It’s especially hard to stay focused when I read crap like this:
Saudi women with attractive eyes may be forced to cover even them up, if resolution is passed
By Mail Foreign Service
Women with attractive eyes may be forced to cover them up under Saudi Arabia’s latest repressive measure, it was reported yesterday.
The ultra-conservative Islamic state has said it has the right to stop women revealing ‘tempting’ eyes in public.
A spokesperson for Saudi Arabia’s Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, Sheikh Motlab al Nabet, said a proposal to enshrine the measure in law has been tabled.
I’m disallowing comments on this one since it could stray into something that’s not appropriate for this blog. But I had to get this off my chest. You have something to say, send me an email. See left sidebar labeled “CONTACT ME”. And yes the article is from the Daily Mail which majors in sensationalism, but this mentality is alive in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere, or should there be reminders of the barbaric thinking. It’s sad to me there is not more of a hue and cry about it. Pitiful.
Sorry to stay in geek mode, but that’s who I am, and this article is so good, I had to share it. For those who are on WordPress, you may have already seen it. If not, hopefully, you will trip over it here:
Fortune contributor Brent Schlender shares some of the stories and personal photographs he collected during more than two decades as Steve Jobs’ chronicler and confidant.
Jobs’ scribe: Schlender (left) interviewing Jobs at a Next company picnic
FORTUNE — Most of us who wrote in depth about the brilliant career of Steve Jobs sooner or later came to realize that we were complicit in the making of a modern myth. You simply couldn’t avoid it. And while it is true that Jobs was as charismatic as Clooney and as manipulative as Machiavelli, the legend we helped him construct served many purposes beyond pumping up his own ego. He was an irresistible force who knew that in order to bring to market the amazing technological wonders that bubbled in his imagination, he also had to become the Svengali of the digital revolution that was to be the hallmark of his generation.
Nevertheless, Steve was merely mortal. And his storied life was one of dissonances and contradictions. He proudly flouted authority, yet he embodied extreme self-discipline. He wouldn’t suffer fools, but that wouldn’t keep him from turning on the charm to woo a “bozo” who had something he needed. He was the ultimate nano-manager, who also could limn the grand strokes of a big picture that others rarely could fully perceive without his help.
I readily admit I might be a bit jaded. When I see something like this, it’s hard not to think it’s a bunch of people who are in need of meaning in their lives, seek out a “noble” cause toward that end but are drawn mostly in a visceral fashion and often ignorant of how the situation came to be. And in their ignorance, they are vulnerable to being manipulated by forces beyond their kin. Yes, this can describe all of us at one time or another. LOL!
Okay, I’m going on the record that Washington shafted us with the bank bailout and was done by both parties. Those guys aren’t up there for you and me. Maybe half dozen are really up there as advocates for the people. The rest are up there for their own asses, and I doubt these protests are going to do much to change that. The protests will serve little more than to move another group into power.
When I see a real grassroots movement of Americans that is not politically motivated, I might sing another tune. I would so love to sing another tune.
Until then it’s a shame the bad guys on Wall Street usually look like this:
instead of this:
At least with the latter, you would enjoy the view while you were getting screwed.
Brownie points if you can name the top two guys without looking them up. :D
Yesterday, I was grumbling about information technology, but really, I love it and have had a passionate love affair with it since my early twenties. That love affair would have started sooner, but IT wasn’t readily available to the masses when I was a teen. Other than the ham radio culture and all the goodies found at Radio Shack or through Heath Kit, there was almost nothing highly technical for kids to indulge their inclinations. Thankfully, that wasn’t going to be the end of it.
When I graduated from college, I went to work for IBM, and this was about a year after they had started selling the PC. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I was getting paid to play with this stuff! The only problem was the staid culture. These were the days when any man who wanted to get ahead at Big Blue did not wear anything other than a white shirt and wingtips with his suit, and most of the women were more sedate. I lost track of the number of navy suits I had. Boring as that sounds, it worked well for IBM because the key was to look sharp but not so snazzy that you drew attention to yourself. You only needed to evoke trust from the customer. Sadly, the clothing was indicative of the mindset, and with that much restraint, it’s no wonder they missed out on what’s essential to existence in the tech world — creativity.
Although I’d read about Steve Jobs for years, few inside the company took him really seriously. Everyone knew he would get somewhere, would enjoy watching it, and the company would reap the benefit, but a big threat? No. Of course this was before IBM fully realized it had shot itself in the foot with its understanding of the PC and especially of Microsoft’s role. I’ll spare you that story. Suffice to say, IBM didn’t see that one coming either.
In 1984 Steve Jobs put something in motion with Apple’s first really serious foray into the desktop computer market. The hammer was thrown, and the imagination of my generation was ensnared. It doesn’t matter that Apple had financial woes afterward and Steve stepped away from his baby for a while. Creativity and thinking outside the box were now acceptable, and IBM and all others were forced to get in the game.
None of that would have happened if Steve hadn’t been different and persistent. He really was a visionary on a scale that the reverberations of it will be felt long after IBM, MS and the others have gone away. He was his own person, and most important, he expressed it and never stopped. Even though I was in the enemy camp, I so admired that. He came with his long hair and jeans and I loved him. He said the things I wanted to hear from someone who had some power. I secretly hoped he would level the playing field, and he did! Thank you, Steve.
Steve passed away yesterday, and I never expected to be this moved, but I am and write this with tears in my eyes.
My heartfelt condolences to Steve’s family.
If you would like to share your memories of him, you may email rememberingsteve@Apple.com
edit:
For those who haven’t seen this, I bring it for your edification.
Another post in the ongoing series about Musicilove.
Yesterday something happened that’s kept a smile on my face since. Imagine me typing this post in a rhythm. It’s the only thing alleviating the urge to get up and dance. LOL! Yep, I’ve been caught in something, and I’m just now figuring out what. Before yesterday I had heard maybe one song by Sugarland and thought it was good but then moved on. Enter Sheepa who came with the ‘Stuck Like Glue’ video, and I’ve become enthralled with watching and listening to Jennifer Nettles and her musical partner, Kristian Bush. These two are so talented that I don’t think they can move without something artistic gushing out. Kristian’s guitar playing is perfect, but Jennifer is a force of nature. If you haven’t already looked at that ‘Stuck Like Glue’ vid, go do it. Watch it more than once; it gets better each time!
As I watched it for about the 20th time, I knew that much energy and joy couldn’t just be that one video, and I’m happy to say it’s not.
Phew! “that girl can sang!” as it’s said in my neck of the woods. And she writes her own music. Yep, this is one talented chick. Sorry, but I can’t help but gush. She has something special, and those who love her saw it long ago:
I’m thankful once again for YouTube, Amazon and emusic. Last night I purchased ‘The Incredible Machine’ album and quite a few other tunes by Sugarland and was listening to all of it within a couple of minutes.
By the way, I wasn’t terribly happy with emusic when I first started with them, but they are steadily improving, and they have given me so much free music, that I’m stunned. Yes, this is a shameless plug. :D
One more ’cause I just can’t get enough:
Of all the musical pieces I’ve posted, this one reminds me of Richard Armitage the most. I realize he may not even like country music, but Jennifer seems so talented and creative and real that I couldn’t help but think of RA.
note: I have only used the word ‘gush’ one other time on this blog.
correction: I’ve only used ‘gush’ in connection with RA, but Jennifer is so talented, I can’t help myself.
My oldest child is taking third year Spanish in college. Before this class, she had never taken any formal language classes and knew no one associated with the language program at her school. A couple of days ago she finally made a visit to the language lab where she logged into one of the computers and cruised around the school’s language site. Some external links were listed under helps, so she clicked on one of them. It was a YouTube channel designed to teach Spanish, and just for grins, she clicked on one of the videos and then sat open mouthed a minute later:
At about 1:20, there are two girls in black and white, and there is a sink behind them. Those two girls are my oldest and youngest children, and the sink is my kitchen sink, yet my daughter doesn’t know the owner of that YouTube channel nor does anyone she knows personally know the owner of the YouTube channel. She was naturally creeped out and called home to get some input. After SO and I finally realized she wasn’t pulling our legs, we sat stunned as well, and then all of us set about trying to figure out how the channel owner would have come to have this picture and use it to represent sisters. We speculated and ruled out all sorts of scenarios and then came to one that makes such sense.
The photo in the video was posted on my daughter’s Facebook page a couple of years ago, and she had labeled it “hermanita”, which is translated “sister” from Spanish. Although my daughter doesn’t have quite the tight security on her FB account that I would like, her account is fairly private and certainly this photo was private. Doesn’t matter. She posted a picture on her account where friends could see it. This implied a right for them to post it to their FB pages (whether that was a legal right or not), and apparently someone did take it and posted elsewhere. Once this was done, that person then extended a right to all of their friends, and if one of their friends decided to post it, the right was extended to all of their friends. Yes, I’m saying that if you put up a picture on Facebook, you can potentially lose control of it. Isn’t Facebook grand?
This can happen to any of us who are on Facebook or almost anywhere on the web. The protestations from Facebook about privacy and respecting copyright are immaterial. Yep, that’s right — they mean nothing. If it’s out on the web (and Facebook has a way of propagating information on the web the likes of which would make your head spin), the potential to be taken from you is enormous. Most people say to themselves, “Why would some stranger want my photos?” You may never know why.
I bring this post for those of you who are still enamored of Facebook but don’t realize the vulnerability it creates for you. Facebook is everywhere and gives others the ability to lift all sorts of things about you — the least of which are your personal photos — and again, it does not matter about your privacy settings. Well, unless you have no friends on Facebook which would defeat the purpose of the site. And I won’t even get into Facebook wanting to trademark the word “f*ce” and how invasive that may be. You can read about that here.
Obviously, what makes this case bizarre are the great odds of my daughter ever seeing herself this way, but it should beg a question of everyone: are there any photos of me, or anything else about me, somewhere I’m unaware of? Probably.
By the way, this is one of the reasons I will never post pictures of famous people in a family setting that the famous in question has not intentionally made public. I will not participate in the breaching of someone’s privacy. It is certainly not my place to do that with anyone’s photos — be they photos of the famous or not. Sadly, on occasion I have been sent what appear to be stalking pictures, and at one time I had a picture of what I’m pretty sure was a private photo of Richard Armitage’s family. That ran a chill up my back, and I couldn’t help but think of my own family. I’ll admit a wee part of me wanted to keep the photo. Thankfully, the better part of me, who lives by the Golden Rule, got rid of it. May the better part of me always dominate.
I told my daughter I was going to be posting this video and that I wanted to post some other pictures of her. She’s of the generation that expects to have their pictures and videos plastered everywhere without consent, but I’m of the generation that is still compelled to ask permission. And this should probably be a post just about her, but I’m not sure one blog piece would do justice to her. She has a lot of energy and is almost always smiling and laughing. It’s hard to get a picture of her when she’s not:
She is also larger than life but doesn’t realize it. Everyone who knows her can see it, and many of us think this photo captures it perfectly:
Update April 2018: my daughter is a college graduate with honors, speaks several languages, lives in NYC where she owns a business and is doing very well, is engaged to a fine young man, whom we like very much, and she finally made it to Machu Picchu. :D
P.S. I didn’t ask for permission to post this photo since it’s already posted on the web.
Before I stop teasing all of you and get on with my posts about the lovely Richard Armitage, I have to get this out of my system.
Lady Gaga is pitiful. I have now lived long enough to see Britney Spears become appalled at someone’s behavior. Lady Gaga, who was no lady the night of the MTV Video Music Awards, apparently wanted a redux of Britney’s sensational embrace with Madonna, and Britney was horrified. ROFLOL!!!! Yes, the computer really did fall off my lap from laughing. Er, me not the computer. Actually, I think the computer chuckled a little too.
Can you imagine what it would be like for Britney Spears to look at you suspiciously and think, “Ewww.” Yeah, I’d say Gaga has reached a new low. But really how long can people keep up an act when it’s 40% musical ability and 60% sensationalism? It didn’t work for Bette Middler, who had to morph into a serious singer, it appears to be on the wane for Britney, and Madonna… I’m not sure exactly what to say about Madonna except that after almost 30 years of being on the music scene, she is amazing in her ability to sustain, but at what cost? She’s pitiful too, and if I never thought it before, I certainly did when I saw this video a couple of years ago:
The boys in that are young enough to be her kids and maybe her grandkids. But Madonna was always a cougar in the making, and why I’m surprised by any of this I don’t know. I’m not really, but it’s sad to watch that video. When she was younger, I saw the angst, and I appreciated it. But now? I really am sad ’cause I know Madonna is not stupid. But she’s let her need for continual self-promotion render her silly looking, and if that’s not what happened to Gaga on Sunday night, then I need to invest in a leotard and some fishnets.
The real shame is Lady Gaga has a good voice. Let’s hope it eventually eclipses all of this bullshit. Sorry I couldn’t come up with a descriptive word easier on the ears; that’s the best one.
And for you techies, this may not be what you think. The video below addresses something everyone on the World Wide Web needs to know is happening so is well worth the nine minute’s investment to watch.
I chuckled a bit when Eli Pariser mentioned his political bent. He has been an integral part of Moveon.org, a very politically biased site. I do not agree with everything said there. I’m not sure I agree with everything said anywhere, but this never keeps me from listening to someone’s viewpoint, and I’m almost always wiser for having listened. And how sad if their visibility were diminished in my little world thereby making my world that much smaller. Oh, I’m all for personalization, but when it becomes a stumbling block to my ability to consider a bigger picture, it’s gone too far. And for what? Mostly to take advantage of niche marketing, i.e., the ability to sell me something whether it be a product, a service or an idea by appealing to my seeming interests keyed into a search engine. Oh, I’m not completely opposed to niche marketing, but I HATE when someone seeks to think for me in a way that limits my thinking, and it’s really insulting when it’s a machine. Hopefully, you watched the video, so all of this makes sense and my next words in particular will be in perspective.
Today, the only major information site that doesn’t personalize to the degree of Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc. is Twitter. I would include Digg and Reddit, but they are being eclipsed by Twitter. So this makes Twitter a really important tool for the little guys — us. The beauty of the web has been this power to connect people who would not otherwise be able to find each other, and gatekeeper media sites have been fairly circumvented in this process, but now Google, et al are seeking to control where we go even more. Frankly, the mere mention of a gatekeeper hacks me off. Thankfully, Twitter is still powerful enough to overcome that kind of control because it’s mostly unfiltered, and therefore wild and unpredictable and beautiful in its ability to give us average people who have little or no professional connection with major media the power to potentially have impact. This is the main reason I like Twitter and would hate to see it go the way of the others. Hopefully, this makes it evident Twitter should not be dismissed as mere fluff.
It’s amazing to me how true is this adage: it’s not what you see or hear but what you don’t. I’ve told my kids this countless times in the hope they will learn to think outside the box by knowing that the box is invisible.
On a personal note, if I told you some of the influential people whom I’ve been able to converse with as a result of Twitter, you wouldn’t believe me. I could care less about name dropping, but I say this here to make the point that your voice can be heard on Twitter in ways you could have only dreamed about before.
edit: I’m putting the Richard Armitage and public service tags on this since this is “important” stuff in the fine art of Richard Armitage watching. :D
Many times I’ve wondered how long this blog’s life would be, and no, I’m not going anywhere. I’m still here and will be here for a while longer. How long I don’t know. As long as I get some fulfillment and fun from it I suppose. But candidly sometimes that fun is hard work. Of course life is full of obstacles, and usually the obstacles involve people or money. Come to think of it they all involve people or money. Now I’m not here to talk about money, and I doubt anyone has ever read my blog expecting me to talk about money. Although truth be told, I could talk about money for quite a while. But I’ll spare you. Today. So people it is.
People are infinitely fascinating even when they’re being a pain in the ass. At least that’s how I choose to see it, and if I didn’t choose to see it that way, I would not have done this blog past a few weeks. I also knew choosing the subject of Richard Armitage for my blog would bring with it an element that is absurd (no offense to Richard), and in case it’s not obvious to some, I’ve used that absurdity to spring myself forward. But sometimes I can’t find the humor in some of these people who are mean. I try never to cave to thoughts like this here (diary entries excepted), but I’ve slipped up a couple of times and day before yesterday was one of those times. I immediately regretted making that post, but after I had a little time to ruminate on it, I decided that it really was something that should have been broached.
On to the point of this piece. Yep, that was all a preface. I’m partial to prefaces lately. :D
If you’re going to blog, you cannot let people get to you — especially if they’re trying to get to you. If they get to you, then they have defeated you. They’ve stopped you. I was reading one well-intentioned commenter’s suggestion about Servetus’ handling of those who object to her blog. It was suggested to use password protection so that only those who really want to read the blog can do so. The commenter did not intend it to be censorship and said as much as a preface to the comment, but really, that’s what it is, and I mean absolutely no aspersion on the one who made the suggestion. It’s just that it’s hard to see it as anything else, and ironically, it would still not serve the purpose of making those who are offended happy as some would probably still read the blog. LOL!
So what’s the answer to all of this — at least in my opinion? It’s two-fold. First, go ahead fearlessly. Go for it, and don’t let someone inhibit you, and believe me, there will be those who will try. It’s a given. Second (and really this should be first), use some wisdom in lieu of locking things down. If you believe you shouldn’t post something, ask yourself why you don’t want to post it, and if someone is manipulating you into not posting, that’s almost never a good reason. Of course if it’s something that you have concluded is not appropriate, don’t post, but know that sometimes you might make a mistake. Scratch that. You will make a mistake, and if you don’t want to ever make a mistake, then don’t blog. In fact, don’t write anything, anywhere or say anything to anyone because at some point you’re going to make a mistake. [note: Mulubinba is excluded from this comment ’cause her decision is not about being manipulated, and I certainly respect it.]
In the meantime, I’m enjoying this song below, and I don’t care that it’s Katy Perry singing. If I was all caught up in who she supposedly is, I would dismiss this song. Her name alone would have the power to preclude me from ever listening to her or considering her music whenever I happen to hear it. Thankfully, I don’t think that way about music, so when I heard this, I liked it. :D
[note as of September 2014: Cameron’s videos are long gone as is his movie review blog, but oh, I hate you missed it. He was something else, and quite the reviewer. LOL! Not necessarily erudite in the sense of a New Yorker reviewer but definitely someone who had something to say and a sense of style while doing it. I think what happened is Cameron’s parents found out he was doing this and from their bedroom, so the kibosh was put on his filming endeavor. It also might have something to do with his being about 13 or 14 at the time. Would love to know what he’s doing now!]
]If you’ve been following this blog much, you know about Cameron. If not, then here’s an introduction:
Wow. I’m impressed that Cameron likes Woody Allen. Should be interesting to see what happens if Cameron keeps going on these movie reviews. Of course I’m wondering how much time he’s spent on this while he’s still in school, but hey, I’m sure Siskel and Ebert had to start somewhere.
Here’s the first time I wrote about Cameron, and if you’re wondering why I’m still writing about him, well, he’s the mainstream movie goer of generations to come.
Now if I could just get Cameron to read a few books, his reviews would be awesome. I’ll have to work on that. :D
Cameron,
If you read this, I really do love watching your reviews. Hang in there.
RAFrenzy 
