Sarah Palin Turkey Nightmare

If you haven’t seen this video, definitely watch it- but not in front of the kids.  Especially if you want to have a normal Thanksgiving dinner.  Sarah Palin, like her or not (NOT), must either be incredibly stupid or incredibly misled by horrible PR.  Turkeys being slaughtered behind you as you talk about Oil prices is not usually a good idea.

At first look, one starts to believe (or hopes to believe) that some clever bleeding-heart-liberal with some nifty editing skills somehow magically superimposed a Sarah Palin interview about which she describes what Thanksgiving means to her – and maliciously juxtaposes those heartwearming Turkey Day cliches in front of the most horrific and grueling scene of the Turkeys being decapitaded.

Is it sad? Yes. Confusing?  A bit.

Can you really take this woman seriously? You betcha!

Happy Turkey Day America…

Savannah Ghosts

Down for a Roadtrip? Maybe one that heads towards the southland? If so I have one little piece of advice for you: “be prepared to deal with the dead.”

That is- if you believe in ghosts, which I do not…but a certain significant other does. And that’s why we landed at The Marshall House, a wonderfully old hotel located in downtown Savannah.

Marshall House

The hotel is totally haunted, according to several “Most Haunted Places” lists. And my girlfriend.

Apparently due to the mass graves from the civil war, you walk over approximately one civil war era skeleton every two feet in the historic district. Since the Marshall house was converted into a hospital during the civil war, its extra creepy. Despite not getting much sleep, it was quite the trip. Savannah is a beautiful place. And the Marshall house is an incredible hotel. Incredibly haunted. I swear I have never been so frightened. I kept imagining a limbless war veteran staring at me from the dark corner of our room… and that was enough to keep the tv on all night.

I read a great article a friend had lent me from the Conde Naste Traveler Book of Unforgettable Journeys called “Sipping it Slow”, which put us in the mood for sure. We enjoyed playing tourist for a couple of days, although avoided hopping on any of those tour buses. I am sure it would have been informative, but I just cant get on a tour bus- it just feels weird to me.

To be honest, we did get snaked for $20 to see three rooms inside the Sorrel-Weed House, another haunted jaunt.

As a first time vistit to the south I think we got a feel for the slow southern vibe… which i miss already. Breathing in the fresh southern air… and grits… and lowcountry broil, crawfish and crabs.

Us with Paula Deen. The cardboard cut-out version.

Boy I am getting fat. see some photo’s (not of me eating fried seafood, i promise.)

Do you Hulu?

Hulu is now open to the public. If you haven’t checked it out, you should at least watch a few seasons of Arrested Development.

It’s streaming ad-supported video, and the quality and selection could improve (and I expect eventually will), but Hulu is certainly looking in the right direction. I have a feeling once more people are watching this content on their big screen TV’s (I use a mini dvi to hdmi for that) as opposed to just on their computer screens, there will be more widespread use of sites like this…

Oil and You.

We all like oil. It goes into almost everything around us. The plastic bottle of water, the car you drive, the heat in your house. What a great gift from the past. What a fascinating natural resource.

The problem is that when we burn oil it releases carbon into our atmosphere, which causes our planet to heat up.  Not sure if you would find any credible climatologist to deny this fact.  If you do please comment- but I mean credible- no right wing ExxonMobil lackey/scientist spewing misinformation on Fox News).  Yet there is still a debate going on about the effects of carbon emissions on our planets’ temperature, and I’m not quite sure why. Perhaps just to confuse the issue of gl0bal warming?  If you have confusion around the issue, then people will be slow to change.

One thing is for sure: Oil is a finite resource. We are addicted to it, and need to get off of it. It makes us dependent on foreign countries that have large pools of oil- which causes our government to get involved militarily in those less than friendly areas.

Bottom line: Most of our energy consumption is from our automobiles. SO lets focus on that. Developing nations like China and India will cost certainly contribute to the warming of the planet. But that does not excuse the US from taking the lead. Why not be one step ahead of the rest of the world.  Isn’t that the American way?

What is the most promising green energy out there? When  will it come into effect? Is the sky falling? Is anybody listening?

Some good links:

Six Degrees Could Change the World

Climate Change

Convert your car to Run on Ethanol

The Future of Your TV

This New York Times Article got me thinking: Where do we get our entertainment from? Where will we get it 5 years from now? 10 Years?

Think about it…In the beginning there was just a TV. This little box has since entertained and informed an entire planet. Lately technology has changed the way we watch TV. Everything is digital (analog TV signals are going to be extinct after 2009). HD content is becoming more commonplace. Internet broadband access is increasing, allowing people to view streaming video, and video on demand. Connect your computer to your TV and BAM!

Better yet use SlingCatcher, which lets you broadcast internet media to your TV. It’s an interesting product, which is described in depth here.

Hulu is currently in Beta testing…but there is OPENHulu for those who don’t have an invite. This is going in the right direction, I think. One of my concerns is how people will watch their online content in the future. Currently online content providers are dispersed among the internet. Is the average person really expected to have to go to several different goofy named sites like Hulu (a name that has several meanings in other languages according to this WSJ.com article). We will need more than just what Hulu can provide. What we need is a media aggregator. With content coming from every available source- so I can customize what I watch to my tastes, and so can you. Its all about ease of use, user interface, and CONTENT. No longer having to sit through 3 minutes of commercials that don’t appeal to me…

I am still trying to figure out what we will feed our TV’s in the future- will Time Warner Cable or Cablevision come up with something more than those awfully designed “Video On-Demand” menu’s? Will Tivo/DVR’s evolve into something bigger, better, and more useful? Will I ever get to see old episodes of the A-Team on my big screen when I want to watch them? Ohhhhh… I hope so, Mr. T. – I hope so. And when it does, I will know we will have finally arrived.

What is Social Bookmarking? It’s Delicious!

You may have added websites you like to your “Bookmarks” in your internet browser. That’s one way to quickly navigate to a page you want to get back to. But what if you are on another computer-you cant get to those bookmarks can you? What if your bookmark list is getting way too big and confusing?

Enter social bookmarking sites like del.icio.us. Watch this video- it will make it all very clear. And then register for delicious. Thank me later.

What is a Social Network?

Social Networks? Whats that all about?? Well you probably have a real life social network- its all the people you know in your life. Friends. Family. Business contacts. You may only interact with those people when certain circumstances arise, and therefore you may loose touch with those people. An online social network helps you keep in touch with people. And social network sites are fun, and useful.

You’ve probably heard of Facebook and Myspace. But there are tons of social networks out there. There are social networks for pretty much ANYTHING (see most of them here)- you name it- Soccer enthusiasts, people who love to cook, business contacts, etc. etc…

Facebook was the first social network to “open up” its platform- to let other companies build applications for its users. Now instead of just writing messages and sharing photos with your friends, Facebook users can add applications to their profile (the home page that shows your picture, and all the info you want to share with your network) to do almost anything. Some people say that users are going to start using their social network page as a portal to the rest of the internet, which makes sense. Now you can experience the internet while having a social aspect to everything you do. So don’t just shop online- shop online for the things your friends have bought and recommend.

Google has recently responded by launching OpenSocial, which will allow a lot of the other social networks to open up to 3rd party developers just like Facebebook did.

What are FEEDS? Learn how to use a Feed Reader and make your life easier!

When the internet was in its infancy, people browsed the web, looking for things. When it grew incredibly big, seach engines were used to find things. Now we have tools like RSS feeds. What the heck are Feeds, you ask? You may see this Feed logo on many blogs and websites. Well, if you click on this little feed “chicklet” on a website you like (like the one on the top left of this page), it will provide you with a subscription to the content of that web page, which you can then read/watch/listen to using a feed “Reader”. I use Google Reader, but there are many, many different readers out there. A Reader is kinda like an email inbox that organizes your various Feeds, so that you can see what’s new from all the sites you have subscribed to, without having to go to each individual site, one by one to check. Very helpful.

So why start using feeds? Well… it will make searching the internet for things you are interested in much easier- because you aren’t looking for the content, the content is automatically coming to you. If you learn to use Feeds, you will be constantly connected to a continuous flow of information that is pertinent to you. This will make your life easier.

Step 1:

Get a Reader. Again Google Reader is great, especially if you have gmail already, but you could also try Bloglines, or Rojo.

Step 2:

Subscirbe to feeds! Google Reader even comes pre-loaded with some popular feeds and it is very easy to search and add new ones that you might be interested in.

What’s a BLOG? Simple definition: It’s a conversation.

What? A BLOG? What’s a Blog? You may have heard the word, but not really sure what it means- i know Mom, just calm down. It’s a relatively new concept, and if you ask ask around you might get a few definitions as to what it means. Not to worry though- read on and I’ll explain it to you in plain English:

A simple definition of a Blog is: its a journal… but on a web page. The author- or “blogger” writes “posts” (this is a post) every so often, which readers can comment on (you could add a comment to this post below). With comments added to the bottom of the post, it turns into a conversation. A post may contain hyperlinks to other blogs or websites, and can also include photo’s and video…

Blogs are social- because they create a conversation between the blogger, and readers of the blog. They are authentic- a real person using their real voice- and some blogs have a greater reach than some newspapers do. Its a way to communicate with other people. Its a place to vent, to express your thoughts and ideas. A blog is an online conversation. Click on the “Blogroll” to visit some of my favorite blogs and see for yourself!

What is VOIP? – Can I really cut my phone bill?

If you are not familiar with VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocal), then you must live under a rock. You know those Vonage ads… wooo ooo…oooh ooh ooh…

Simply put, it means using the internet to talk to someone instead of using the ‘old fashion’ landline phone or cellular network. Cost savings can be huge- especially if you make a lot of international calls.

There are two types of VOIP. There are Hardware VOIP providers (like Vonage), and Software VOIP providers (like Skype). Originally with Skype, the “soft VOIP”, you had to use a computer, and although you could call people for free, you probably felt like a nerd talking into your computer. Now you can get a handset that looks like a telephone, so that’s good- but your PC has to be on ON and connected to the internet. Outgoing calls are no longer free, but are at very low rates.

Also there are sound quality concerns, and you can’t dial 911- which would suck if you lit your face on fire or chopped off a finger, and then had to knock on a neighbors door all injured and bleeding and ask to use their phone. I mean, I don’t dial 911 that often… thank god- but in the event that I needed to and couldn’t… well…I guess I’d be shit out of luck.

Anyways…

VONAGE has become a popular alternative to a regular landline. So much so that Verizon has sued (successfully) the pants off the company, leaving some to believe that the VOIP leader will fall. There are plenty of other companies around to pick up the slack (VOIP Providers).

Another cool option is to buy a $400 box from Ooma and ‘own your dialtone’. So there are no monthly fees, and you get unlimited US calling. You buy the stylish box, and thats it. Pretty cool. Actually very cool. The technology is really revolutionary and quite ingenious – Ooma uses “hubs” and regular PSTN phone lines to route your calls accross the country, giving you free domestic calls. And Ashton Kutcher is the Creative Director of Ooma. So thats a plus, right? Only downside is that if the company fails, you have a worthless $400 box. And if you read the print, they are only promising free domestic calls for 3 years.

So whats the future look like for your telephone? Well in my opinion, the internet will most likely carry your voice in data packets, everything will be wireless, either cellular or over the internet (or both), and most importantly we will all be paying a lot less to communicate with each other. The Big Telecom companies will adapt-they have to. Cell phones and ‘home phones’ will merge into one. I mean, I don’t even own a ‘home’ phone- I have my cell, and my work cell- I certainly don’t need another phone. Well maybe an iPhone. Or a gphone?