I don’t mean the celestial kind.
I mean the human kind.
I’ mean stars… not celebrities.
For many reasons we find the death of a star extremely fascinating. We become totally obsessed with what their lives were like. As if we some how could identify with them. In reality, we may share certain facts like a birthday, or a strict parent, or some other superficiality, but we don’t have any idea what their lives are/were like. We can imagine what their lives were like, and I think that’s where the fascination begins.
Just as we can imagine what it would be like to win the lottery. Just as we can imagine what heaven or hell is like. We can’t really know what their lives are like, but we do know how their talents have influenced us. And because we feel personally affected we care when they die, even more than when a war is started.
We still have Iran, Medical coverage, Global warning, Iraq and numerous other things to deal with, but talents have been lost.
it has been raining forever!!! Last I heard, 18 of 21 days for June. How appropriate for this blog. Below is one of the days with sun.

staying dry
I got an email form Amazon recently (as is usual) touting the latest iPhone application by Amazon, called Kindle for iPhone. This was intriguing because, it meant I could try out something like the Kindle for free on my iPhone instead of sinking over $350 into it.
So, I go to the app store and start reading the reviews. Lot’s of people love it. Some don’t. The ones who aren’t all goo-goo

The new Kindle
over it seem to consistently mention two other programs, Stanza, and eReader both of which are also free. I don’t particularly like the idea of reading on a screen rather than paper, but I figured I’d give it a try just to see what it’s like.
I was not prepared for how easy these products make it to read. Don’t want to flip pages, then put it on auto-scroll (at what ever speed is comfortable). Don’t understand the meaning of a word, then on eReader you can tap the word and look it up immediately in a dictionary. Don’t like black ink on white paper (virtually speaking), then change it (perhaps to parchment). Want the margins justified or ragged… change it. The only thing I could determine that Kindle could do and the software couldn’t, was that it could read to you.
After much experimenting, it became clear that the software that was easiest to use, and thereby facillitate reading (and even encourage reading), was eReader. Not only was it easy to buy books, but find free ones as well. Even stuff available on the NY Times bestseller list. And though eReader doesn’t have every book priced at $9.99 (like the Kindle), there are plenty of books below that price… especially given the numerous discounts.

Bobby Jindal portraying Jack McBrayer (r).
Rupert Murdoch, who not only owns The New York Post, but Fox News as well, had an apology printed in his racist newspaper:
I wonder how long before the next racist outrage show up in his paper or tv station. He still claims that the whole uproar came as a surprise to him. And he still places the onus on those who felt offended. He does not accept responsibility for publishing a racist cartoon. He is stating that some readers thought it was racist! This is no apology,… it’s a continuation of the denial.
I recently read a blog on the otherwise neutral Christian Science Monitor that was reporting on the “apology” by the New York Post about their recent racist cartoon. The article was pretty biased against not only Al Sharpton, but the idea that the cartoon was racist. This, of course, led to numerous comments that veered toward racist dogma.
When I went back to the Christian Science Monitor get some quotes, I found they had removed it:
– Editor’s note: This post has been removed because it generated inappropriate comments.
Thank you Christian Science Monitor for removing the inflammatory. The only relationship this blog and comments had with the 1st amendment is as another example of shouting fire in a crowded theater.
A note: I have added a category labeled race.
addendum 2/20/2009 – I just checked my link to the removed blog, and see that the entire page has been taken down.
This is a theme called Vigilance. It gives me the clean look, but offers a lot more customization.
Right now, the only thing that I don’t like is how small the calendar on the right is. Perhaps that can be altered.
The New York Post has once again revealed its right wing and racist leaning, by publishing a cartoon by Sean Delonas, (who has a record for ridiculing anyone who is not male, white and straight) a dead chimpanzee and a cop holding a smoking gun, saying “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.”
Anyone who claims this is not a racist cartoon, obviously has no knowledge of American history or is lying.
St. Petersburg Times media critic Eric Deggans tells NPR’s Michele Norris that the conservative-leaning Post is “willfully ignoring” what may have caused the uproar.
…
But he says an important question is whether there was anyone at the newspaper who said, “There might be a connection here between a chimpanzee and a black person,” Deggans says.
“If there wasn’t somebody in that chain who raised this issue, that’s disturbing because frankly it’s an association that’s pretty easy to see,” Deggans says. “And if the notion was raised, and they printed it anyway, that’s even more disturbing. I mean, this is a newspaper that has had a long history of tangled and trouble racial relations.”
I am not giving a link to the so called newspaper and the cartoon, because I won’t perpetuate the paper’s continuation. In fact, as far as I’m concerned, the sooner the Post goes out of business, the better.

Don't buy this paper
I got tired of the darkness of the original theme (black and red), and just could not get used to the greenish theme, so I’m trying out this one. It has been a year since this blog was started, so I think some change is in order. This theme also comes with the ability to change the image at the top to one of my own choosing. It’s called Rubric.
Obama has failed because he didn’t get the Republicans to help out!!!???
- Loser: McCain
This from the loser of the general election.
More comments coming soon.



