So, I got an iPod Touch for Christmas (yay me!). It's amazing. And, the $20 update notwithstanding, a marvel of technology. I'm constantly blown away by the multitouch interface, and the intuitive control scheme.
What prompted me to write this post though, is that a family member just got a new phone - a Blackberry Pearl. It's very pretty. The first thing I did when I played with it? Tried to touch the icons on the screen. Nothing. Amazing. I'd expected the thing to just work, intuitively, by touch. I was surprised and confused when it didn't - it took me a little while to readjust to the notion that not everything was as easy to use as an iPod Touch/iPhone.
OK, I say to myself, it should still be easy though, right? It's got email, like my Touch, and a web browser, and other cool stuff too. I'm smart. I like technology. How hard can it be to get it to work?
You figure it out. How do I get to the browser? Check my email? Listen to some tunes?
I defy you to do it without looking at the manual . Here's the iPhone equivalent:
Believe me folks, this is the future.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Apples vs. Pearls
Someone needs to stop Huckabee...
...for the sake of the country.
Here's the latest words of wisdom from the Baptist minister posing as a sensible candidate for the presidency:
"I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution," Huckabee told a Michigan audience on Monday. "But I believe it's a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living god. And that's what we need to do -- to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than try to change God's standards so it lines up with some contemporary view."
Oh my.
If you think a Huckabee presidency is unlikely - two words:
George Bush.
Twice.
(OK, that's three, but you get my point).
Dealing with loss...
This past moth has been a pretty traumatic one in my family, as my last post indicated. We lost a son, stillborn at 22 weeks into the pregnancy. As you can imagine, dealing with that loss is very difficult. We're coming to terms with what happened now, but it's going to be a long, long process.
Along the way, we've gotten the usual platitudes from friends and family.
"It's for the best"
"It's God's will"
"He's in heaven now"
"God had a plan for him"
Bullshit. We have enough on our plates to deal with at the moment, without having to worry that some half-crazed magical sky fairy is out to get us.
Like it or not, and as emotionally difficult as it is to deal with at times, the rational side of me understands that some pregnancies just don't make it to term. Some are lost early, and some later, but the reason for all these losses is physical, not some spiritual hyper-being deciding it wants one more baby to complete its collection and increase the level of suffering on earth.
Each of us needs to heal in our own way, and I don't begrudge those who seek solace in ancient myth. If it helps to make the process easier, I'm all for it. Just don't sign me up for the plan - and think a little before you say "It was God's plan", because that makes no kind of sense.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Happy New Year!
Welcome to the new year, same as the old year (apologies to The Who).
Actually, I hope it'll be significantly better than the old year - as you may have noticed, I've been away for a couple of weeks. We've had a tough couple of weeks as a family, coping with a wrenching bereavement.
Things like this really put into perspective the utter mindlessness of much of today's culture, with people obsessing over every Britney move while ignoring the bigger issues. I haven't been able to even pick up a People (or similar) magazine since. It all seems so shallow. I'll be blogging more on this in the future.
With that said, this year this blog will refocus on what's really important to the world - moving the human race forward (not back into the dark ages of religious intolerance) and where rational thought and discussion win the day.
Happy New Year!
