To Be or To Be++

I'm been thinking about getting a Kindle ever since Amazon's announcements about their next-gen Kindle and also since a friend got one and showed it off to us. It's pretty amazing and cool.  I keep thinking it can change the way we consume books and written media just like Tivo's changed the way we consume TV.  But I also wonder if it's yet another item in a long list of technology products that I've coveted, gotten, and not really used fully, like my iPod and iPhone.  Maybe I should make it a present for lifepart3 instead, since he does a better job of taking advantage of cool toys than I do.  In fact, he so loves the iPhone that our standing joke is that the iPhone would be #1 to be rescued in a fire on a list that includes people, cherished stuffed animal friends, and cats.

Anyone have personal experience with a Kindle or advice on whether the smaller Kindle 2 or the larger, more expensive Kindle DX is a better idea?

 

I wish I were living in California so I could have voted on this issue.

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NEWS ALERT
from The Wall Street Journal

Nov. 5, 2008
California voters overturned same-sex marriage rights in a vote that stands to impact how the issue plays out elsewhere in the nation. Proposition 8, which would establish marriage as a union between a man and a woman, passed with 52.1% of the vote, against 47.9% opposed, with 94.6% of precincts reporting. The approval marks a stunning upset in a $70 million campaign that just weeks ago looked to be running in favor of preserving gay marriage rights.
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Let's not forget that there are large moral and human rights issues that reveal how intolerant we still are.  And it is especially sad that this happened in California, one of the most diverse and urban states in the Union.  As a nation, we have apparently not learned from the past and not learned the lessons that the movements for racial and gender equality have taught us.  Let's all remember that we are a few statutes in dusty law books away from having many of the rights we now take for granted taken away.

 

You may have seen Pete's post already, but I am posting to make sure this was sent to our whole LJ community.  Pete and I have finally put together a spoof of The Matrix, my favorite movie, based entirely on acting by stuffed animals.  This was prepared for the Second City Film Festival to disturb the judges reviewing the submissions and get blacklisted from any further training center classes.  We hope you'll enjoy this short video but we will not be held responsible for any injuries directly or indirectly resulting from watching this.  If you like it, please rate it and leave a comment on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU5uVpi1Ofw

To not be!  Not only did I not get made into fish food at the Navy SEAL Fitness Challenge, I actually did decently.  Here are my scores:

500-yard swim (breast stroke and side stroke only): 16:28  (Not the last one out!)
Pushups in 2 minutes: 42 (meets SEAL qualification standards)
Sit-ups in 2 minutes: 32
Pull-ups: 0
1.5 mile run: 12:28 (meets SWCC qualification standards)

Looking forward to beating these records next year!

Chicago is where umbrellas come to die.  Die a horrible death full of metal skeletalness.  Our two umbrellas died on Sunday.  We will not be saying a requiem for them.

Anyone interested in running the marathon in downtown Rockford with me on Sunday May 18?  There is also a half marathon distance offered. www.rockfordmarathon.com  Fantastic race support  is provided by Pete.   Let me know if you're interested. 

Now, I’m not normally a pessimistic or paranoid person, but since it’s Halloween I thought it would be an appropriate occasion to talk about the topic of What Scares Us.  Here’s my list of the top issues that scare me the most:

• Global climate change.  No need to explain why that’s a problem, unless you don’t believe in science.  Then, no amount of rational arguments will convince you.  God help you instead.  (Yes, double meaning intended here.)
• Iran.  No, strike that.  That was not the right framing of the problem: the issue is not Iran but the current administration’s need to create an evil “other” to rally against.  Purely political gamesmanship, but if tensions exacerbate further, the stakes will be for blood, thick spilt scarlet blood.
• Growing inequity between rich and poor, even (or especially) in so-called “industrialized” (what elites would like to believe is synonymous with “enlightened”) countries like the U.S.
• “Pick and choose” progressivism.  I read something today that made me do a double take: Obama is against gay marriage.  From my impressions of his campaign, I gather that he is running as a liberal democrat, which would make this quite odd.  Also, as a person of color like Obama (although a different color), it strikes me that the current anti-gay marriage legislation is basically the last bastion of discrimination in the tradition of the anti-miscegenation laws in the last century through as late as 1948.  Why isn’t this apparent to Obama?   Lest you think I am personally taking aim at a popular Democratic candidate, let me be clear that I use this only as a key example of “pick and choose” liberalism that bothers me.
• Growing disconnect between cause and effect in our world.  Pollution is a case in point.  Outsized economic returns to the oil and gas corporations and their top executives, while common people, especially the poor who have the least recourse, suffer outsized negative health effects due to carcinogenic pollutants in hydrocarbon burning.

I thought I'd see what all the fun Pete is having online is all about, at least the part I can write home about, so I've signed up for a LiveJournal account.  I'll see you around these parts.