In case you’ve been living under a rock today, you’ve already heard about Mark Foley’s sudden resignation from Congress. The ABCNews blog has some of the IM traffic between Foley and a male page. He spends a lot of time asking an underage guy about his masturbation habits.
Having read enough to turn my stomach, I can say I’m really glad this guy may end up being sentenced to some of the stiff sentences he helped enact.
From a political front, this isn’t going to do good things for the GOP. All of our guys will denounce the sick freak, but under the smooth surface of the electorate’s consciousness, this will undoubtedly make them think twice about our guys being completely out of control.
A pedophile Congressman with a seriously defective moral compass and an abundance of hypocrisy who also happens to be part of the GOP leadership is a pretty bad story a month out from an election.
John Hawkins over at Right Wing News has a survey of bloggers asking for the 20 greatest figures in American history. The results are kind of interesting. He asked us for a list of between 1 and 20 people that had shaped US history. I, like others, took that to mean anyone who had influenced our history, whether they were American or not.
My list included:
Tim Berners-Lee (for conceptualizing the world wide web)
Albert Einstein
Lee Atwater (for changing the face of modern campaign politics)
Barry Goldwater (founder of the conservative movement, though it has since been bastardized.)
Marc Andreessen and Eric Bina (jointly for creating the browser)
FDR (jointly with Kennedy and Reagan for mastering the political technology of their day and changing the way politicians connect with citizens)
Abraham Lincoln
Michael Jordan, Karch Kiraly, and Dale Earnhardt (for being the greatest in their respective sports. (I don’t think football has ever had a figure like these, and baseball is debatable)
Bill Gates (for making technology accessible to a broad consumer market)
Steve Jobs (for giving Gates ideas)
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Mellon
A lot of these guys are remembered for what they did 100 years ago, and many, I believe, will be recognized for the next 200 years. Berners-Lee, Andreessen and Bina will likely not be recognized outside of the tech community for some time to come, but the path they have set our feet upon will change the way we get and use information – and information is power.
So those are my thoughts. What do you think?
As you get older, you learn things that take a lot of fun out of life. When I was a kid, I used to love the logic of the question, “which came first, the chicken or the egg?”
In a lesson on “thinking outside the box”, the question was posed and everyone began debating whether the chicken or the egg came first. Then someone spoke up and ruined it all.
“Reptiles have been around longer than birds, and many reptiles lay eggs, therefore the egg came first.”
So there you have it. Most people assume that egg is a chicken egg, but the question never says it. So anytime someone throws that question at you, go ahead… tell them the egg and tell them why.
I hate to do it, but I had to delete two posts today. Back in June, I had made reference to a former Beatle’s ex-wife and her foray into porn 20-something years ago. I had to remove those posts today, and the category she had earned under celebrities.
I may end up regretting the decision because my traffic declines, but the fact is it was really creeping me out to review my stats and see so many riled-up horn dogs trying to take a peek at 20 year old porn.
Don’t get me wrong, I like the naked female form as much as the next guy, but come on, guys. Give it a rest, huh? The story was over three months ago, the pictures looked like bad promo shots for the X-rated version of Flashdance, and you made me feel skeevy for having commented on it.
For my other readers (Anne, Eric & Bill, that would be you guys), please be assured I will never again refer to the ex-Sir Paul and make you share visitation with the pervs of the universe.
There has been a lot of chatter on the tech blogs about Apple’s decision to begin suing everyone who uses a variation of the word “pod” in their product name – alleging this may confuse consumers who will think the products are produced by Apple.
At the heart of the chatter is a lawsuit filed by Apple against a start-up company called Podcast Ready that allows you to control subscriptions to podcasts and sync them with mp3 players (not just iPods). My guess is that’s the problem. Apple doesn’t want any competition for the mp3 player market (especially since their sales are falling) .
The talk on the vines about the lawsuit has made me think about the other products I use or have explored using that contain the word pod.
PeaPod by Giant – This grocery delivery service from Giant Supermarkets is definitely in danger of consumer confusion. When I think of buying groceries, I usually buy apples, and Apple makes the iPod, so clearly PeaPod is a delivery service that works with my iPod, right? WTF will I do if they change the name to something less vegetable friendly?
PODS: Portable On Demand Storage - Mrs. Quip and I looked at PODS when I was moving from DC to Albuquerque a few years ago. This is another company ripe for a lawsuit. If anything says customer confusion better than the strange meeting ground of moving services and electronic music, I don’t know what it would be. Quick, Steve! Sue!
A Pea In The Pod Maternity – This one should be pretty self evident. Shops that sell maternity clothes are definitely in trouble Since about half of the US population born in the 70s was conceived to Led Zepplin’s Kashmir, and you listen to music on an iPod, it’s easy to see how you would get fuqing, its possible outcome (kidlings) and the iPod confused. Apple needs to take action fast on this one, too.
I could go on, but you get the point. This is one of the dumber lawsuits I’ve ever seen, and really should send a message to all those “Apple-is-Cool-and-Nonconfromist-but-Microsoft-is-an-Evil-and-Vile-Corporate-Vampire”. The fact is, Apple is just as soulless and loathsome as any other company.
