Recently in Living Category

Elisson was right.  I knew he was.  But I knew tackling it would be a whole lot of work.  Brain work.  Doing geeky things I really don't know much about.

But I did it!

A complete overhaul of the Wordpress version of my blog.

[Yes. For those of you who did not know, a complete duplicate of the timtyson.us blog has been running now for about a year over at blog.timtyson.us.  Check it out.  It's cool.  It uses a completely different blogging system that I like much, much better than MovableType. Eventually, this version will be completely replaced with that version. The content is identical.]

• Fixed:  Elisson said white text on a black background looked sexy but was just too hard for tired eyes to read.  I totally agreed.
• Fixed:  Intermittent odd behaviors when loading single blog posts.
• Enhanced:  I get a fairly interesting collection of hits from around the world.  The Google Translate feature has been extended.
• New:  Fresh, lighter theme
• New:  An image "slider" on the Home page that features clickable images that take you to picture-laden posts about my journeys.
• New:  The Home page shows you a nice overview of the whole site with Featured posts, Travel-related posts, Most Popular posts, and more.
• New:  Archived files are available in a much easier to find (under the Filed tab) and navigate.  In fact, site navigation is generally simplified.
• New:  The Blog tab now only presents a short teaser from each post—just enough to see if you want to click on "Read more  ››" to see the entire post.
• New:  Google's new font technology is incorporated in the banner title.  The font will change from time to time.
• New:  My Facebook status will now appear "live" on my blog.

Other new features are in the works.

Many quirks still are being corrected.  For example:  my previous theme has a main body area that was a good bit wider.  Now, many of the pictures need to be resized.  What a pain!  I've toyed with the idea of tweaking the css files to widen the body and shorten the sidebar in the individual posts, but I've decided not to do that.  I like the white space in the current layout.  Clean.  Open.  Not visually distracting.

The Google Translation code looks horrid.  I've got that one on the list.

If you find any other weirdness, aside from what I write about, let me know so I can fix it!

On occasion you see something so breath-taking you don't have adequate words to describe it.  It's jaw dropping.  Stunning.  I had that experience when I first saw the HD series, Earth, on Blu-ray. The photography was beyond anything I had imagined before.

Well, I suspect that Tom Lowe's (@timescapes) time lapse project, which he has been working on for some time, is going to be another of those stunning visual experiences.  Below is a teaser he posted on Vimeo.  There's time lapse, there's astro time lapse, and there's Tom Lowe's time lapse.  I can't wait to see this finished work.

Also of note, Tyler Ginter (@TylerGinter) who spent some time with Tom helping with a shoot in the fall and learning more about time lapse, has posted a really excellent piece about the art and science of time lapse.  He includes a growing checklist, links to Tom Guilmette's (@TomGuilmette) tutorial on setting up the Kessler Cineslider, Philip Bloom's (@PhilipBloom) tutorial on post, and a behind the scene shot of setting up Tom's Natural Bridge time lapse sequence.  It's really a great post.  The checklist is awesome.

When you watch the time lapse below, which is a teaser for his upcoming film, be sure to go into full screen mode.

In her latest exhibit, The City, artist and fine-art photographer Lori Nix designed a miniature, detailed, deserted world being reclaimed by nature.  I've never seen anything quite like this before.  Each miniature 3D diorama took between 2 to 15 months to create in all of its painstaking detail.  Each was created to be photographed or filmed in such a way as to make them look virtually life sized.

The collection, for some reason, reminded me of my visit to Pompeii—peering into a far off world that once was but is no more. It's a bit eerie and unsettling to consider what our world today would look like as ancient ruins. Her exhibit brings us to that place.

View photos of her exhibit at the link above; or, click on the image below to watch a video of  her diorama, The Map Room.

We have had 4 days of heavy, solid rain here in the Los Angeles area—totally out of the ordinary for paradise. What's interesting is this is like snow in Atlanta. The city starts to fall apart. They can't cope with rain since it never happens.

Of the 6 elevators in the building I was in today, only 2 were working! The reason? The rain. Who ever knew rain could knock out 4 elevators?!

The traffic all over town was a disaster. Roads flooding. The planes at LAX even taking off in the opposite direction they always take off.

But the worst? The house is under siege. The super highway of ants that speed along the sidewalk and across the driveway heading into the neighbor's yard was flooded out.

After the ants put up road detour barricades, the ant traffic was rerouted through the house!

I had to nuke them with ant poison and call the exterminator. I didn't mind them doing their ant thing outside, but no, no, no—not in the house!

Related articles

• LA Deluged in 7 Inches of Rain (abcnews.go.com)
• Rain to keep pummeling SoCal, sparking flood fears (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Southern California braces for more rain, flash floods (thestar.com)

Could you walk right up to the edge?  Heights make me start spinning.  But heights don't seem to bother these kids.  Would you let your children stand this close to the edge?

Oh, OK.  I get it now.  Clever.  (It's a brilliant marketing campaign for a book.)

Source:  Damn Cool Pics

Tip of the fedora to Dan for this great idea.

Do you ever get tired of hearing the same music over and over again from your iTunes library?  Here's a possible cure.

Select all of the music in your music library.  Right click on one of the highlighted items and select "Reset Plays" to make the play count for each item "0." Create a smart playlist based on whatever criteria you want.  As the final criteria, add Plays is 0.  Click OK.

Now, once you have listened to an item in the playlist, it drops out of the playlist.

Dan syncs all of his music library to his iPod.  Every time he listens to a song the play count goes to "1" for that song.  When he re-syncs his iPod to his computer, that song drops out of the play list.  At the end of the year, he starts over.

Related articles

• Making the most of the iTunes Column Browser (macworld.com)

What is the central theme of all of Judeo-Christian faith according to the writings protestant and Catholic believers alike call their holy scriptures--the greatest commandment from God, the central tenet, the core, the essence and centerpiece of all of Christianity? I'm assuming my conservative, religious friends know the answer to this. It came directly from the mouth of Jesus Christ when he was asked what the greatest commandment is. The scriptures state it explicitly: Love the lord your God with all of your heart.

Jesus Christ goes on to state that the second greatest commandment is much like the first one above: Love your neighbor, your fellow people, like you love yourself.

This is easy. If we boil all of faith practice down to the most important two things, according to the "head guy," it would be to love God with all your heart, and love other people just as you love yourself. That sums it all up. We are to think no more of ourselves than others and both within a context of loving God.

How far organized Christian faith practice has moved from these, the greatest, most important commandments.

When I think of Christianity today, sadly, I think of religious hucksters trying to dominate the media landscape*. I think of the merging of church and capitalism and politics. I think of "it's all about me," theocracy, lies and deceit, hate and anger, subjugation, mega-churches with unprecedented entertainment-focused services and extraordinary lifestyle centers. I think of a Machiavellian adherence to a political and social agenda that will vastly enrich and empower a few while spiritually bankrupting a nation. But above all, I think about money. Big money. Massive amounts of money, money, money.

Before his death, Jerry Falwell had an annual revenue of $8.9 million. James Dobson has an annual revenue of $138 million. Pat Robertson has an annual revenue of an astounding $459 million. What?!

But, at the same time, I think of good people, decent people who sincerely want to do what is right, want to love God, who believe they need to help others but are being misled.

Forty million Americans are currently worried about feeding themselves. Many are children. Why isn't the Christian church leadership spending vast resources placing this issue before believers as a cause for substantive action? Millions of Americans have lost their homes because of broken government and economic greed. Why isn't the Christian church leadership spending a vast amount of its resources placing this issue before believers as a cause for action?

Perhaps the Christian church today is a bit over extended with huge debt of its own? Perhaps the Christian church today is pre-occupied with divisive issues as it tries to win their so-called "culture wars" in America. Perhaps the Christian church today finds it easier to continue a well practiced pattern of dismissive condemnation of real people rather than following the more demanding commandments of Jesus Christ himself.

I fear that the Christian church today is reaping what it has sown for the past three decades--failed leadership . Its emphasis on mega-facilities and the contentious and political have rendered it irrelevant and have made it impossible for the church to address Jesus Christ's second greatest commandment: treat everybody else as well as you treat yourself. People are in the streets with no food or shelter or medical attention while churches argue over what lattes and ciders to sell in the mega-vestibule while the carolers sing among the 30 live Christmas trees. We pretentiously dismiss the needy as reaping the results of their own sin rather than doing the hard work of that second commandment from Jesus.  Is 50% of the church's income meeting the very real and pressing needs of people in the community outside the congregation?  Would that be in the spirit of the second commandment?

When our nation desperately needs the due diligence of sincere and meaningful faith practice to address the real needs of real people with enormous problems, the church is over-extended, out of focus, and incapable of stepping up to the call of Christ.  Christianity only represents one third of the people on this planet, and it is failing that one third!

Perhaps the church is more healthy than I think it is. Perhaps the religious, fundamentalist, ultra-conservative, "it's all about me" shill that dominates the media landscape is only a tiny fraction of the Christian church made to appear larger and more mainstream by its volume, its persistence, and its annoying divisiveness. I certainly hope so.

So I'm advocating for a populist movement. I'm advocating for good people everywhere to turn it off, stop giving it money, stop walking in the doors of those self-serving churches that are not focused on doing Jesus' commandment. I'm advocating for good people everywhere to start helping others one on one if need be, to do the work of the first and second greatest commandments. Return to the central theme, the core, the essence of faith practice.

"They will know we are Christians    b y    o u r    l o v e."

*I'll spare everyone the examples of each of the items in this list. Most people could think of their own from the media.

Related Posts at tt.us

• We Need a Populist Movement-Part 1: Healthcare
• We Need a Populist Movement-Part 2: Governance
• We Need a Populist Movement-Part 3: Civil Rights
• We Need a Populist Movement-Part 4: Journalism
• We Need a Populist Movement-Part 5: Faith Practice (this post)

Do you know who this is, filming a movie in Dublin? Check out this link for more info and a picture of the character versus the actual person playing the roll. You will be surprised, I think. One of my favorites. And I had no idea!

Hint: 63 years old!

Tip of the ole fedora to Jon Spivey, who shared this on his Facebook Wall.  I laughed out loud.  It's short.  It's both tragic and hysterical.

One can only assume that the poor organist quietly slipped out the back and left town.

The Sistoid Unit, my sister, called me today.  (That isn't what horrified me.)  She asked about some footwear you wear over your shoes so you can walk easily on snow and ice.  I had mentioned them to her when I traveled in the Canadian Rockies back in April of 2009.  In Banff I had to purchase them at the hotel to be able to walk at all!  Record snow falls and ice made walking treacherous, for a southern boy. The problem when the Sistoid Unit called:  I couldn't remember the name.  I could only recall "crampons."  These were not exactly crampons.

Since I couldn't remember the name, I did a quick search on my blog.  I was horrified to realize that I didn't blog about that trip!  Only one post, some time later, which features a pano made up of 16 photos (4 gigapixels) I shot of a beautiful scene?!  Fortunately, I at least published a couple hundred pictures from the trip, which was gorgeous, in an album here at tt.us.

I knew I had shot a picture of the Yaktrax, their name, when I was hiking in Johnston Canyon.  (The top picture is what the lower waterfall looks like when it's not frozen, as it was when I visited.) Those who hadn't worn any special footwear found walking in the canyon so precarious that they were sliding along, holding on to the rails.  When no raise were present, which was most of the time, they would slide along the ice on their rear ends.  Quite the sight!!

So, for my future state of deeper senility, here is a link to the Yaktrax, pictured below, at REI.  I loved them, and they were reasonably priced.

I love time lapse photography!  This time lapse by twin brothers Dan and David Newcomb has some spectacular shots in it featuring HDR as well as some awesome dolly and pan shots!  (They design and build their own rigs.) The undulating fog is spectacular! When you watch it, be sure to click on the full screen mode in the player window.

YouTube link (time lapse above where you can select full 1080i HD) Dan and David's YouTube Channel Their website link YouTube link (time lapse below where you can select full 1080i HD)

This time lapse below, of the frenetic energy of the Vancouver Olympics, is also stunning and uses crane and dolly shots.  When viewed at 1080i in full screen, will tax the dickens out of your internet service or Google's servers, or both.  (The size included below should play fine.)

Link to other posts @ tt.us featuring and about time lapse photography.

I try to walk along the Pacific as much as possible since I live less than a mile from it. (If it weren't such an elevation change, I would walk to the ocean, but the walk back up would be brutal for an "old man.") I love the Pacific because it's always in a different mood.

This afternoon's walk was hotter than any of the times I spent sitting by the ocean this summer (all wrapped up in a blanket, might I add!). It hit 83º here in December! But, on the flip side, the air was completely clear. I could see great detail in Santa Monica and Palos Verdes. Even the tip end of the north bay past Malibu and Catalina to the south were clearly visible!

The sun is now starting to set and wash everything in the warm light of magic hour.

Lovely.

Mother will hate this post.

Note:  The code on this page is a vastly improved reading experience at this link.

Last year, for the first time, I created a Season's Greetings banner that popped up (using MediaboxAdv) when you first hit my blog.  This year, when I went to operationalize that same code, things were not very straight forward.  This post is to remind me next year how to do this—sort of a note to me in the future.

WordPress Site
Under the wordpress —> wp-content —> themes folder on the server, select the current theme and modify the header.php file within that folder.  Immediately after the HTML header tag closes, this code should appear:

<!-- Mandate that the #mb-announcement mediabox open when this page is first hit or refreshed by the user -->
<!-- <body onload="Mediabox.open('URL_GOES_HERE', 'TITLE_GOES_HERE', 'WIDTH HEIGHT')"> -->
<!-- When NOT mandating the #mb-announcement, comment out the next line of code. -->
<body onload="Mediabox.open('http://blog.timtyson.us/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/HolidayGreeting.jpg', 'Happy Holidays', '480 520')">
<!-- When NOT mandating the #mb-announcement, uncomment out the next line of code. -->
<!-- <body> -->

Normally, without the forced load of the mediabox announcement, the code would read like this:

<!-- Mandate that the #mb-announcement mediabox open when this page is first hit or refreshed by the user -->
<!-- <body onload="Mediabox.open('URL_GOES_HERE', 'TITLE_GOES_HERE', 'WIDTH HEIGHT')"> -->
<!-- When mandating the #mb-announcement, uncomment out the next line of code. -->
<!-- body onload="Mediabox.open('http://blog.timtyson.us/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/HolidayGreeting.jpg', 'Happy Holidays', '480 520')">
< !-- When mandating the #mb-announcement, comment out the next line of code. -->
<body>

This single change in code will impact the loading of both the main index page as well as individual page archives.

MovableType Site
To accomplish the same thing, MovableType requires two file alterations: one for the index page and one for individual page archives.

For the main index page:
Under the template-link-files —> my-template-link-files on the server, modify the Index.html file within that folder.  Immediately after the HTML header tag closes, this code should appear:

<!-- Mandate that the #mb-announcement mediabox open when this page is first hit or refreshed by the user -->
<!-- <body id="mt-blog" class="mt-main-index layout-wm" onload="Mediabox.open('URL_GOES_HERE', 'TITLE_GOES_HERE', 'WIDTH HEIGHT')"> -->
< !-- the body id above is the result of using the <$mt:BlogTemplateSetID$> variable for the boy id as shown below. When NOT mandating the #mb-announcement, comment out the next line of code. -->
<body id="<$mt:BlogTemplateSetID$>" class="mt-entry-archive <$mt:Var name="page_layout"$>" onload="Mediabox.open('http://blog.timtyson.us/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/HolidayGreeting.jpg', 'Happy Holidays', '480 520')">
<!-- When NOT mandating the #mb-announcement, uncomment out the next line of code. -->
<!-- <body id="<$mt:BlogTemplateSetID$>" class="mt-entry-archive < $mt:Var name="page_layout"$>"> -->

All of the index files would then have to be rebuilt for the change to take place.

Normally, without the forced load of the mediabox announcement, the code would read like this:

<!-- Mandate that the #mb-announcement mediabox open when this page is first hit or refreshed by the user -->
<!--  <body id="mt-blog" class="mt-main-index layout-wm" onload="Mediabox.open('URL_GOES_HERE', 'TITLE_GOES_HERE', 'WIDTH HEIGHT')"> -->
<!--  the body id above is the result of using the <$mt:BlogTemplateSetID$> variable  for the boy id as shown below. When NOT mandating the #mb-announcement, comment out the next line of code.  -->
<!-- body id="<$mt:BlogTemplateSetID$>" class="mt-entry-archive < $mt:Var name="page_layout"$>" onload="Mediabox.open('http://blog.timtyson.us/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/HolidayGreeting.jpg', 'Happy Holidays', '480 520')">
< !  When NOT mandating the #mb-announcement, uncomment out the next line of code. -->
<body id="<$mt:BlogTemplateSetID$>" class="mt-entry-archive <$mt:Var name="page_layout"$>">

For the individual page archives:
Under the template-link-files —> my-template-link-files on the server, modify the Entry.html file within that folder.  Immediately after the HTML header tag closes, this code should appear:

<!-- Mandate that the #mb-announcement mediabox open when this page is first hit or refreshed by the user -->
<!--  <body id="mt-blog" class="mt-main-index layout-wm" onload="Mediabox.open('URL_GOES_HERE', 'TITLE_GOES_HERE', 'WIDTH HEIGHT')"> -->
<!--  the body id above is the result of using the <$mt:BlogTemplateSetID$> variable  for the boy id as shown below. When NOT mandating the #mb-announcement, comment out the next line of code.  -->
<body id="<$mt:BlogTemplateSetID$>" class="mt-entry-archive <$mt:Var name="page_layout"$>" onload="Mediabox.open('http://blog.timtyson.us/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/HolidayGreeting.jpg', 'Happy Holidays', '480 520')">
<!-- When NOT mandating the #mb-announcement, uncomment out the next line of code. -->
<!-- <body id="<$mt:BlogTemplateSetID$>" class="mt-entry-archive < $mt:Var name="page_layout"$>"> -->

Get it right the first time, because "Only Entry Archives" files then have to be rebuilt for the change to take place—that's over 2,500 files and takes forever!

Normally, without the forced load of the mediabox announcement, the code would read like this:

<!-- Mandate that the #mb-announcement mediabox open when this page is first hit or refreshed by the user -->
<!--  <body id="mt-blog" class="mt-main-index layout-wm" onload="Mediabox.open('URL_GOES_HERE', 'TITLE_GOES_HERE', 'WIDTH HEIGHT')"> -->
<!--  the body id above is the result of using the <$mt:BlogTemplateSetID$> variable  for the boy id as shown below. When NOT mandating the #mb-announcement, comment out the next line of code.  -->
<!-- body id="<$mt:BlogTemplateSetID$>" class="mt-entry-archive < $mt:Var name="page_layout"$>" onload="Mediabox.open('http://blog.timtyson.us/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/HolidayGreeting.jpg', 'Happy Holidays', '480 520')">
< !  When NOT mandating the #mb-announcement, uncomment out the next line of code. -->
<body id="<$mt:BlogTemplateSetID$>" class="mt-entry-archive <$mt:Var name="page_layout"$>">

My browser of choice continues to be Safari. However, a few months ago Apple pushed an update out the door that is making Safari do weird things when building a page with Flash embeds. This, at times, significantly impacts page display and, I suspect, is a result of Apple pushing HTML5 implementation. I don't get those issues in Firefox. Hopefully Apple will correct this problem in the near future. I don't know what IE does with any of this code. I gave up on that browser a long time ago. (My apologies to all of those who still use it.)

[Another note to self:  the directions for using the awesome but non-intuitive SyntaxhHighlighter used on the WordPress version of this page are located at this link.

And that's about it.

 

When I was a child, journalism was ruthless.  Investigative reporting was in its prime, shining the light of day on corruption, indolence, criminal activity, under the table deal making and the like.  The government hated the media because they showed the American people in very real terms the horrible truth some powerful people wanted hidden:  the civil rights movement, the war in Vietnam, the extreme police action at Kent State, to name just a few.  60 Minutes did ground-breaking work that defined the standard for journalism.

Today, Clay Shirky and other insightful thinkers state that the expensive and extraordinary work of investigative journalism was funded by the ample profit margins gleaned from media advertising, both television and print.  Now, with the advent of cable media and the internet, advertising to the masses, according to many, has reached its true value.  As a result, profit margins have radically dropped.  As a result, print news media is dying.  The LA Times, for example, is probably 80% advertising and 20% news.  And, some notable sources say the result has been the death of investigative journalism.

During the George W. Bush administration, the Republicans pushed for and got changes to FCC regulations that effectively and significantly reduced the number of news outlets even further, allowing fewer people to have greater ownership and control of media outlets.  From my vantage point, the confluence of these two things (lack of investigative journalism and reducing the number of media outlets) appears to have compromised one of democracies most vitally needed pillars, an informed citizenry.  Have you noticed that an increasing percentage of the news articles across all media outlets have the exact same titles, even the same content?  I seriously wonder who is paying for me to read and hear these "stories?"

I have lamented CNN becoming "the Crime News Network" as they focus so much attention on sensationalizing missing persons and individual murder cases.  (I'm sure this is inexpensive for them.)  And the whole of cable news seems to create an artificial sense of crisis around lack-luster "reporting" to sell their media, creating a 24 cable hour news cycle that amounts to little more than an overdramatized feeding frenzy.  As local papers have died, corruption is going undetected creating an unprecedented environment of bold fraud and theft of tax payer dollars like the Bell, California, city officials who actually thought they could get away with salaries of $8,000,000.

We need a populist movement that will hold government accountable for protecting "We the people..." by providing significant incentives to create a variety of non-partisan media outlets, rather than the current incentives to reduce their ownership to a few wealthy people.  We need to de-centralize news media.  We need to stop attempting to kill funding for public broadcasting.  News media outlets must never be the puppet of a few stunningly wealthy people or any political party.  People need to turn off and unsubscribe to media that is doing a poor job of honest, non-partisan investigative journalism.  Demand unbiased, fact-checked, relevant news!

To allow our current system to continue is to perpetuate a meaningless national conversation focused on polarity, not problem-solving and threatens the very survival of democracy.  [I also suspect that to attack Wikileaks is to attack free speech, but that's a whole different "can of worms."]

Related Posts at tt.us

• We Need a Populist Movement-Part 1: Healthcare
• We Need a Populist Movement-Part 2: Governance
• We Need a Populist Movement-Part 3: Civil Rights
• We Need a Populist Movement-Part 4: Journalism (this post)
• We Need a Populist Movement-Part 5: Faith Practice

Related articles

• The future of news? (maureenholland.wordpress.com)
• US investigative journalism merger (guardian.co.uk)
• Clay Shirky's Nuanced Position on WikiLeaks (boingboing.net)
• Investigative Journalism, RIP (outsidethebeltway.com)
• Defend WikiLeaks or lose free speech - Dan Gillmor - Salon.com (marccooper.com)
• Required Reading: Clay Shirky on WikiLeaks (slog.thestranger.com)

Boys and their toys!  Of course, I can't complain.  I would be up their with them if this were my church.  While not particularly musically gratifying, this is certainly clever, creative and fun.

North Point Community Church's iBand.  (YouTube Link)

It's pretty simple, really.

I can not imagine a United States in which women were not allowed to vote, in which they were considered more as a man's property, his birthright, his just reward for manhood.  I can't imagine a United States in which black people were considered property, slaves, people owned and bred for the profit of white men.  I simply can not imagine a United States in which entire nations of people, the American Indians, were exterminated because white men wanted what was theirs.

And to do these things in the name of a god, a deity, a faith practice that holds to some ancient tenets most of 21st century civilization finds barbaric and so out of touch with present reality as to be rendered irrelevant superstitions is appalling, oppressive, and the very definition of evil.

Now don't misunderstand, I think people should be allowed to practice their chosen faith but within constraints that will be the content of the upcoming post on faith practice.  Denying the civil right of marriage to inter-racial couples is the stuff of antiquity.  To deny same sex couples the right to marriage is also the product of a similar hate-filled thinking process.  To deny gay men and women from serving in the military is just as ignorant, intolerant, and, like the aforementioned marriage issues, the product of forcing a narrowly defined faith practice on people who do not hold to the teachings of that ancient religious belief system.

Additionally, the whole marriage concern poses another interesting issue.  The church claims that they must "defend the traditional definition of marriage." That tradition is, of course, born in the very religious intolerance of which I've already written.  In other words, marriage is a curious legal and religious institution in which church and state are not separate. The founding fathers built as a major and fundamental tenet of this nation the separation of church from the state.  They, after all, had fled the religious tyranny of the protestant British Empire, though Sarah Palin might think it was the North Koreans.

I strongly, adamantly advocate for the separation of church and state.  Obviously, in the context of marriage, we need, as a nation, to explore this intermingling of the two.  The two must be separated!

As I have written before, if a church does not want to "endorse" or participate in a same sex couple's marriage because that marriage is inconsistent with the ancient teachings of their church, teachings to which they choose to adhere [are any of them out there still doing blood sacrifices?], then they should not be required to.  But for any religious body to try to inflict their faith practice on others is unacceptable and completely out of touch with the fundamental and founding tenets of this nation.

I frankly am glad that the religious front organization, the bogusly named Family "Research" Council, was labeled a "hate group" the day before yesterday by the Southern Poverty Law Center.  Indeed, they are a hate group.  They are trying to force their hate-filled beliefs about a minority group on the nation as a whole.

Their activist agenda is immoral. Their activist agenda perpetuates a culture of hate and intolerance that continues to encourage and even endorse violent words, verbal assaults, bullying, taunting, physical assaults, murders, suicides, verbal abuse, distrust, and hatred. This can not be tolerated by those who value the separation of church and state, who value tolerance, understanding, civility, and who aspire to live by the golden rule. Their activist position is the antithesis of American values, is the antithesis of who I believe God to be and what God wants of people.  And while this post will not be popular with some of my very conservative friends, I believe in my soul that my position is the moral and just one that will stand the test of time.

People can oppose marriage and military service equality and not be a hate group.  I can respect that.  And for those who find the notion of same sex marriage and inter-racial marriage something loathsome, then I invite them to live by the simple words Whoopie Goldberg recently said, just "Don't get one.". It's pretty simple really; isn't it.  In the land of the free and the home of the brave, no one will force them to.  They simply must stop trying to force their chosen, narrowly defined, religious beliefs on those who do not accept them as the teachings of a loving, relevant God.

Related Posts at tt.us

• We Need a Populist Movement-Part 1: Healthcare
• We Need a Populist Movement-Part 2: Governance
• We Need a Populist Movement-Part 3: Civil Rights (this post)
• We Need a Populist Movement-Part 4: Journalism
• We Need a Populist Movement-Part 5: Faith Practice

It's the season.  Busy, busy, busy!

The last few weeks have been crazy:  the Haunted House extravaganza for Halloween (we do it up big here in the hood), a three day business trip to the east coast, a two week vacation to Budapest and Prague, returning home to put away the Halloween Haunted House and set up the Christmas decorations, create the holiday cards, the 2011 gift calendars, the newsletter, fold/stuff/stamp/seal/mail the cards and newsletters (huge task), jump online for the gift-giving rituals, then the Thanksgiving meal...

Today, the cleaning crew is finally back. Thank goodness!! (They missed last month because of vacation plans.)  The house is one giant dust bunny and fur ball all rolled into one.  My allergies have been insane.  I'm almost finished with the laundry now.  The last load of clothes is in the drier.

To finish the holiday gift shopping I had to run to the Apple Store to get the Sistoid Unit's gift.  (No worries.  She already knows what she's getting from me—an iPod Touch, so she can Facetime me and mother.)  The Apple Stores are always much too close to where I live!  This one is at Manhattan Village Mall.

No one in their right mind wants to go to a mall on Black Friday:  the crowds, the rudeness, the snatch and grab, the ill humor, the parking fiascos.  Manhattan Village Mall isn't a large mall at all, but the parking is always hell on earth!  I was so not looking forward to this quick one-stop shopping trip.  I got there and found a parking space with no difficulty!!  But then...

Oh!  For Pete's Sake!

Who in their right mind?!

What a wretched, horrid, bad, bad, bad idea!!!!!!!!!

On this, the worst day on earth to shop at a mall, the Manhattan Village Mall decided to have a full blown parade IN THEIR PARKING LOT?!  The high school marching band, the police cars, the fire trucks (yes, there were two of them in the parade), the little security Segway, the little three-wheeled security vehicles, throwing candy...

I couldn't even back out of my parking space.  The whole parking lot was grid locked.  People, blocked in the one way parking lane, were trying to turn around, which was so obviously impossible--three cars.  Now they were stuck!  Duh!  Nobody could move because of this stupid parade blocking the main artery of the parking lot!

Go ahead, call me Scrooge.  This was THE most hair brain idea of the year!  Who ever planned this on the busiest shopping day of the year had to be high on cocaine!

Insanity!

Time to fold the laundry.  :)

Follow the money.

I personally think that our nation's government has never been so broken or dysfunctional in my lifetime. And I completely agree with Larry Lessig on the cause: Congress is beholden to corporate interests above all else because their expensive elections are funded by corporate donations. This is the root cause; therefore, fixing how elections are funded is step one--priority one.

To say I was flabbergasted and horrified by the Supreme Court's decision to allow corporations to make unfettered and undisclosed contributions to our elected officials would be an understatement!

I truly am naïve enough to believe deeply in "We the people..."  We are a noisy bunch, filled with conflicted interests and ideas, but basically I think people believe in taking care of people.  Corporate interests believe in increasing profits, and all too often their focus is just on this quarter.  The future be damned.

And, regrettably, those who run the increasing number of "too big to fail" transglobal companies in this nation (another huge mistake) are raking in disproportionate levels of income.  I'm sorry, but in the world according to Tim, unless one cures cancer or AIDS or provides humankind with a clean way to live fossil fuel-free or some other noble gift to our species, no one is worth an annual income of $10 million or more--no one: not me, not you, not anyone else.

So how to address this mess in which we find ourselves:  government caring more about monied interests than the average person on the street?  I'm advocating for a populist movement:  support the Fair Elections Now Act.  You can learn more about it at Fix Congress First.  Fix Congress First has no political agenda, no party affiliation.  It's only focus is correcting how we fund our elections.

Until we return government back to "We the people..." we will continue to see our elected officials serve as the puppets of monied interests and not the people of this nation.

In the next day or two I'll publish another in this series.

Related Posts at tt.us

• We Need a Populist Movement-Part 1: Healthcare
• We Need a Populist Movement-Part 2: Governance (this post)
• We Need a Populist Movement-Part 3: Civil Rights
• We Need a Populist Movement-Part 4: Journalism
• We Need a Populist Movement-Part 5: Faith Practice

Well, we had a little earthquake last night: magnitude 2.4. I find them to have personalities. This one shook the house in what felt like a north/south direction and actually originated just a few miles south of the house, out in the bay itself.  (Click to enlarge.)

Related articles @ tt.us

• My Malaga Cove Time Lapse 1
• My Malaga Cove Time Lapse 2
• Sunset in Rancho Palos Verdes

Healthcare
I saw Keith Olbermann's show (see the clip at this link) where he hosted Michael Moore, producer of Sicko, and Wendell Potter, former Vice President of corporate communications at CIGNA, one of the United States' largest health insurance companies, and author of Deadly Spin. Potter apologized to Moore for his massive, industry-funded, carefully-crafted efforts to discredit him and his movie. Potter goes on to say that Sicko is indeed factually correct, and the insurance industry feared that the movie would create a populist uprising against the detestable insurance industry whose practices actually kill tens of thousands of decent, hard working Americans every year.

The fact that the insurance industry has been so successful in keeping Americans from embracing substantive, deep healthcare reform in this country astounds me beyond belief.  It's not even healthcare.  It's a gravy train for insurance investors.

This fabricated bogus label, "Obama-care," is such a farce!  Obama's successful healthcare initiative didn't go far enough!  Currently "Super Wealthy (and they're republicans as Deadly Spin reveals) Capitalist Assholes Getting Even Richer While You Die-care" is what we actually have until the healthcare reform kicks in.  The industry maximizes profits when they deny your claims.  And the loud-mouthed Tea Party wants to give these fat cats what they want?!  Another well-funded farce front group for monied interests.

What of the deficit? Fix it on the back of those making the most money.  Oh, but wait!  They will start squealing about losing jobs?!  What a hoax!  Always calling it anything but what it really is.

America needs a massive, populist movement that demands we balance the budget, not by hurting the average guy on the street, but by reeling in the defense department's out of control spending, among other "security" budgets, farm corn subsidies (which are wrecking the health of this nation!), etc..  Interestingly, this is exactly what a huge percentage of people on Twitter actually think according to this non-scientific survey by the New York Times on what Americans think we should do to balance the budget  (source:  link).  Click to enlarge.

Real people all over this country are sick of capitalism running out of control and hurting the good, common people of this country.

Update:  Michael Moore published this (in part) to his blog on Thanksgiving day.  I don't know Michael, but I think he would be a fascinating person with whom to chat.

All that money spent smearing me because they thought you would get up from your theater seat and start a revolution.

It's a great compliment to you. They fear the power you have. But that's 'cause they're good at math. They know there will always be more of us than there are of them. And unless they can repeal "one person, one vote," they know they are doomed. In the meantime they will try to maintain the power they have by buying off politicians, dumbing us down, distracting us with Dancing/Ice Skating/Drinking with the Stars and getting us so scared we'll acquiesce to having naked pictures taken of us at airports this Thanksgiving weekend. Over the river and through the body scan, to grandmother's house we go...

So let us give thanks tomorrow that the richest 1% begrudgingly know that we are still, on paper at least, in charge. It is, I believe, a glimmer of hope of what we could possibly accomplish in the coming new year.

Source:  Last Thoughts Before the Turkey Comes Calling

In the next day or two I'll publish another "We the People...".

Related Posts at tt.us

• We Need a Populist Movement-Part 1: Healthcare (this post)
• We Need a Populist Movement-Part 2: Governance
• We Need a Populist Movement-Part 3: Civil Rights
• We Need a Populist Movement-Part 4: Journalism
• We Need a Populist Movement-Part 5: Faith Practice

Related articles

• Countdown Introduces Michael Moore to the Health Care Voldemort Who Came in From the Cold (mediaite.com)
• Wendell Potter Apologizes to Michael Moore For His Part to Discredit "Sicko" (crooksandliars.com)
• Michael Moore: They Said They Would Push Me "Off a Cliff" (huffingtonpost.com)
• Wendell Potter: My Apologies to Michael Moore and the Health Insurance Industry (huffingtonpost.com)

Now, I've actually written a lot more than 2,500 posts here at tt.us over the past 6 years, but a good number of them never got published for one reason or another:  they became old news before I finished the post, I was venting and then reconsidered, I waxed insane and recanted...  The list goes on.

So what is Post #2,500 to herald? (I have no idea why I feel it deserves some level of distinction!)

After careful thought and consideration (not!) it turns out this post will be about current events:  The TSA.  I bring you this cartoon from The New Yorker with a concluding thought.

The thought:  Security is an illusion.  It simply doesn't exist.  And with the tawdry junk talk, the man who dropped his trousers and stood there in his underwear, the  poor man whose medical device was yanked from his body leaking urine all over him in front of everyone while he tried to get the TSA to stop before the incident happened, the other cancer survivor made to remove her prosthetic breast for inspection, the pilots union's worries of extended and excessive exposure to harmful levels of radiation from the imaging systems, the list could go on and on...   we have the security scanning option pictured above (source: The New Yorker).

How long will it take before some man or woman boards a plane with something explosive located in a body cavity?  What then, I ask?!

The absurdity needs to stop. Risk is everywhere. Get accustomed to it.

Mike Davidson (of Mike Industries) created a blog documenting his "first-hand chronology of the design, planning, and construction of a modern home in Seattle."  He leaves no stone unturned as he presents the cost of every aspect of the project, frequent posts throughout the project from planning to tear down to completion, complete with a time lapse of the entire event.

This isn't just a blog.  It's a journey! It's massive — lots of great pictures (fixtures, wiring...), lots of granular detail.

I've followed his journey on and off over the course of the year.  Now he has a gorgeous home in Seattle, with stunning views, and he let the world follow along.  Thinking about building?  You'll want to explore his blog, "A House by the Park."

Awesome!

On Saturday, October 23, 2010, I walked nearly 18,000 steps!!  Yes.  Yes, indeed!  I walked all over Atlanta!

Tragically, since I didn't travel with my computer, just my iPad, my Fitbit didn't report this on Twitter!

I was traumatized by the fact that this enormous record (for me anyway) went unknown, uncelebrated, without the ceremonial distinctions it truly deserved!!!

But now the world knows!

I was just in Atlanta.  On the long flight I read Arianna Huffington's new book, Third World America.  Now, before my conservative friends go off the deep end, this is not a book about left or right, about Democrat or Republican.  This is a book about the assault on the middle class from both parties.

This is a must read for conservatives, for liberals, for members of the Tea Party, for libertarians, well, for every American.  (If you're in the top 1% and are making millions of dollars, you might want to skip this one.)

I admit that at times the numerous examples in the book become a bit tedious, but they do move the story forward by illustrating her points.

Rarely do I read a book in which I think the author just hit the larger issues spot on.  Arianna hits issues spot on.  What she writes resonates with what I have mentioned several times on my blog about my own experiences with the death of the American Dream. The last chapter in her book offers some ideas about how to keep America beholden to "We the people...".

My only point of contention with her book:  She takes an amazingly optimistic view about our capacity as a nation to undo the horrific damage that has been done to the middle class.  I honestly have come to think that, if our nation can be repaired at all, it will not happen in my lifetime.  I do hope I'm wrong.

Here is your link to purchase the book at Amazon.

Related articles

• Arianna Huffington Sees A 'Third World America' (npr.org)
• Arianna Huffington Talks 'Third World America': We Have A 'Surplus Of Talent' That's Not Being Used (VIDEO) (huffingtonpost.com)

Well, yes.  Naturally I watched Steve Jobs emcee Apple's Back to the Mac event yesterday.

Now, I must confess that when Apple first introduced the huge change from iMovie HD (version 6 in 2007) to iMovie (version 7 in 2008) I made no secret of my utter disgust.  It was a huge, enormous step backward.  Apple quickly responded to the extreme customer dissatisfaction, because users were in an outright uproar, by almost immediately, within days, releasing an update with added features.  Everyone who had used iMovie HD continued to use it.  I don't know of anyone who actually used iMovie 7, which was less than featureless, even with the immediate update.

iMovie (version 8 in 2009) was a big step forward, though previous users of iMovie HD, myself included, had a difficult time getting into the new interface. which was conceptually nothing like iMovie HD (version 6 in 2007) and every previous version of the software.  Previous users generally didn't like the new interface introduced in 2008.  New users were not so encumbered.  Ok.  With this new version in 2008, there seemed to be some hope.  Maybe Apple hadn't made a huge mistake with this new GUI.

Yesterday Apple introduced iMovie (version 8) in iLife '11.  (Isn't all of this year versus version number thing so damned confusing?!  And then you have the suite numbers and version numbers for the pro products...  Jeeze!)  The new version now, in my mind, officially rocks my world.  So, from where I'm sitting, it took Apple 3 to 4 years to release a product that is absolutely better than iMovie HD.  You know, I guess I just wish this had been the version they released back in 2008.

iMovie '11, as I'll call it to minimize confusion, appears awesome.  I should be getting my hands on a copy of it today.  I suppose what I found most fascinating, even tantalizing about this newest version, is the movie trailer templates feature--a virtually bullet-proof way to make nothing less than stunning movie trailers.  From an educator's perspective, I see this a an excellent way to teach students to better articulate their quasi-innate understanding of the language of film production.  (The quality of the video footage used in the demo didn't hurt any, of course.)  But I will be interested in seeing how this actually takes off out in the field for common users and, more importantly, for students.  I see enormous, enormous, enormous potential here.

The new MovieMaker in Windows 7 is just about where iMovie HD was in 2007, although the interface, like most of Windows, in my opinion, is just flat out ugly as hell and grotesquely stark—the last thing a person who is being create needs or wants.  Now the latest version of the Windows movie production software appears to be in the stone age once again, eating Apple's dust.  Can't Microsoft do something innovative rather than just copy everything Apple is doing?!

I've been hearing the rumor mill whispering about a complete remake of Final Cut Pro, Apple's pro level movie-making software.  I immediately thought that if they did such a thing, I wouldn't even consider upgrading.  Now, having seen where Randy Ubillos has taken iMovie '11, I'm a lot more open minded.  This could be really interesting.

Oh, and sure, the new features in iPhoto '11 and GarageBand '11 were cool as well, but iMovie '11 was the product that just blew me away.  (I don't know what the new features are in the other apps in the iLife '11 software suite.)  Of course, iLife comes free on every new Mac purchase.  Existing users can upgrade, and Steve Jobs is right:  for $49, iLife '11 is the best software value on the planet!

What Apple has done in the past decade is nothing short of a miracle.  My heart is actually warmed by the fact that the marriage of brilliant engineering, meticulous design, and creative genius has produced the spectacular contribution that is Apple, Inc. And I want to further note that Apple is now a blistering financial success, with stunning sales records and profits in everything they are doing, even in an extreme depression—an American economy that is utterly in the toilet because of America's complete lack of creativity and innovation in everything except blowing things up and killing people.  The bulk of Apple's revenue is coming from completely new and innovative products that didn't even exist much more than 3 years ago.  Apple is a model for what America can do, what America can be.  It's about leadership that carefully nurtures the marriage of engineering, design, and creative genius!

Related articles

• iLife '11: The Best New Tricks in iPhoto, iMovie and GarageBand [Apple] (gizmodo.com)
• Apple announces iLife '11 with new iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand (venturebeat.com)
• Apple Announces iLife '11 With New iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand (nytimes.com)
• Apple unveils iLife '11 with significant updates to iPhoto, iMovie, and GarageBand (edibleapple.com)
• Back to the Mac: GarageBand and iMovie '11 (nytimes.com)

All hands on deck!  We're having a real live thunderstorm here in Manhattan Beach.

This is glorious!

Wind.  Rain.  Thunder.  (Haven't seen the lightning, though.)

Aside from the dreadful bondage of my being chained to my computers as I rebuild hard drives, the weather here in Manhattan Beach has been a delightful change:  heavy overcast, cool, and a steady drizzle!  I love it!!

I've really been fortunate to live in and around very beautiful areas.  The South Bay area is quite lovely.  Last weekend was so typical:  gorgeous sunny weather on the coast.  Saturday featured a day trip to Palos Verdes and Rancho Palos Verdes, just south of Manhattan Beach.  Sunday featured a day trip north to Malibu.

So here are some photos (shot by the HU) and a brief video (shot by the iPhone 4 in HD!).  Clicking on any of the photos will open slightly larger versions of them. (Many monitors may be too small to seethe video in HD. Just scroll to the right. Mouse over the video and click on the "Play Full Screen Button," which looks like a tiny square on the extreme right above the word "Close." The button does not appear until you mouse over the video.)  Holding the iPhone steady in the wind is a huge challenge!

Enjoy!

Working in the yard this morning, trimming back the bougainvilla, a neighbor walked by and said her children couldn't wait to return to the haunted house at our house again this Halloween.

Little do the tiny preci know:  this year's Haunted House will even be more terrifying than last year's!

I recently was at a conference for and by artists:  dancers, visual arts, musical arts, and educators.  Naturally, such an eclectic group is a tremendously fun energy.  One of the ladies shared an unusual web site, an interactive film based on the address at which you lived as a child, called, "The Wilderness Downtown."  She just sent me this link to the film generator.

You enter your address, and out pops a movie featuring an interactive experience with google maps for that address.  This isn't just unique.  It's totally awesome!

The music, "We Used to Wait" by Arcade Fire is also something worthy of your time.  Here are  the lyrics:

I used to write
I used to write letters
I used to sign my name

I used to sleep at night
Before the flashing lights settled deep in my brain

But by the time we met
By the time we met the times had already changed

So I never wrote a letter
I never took my true heart,
I never wrote it down

So when the lights cut out
was lost standing in the wilderness downtown

Now our lives are changing fast
Now our lives are changing fast
Hope that something pure can last
Hope that something pure can last

Now it seems strange
How we used to wait for letters to arrive
But what's stranger still
Is how something so small can keep you alive

We used to wait
We used to waste hours just walking around
We used to wait
All those wasted lives in the wilderness downtown

We used to wait
We used to wait
We used to wait
Sometimes it never came
We used to wait
Sometimes it never came
We used to wait
I'm still moving through the pain

I'm gonna write
A letter to my true love
I'm gonna sign my name

Like a patient on a table
I wanna walk again
Gonna move to the pain

Now our lives are changing fast
Now our lives are changing fast
Hope that something pure can last
Hope that something pure can last

We used to wait
We used to wait
We used to wait
Sometimes they never came
We used to wait
Sometimes they never came
We used to wait
I'm still moving through the pain
We used to wait
We used to wait
We used to wait

We used to wait for it
We used to wait for it
Now we're screaming "sing the chorus again!"

We used to wait for it.
We used to wait for it.
Now we're screaming "sing the chorus again!"

I used to wait for it
I used to wait for it
Hear my voice screaming "sing the chorus again!"

Wait for it!
Wait for it!
Wait for it!

You simply must experience it!

Related articles:

• Arcade Fire, Colin Stetson: Concert Review and Photos (beatcrave.com)
• Arcade Fire Interactive Video (jambase.com)
• The Wilderness Downtown: Chrome experiment by Chris Milk and Arcade Fire (boingboing.net)
• Arcade Fire at the KeyArena: Whoa (seattlest.com)
• The Wilderness Downtown (asourceofinspiration.com)