is contact businesses we deal with, like our electric companies, for instance, and ask where they get their power from. Is it coal? Nukes? Solar? Hydro? What? If they’re not talking alternatives, then see if you can find another supplier for your electricity.
But there’s a lot more we can all do on our own and there’s a lot more we can pressure big business and even government to do to help save the world. A fact that I wish the exhibit had included was the fact that too much pollution is created by factories, refineries, plants and even just buildings. One other note, I’m against nuclear power of any kind–it’s ultimately unsafe and if we spent the money on developing solar, hydro or wind technology, we wouldn’t ever have to worry about meltdowns. :)
But aaanyway, so it was a pretty fun exhibit. If you’re in NYC or are planning a visit sometime before August 16, 2009, and have a spare $24 per person, it’s definitely worth stopping in and hey, with that price you can check out the rest of the American Museum of Natural History while you’re there. For twice the price of a movie ticket you can get yourself some knowledge–which is probably a heckuva lot more than you’d get at the movies. ;P
But here’s a tip–if you’re not able to make it or want to get a better sense of what’s at this thing, check out the AMNH website for the Climate Change exhibit: www.amnh.org/exhibitions/climatechange
It’s got a lot of great stuff right there. Of course, it’s no match for being at the museum in person.
You can also check out my Flickr photoset here: flickr.com/photos/thepete/sets/72157609325527271/
Is it the perfect exhibit? Probably not, but pound-for-pound you really are going to get your $24 worth.
Just my ¥2, as always!
From inside the AMNH: I didn’t know Teddy Roosevelt was a gamer! ;P
by ThePete 8:13 pm 2008-11-17
About to head into the Climate Change exhibit at AMNH
by ThePete 6:57 pm 2008-11-17
OLPC XO G1G1 (Give 1 Get 1) 2008 Begins Today!
by ThePete 5:40 pm 2008-11-17
Around this time, back in 2007, you may recall me freaking out about the new XO-1 laptop from OLPC I was waiting for. OLPC is the name of a non-profit that was created in order to design a laptop computer so cheaply that 3rd World governments would want to buy One Laptop Per Child in their country–get it? OLPC. Their plan initially was to make a laptop that would cost $100, which they'd then charge $100 for. I know–zero mark-up, these guys must be COMMIES! ;)
Sadly, they didn't quite make their target price, but $200 for a netbook as full featured, as this thing is, still ain't bad. Last year, OLPC announced a program called "Give 1 Get 1" or G1G1 and it allowed Americans to buy two OLPC XO laptops–they would get one, and the other would go to a kid in a 3rd-world country. Pretty cool, huh? So, naturally, since it was mixing gadgets with philantrhopy (and the XO is a great little piece of hardware) I had to support it.
Today, the program returns via Amazon.com. Check out http://amazon.com/xo to order now!
But you may be wondering just what the heck some poor kid in a village is going to do with a laptop? The answer is easy: learn.
The XO's onboard OS, called SugarOS, comes with a bunch of great educational applications (called "activities") that help kids learn about all sorts of things, from math, to music, to more. If the village has a single computer with Internet access, every XO in the village can access the same connection and can even share Internet connections amongst each other XO thanks to Mesh networking technology. Mesh allows each XO to connect and each XO user to share activities to encourage kids to work together (up to a kilometer away!).
But a laptop in the middle of the 3rd World?
The XO has a huge battery lifespan–one charge gives it about twice as long a run as my MacBook gets on it's battery. Part of this lifespan jump is thanks to the XO's dual mode laptop display which allows you to switch from back-lit-color to straight black & white with just a button-press. The B&W mode is perfect for outdoor settings. No moving parts also allows the XO to use less energy. Its case is durable and practical (it even has a handle) and is generally spill and dust proof. I know, I have one.
My only gripe about the XO is the OS. While I understand creating a non-windows, non-Windows-based lappie for kids (we want them to use computers in a positive way), I do feel that the OS limits the kids on how much they can do. While the laptop's processor surpasses that of my old, 1998 Toshiba Satellite's, I was not able to work on my novel and research on the web simultaneously on the XO. This is something I did every day for a year-straight on my Satellite. The good news is that it is possible to run Linux (and even Windows XP–though you wouldn't want to) on the XO. It alows you to pack a bit more punch and take a bit more advantage of the RAM. Of course, I say this as a computer-geek-extraordinaire–not as a kid in a third world country. Speaking of which, 3rd World kids seem to enjoy the XO just fine.
Why not drop $400 and let another kid get one?
Or get it at my Amazon store here:
http://astore.amazon.com/thepetecom-20/detail/B001GB87EI
Either way, any computer is going to beat the computer most of these kids are going to get. Make a difference and own the laptop that invented the netbook.
Posterous.com (mo)Blogging, File Hosting and More Made Simple
by ThePete 4:23 pm 2008-11-17OK, first thing’s first, this isn’t quite an Utterz.com Killer–er–I mean an Utterli.com Killer. However, it does have a lot of similar features–so many, in fact, that I may just switch permanently away from Utterli thanks to Posterous.com’s ease of use (so far). It is definitely a nice competitor to Utterli’s features however and a direct threat to miniblogging sites like Tumblr.com and Soup.io, I would think. Since Posterous.com hosts all the media you send to them, Drop.io’s 100 MB limit seems kind of TheSucky (and here I was about to start using http://Drop.io for all of my hosting).
So What Is It?
Here’s what Posterous.com does: they let you blog via email, complete with attachments. This means that you can moblog from your smart phone or just wait until you get home to post via email. Either way, it’s one of the most simple blog tools I’ve ever used.
What Posterous.com Does Right
Posterous is simple. When you sign up, you don’t even sign up. You just send your first post from your email address to “post” @posterous.com and then they send you a confirmation email–however, even before the confirmation email is in your inbox, your post is online. Pretty cool. From there, you click on the link in the email, set a password and then you can change your third-level domain name to whatever you want. Mine is thepete.posterous.com (but was originally “thepete-bwpxa.posterous.com” geh–more on this later).
Posterous cross-posts. With Posterous, you can cross-post everything to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Tumblr, Blogger, your (self-hosted) WordPress, Typepad, or Xanga blogs (or any blog that supports XMLRPC or RSD).
No mission creep. Unlike Utterli.com which tends to try to do too much, Posterous wants to post anything you throw at it and post it as a blog. It doesn’t try to be a discussion site, like Utterli does (poorly, I think).
Basic social networking features are represented. Users can comment on posts and subscribe to fellow-Posterous users (Posterousers?) blogs easily. Like LiveJournal (only with a MUCH more clean interface) you get a friends page, or as Posterous boringly calls it, a “My Subscriptions” page, to keep up with everyone you’re following.
Allows HTML formatting. This may seem minor, but it’s something that always bugged me about Utterli.com and is one of the main reasons I’m liking Posterous.com. I’ve tested blockquotes, italics, bold and href and all work fine.
What Posterous.com Gets Wrong
Nothing. HA! Just kidding. There are a few things Posterous doesn’t do or does poorly.
For starters, they’ve GOT to give us control of formatting for the look of our Posterous blogs (Posterblogs?)–I’m not talking about the absurd level of tweakability that LiveJournal or Blogger gives, but something simple like Twitter allowing a background change or Flickr’s limited number of arrangements for the blog’s layout. Also a way to make the text smaller and use a different font would be great.
Not enough cross-posting. I don’t know what the average number of networks people belong to these days is, but I belong to a lot. Even Utterli.com’s ample cross-posting offerings don’t cover enough bases in my opinion, so Posterous.com’s is going to fall even more short. Sure, it’ll cross-post to ThePete.Com which then uses PingPress.FM to post everywhere else, so I’m covered. However, other folks may not have the same setup as me.
Sidebar control is non-existent. It would be real nice if we could have access to our sidebars so we could add links to blogs written by people who have yet to start blogging on Posterous (should we call them “Pre-Posterous”? ;P ). Also a way to add Google Adsense would be great, too. I’ll never switch away from my self-hosted WordPress install (as much as I’d LOVE to) if there’s no way to add ads. Just seems unfair to provide content with nothing in return but free hosting. Wouldn’t it be great if we made money off of the same web pages?
I like my media on top. Back when Utterli was still Utterz I remember they had a major rev to their site and suddenly media started appearing after the text. This made no sense to me from a design perspective since usually the picture or video is the focus of the post. Why bury it by default? After an email from me and other dedicated users, Utterz put the media on top again and I’m hoping Posterous will see the same light or at least allow us to choose whether we want it on top or on the bottom (hey, to each their own, right?). In the meantime you can edit your post on the Posterous.com site and move the media where ever you want, but that’s a huge PITA if your liveblogging an event on-location.
Why can’t it just start a blog with the username of the email I send from? I mean, really?! When I sent my first post via email I thought “How perfect is this? I can start a new blog, maintain it and don’t ever have to use a computer!”
As I mentioned above, I ended up with thepete-bwpxa.posterous.com. What the hell mess is that? To change it, I had to confirm the email on my laptop, log in, add a password and only then could I make the change. I suppose I could have confirmed everything and tweaked everything via my iPhone, but like all mobile browsing, that would have been another PITA (though a smaller one).
But think how great it would be if you’re on vacation and you want to start a whole blog dedicated to a particular new thing you’ve found while away from home. You don’t have your laptop, but you do have your smart phone. You want to start posting right away, but thanks to your new blog’s domain being a mess, you can’t exactly email all your friends saying “check out my new blog on sailfishing at steve-sdfhfjih.posterous.com!”
How about a nice simple solution to it? Like adding numbers to the email’s user name, just like AOL? Then it’d be “steve123.posterous.com” or something like that.
In the End…
In the end, I’m really keen on Posterous.com. If they’d address my concerns I’d be very likely to switch permanently to them from WordPress. After four years trying to keep sane with a WP blog I am ready for a nice, simple change. But I still want more control (and Google ads). So, while I suspect this will soon be my permanent replacement for Utterli.com (which I have serious interface issues with), it won’t be my dream-blogging tool until they take care of some stuff.
Just my ¥2, as always.
Yes, this blog entry was posted through Posterous.com :)
See? Wouldn’t the pic below be better up top where it’ll catch your eye more?
ThePete’s Test #2 of Posterous Now With Cross Posting to ThePete.Com
by ThePete 1:24 pm 2008-11-17Well, once I set a password for my account I was able to control what
my subdomain was and so now my Posterous.com address is
thepete.posterous.com. Nice and easy to remember. Too bad they
couldn’t end up with Chi.mp’s domain extension–that’d make it even
easier to remember. Anyway, so my formatting test worked really well,
which is great. With this post I’m testing cross-posting to Facebook,
Flickr and ThePete.Com. So, if you’re reading this post on
ThePete.Com, YAY!
The image attached to this post is a screencap from my good old XO.
That’s Mesh Networking in action. Which reminds me, I’ve got to blog
about their new Give 1 Get 1 program which begins today, I believe,
over at Amazon.com/xo
Why not go check it out now? For $400 you can buy yourself an XO and
a kid in the 3rd World one! Pretty cool, huh? I did this last year
and would do it again if I had the money. It’s a great cause (though,
I did stop using my XO because of the OS being rather limiting–but
I’ll be giving the updated OS a try soon). More on the XO soon!
