mail

In the news today…

If you pay any attention to news programs and/or election news, it is easy to guess what is the top story of the day. That would be Secretary Colin Powell’s endorsement of Barack Obama for president on Meet The Press Sunday morning. I just watched it again, and it is  one of the most thoughtful and articulate listings of the current state of the country and the world, and what is needed to meet the problems that exist, that I have ever seen. The video is here on MSNBC.com. Continue reading

search

Political Ramblings

Well, I don’t know about everyone else, but I am more than ready to stop hearing about Joe the plumber. He isn’t running for office and he doesn’t really add anything to the current political atmosphere. If he is really tired of the attention like he says, he is more than welcome to drop back into obscurity in my opinion.

I am also tired of the negative advertisements that keep showing. I know the theory of the Big Lie, and I know it works, but so far this year it seems to be less than completely successful. Maybe the US electorate is finally starting to look beyond the sound bite and trying to find the facts. Well, at least some of them. There are still people that are more than willing to believe the worst about their opponents.

These two videos from the Smith Memorial Dinner are much better advertising for both candidates. They made fun of each other, the audience members, and themselves.

Continue reading

A political day…

Got up today and went over to Ft. Wayne, IN. Michelle Obama was speaking there, in a campaign rally for her husband. It was originally supposed to be in a pavilion in a park in Ft. Wayne, but it was moved to the Grand Wayne Center Monday. Either someone looked at the weather forecast for today, or there were security concerns. I would bet on the weather.

I had to park a few blocks off, since the closer parking lots were full. Can’t imagine why that happened. There were hucksters on the sidewalk outside the convention center. They were selling everything from Michelle Obama T-shirts to Obama/Biden buttons. There were also some protesters on the sidewalk, with signs against abortion. They were quiet and polite, unlike the idiot that stuck his head out of his car yelling Obama bin Laden. Continue reading

careers

Let’s see what happens…

I am not sure about starting this blogging thing. There are already plenty of them out there, and I am not really certain I have a lot to add to the current flood of words that is flowing through the channels of the web. On the other hand, I am not a typical middle aged white male from the Midwest USA.

I admit, there are not actually very many people that are typical. Everyone has their own foibles and idiosyncrasies, some blatant, others more subtle. This means that being normal is somewhat difficult, if your particular oddities are too far from that mythical standard.

And the worst part is that what is defined as normal shifts based on where you are. Normal at a high school in Ohio is very different than normal at Juilliard in NYC. But in some ways, they are identical compared to what constitutes normal at a school in Zagreb or Beijing. Not that most students from that Ohio school would necessarily agree with that if suddenly placed in Juilliard.

But despite the differences between each of those places, I would bet that they all have their in-crowds and outcasts. The in-crowd defines the limits of normality, then spends their time categorizing where the outcasts belong in their exile. The outcasts then have the choice of accepting their place outside of normality or trying to convince the in-crowd that they are not really beyond the pale.

Personally, I was a nerd when I was younger. No, not a geek, geeks were still relegated to the sideshow at circuses back then. Now I am a geek, in a variety of ways, although I prefer the term polymath (my learning may or may not be great, but it is varied). I don’t claim to be of the same capabilities as the men listed at Wikipedia, but someone has to be on the low end of the scale.

Two of the areas I am interested in are traveling and photography, which I have combined at my main site. Other things include reading, gaming, TV, history, and recently, trying orienteering. And I have been known to listen to music and follow some of the politics that has been going on. That is probably something I will comment on from time to time, at least until the general election.

That may be the most useful part of this. Someplace to vent when something really irritates me. I guess I will see.

notice