Smiling is Sexy

Artist and Digerati

My MX Revolution Setup

I adore my MX Revolution. Here's how I have my buttons mapped in order to remain fluid and productive.

New User Icon: Goomba!

Don't stomp on Goomba!

Sync Obsession

I've spent the last hour or so trying to determine an ideal solution for syncing RSS feeds between the iPad and Mac. Unfortunately, they're aren't a lot of good solutions.

That's okay. Upon reflection, I've realized that I've become obsessed with syncing, having my data with me at all times. Yet is this really that important?

I use MobileMe to remotely access files when needed. This has worked well, and I have been unable to connect to my home Mac on only a few occasions. These few hiccups have never been a show-stopper. Previously I took this obsession further, putting all of my company files on iDisk in case I needed them. This only took up valuable space and caused syncing headaches. Task management: same story. Now it's RSS.

I worry too much over future-proofing my solutions "just in case." Yet any time something hasn't worked out, I've been fine. My new perspective is domain specific: utilize each device for what it does best. Do I really need to track my location in a book so that I can resume reading it on the computer? No. Do I really need to have all of my feeds and read states synced across my iMac, MacBook Air, and iPad? No. Sure, it's convenient, but the overhead isn't worth it. Where syncing is useful is with email, but email is a general purpose task in which we have standards such as IMAP to provide syncing solutions.

To attempt to have the same experience on every platform voids the given platforms of their unique expressions. Taking advantage of a platform's unique abilities is something I have preached fervently, yet I now catch myself disobeying it.

No more.

I am now using the iPad as my primary source for reading books, feeds, and for its unique multitouch capabilities and applications. I believe that the iPad has opened up a new age in computing. We're just seeing the tip of the iceberg, and apps like iBooks and Pulse on the iPad completely replace their computer counterparts with a much better experience. If I'm not near my iPad to read feeds or books, tough. I'll find something else to do. Besides, do I really need to read a feed as soon as it's updated, from anywhere at anytime?

I think not.

My User Icon

Iron Man -- because there's simply not much cooler than Iron Man.

My Home Folder

Unique icons help me quickly visually identify main folders.

Jor-El

 

"You will travel far, my little Kal-El, but we will never leave you -- even in the face of our deaths. You will make my strength your own. You will see my life through your eyes, as your life will be seen through mine. The son becomes the father. And the father, the son." ~ Jor-El

"They can be a great people, Kal-El, they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all, their capacity for good, I have sent them you... my only son." ~ Jor-El

Diligence

My favorite definition of diligence that I keep as a digital sticky: 

DILIGENCE is a learnable skill which combines: creative persistence, a smart-working effort rightly planned and rightly performed in a timely, efficient and effective manner to attain a result that is pure and of the highest quality of excellence.

Animation of the Moment: "Fit Song"

This animation is not only technically impressive but very creative as well. The compositing is fantastic!

Healthcare and the Republican Stereotype

We have all heard, used, and believed stereotypes. Some have made us laugh. Others have made us wince. Yet there is a stereotype that is being lived out everyday on TV and in politics. It is sad and pathetic.

It is the Republican stereotype.

What is the Republican stereotype?

Without diving into every aspect of it, I will focus on one of the most common attributes, one that many of my right-leaning friends elicit: cynicism.

They bitch, moan, complain, slander, and verbally rend progressives seeking positive change. Yet when confronted with an inquiry for a solution, they are ill equipped to volley.

The most disgusting of these attacks is in the form of extreme mockery. Satire is a clever, humorous, informative approach. But the extreme mockery that many Republicans have resorted to recently, whether in the form of relating Obama to Hitler in any way, discreetly or remotely mocking him as our "savior", or making bigoted, racist remarks towards him or others allied with him, is nothing short of repulsive, disgusting, and in no way tolerable.

Pathetic.

It sickens me to see these lower class and middle class people "fervently" opposing, on behalf of a for-profit healthcare industry, a bill that they will likely one day require. In this spiteful stupor, they berate healthcare reform proponents with sadistic rage, some stooping so low as to recede to a dialect not commonly accepted since the 1950s. From where does such malevolence derive?

My friend Anna said it best, "In any debate of this kind, there is a party that seeks to aid as many people as possible; then there is the party that looks to find those that do not deserve it."

How despicable that one would even think of withholding the right to life from another. The right speaks so much of the sanctity of life, yet they are quick to execute those on death row, taking innocents in the process, while lobbying against an individual's right to live a full life enhanced and aided by healthcare.

Does. Not. Compute.

Some Republicans will say, "Oh, but I'm not like them." Good. My suggestion: find another party; or make damn clear that you do not associate with these hate-reapers.

"Republicans have had years to reform healthcare and did nothing."

This is a common theme on Twitter at this moment as the healthcare vote concludes. Hindsight is 20/20. It is easy to cry foul now, but you Republicans blew it. You had your chance. The passing of the healthcare bill may be a small step in the right direction, but at least something is finally being done.

I am thankful.

Word of the Moment: Prandial

prandial
  1. adjective Of or relating to a meal.