June 2007 Archives

OK, I was annoyed--very annoyed with AT&T. But, once activated, the device itself is totally cool. Here are some general observations:

• Integration through iTunes is a snap!
• The iPhone box is rather tiny and surprisingly heavy. The device is not at all heavy and is very thin and comfortable.
• I love having all of my address book on my phone--groups included!! My razr didn't have adequate memory for even 25% of my address book, and groups were a complete pain.
• Fingertip flicking (scrolling) is fun, easy, and fast!! I also like the complete alphabet down the right side for quick and easy access to that part of the alphabet when scrolling.
• I love being able to scroll through the address book and, using the logical visual layout, easily read contact information and simply click to dial or email the contact.
• The email is outrageously fabulous, including the little animations when re-filing or deleting email.
• The onscreen keyboard is, as promised by reviews, tiny! My fingers are still getting used to it. I tend to especially make errors with the "o" and the "p" keys. But the auto-correct/suggestion feature is welcomed!
• The video and audio functionality is also a nice touch: portrait/landscape. Another nice feature: the back of the album art lists the contents of the album. Simply clicking on the title takes you to that track.
• Safari rocks! The screen is still small for reading the internet, but the text renders beautifully--very clean and crisp! The real-page visual layout is incredible. Will this eliminate my need to learn how to restyle web pages for other devices? Without doubt! (Buy an iPhone now. My web development will only support it!--as if I do a lot.)
• The use of the iPhone is very intuitive--typically mac. In only 30 minutes I feel like I know how to use all of my iPhone's features--unlike my razr, which, after using it for 4 years, I still haven't a clue how to get to things let alone make them work as expected. One feature I would, however, have missed on my iPhone had I not seen it in the little flier that comes with the phone: the zoom to relocate the cursor and edit text not at the end of the line feature!
• I haven't had any voicemail yet to try out the visual vmail features.

I posted earlier this month about the Lima, a cute little handheld device to measure blood glucose levels with an infrared beam. I decided to investigate this further, to see if I could go to Europe and purchase one. Sadly, this appears to only have been a mockup of a fictitious product by a product designer. Does the technology to use infrared light to measure blood glucose levels through the skin exist at all? Is it under development?

At any rate, click here to see a little movie from the product designer.

OK, so here I sit, 13 hours and 15 minutes after I attempted to activate my new iPhone. My old cell phone no longer works. AT&T took it off line. My new iPhone still has not been activated.

I decided to call AT&T to listen to their unacceptable and lame excuses as to why they did not do this job as they should have. Typical of corporate America: the 800 number for AT&T's wireless services has been taken off of the iTunes page that states "Your activation requires additional time to complete." Yes, exactly! The typical hiding behind the invisible and impenetrable walls of no customer service and no accountability.

I scrolled through my last numbers dialed on the phone to find their number. I wish to print it for everyone to use: 877-419-4500.

The customer service agent stated that it may take up to 24 hours! This is completely unacceptable business practice. But, with AT&T, I expect more of this to come. I told the agent that I expected a rebate on my phone bill for the time I am without phone service but am paying to have phone service.

I strongly suggest everyone in this situation call their wireless "customer support" line and nicely demand the rebate for the time you are without phone service. The only language corporate America understands is revenue loss. Call now: 877-419-4500.

Well, when the store opened again, at 6:00PM, the line moved quickly, and I was able to purchase my 8 gig phone within 15 minutes, unlike some of my friends in other states. The AT&T store in Orlando, for example, ran out of the 8 gig phones just before my friend, Mark, was to purchase his. His line of about 25 people moved slowly because AT&T's retail system went down. I have always had apprehension about Apple doing this deal with AT&T. I have never really been impressed with the company. (I'm trying to be nice.)

For example: When I went to activate my phone, through iTunes, upon completion of all of the information, the window says that AT&T will activate my account in less than 1 minute. After "a while," I got a response that reads, "Your activation requires additional time to complete." The window goes on to inform me that I will get an email when the process is finished.

At 8:48PM I got an email from the iTunes store stating that AT&T was now processing my application. Now, at 3:45AM, (yes, 7 hours later) I just called AT&T to see why the cell phone that is being replaced by my iPhone no longer works, but the iPhone is still not activated. Had I done something wrong? Of course not.

Certainly one can easily see that AT&T had absolutely no idea on earth that so many people would hit their system all at once to activate their new iPhones. This was completely unexpected. I mean, how could they have possibly anticipated this?! It has only been publicized in every conceivable form of media and highly anticipated the world over for how long now?!

AT&T's customer service stated that they could not give an estimated time my activation will be completed. Will their cell network even function with the new iPhone? Will I be able to get and receive calls? Or, after dialing a call, will I have to wait an indeterminate amount of time before the network actually puts the call through? Will they send me an email when the call is finally ringing?

...Not a good way for AT&T to begin our new working relationship with all of these Apple customers.

As I was walking out to my car, having purchased my iPhone, mall security drove up behind me on a cool little 4 wheel, all-terrain vehicle. The security guard stated she was going to provide me with a personal escort to my car to make sure I got there safely. What a hoot! As you can see from the picture, she was just great fun.

I think she really was just curious about this iPhone thing. Before I could get in my car, mall security had swarmed me. Was I a threat to homeland security?! They just wanted to see the phone.

What fun.

OK, it has reached 400º here in the sun, which is beaming directly on me through the windows. I am dying. Several other items of "news" to report:

• Kevin's, the architect, girlfriend brought him lunch. I held their place in line while they went to eat. He then made her stay in the line while he left. He's been gone for a while. Um, sounds like revenge is in the works. She said he will not even let her touch the new phone.
• The lady seated a few people down went and purchased two pillows. She was just sitting on the hard floor. She has great personality! More on her later.
• AT&T representatives have been cruising around the crowd with their "We appreciate you business, sir." message. Actually, not a bad touch. All of the customers here at the Apple store will see this as an Apple event, not an AT&T one. They will probably all blame AT&T when the phone underperforms.
• The store is now closed. I knew they were closing at 2:00PM and will reopen at 6:00PM for the big event.
• I was hot and bored, so I shot a movie with my computer of the lady with the pillows. She's a hoot. Click here to watch this short (1 minute) little production.
• A lady with two dogs was just trying to join in the line. Security had other ideas. Good grief!
• News flash: the windows of the Apple store have now been covered. What ever are they doing in there? Only time will tell.
• And finally, the news media is out here shooting. I can't believe they want to horn in on my detailed coverage!
• If no more posts appear, it's because I melted.
• I have had to change batteries. People are scrounging baseboards for electricity.

OK, I haven't even been in line for an hour yet, and I have on site "news" to report.

• The guy next to me is an architect.
• The extra mall security are very pleasant.
• The trash can on the other side of me has been successfully emptied. (Thank you security guards. They suggested it.)
• Because of where I am located, I've been asked 12 times if I am the end of the line. Wishful thinking!
• I held the architect's space in line while he went out to his car to get his chair.
• My chair is becoming uncomfortable but more comfortable than standing.
• A guy sold his place in line (3rd) for $100 to a lady near me.
• A man has just said to me, while holding out his business card, "I engrave iPhones, would you like a card?" Security spun up to him on their little two-wheeled wonder and put a stop to that.
• A lady just strolled by talking to her friend, saying as she surveyed our silliness, "What's wrong with these people?!"

But most importantly--and sadly, I'm as hot as hell! As you can from the picture above in this post, I am seated under the large windowed roof area. My computer menu bar suggests that is is 85º outside. This simply can not be. It's every bit of 90º here, but them I am seated in the sun. The forecast is for a high of 91º with thunderstorms. I want them now!!

I'm hungry. Time for some cookies. Yes, I came prepared! And not just any cookies, either, Walkers' Pure Butter Shortbread!

Seems this picture of satellite city in Amsterdam is circulating the net. The prevailing opinion is that the hooks over the apartments are to hoist furniture up that will not fit in the stairs. I'm not exactly sure what I think about it. Ugly? Interesting? Making the best of a mess? I'll settle for unique. I'm glad I saw it. I'm glad I don't live there.

I was delighted to learn today that YouTube is now compressing their video content in H.264. In the past, the Flash compression they have used has such a low data rate (high compression) that it looked horrible. Apparently, since Apple, Inc., now has collaborated with Google, owner of YouTube, to include YouTube content on the AppleTV, Google is going through their content and compressing it using H.264.

For those of you who don't recall, I did a side-by-side comparison of the difference is visual quality between Flash and H.264 in this post--nothing short of astounding. So, while, I have not yet had the time to explore any YouTube content, now that it is on my AppleTV, I plan to do just that. This could have implications for educators.

For those teachers who read my blog, are you familiar with TeacherTube? I guess they want to be considered YouTube for educators. It has real potential.

I stumbled upon this article on compression settings to improve your YouTube content. As it needs to filed away, I am posting just these steps from the detailed and informative article at Squidoo.

Final Tips For The Hardcore Compressionists

If you got to this stage in the article then you are probably pretty serious about getting the best settings and filters compressing videos for YouTube using QuickTime Pro.

1. Use H.264 codec, the best MPEG4 codec in the market today.

2. Set Quality to Best.

3. Set rate control to 1-pass Constant Bit Rate (CBR). So no Variable Bit Rate, no Multipass. YouTube transcoders prefer CBR.

4. Set key frames to every 30 frames or less. The more key frames the more information your video will have. YouTube transcoders loves keyframes. I usually set key frames every 15 frames in my high motion videos, however keep an eye on the file size.

5. Set data rate to 1000 kbps or more, depending on the running length of your video. By default I use 2000 kbps in my short videos. Again keep an eye on the file size.

6. Set aspect ratio to 320x240. You do not want YouTube to resize your video using a bicubic, bilenear or substandard method. Chances are your compression software uses a better algorithm. For widescreen videos set frame size to 320x180 pixels.

7. Set frame rate to 30 fps.

8. Set audio compression to MP3 or AAC: 44.1 KHz, 64 kbps, 16 bits, monophonic.

9. De-interlace your NTSC or PAL source videos, especially if it's high motion

10. Apply filters to improve the look of your video: a bright/contrast filter and/or an image sharpening filter.

Remember, all these compression settings are the best compromise between keeping the video smaller than 100MB and keeping as much information as possible from the original video file.

Source: How To Make YouTube Videos Look Great on Squidoo

Historically, science inevitably renders narrow-mindedness irrelevant. I think this is the beginning of that process on this very complex issue. As those who know me well already know, I love a good controversy as long as it is respectful. Controversy often produces deeper understandings.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Scientists say they've created embryonic stem cells by stimulating unfertilized eggs, a significant step toward producing transplant tissue that's genetically matched to women.

The advance suggests that someday, a woman who wants a transplant to treat a condition like diabetes or a spinal cord injury could provide eggs to a lab, which in turn could create tissue that her body wouldn't reject.

Source: Wired News - AP News

If I had these when I was a child, I might have become a diabetic sooner! I loved Froot Loops cereal as a chid!

"Cory Doctorow: Kellogg's Cereal Straws are straws lined with powdered sugar-cereal dust that kids can drink milk through. It makes the milk taste like the sludge left at the bottom of a cereal bowl. We feed kids gross things, but this reaches new levels of grotitude.

Upon perforating one of the two packages, the perfume of fake fruit and powdered milk permeated the air and tempted the taste buds (try to say that without sounding like Daffy Duck, I dare you). There’s something about unabashedly artificial flavoring that’s both charming and nostalgic…sexual, even. Alright, maybe not sexual, but something pleasant nonetheless. The straws were thinner than what the box indicated, looking more like real straws than giant-sized novelty pens. They are lined in the middle with that sickly sweet powdered milk that seems to be popping up in granola and cereal bars everywhere. Someone needs to tell these guys that it does NOT replace milk and that we can all tell it’s just sweetened coffee creamer. Fortunately, the flavor of that is masked by the Froot Loop shell.

Sources: Cereal Straws -- powdered sugar-cereal drinking straws , Link (via The Consumerist) (Via Boing Boing.)

I purchased this drink last weekend at Whole Foods. I just drank it. This is magnificent--100% all natural fruit. It was so good I immediately read the container, something I rarely do. Bolthouse is a 4th generation farm (since 1914) in California with a website. I visited it. It is very well done, gorgeous in fact complete with unobtrusive and delightful flash animations. I post a screenshot from the page about the strawberry banana fruit smoothie product I love so and am attaching it here.

I highly recommend this if you like strawberries and bananas. This weekend I will explore their other delights!

I have never before participated in "group mania" until now, today, yes...this very moment. You see, I am infected with iPhone Mania. I am now sitting here in Lenox Mall, blogging live, waiting in the growing line of about 110 people for the iPhone, which doesn't go on sale until 6:00PM.

Fortunately, I am just across the hall from the store as the line has just wrapped around the mall and back. This means I am surfing off of the Apple Store's wireless internet while I wait. The bad news: I'm right by the trash can! Yuck. It smells.

Just for fun, I am attaching a picture of me in my seat.

This guy hits the nail on the head. When my schedule is out of control (which is too much of the time), and I'm working frantically against deadlines, my computer desktop is indeed a disaster as well. Why is organization typically among the first things that always gets tossed to the wind? And even under the best of times, I feel like I need to rethink how I organize my life... I mean my desktop.

I have thought for a long time now that a person's computer desktop is indeed a reflection of some deep aspect of the human than made and manages it. And messy seems to abound. Are people's minds really so cluttered, so disorganized, so neglected, so completely in disarray? Hmm.. Me thinks so! Or perhaps I could frame this in a better light: Our desktops are a mess because they reflect a stage for the ideas that are sauntering about, reshaping and molding themselves into an organized, meaningful framework. Yes, that sounds better!

I am including a screenshot of my desktop at this very minute just to brag and gloat and condescend upon all of the unwashed masses. (FYI: The secret to the neatness you see presented before you? This machine is only a week old, and I flew to LA and back! Amazing what 9 hours of battery life can accomplish.)

I resisted it for about three months, but, invariably, my desktop became populated with the usual collection of folders, half-thought-out documents, fire wire drives, and stickies.

My desktop became a two dimensional, colorful snapshot of my life and that's the point... my desktop became a living, breathing reflection of how I think. If the sky is falling in my life, my desktop is a disaster. If life is proceeding as expected, my desktop is clean and predictable.

Your desktop is structured clutter and so is your brain. Sitting in this clutter is everything that you're up to. It's your budget, your journal, your to do list, your status reports and that half written flame-o-gram that you're never going to send, but you constantly revise. These thoughts sitting in close visual proximity to each other allow them to cross-pollinate... to borrow from each other or to merge into something you were not expecting. Sure, it's not the desktop doing this, it's your brain... but the desktop is the essential tool which gives you this clutter abstraction process.

Source: Rands In Repose: Messy Thinking

And a Special Thanks to Crestock for Offering Some Awesome Desktop Pictures Today, Including the One Seen on Mine Above.

A woman was arrested Tuesday after her husband woke up in the middle of the night with a terrible headache and later learned he had a bullet lodged in his head. ...

St. Lucie County Sheriff's deputies initially thought Michael Eugene Moylan had been hit by a stray bullet, but later realized the couple's story did not match up, Sheriff Ken Mascara said.

April Moylan, 39, was arrested Tuesday and was in the process of being charged with attempted murder, Mascara said.

Moylan, 45, woke up at 4:30 a.m. and thought he had suffered an aneurism or that his wife had elbowed him in his sleep, authorities said.

His wife drove him to the hospital where doctors said a bullet had lodged behind his right ear. Authorities obtained a search warrant for the couple's home, located in an upscale gated community, and later arrested the wife, Mascara said.

Source: ABC News: Man With Headache Finds Bullet in Head

Another in the bumper sticker series for fun in the sun:

333
Only Half Evil

I met this guy through one of his former teachers who worked with me until I retired this year. She's a great person and a wonderful teacher and is in the picture with Jake on the right. Jake actually came to our middle school and sang and composed with the students. I wasn't really sure how that would come off, but he and the kids had a blast. He really comes across as an all around nice guy. So naturally, I want him to make it big. And it looks that's what he's up to. This summer he is going on tour with country music legends Alan Jackson and Brooks & Dunn, and he will be here in Atlanta on August 26th.

Country music isn't always my thing, but his is great fun. Check out his album on iTunes at this link. Help him out. Buy it! I did. He also has a music video for sale on iTunes at this link.

Do you recognize this face? I didn't either although he looks very familiar in an all-American-man-his-age sort of way. While neither of us have probably ever seen him before, odds are high that we have heard his voice.

El is the voice of AOL's "You've got mail." and "Goodbye." Presented below is biographical information from his website. He also runs a little business apparently. You can have your own personalized, "Tim, Guess what! You've got mail." file recorded for your computer!

My name is Elwood Edwards... but please call me El.

Every aspect of my career has involved the use of my voice. I started in radio while in high school and carried what I learned into my work in television, where I first worked as a live booth announcer. Even though I would soon become involved in television production, I continued as an announcer. This worked out quite well because when I was developing a project (such as a news opening), I wrote the copy, went to the booth and recorded it, then finished the project. I spent many years in Creative Services, which is the department that typically works with Sales to develop commercials for advertisers.

There have been times when I was "on-camera", doing a car commercial, reporting news or sports and even a short stint as a weatherman..... but I've concentrated on off-camera work. Even as I advanced into upper-level management, I continued to fill a slot as staff announcer.

My broadcasting career, which started in NC, has taken me to Washington, DC... to Akron, Ohio... to Houston, Texas (how do y'all stand the heat!!??)... and finally back to the Akron, Ohio, area. (I'll take the snow anyday!)

In July, '98, I resigned from the position of GM of a Houston television station to concentrate on my voice-over work. My wife, Karen, and I now reside in Orrville, Ohio, (the home of Smuckers®) where I have set up a studio in our home.

I use Adobe Audition© for master recording and can get your finished product to you on CD, DAT or Cassette, as well as sending files (.wav or .mp3) to you as an email attachment. My hobbies include computers and O-gauge model trains.

Source: BIO of El Edwards....

Using infrared light to penetrate the skin, the Lima is a blood sugar analyzer that requires no blood for a reading. After placing your hand on the Lima, football style, you hit a power button to take the reading. Then, without tearing up in front of your friend/girlfriend/pitbull, your blood sugar level will appear on the display.

It's an interesting concept, but why not remove the power button completely and allow pressure to activate the device?

Source: Better Than A Needle: Lima Blood Sugar Analyzer - Gizmodo

I have been closely tracking Santa since he left the North Pole (Shanghai, China) on June 15th at 8:58AM. The next place he showed up on my radar was in Anchorage, Alaska at 2:13PM on the "same day." Next he was spotted in Indianapolis, Indiana, at 12:25AM on June 16th. This morning, at 5:58AM, he was located in Hapeville, GA. He's getting closer and closer.

Naturally, I will let you know when he arrives with my new Mac Book Pro, all jazzed up with extra RAM and hard drive space! I can't wait till it's under the tree!

I stumbled upon this photograph on the internet. Boy did it bring back unexpected memories from my childhood. I saw this cardboard contraption advertised in the Boy's Life magazine. My father ordered it for me: instant submariner in a box--sort of literally! As a child I was fascinated by submarines. Do you remember Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea?

What is this group called Tim's Bright Reflections!? Simply put, it's a way to encourage everyone to replace their old light bulbs with the new CFLs (compact fluorescent lamps) which are much more energy efficient. Also, we can track how much money we are saving as well as how much we are reducing our carbon footprint on the planet. You can get these stats individually, and we can see how we do as a group [check out the group stats in my sidebar on this page].

And why wouldn't everyone want to join!

• It's FREE to join my group
• It's easy to join my group
• You can track our groups (and your individual) savings on my site in the sidebar on the right and the OneBillionBulbs.com site
• You save money with every bulb you replace
• You help our planet with every bulb you replace
• You bulbs are easy to find (Target, Home Depot, even grocery stores, etc.)
• The bulbs are not very expensive
• The bulbs are typically warranted for at least 6 years (compared to the normal bulbs that seem to die very soon!)
• You will feel better for having done something that really matters

How do you join my group? Simply click here and have fun!

...that the first floor has been completely Al Gored! I have replaced all of the traditional light bulbs with the new energy efficient ones that look like fluorescent lights all coiled up. Apparently the proper term for these is CFL, or compact fluorescent lamp. I want to do something to reduce my carbon footprint on our planet.

Supposedly these new lights, made by n:vision, will last 9 years as they have a 9 year warranty. I certainly hope so. But, at any rate, they are far more energy efficient using far less wattage of electricity to produce the same light. The ewquivalent of a 100 watt bulb uses only 27 watts. So, I'm doing my part to reduce carbon emissions! :o) Happy Me!

This little plug for OneBillionBulbs.com:

Imagine the possibilities. Imagine if people all over the world mobilized to replace one billion standard incandescent light bulbs with energy-efficient compact fluorescent (CFL) light bulbs. What would that mean? It would mean that those people would save money each month on their electricity bill. It would mean they would save enough energy to light tens of millions of homes for a year. It would mean the prevention of greenhouse gases equivalent to the annual emissions of millions of cars.

I love this site. One their site the above map is interactive. When you mouse over a state you can see the data for that state. You can set up an account and enter your bulb purchases. The account then automatically calculates your energy savings as well as the amount of carbon you have reduced. It shows you this information for the entire year as well as the total from the date of installation. Naturally I set mine up.

Here is my data as of today:

(Click to enlarge)

(Click to enlarge)

And now I get outrageous. Plug in the numbers and see what you can do!

Very cool!

I have posted several times on my blog over the years about The Silver Grill restaurant:

• The End of an Atlanta Tradition
• In Piedmont Park
• Lunch with JR: Should It Be Outlawed?
• The Last Supper
• Red Menu

After breakfast and shopping at Home Depot and grocery shopping at Whole Foods (both on Ponce de Leon Avenue near American Roadhouse, where I had breakfast), I drove by the closed space today that was once The Silver Grill. I saw a "For Lease" sign in front of the retail space.

This intrigued me because Kevin, the owner of the former restaurant, stated that he lost the lease on the property which was going to be redeveloped into some swank high rise condo space. I shared my puzzlement with a friend who told me that he knew a friend who told him that she knew one of the former Silver Grill waitresses who told her that Kevin had told her that he was sick of the restaurant business and decided to quit. Rather than telling everyone the truth, which would undoubtedly have cause what we call in the south a ruckus, he decided to make up the "lost my lease" story.

He sold his story well. But I would have completely understood if he had told everyone the truth. Be it recorded that I have not yet worn my Silver Grill t-shirt. Perhaps today, when I work out on Octane! Yes, today indeed it is!

This website has a lot of interesting longitudinal weather-related data. I recommend it. Here is a chart from the site.

I enjoy reading Mark Federman's work over at What Is the (Next) Message. In this talk he says:

How did we as a culture come to decide that certain things are to be considered as knowledge and others are not? How did those that decide such things acquire that very privileged position of knowledge authority? The fact of the matter is that our dominant knowledge paradigm has existed for a very long time – since the 17th century. But the world has changed considerably since then, so I’d like to suggest to you this morning that perhaps it is time to consider some changes to what we consider as knowledge, and who gets to decide, in a way that is consistent with today’s reality.

So how has media impacted the message? Is this better?

Elegant condo living? Perhaps a swank office complex? A design studio maybe? Guess again, because you're going to be shocked!

If this source can believed, these are pictures of a prison in Steiermark, Austria, The Leoben Justice Centre. Now I know that those of you who consider me a bleeding heart liberal will be shocked, but I say prison should punish. make them eat gruel!

It's long...really long. It won't even fit on your monitor. Here is a shrunk version of it. Clicking on it will take you to the source web page where you can see the entire picture, but you will have to scroll. The photograph appears to be 11 pictures that were stitched together. The original photograph is 6,600 pixels wide and 375 pixels tall. Compare that to this reduced size of 440 pixels wide and 25 pixels high!

Source: HaHa

Source: Bartcop

I love Pez, a popular candy from my childhood still available today. Hmm...I have one around here somewhere. It must be found! Anyway, the picture is a link to the Pez website.

Everyone loves these little plugin USB thumbdrives. They are small, portable, and some of them are actually smaller than a Pez candy dispenser.

Why not marry the two? A USB Pez candy dispenser!! I claim the idea first and all of the money that flows from my brilliant idea! :o)

I love taking pictures. I have never tried high speed photography. These photos are astounding! Capturing such amazing tiny slices of time can not be a simple task! The issues around focus alone on the dragonfly are staggering.

Speed Demon Photography at Crestock.com, a creative stock images company, hosts photo contests from time to time. These are but two of the entries in their high speed photo contest. Check out other entries at this link. Click on either image to see it in a larger size.

With a goofy smile and a hairdo like that, you’re bound to attract a lot of attention!



Awesome and interesting shot of a water balloon being popped. I’ve never seen a planet blow up, but this is how I imagine it would look.

Source: Crestock.com

The politicians have wrecked our spending priorities. In my humble opinion, we need to reduce our spending on the military and absurd NASA projects (like a space station on the moon or on Mars) that probably more serve the military than anything else, and get back to the huge domestic issues (education, health care, etc.) that have remained utterly neglected since the Bush administration assumed the reigns of power.

This picture caught my attention and then caused me to pay attention to the article which calls attention to this whole topsy-turvy issue. What will it take to get our nation back on track? Every poll I've seen says the same thing: the overwhelming majority of Americans think we are not on track!

The Topsy-Turvy Bus (”Topsy”) is two school buses welded together, one upside down on top of the other, that is currently touring the country to “dramatically depict America’s upside down budget priorities”. The bus was created by mega art car artist Tom Kennedy in Oakland with a team of 10 artists, who have a background working on art car and Burning Man projects.

The idea for Topsy-Turvy came from Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s and president of Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities along with artist Stefan Sagmeister. Tom and Haideen Anderson are currently driving the bus around the US, blogging about their adventures, with stops planned in New Hampshire and Iowa for the presidential primaries.

“Our nation’s spending priorities allow crumbling schools, millions of children with no health coverage, dependence on Middle East oil and deficits as far as you can see,” said Ben Cohen, president of the Priorities Campaign.

“I’m a guy who’s been looking to use art cars for social change, and Kennedy is a guy who wants to make art cars for a living with some social purpose,” Cohen said. “Clearly, we were both searching for each other.”

More coverage:

- San Francisco Chronicle (Meredith May)
- Daily Kos (Emily Duffy)

Here are some photos of Topsy-Turvy from Ken Duffy, Gary Wilson and Jessica Maass.

Source: Laughing Squid » Topsy-Turvy Bus Tours US Questioning Budget Priorities

Wow! I've visited a dying glacier. I walked all around on top of it. (Pictures from my glacier walk in Norway in July, 2006, can be found at this link.) I drank from the fresh water in its pools. I leaped over its crevices. I realized it was melting. I saw it melting, giving birth to a raging river. I heard the melting water flow. I felt the cool radiating from the melting water. Being on the glacier was a spiritual experience. But I never framed this experience within the context of death (though I thought I certainly would die if I misstepped and fell from the path on the way to the glacier). But, yes. Death is exactly it. I find this tragic. I just read this article and post it. For some reason I feel confident that this phone number will be very busy.

If you could talk to a glacier, what would you say? British artist Katie Paterson thought that some people may actually want to hear the sounds of a dying glacier, and say something back in return. To facilitate such a conversation, she setup a waterproof mobile phone at the base of Europe’s largest glacier.

If you’re interested, the glacier can be reached at 07758 225698 until tomorrow, June 13th (international long distance rates apply).

My Source: Neatorama
Their Source: Make

I always learn something from John. He's smart and knows a whole lot more about technology and Mac than I ever will. I found this little tidbit interesting. I had no idea, but it certainly makes a lot of sense. He is discussing the reasons Apple is porting the Safari browser over to Windows:

But the primary reason is simply money. Safari is a free download, but it’s already one of Apple’s most profitable software products.

It’s not widely publicized, but those integrated search bars in web browser toolbars are revenue generators. When you do a Google search from Safari’s toolbar, Google pays Apple a portion of the ad revenue from the resulting page. (Ever notice the “client=safari” string in the URL query?)

The same goes for Mozilla (and, I presume, just about every other mainstream browser.) According to this report by Ryan Naraine, for example, the Mozilla Foundation earned over $50 million in search engine ad revenue in 2005, mostly from Google.

My somewhat-informed understanding is that Apple is currently generating about $2 million per month from Safari’s Google integration. That’s $25 million per year. If Safari for Windows is even moderately successful, it’s easy to see how that might grow to $100 million per year or more.

There’ve been many attempts to finance app development with advertising; what’s interesting about web browser search engine deals is that browser developers earn money – a lot of it – for ads that users were going to see anyway, just by performing the same search without the built-in integration.

Source: Daring Fireball: WWDC 2007 Keynote News

So Steve did his Jobs thing today out in California at the WWDC '07--cool graphic by the way. As a dutiful disciple of "Think tnereffid," I followed MacRumors' live "coverage" of the event. Did I miss something? I must confess to being completely under-whelmed. But then I haven't seen the keynote video yet as it is not up on Apple's newly designed site.

Speaking of the new site design: Thank Goodness. I should have realized the code ninjas were tinkering with the toys as the site has been misbehaving badly of late with all sorts of out of control formatting issues.

Now, I will confess to loving the idea that Safari 3.0 will port over to Windows. I just hope Windows users will download and use the browser. I loath IE's "issues!" Otherwise, we didn't hear much about Leopard that we didn't already know. I did love the jokes about the various pricing packages for the new OS. I think I will purchase the premium ultimate uber upgrade for $129.

Now I'm off to digest the blogosphere's reactions to it all.

I have never understood why anyone would ever place a tattoo on his or her body. The idea of it is revolting to me. For me, my revulsion is as much about the permanency of the tattoo as it is the whole concept of "body art." I am a person of many moods, many perspectives,, many attitudes and would feel stifled by having the same tattoo every day. It would be like wearing the very same outfit everyday--unthinkable. But, to each his/her own I guess.

Tattoos seem to be the rage these days. I came across this picture of a man who has had his face tattooed as you see in the picture. I found it so appalling that I checked out the source of the link. It took me to this blog. (The link does not go directly to the tattoo page because: Warning, one of the tattoos is sexually explicit and probably widely seen more as something one would find in a filthy bathroom than on another human's body.)

Again, I have to ask myself, "Why?!"

So, will Steve announce this product tomorrow? I thought that Joe, at bookofjoe, had a great sense of humor.

When I was a kid my family went camping a lot. I loved it. We actually went almost every weekend for a while. I grew to love and respect the outdoors: the smell of exhaust fumes, the cramped quarters, the hard pavement, the honking horns from the passing traffic, the sounds of the steady stream of pedestrians walking by, always worrying that the camper next too us might back his car into our tent--especially when parallel parking, having to hunt for telephone poles to burn for the traditional marshmallow-roasting blaze, doing without indoor plumbing on a busy street. Yes, this picture brings back the good old days of roughing it with a tent.

I really think this is funny, but at the same time, I worry about what we are doing to our planet. Atlanta is cutting down trees and building houses, apartments, condos, and office space far faster than they can be occupied. We appear to be more concerned with urban living than with nature. I guess parks and green spaces do not generate much tax base.

Do I love the 70's for nostalgia's sake, or was it just a very fun time? Perhaps it was the rebellion against the stogie "establishment," the hope for happiness and "peace, man," and the simple joy of the Spirograph. Maybe I love it for the simple naiveté of the youth culture I experienced at the time.

Source: Wallpaper from the 70s, retro wallpaper

The retro-smiley face was just thrown in for fun and is not a wallpaper pattern made available through the above site.

I saw this photo and stopped my feed reading (would that be called, feeding?). The power of an image. But as I explored more deeply, the power of Gerd Ludwig's body of work displayed on his site gives pause to the rush of my beginning day. I highly recommend you take a visit. His galleries are powerful. I especially appreciated the Chernobyl photographs and the photo story on Russian pollution. Clicking the photograph featured in this post will take you to Gerd's work.

The Chernobyl photographs remind me of the Magnum Stories podcast series to which I subscribe in iTunes. Paul Fusco did a podcast with Magnum In Motion, Chernobyl Legacy that speaks to the Chernobyl horror that silently lingers on to this day buried in our world's shame. I highly recommend this work as well. I think we humans recklessly bluster forward full speed into areas about which we know too little, causing unspeakable harm to our fellow humans, be it Iraq, nuclear power, perhaps wireless electricity, environmental hazards, carbon poisoning...

At any rate, here is the bio from Gerd's site:

Gerd Ludwig was born in Alsfeld, Germany, in 1947. Initially he studied German literature, political science, and physical education at the University of Marburg, but interrupted his studies to travel in Scandinavia and North America while supporting himself with jobs as a bricklayer, sailor, gardener, and dishwasher. Gerd later returned to Germany and studied photography for five years with Professor Otto Steinert at the Folkwangschule in Essen, graduating in 1972 with a degree in Photo Design from the University of Essen. He co-founded VISUM, Germany’s first photographer-owned photo agency, the following year. In 1975, he moved to Hamburg and began working for Geo, Stern, Spiegel, Zeit-Magazin, Time, and Life, as well as photographing advertising campaigns.

Gerd re-located to New York 1984 and continued to photograph for major international publications. In the early 1990s, he signed on as a contract photographer for National Geographic Magazine, focusing on the social changes in Germany and Eastern Europe. This work resulted in the publication of his book, Broken Empire: After the Fall of the USSR, a ten-year retrospective published by National Geographic. Gerd is a veteran of the renowned A Day in the Life book series; he exhibits his work in galleries and festivals, such as the Perpignan Visa pour L’Image; occasionally shoots advertising; and has won numerous photographic awards, including the IPA’s 2006 Lucie Award for International Photographer of the Year.

Now based in Los Angeles, Gerd has photographed in over 70 countries across the globe. He continues to lecture at universities and photographic workshops throughout the world and, when not photographing for National Geographic, shoots advertising.

Source: Gerd Ludwig Photography - Profile

Yilkes! Another way to get cancer? Who is studying the health implications for all of this? Now granted, wireless electricity would be immensely convenient! Is it more efficient? Is it a health risk? These are significant issues. (to me anyway...)

Wireless power transfer over two-meter distance, from the coil on the left to the coil on the right, where it powers a 60W light bulb. Members of the team that performed the experiment are obstructing the direct line of sight between the coils; front row: Peter Fisher (left) and Robert Moffatt; second row: Marin Soljacic; third row: Andre Kurs (left), John Joannopoulos and Aristeidis Karalis.

Source: Goodbye wires… - MIT News Office

increasingly insufferable heat, and a growing number of seemingly uncontainable fires generating smoke that blows for hundreds of miles!

Remember when the George W. Bush for President noise machine was working over Senator, and then presidential candidate, John Kerry by repeatedly using the shallow phrase "flip-flop" to dumb down the election and slander Kerry's thinking through complex issues? Well, guess who just did the flip-flop?!

In the past, global warming didn't exist at all according to W. Suddenly, according to the same, global warming is bad. Even though he is the last human being living to accept this fact, and I utterly agree that the world needs to address it immediately in significant ways, I just want to point out the fact that he did the flop, I mean flip-flop.

I wonder why? Perhaps W has realized he is destined to go down in the history books as the worst "Amercan" (that's how he always says it, you know) president in the history of our nation?!

This could make it all even cooler and is a brilliant strategy for both companies I think.

Apple and Google just can't stand to be apart. Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced this week that Apple TV will soon play YouTube videos. Google recently unveiled a desktop search program especially for Mac users. And Google tools increasingly appear to be a key part of the secret sauce behind Apple's signature new gadget, the iPhone, set for release in June.

Both brands are beloved by legions of fans, and with Google CEO Eric Schmidt embedded on Apple's board of directors, the companies have gotten wise to the benefits of synergistic coupling. Call it the power of Gapple. ...

Source: iPhone's Secret Ingredient: Google | TIME