Reports of the death of this blog are accurate

A new year, and yes, it seems that this place is officially defunct. This will be the last post here, and I will be removing all ability to post or comment, but I will leave it up for a while.

Thanks for reading. This was a social (how I hate that word) experiment. It seems that it was a failure. Ok, no problem. Lets move on. Enjoy life, that is what its all about. I know that most of the really active authors here have their own places to post, so they are not gone forever. Who knows, maybe I will even have to get my butt out and do something that will stick.

 

Until then, enjoy Life.

The State of the ______ (fill in the Blank)

This last weekend has been a huge one when it comes to news. Especially for Europeans. And I want to start by expressing my grief and my condolences to everyone involved in the senseless tragedy over this last weekend.

There has been so much news in the Computer and Gadget world, that I could never even begin to do justice here to the amount of significant changes in the Tech world. But for most people, the changes wont matter. Unless you are a Tech head, Gear head, Fan Boy, or a Geek. I am guilty of all of these traits.So these things were significant to me. That being said, I have changed my idea of how and what I use a Computer for,  among other Gadgets I have and own.

I have not watched TV for any reasonable amount of time in many many months. Despite this, we know have a 42″ HD TV in the living room now. Strange isn’t it? I don’t watch TV yet I have this thing in my house? And yes, its new. At least new to me, with means slightly used but like new. It was a deal that I could not possibly say no to. That being said, it has made me change my ideas about TV. Or should I say my ideas about whats on TV. Since we have put this behemoth in the living room, I have watched the following: 1 DVD Movie, a local cultural music program, half of the Movie Classic Once upon a time in the West, the final the Tour de France, Some CNN News (totaling about an hour and a half), and a local news broadcast lasting 15 minutes before I turned it off. So what has made me change my ideas about TV? Simple. The way I look at things.

I get most of my news from the Net. Wait, Scratch that, I get most of my news from my iPad. Yes, I said it. iPad. So I see no use in the TV for that purpose. Yet, as things unfolded this weekend, I was compelled to turn on the TV and see if I could get more information than what I was finding. Unfortunately, that experience went badly as yet again I got commentary, conjecture, sensationalism and borderline insensitivity instead of facts. So that wasn’t a very good experience.

Watching a DVD movie with the wife was a very nice experience that we have not done for ages, and one I hope will continue. The ability to pause, get up and get a drink, or snack, or bathroom break proves to me that the future of movie watching is indeed a home experience. Yes, the Big Screens in theaters are great, so is the Big Sound, but second mortgages for popcorn, sticky floors, rude people, interruptions, and uncomfortable chairs are not for me.

The other programs, well, they made me realize that maybe I have been to cynical in my ideas about Television, Networks, and programs in general. I come from North America. And with that, channels like TVO in Canada, and PBS in America were always more inviting to me to watch than most of regular and cable channels. At least in as far as what they did to my brain. So watching an old film, a Western no less, was wonderful. And the local musical cultural program, well it reinforced my already clear mind that my new adopted country, and its neighbors, have a deep rich history that I have still to tap into. Oh, and the music was fabulous, and a little hokey as well. At least from my North American raised brain. It was what we would, in North America, call Folk Music crossed with Country, and it was beautiful.

With this, I have come to realize that all TV is not necessarily bad. Just some of the programs are bad for me, and some of the old habits are as well. A TV is just a Gadget.

Even my music has changed because of Gadgets. I used to listen a lot to my iTunes music, but lately, in fact for quite a while, I have been listening to Radio. Yes, old fashioned radio. Not just local radio either. But World Wide. I have an app on my iPad and iPod that allows me to listen to any radio station in the world that has an internet stream. It has allowed me to keep up to date with things going on back in Canada, as well as exploring new music and ideas from around the world. I used to have Satellite radio in Canada in both my car and apartment. I thought it would allow me more musical freedom. Now I realize, it narrowed my views, my taste of music, and limited me from learning about new music and artists. I am now a Big supporter of Regular Radio, no matter where it is.

I am now on break from school. I have been in an intensive German language course, and it has made my brain explode. Ich bin nicht ganz da as they say But I have learned so much in so short of a time. It has been wonderful. And I have made many new friends from around the world that have chose to make Switzerland their home. We had a picnic a couple of weekends ago at a park along the Limmat River in the Zurich area. It was wonderful. Great place, Great Friends, and Great food. Almost a shame to have to end it, but we had been there all day in the sun, with the dogs, and friends, and we can’t wait to do it all again.

Gabs has a new toy as well. She got herself and iPhone, a white one. Lets just say, I have never seen her spend so much time playing with a Gadget. She gets it. She understands it. Unlike her last phone, which I tried to figure out, got  frustrated, then tried to remove what final hairs are on my head. It was the worst phone I have ever used. Ever. But the iPhone, well, she has used this phone more in a week, than the last phone in 2 years. Makes me kind of Jealous. Yes, I have Gadget Envy

I know this post will seem like ramblings by some, but I had to start somewhere to get the creative juices flowing. And I think this was a good way to start. I has been a good few months. And even though we all have been so very busy, I have made a commitment to come here and toss around my opinions more. I hope some of you out there even read it. So, go ahead, ignore this if you like, but I won’t.

And that is the state of _____ (fill in the blank)

In the Year 3000

After a rather long hiatus, were back. But when I say We, I mean Me.

It has been very quiet here of late, as real world life has happened for many of out authors. Myself included. But now I am trying to change that by committing a post with hopes that it will knock some dust off the place and encourage others (or not) to come back. That includes our readers.

With that, I have swiped the dust of the monitor, hit the power switch, and discovered that there are 1421 updates needed on this thing before I unleash it upon these inter-webs.

So lets see if I still remember how to do this.

Watch for more….

Still Here

Well  the  world  never  ended  last  week.  But  I  see  Harold  Camping is  unrepentant.  He  just  got  his  sums  wrong.

As  he  did  in  1994  when  he  ran  this  same  scam.  Come  on,  if  God  wanted  to  tell  us  about  the  end  of  the  world  he’d  pick  someone  who  could  do  basic  math.

That  said,  there  is  the  serious  aspect  of  all  this.  Dead  pets.  People  who  sold  their  homes.  People  who  decided  to  give  Mr  Camping  a  lot  of  their  money.  At  least o ne  iompressionable  teenager  who  commiotted  suicide  rather  than  face  The  Rapture  (Which  is  a  kind  of  Disneyworld  for  the  overly  religious.)

I  do  also  wonder  what  God,  real  or  imagined,  would  want  to  spend  the  rest  of  eternity l istening  to  Mr  Camping  and  his  lunatic  ravings.

The End

I see  that  an American Christian group  has read their bibles and decided  the world is going to end on Saturday 21st  May.

Indeed  they  are so convinced  of this that they have had their  pets  put  down.

This does raise the question of what they will do on Sunday morning  when  they find the world is  still  here.

No  doubt  say  it  was  God  testing their faith.  And  sorry  about  the  dog,  kids,  but  it  had  no  soul  anyway.

Shamisen Virtuosos Rock

I know its been a while, more to come, until then, enjoy this.

Oh yeah….. crank it up!

FLAG

Each day that my dear Mom goes to work she passes by many churches of various denominations. A few weeks ago she made notice of a church that had a terribly tattered US flag as well as was the flag that represents the church also being tattered. She was livid. With her father having fought in WWII, her nearest brother in birth order (my God Father) having lost his life in the Vietnam War, and one of her grandsons now in the US Army in Kuwait, she felt great passion upon seeing the tattered flag. The woman is on a mission.
Me Mum (haha) has a customer that attends this particular church. Needless to say, the flag will be taken care of.
OK, it gets better. The small town in which we live, the US Post Office hangs a tattered flag! We will see how long that it takes for that to be taken care of. I shall keep you “posted”.
Since the initial occurrence she is taking notice of each and every flag. Regardless of what any particular flag is hung to represent, it should be hung in honor.
Each of us are from where we are from and believe what we believe. That is beauty. Beauty deserving of respect; for ourselves and others.