Rant of the Day

Chicago Out of Olympic Race - Obama Star Diminshed

Who is advising this man? Everyone on the planet seemed to agree that Barack Obama was taking a political risk by being the very first American President to personally advocate before the IOC on behalf of an American cities' bid to host the Olympic Games. Yet there he was, in Copenhagen, assuring the IOC that Chicago would make the world proud if it were to host the 2016 Games.

And when the very first vote takes place, Chicago is the very first city eliminated.

And now, Republican politicians, Rush Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck, Palin, - let's face it every wingnut and right-wing leaning pundit - will blast Mr. Obama for everything from wasting time and energy, to demeaning the office of the president, to pushing his "socialist" and "fascist" agenda.

Do we really have to endure this?

Rant of the Day

I don't care how talented or vital to film-making Roman Polanski is or was, he is a pedophile who raped a 13 year old child and who has shamefully evaded punishment for his crime for 31 years. His arrest in Switzerland is justified and if he is again able to squirm his way out of facing the consequences of his admitted criminal actions, we should all be embarassed.

It doesn't matter that the then victim, Samantha Gailey now believes Polanski should be left alone.

It is ludicrous that 110 film personalities have signed a petition demanding his release.

He skipped out on his sentencing hearing and has never served a day in jail or of probation (other than the 42 days he was in prison for a psychiatric examination).

He should be required to stand before a judge, have his day in court and finally serve time for a crime he pled guilty to 31 years ago.

Holiday Gifts - Kindle

Happy Holidays!

Despite Bill O'Reilly's annual screed on the war on Christmas by secularists and anti-Christianists like me, I have nothing against acknowledging Christmas as the topic of the season. But I also recognize that I have friends that don't celebrate the birth of Christ and yet do celebrate the season of good will and love. So Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of my friends.

My wonderful husband gave me a Kindle for Christmas along with a huge gift certificate that should last me for a month or two. I hadn't had the chance to use it until this Friday when he and I and some good friends took off for the coast for a three day weekend. Other friends of ours have a beach rental that we love to use in Neskowin, Oregon. It's just off the beach and across the street from a creek (which by the way is really high and looks like another day or two of steady rain could mean trouble for the area). So for the last two days, I've had the pleasure of doing nothing but eat, drink, and read. I bought two books on Friday and have finished one already: IM by Rick R. Reed (see the review above). I've realized that the biggest problem with having a Kindle is the ease in which Amazon.com has made buying books for it. It's like an addiction. You're done with one book, and if you're bored all you have to do is go online and "buy" the next fix...I mean Kindle edition book and start reading. I'm going to have to control my buying habits or I'll exhaust my gift card too early.

The Kindle itself is quite a toy. I like it. There are problems and you can find out all about them online. There are an incredible number of reviews online for the Kindle and I read them before telling Santa I wanted one. Despite the negatives, the Kindle is a marvel and wonderful to use.

The most vexing problem I ran into immediately is the placement of the page turning buttons. There's no comfortable place to put your hands to hold the thing without inadvertently hitting the next page or previous page buttons prematurely. So finding that magic spot to hold the Kindle without hitting those buttons is difficult. I found the best thing to do is to use either the "cover" that came with the Kindle or one of the covers that are offered online for the machine. With a cover you have the left "page" that you can hold which gives you a better grip and something to hang onto other than the Kindle itself. Unfortunately even that made my hand cramp somewhat until I got used to it.

Once I got used to the electronic paper, I realized it was actually quite easy on the eyes. You do have to find the right light to read it comfortably, but you have to do the same with a paper book. You can increase or decrease the font size until you find the size that's easiest on your eyes. I increased mine to level 4 which made it a bit easier to read for me but it meant less text on the page and more page turning so I returned the font to level 3 (which I think is the default font size) and was quite satisfied.

But one of the great advantages of using a Kindle to reading a paper book is that you can look up words directly on the Kindle whenever you find yourself in that wonderful place where you aren't sure of the exact meaning of a word or phrase. Before, I'd have to put the book down, go to my dictionary and look it up. Now with the Kindle, I simply locate my cursor next to the line that has the word that I'm looking up in it and press Look up. Voila! The Kindle brings up a list of the words in the sentence and without having to interrupt your reading, you've got the definition and you continue reading. A wonderful invention. I love it.

The inventors of the Kindle also give us a wonderful set of images that pop up whenever you put your Kindle to sleep. Everything from illuminated pages from a medieval manuscript to pictures of famous writers like Brontë or Wilde.

I haven't had any problem buying books that I want yet. The gay mystery section in the Kindle Books list isn't big or comprehensive but I'm hoping it will get better. I've also found a couple of other free e-book sites that one can use to download e-books to your Kindle. One that is quite fascinating is http://manybooks.net or if you go to www.mnybks.net, which is an extension of Manybooks, you can access the books through the basic WebBrowser in Kindle and download Kindle books directly to your Kindle, the way you would an Amazon book.

Despite some basic problems that are supposedly going to be addressed with Kindle 2.0 the Kindle is fun and easy to use. It won't be the iPod of 2009 but it definitely isn't going away. Buy one and enjoy.

History in the Making

I've been absent from blogging for quite awhile. I've been too busy following the election to be able to concentrate. This morning while listening to one of Barack Obama's last speeches before election day, I realized that we all are truly seeing history being made. For the first time in the history of this country, we had a man of color running for president on a major ticket. I pray to God that by the end of today, this country will have elected the first black American president. In January of 2009 I pray that we will see a black woman as First Lady.

But it isn't just because Obama is black that is important. This country needs a new leader that will restore to its own people a sense of hope and renewal. The world is also watching and hoping for an American leader who can bring the United States back to being a nation that not only leads but leads with compassion and cooperation; a nation that leads with thought and truth; a nation that leads with example and equanimity. Barack Obama can do it and will do it.

It is not hyperbole to say, as so many have said recently, that after eight years of Bush/Cheney and Republican non-leadership, the nightmare is almost over.

It makes me want to weep.

Growing Old with Dignity or NOT!

I was sitting outside in the park blocks this afternoon, enjoying the cooler summer weather and listening to some rather mellow music that was being broadcast through some free standing amps. There was an assorted array of students lounging around, eating or studying for mid-terms (already!) and a number of other people just hanging around waiting for the regular live music to start. One older fellow started to dance to the canned music. He must have been in his 70s or 80s, dressed in bib overalls, a dingy old t-shirt and a baseball cap. He was having a great time girating, pulling up his bibs in time with the music, and strutting around doing his impression of an aged Michael Jackson. Some students watched him, amused, and smiling. Others turned away as if embarassed that this old geezer was unaware of how silly he looked. Some taunted him outright, telling him to sit down. He turned to them, smiled, doffed his cap their way and then kept on dancing. I had to smile and admire his spirit.

I used to think that the one final goal in life was to "grow old with dignity". It was a surprise for me to learn that there's a whole cadre of people out in the world who actually believe that dignity be damned, they aim to grow old and enjoy every minute of every day NOT worrying about embarassing themselves or by extension anyone related to them. What a relief that must be.

Nonetheless, I still hope that as I grow older, I can find a good compromise between maintaining some dignity and dancing in the park blocks with abandon - dignity be damned.