Tuesday, November 27, 2007

On Faith and Friends

So I'm Christian. Well, I call myself Christian, but I haven't been the best...OK really, I haven't been any example of Christian. I should start. I will start.

I was looking up an old friend and found her husband's blog. One post in particular got me. in this post, the MDiv student discusses an occasion when he had the chance to share his faith, but didn't for trivial, or even shameful reasons. That hit me like a bag of rocks to the gut.

The rooster hasn't even cleared his throat yet and I've got Peter beaten a hundred times...Wait. That didn't exactly sound the way I meant. But you know what I mean.

Monday, November 26, 2007

Damned Media!

Sensationalism!

So I was on my way home from work when I noticed a sea of emergency vehicle lights on the other side of the highway. Since I hate rubberneckers, I didn't partake in the ogling. But then, I thought to myself, "What if it is news relevant?" I've been reminding myself to start thinking that way lately. I've been trying to come up with a more focused blog. In the meantime, it gave me an excuse to be a rubberneck-...uh, I mean a reporter. I had my trusted camera, and I was off to play the media.

Of course, I couldn't ask the straight reporter questions. I had to sensationalize a bit. And, it's fun to be a little off color and non-pc when reporting. But I got a reaction I didn't expect. The following took place between a city employee (E) who was on the scene and me (SM), the "reporter."

SM - Hi, I'm Sean Mitchell with the Daily Mix.
E - Hi
SM - Anybody Die?
E - What?
SM - What Happened?
E - A truck overturned.
SM - Uh huh. Anybody die?
E - No. The guy was hurt and taken to the hospital.
SM - Oh. That's good. What was in the truck?
E - Mail. It's a Post Office rig.
SM - Really? Lotsa of mail lost, eh?
E - No, there wasn't any on the truck.
SM - Really. None?
E - No.
SM - So...A Post Office truck driver runs off the road, doesn't die and doesn't lose any mail? Where's the story?
E - I don't know.
SM - Come on, help me out here. How much is replacing that rail going to cost?
E - I don't know yet.
SM - You gotta have some idea.
E - Damned media. You guys always try and sensationalize everything. You always look for something when there is nothing there.
SM - What?
E - There is no story!
SM - OK......So was there anyone else hurt?
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Saturday, November 24, 2007

Crazy Christmas Shoppers!

Yeah...Black Friday!

Black Friday


Uh. People are crazy!
Hey, did you check out the Disney store! Man, they had this Minnie Mouse jacket for 50%...oh. uh...ahem. People are really crazy!

Friday, November 09, 2007

Why gPhone could fail Google

Last week's much anticipated announcement from Google turned out to be not much of of what most people wanted to hear. That is, it wasn't actually a Google gPhone. That said, a major development was announced. That announcement from Google was essentially:
If a gPhone arrives, it will have a consortium of stakeholders interested in its success from developers to carriers. But there is still no actual gPhone, just a group of people dedicated to its success. Incredible.

Apple has done an interesting thing with the iPhone, something it has continually done with the development of such products as the Apple II, the Mac, the iPod and the iPhone. It has set functional and design benchmarks that have been, and will continue to be emulated until their relevance is no more. That day seems far, far away.
Currently, Apple is very relevant. The iPhone and and iPod are the hottest thing in mainstream small electronics. And they still do computers, by the way; computers with...panache.

Google is of the same ilk. The company was born of the desire to locate information on the Net, and has become synonymous with Web 2.0+. Many look to Google for the Meaning of Net. Google is the Net oracle for what shall become of the Net. Its relevance is felt far beyond the simple search. With Google Apps and all other products over the last five years, it has become, along with MySpace and Facebook, well, the Net. An entire generation, from about 2005 to present knows of no other more prevalent brands than Google, Microsoft, Starbucks, MySpace, Wal-Mart, McDonalds, Coca-Cola, Target and Facebook, and probably in that order.

But to date, a major Google failure has not been seen. Shareholders, in the face of a subprime meltdown and an ever weakening dollar, find inspiration in Google, whose shares have risen nearly 1000 percent since it's IPO. The gPhone might be the next big nothing. Google must come up with a more relevant offering than Apple's iPhone for longevity's sake. If not, Google might just be facing it's big disappointment. And Google is not really used to disappointing. In that realm, they can take a few pointers from Microsoft, a company with a huge amount of cash and leverage that still couldn't deliver what the consumer expected with its release of Vista. The story goes that Vista was released in a hurry so as to beat Apple's Leopard to market. Leopard, although released six months later, was well received and lauded by critics as a stellar OS. This further marginalizes Microsoft's position as THE OS factory. Google take notice! While the android platform is very exciting, and the group of companies and developers that have signed on is encouraging, above all, the product has to make the buyer, well, fall in love everyt ime she turns it on. Otherwise, you're stuck with Vista

Thursday, November 08, 2007

DOG: I DIDN'T KNOW THE "N" WORD WAS BAD

PULEEEEEEEEZE!


In an Associated Press article yesterday, Duane "Dog" Chapman goes on and on in what we've come to know as the "N" word dance. Yes, we've all seen it. It's the dance that happens when a public figure - usually white - makes a racial slur - usually toward black people - and the public catches wind of it, the media whip up a sensational campaign and Al Sharpton suddenly and magically appears outside the offender's doorstep with camera crew and protesters in tow. Al Sharpton plays the music for the dance while the black collective holds the gun. And boy have we seen some good jigs! Chapman is currently dancing for his life.


WTF?
OK. I know that everyone has a little bit of racial prejudice in them. And everyone deserves to be forgiven, but what the heck is Dog thinking? That black people are stupid? That he can just say anything and it'll work? Get this. Chapman says he doesn't want his son bringing his son's girlfriend around...:

"because we use the word n----r sometimes here. I'm not going to take any chance ever in life of losing everything I've worked for 30 years because some drunken n----r heard us say n----r and turned us into the Enquirer magazine. So, I will help you get another job, but you cannot work here unless you break up with her and she is out of your life," Chapman tells his son. "I can't handle that s--t."


OK. So that means that Chapman knows that the "N" word is so offensive that he doesn't want "to take any chance ever in life of losing everything" by inviting his son's black girlfriend around to hear him say it. That's right. He says this on tape. His son was so ticked off that he sold the tape to The Enquirer. And the Dog began to dance.

On Hannity and Colmes, Chapman uses the "I have lots of black friends" appeal to explain that he really isn't racist, but he uses a moronic twist in the defense:

"There's a special connection that I thought I had between me and black America...And I used to say, 'I'm black, too.' I now learned I'm not black at all..."


WTF?


Black Dog White Dog
So you remember that Chapman says on the Enquirer tape that he didn't want his son around because he didn't want his "drunken n----r" of a girlfriend to make public his use of the "N" word. He knows it's offensive right? So what's this?
"I thought that I was cool enough in the black world to be able to use that word as a brother to a brother," he said. "I'm not. I didn't know really know until three or four days ago what that meant to black people."
The "Black World?" What is that? The world of Shaft, Cleopatra Jones and Rodney Allen Rippey? Oh C'mon, he didn't know that the N word was offensive to black people? OH. OK. That makes sense now. I suppose he should get his show and all his endorsements back now. We should all give him a break. C'mon! Can't you see that he didn't know the "N" word was offensive to black people? Sharpton should leave immediately! And take all the "N"ice people with him. What an idiot.

Then, because Chapman is so intelligent and he really likes to have his story straight, he gives this reason for using the "N" word in the conversation with his son:

"I referenced it, the only word I know, that would hurt his feelings or catch his attention very fast — never as a prejudicial or racial slur or anything like that..."

That is pure genius. The man is obviously brilliant.


Epidogue
Chapman finishes by explaining that he now wants to be buried in a slave cemetery near is home:

"I want to be buried right where they're at because I will never be forgiven as (long as) I'm alive..."

Awww [weep] he really is a true friend to black people everywhere...WTF?