Sometimes funny, sometimes thoughtful, always a good time
Happy birthday to the compact disc. It’s 25 years old today.
It’s amazing that it’s not only lasted this long (in an age where technologic obsolescence is a pretty quick game) but that it’s spawned so many other technologies based upon it: the CD-ROM and associated writeable media, the DVD and it’s associated media, and in fact the entire digital music revolution.
The big question: what’s the next technology that will have such staying power?
The world of finance will always confuse me. I just saw this headline:
So, if I read that right, our entire capitalist economy depends on Wal-Mart and Home Depot.
May heaven help us.
This weekend we went up to Winter Park and crashed at Ryan’s place, which was an absolute blast. At one point we were playing a rousing game of Pit and screaming so loud that everyone who was watching Bugs Bunny in the next room had to turn on the subtitles because they couldn’t hear Yosemite Sam blasting Bugs with a cannon or whatever.
The alpine slide was a hoot, although Zack tended to go a bit slow and caused traffic jams on the way down. Notice Tony (in the white shirt) looking like he’s about to fall right out of his sled from boredom.
However, Zack picked up the zip a bit by doing flips while attached to bungee cords thirty feet above the ground:
Not to be outdone, Alex and Kyra hopped in and did flips of their own.
And of course we couldn’t skip the full 18-hole miniature golf course:
There were, of course, some really tough shots that required intense concentration. Much like the Masters’.
All in all it was a terrific time, with only minor sunburns all around.
I think Scott Adams pretty much summed up the presidential candidates’ talking points…
Last night we went camping.
In our backyard.
It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while, and I finally got around to actually organizing it. We invited all of the neighborhood kids to spend the night in the yard. They could bring sleeping bags, blankets, tents, whatever. There was even talk of sleeping on the trampoline.
We borrowed one of those portable fire pits (just a big shallow metal bowl) and lit up a little bonfire. The neighbors came over and we roasted marshmallows and chatted while a dozen kids ran screaming around the yard with flashlights.
Around 10:00 the adults headed home to their nice comfy beds, and around 11:00 Laralee went upstairs to her comfy bed. I unrolled my sleeping bag in the grass and slept under the stars with the kids camped out nearby.
It was really cool.
So what’s the deal with LinkedIn?
About three years ago I heard about it, created an account, and had an old friend of mine invite me to be in his “network”. I accepted, and that was pretty much the end of it.
Now, in the past two weeks I’ve received– no kidding– five different invitations from friends all over the country. It’s like all of a sudden everyone has decided that it’s the bomb, and we’re all setting up our networks.
I guess it makes me look more popular, whee!
Today Congress overwhelmingly approved a $460 billion budget for the Department of Defense. That doesn’t include any money for the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan, so one can only imagine how much bigger that number will be next month when Congress votes on funding for the wars.
I’m currently reading Ray Kurzweil’s The Singularity Is Near, which is a fascinating book about today’s rapidly-advancing growth of technology and how it will profoundly affect our society and our lives in the next few decades. He has compelling arguments, and what I find most interesting is the fact that as technology blows past barriers of economics and national boundaries, things like $460 billion for national “defense” will seem quaint and backward. At least that’s my hope… because it’s a shame our country feels it necessary to spend such vast resources on such petty things.
“You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat.”
— Albert Einstein
Tonight we had a bit of fun baking… mmm…
It’s gratifying that pouring tens of billions of dollars into Iraq every month is having such positive effects. From an AP article today:
Power supplies in Baghdad have been sporadic all summer and now are down to just a few hours a day, if that. The water supply in the capital has also been severely curtailed by power blackouts and cuts that have affected pumping and filtration stations.
Sewage is seeping above ground in nearly half the provincial capital because pump trucks used to clean septic tanks have been unable to operate due to gasoline shortages. The sewage is causing a health threat to citizens and contaminating crops in the region.
The electricity problems come as leaders are trying to deal with a political crisis that erupted when the country’s largest bloc of Sunni political parties withdrew from the government.
Wow. So Iraqis have no power, no running water, no waste treatment, and their government is collapsing.
But wait! It’s time for our fearless leader to step into the fray with decisive leadership:
Well, stick me in an oil pipeline and blow me up, that’s a shrewd and brilliant move by Bush. I’m sure the Iraqi leadership didn’t think of trying to preserve their government.
I predict a solemn address from Bush to the American people, urging us to “stay the course” and remember that “the surge is working” and how wonderful the Iraqi democracy is turning out to be. He’ll probably throw in a few remarks about “terrists” and how they’re ruining all of his plans.
When, oh when, will those in command see that it’s just not working?