Amazon - Xanadu? Really?

You may know this about me (or not), but I really like Amazon.com. I "shop" there a lot for books (and now music since I discovered their cheaper prices on mp3s).
Occasionally, Amazon sends out emails saying "we noticed you bought (this), perhaps you might like (this)". I don't mind these too much. I mean yeah, basically it's spam, and an advertisement, but It's Just infrequent enough for me to not mind hitting the delete button on my email. (I think once or twice they found me something I did like).
Well, the image above just came into my inbox, and I had to laugh.
I don't know if this is a political joke or what.
It says (in case you don't want to click the image to enlarge it)...
We've noticed that customers who have purchased or rated Outfoxed - Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism... also purchased Xanadu - Magical Musical Edition.
What possible link can there be to a documentary about political journalism have to do with an Olivia Newton-John movie?! The only possible explanation (which I think is a funny one), is that the people who buy "outfoxed" are probably liberals who like to live in a fantasy world of Xanadu.
(For the record - no, I will not be purchasing Xanadu).

Rupert Murdoch admits to manipulating news

There you have it - straight from the horses mouth. Fox News' Owner (Rupert Muurdoch) admits to trying to push an agenda by offering opinion in the news.

Lazy HOT Sunday

Well, it is another HOT day here on the east coast. Temps close to 100. There is a strong breeze, but it's doing nothing to allievate this heat. And according to the forcast, we still have another 3-4 days of 90+ heat to go.
My air conditioner has been running non-stop no matter how many times I tap the thermostat up to get it to shut off. It's running non-stop just trying to maintain an 84 degree temp in here. It's bearable of course, but I just can't help to think of the poorly insulated ceiling/attic in my apartment that my money and energy is being sucked out into the air. So frustrating. I actually thought today - I wonder if I nailed a layer of foam to my ceiling if it would help.
But, hopefully in a few more hours when the sun goes down, the temps will drop to something a bit more reasonable. Last night it wasn't too too bad. I ventured out to see a movie.

Kung Fu Panda>
Man, I really liked this movie! I'm beginning to think - there's no such thing as a "children's movie". Just because something is animated, or has goofy eye'd characters, doesn't mean an adult can enjoy a good storytelling - unless of course, I only speak for myself. Maybe I am still just a kid at heart, who can get caught up in a story about kung fu warriors, saving a town from a "bad guy", and the underlying message that the power of being good comes from within who we are. Go See this movie! I'm considering seeing it again actually. There was so much detail in the animation that I'd like to go back and see it again. I have not taken the time to look it up, but I could see some influence in the animation of the same artist that did "Samurai Jack" Which I borderline despised. But this animation was 10x better and the use of digital effects were just the right amount (I did just now look it up, and can see no references to anything on Samurai Jack, so maybe I'm imagining things.) AND I gotta give a mighty "tip-o-the-hat" to Jack Black, who did an awesome job on the voice of "Po the Panda" - SKADOOSH!

Lastly...
So, I'm "trapped" in my apartment, not wishing to go out in this heat, other than to take a bag of garbage out, and I'm stuck with trying to entertain myself - my choices, TV, Internet, and books. I know, if I start to read, I'll fall asleep. And after a couple hours of mindless channel flipping, and getting angry at the lack of anything other than "celebrities fighting, 1970's reruns of "hogan's heroes", and pundit news - I finally turned it off. Internet to the rescue!
I watch the first episode of "Astro Boy" on the Hulu.com and was impressed! The music was a nice techno beat, the animation (although simple 12 frame) was entertaining, and the story was pretty good - hmm, just a matter of time til this hits the big screen is my prediction!
http://www.hulu.com/astro-boy

Then, onto something with a bit more substance...
I just finished watching a 40 minute presentation by Bill Moyers to the NCMR conference (not sure what NCMR means). It was a bit tedious for me to watch, and I had to do it with 2-3 breaks in between, but I highly recommend you watch it. In a nutshell, I believe Moyer's is making a powerful and historical speech here in regards to corporate media and the free press. In this speech (and coincidently on reddit), I heard the first warnings of the internet as we know it today - being ruined by 2012 - in that it will be controled by the ISP's who package the internet into advertisement based entertainment - much the same way that Radio has been removed from the people, and Television. That's scary when you think about it. I hope they are wrong.
What led me to Moyer's video, was a link on reddit to Bill Moyers getting "ambushed" by a *ahem* Reporter, from the Bill O'Reilly show. This reporter tried to snag Moyers with some loaded questions and as the reddit headline hinted at, Moyer's countered with his own sharp fired questions, and ended up pwning the reporter from O'reilly.
You can watch the conference talk here on youtube.
And see the "attack journalism" from O'reilly here also on youtube (note: the audio quality is not the best). But try to stick around for the full 9 minutes, because after the reporter and Moyer's is done, some of the other reporters nearby, end up cornering the reporter, using some of the same tactics. (Note: the reporter's name is Mr. Porter).
real quick: I couldn't help but notice the way in which Bill Moyer's delivers his speech - It sounded like a sermon the way he delivered the speech.

Ok, I'm off to find some more "free thinking" content on the internet while it still lasts.

Popcorn Cellphones

Can someone tell me if this is a scam or real? I don't know enough people with cell phones to try myself!

source: via digg to this blog.

new wearable feedbags

New Wearable Feedbags Let Americans Eat More, Move Less

YES WE CAN!

AP Press is reporting it as a done deal as of 10:10 tonight!
The good news... in 5 months we will have a new president.
The bad news... we have 5 months of mud slinging to wade through.

(In a personal opinion, I'm SO GLAD that Obama has distanced himself from his church. It is sad it had to come to that, but politically speaking, he should have done that a long time ago. That, I fear will be his biggest hurdle in these next 5 months. The Right Wing Media, will beat that point into all of it's listeners - which is sad when you think of it, that we might loose a really great political leader based on what someone else may have spoken. Hopefully Obama will figure out a strategy to overcome this. McCain, I have some real fears over, but EVEN if he is elected, I do believe it will be an improvement over who we have now.)
I'll throw this out there too... I don't really care if Hilary is asked to be the VP. But if I had my way, I 'd hope there is a better person for the job.
I am curious to see too, who McCain will pick in that his health is not that great, and I think it will be very important as to who he picks.

Maker Faire - knit drum

So, in hindsight, I guess I didn't blog much about my experience at the maker faire this year.
So today, in my google alerts, I found my way to this blog, and was glad to see one of the persons that I had forgotten about - and he was one of my favorite things there, for several reasons.
One, it was just a mental freeze when you first see what he's doing. Nothing fancy, just druming while knitting. But then your brain trys to comprehend this, and it just does not compute. Why? Then it hits you... it's art. It doesn't have to fit into a neat little box with the label "because..."
The other reason this particular maker amused me... He did NOT look like he was having fun. Not once did I see him smile, or even interact with the crowd. I passed him several times during the day, and at all times there was always a small crowd around him, with the same smiles on their faces, yet he was off in his own little word, just drummin' and knittin'.
lastly, as far as I could tell, he had not one iota of rhythm. Unless he was on some improvisational jazz level that was beyond me, I could detect no rhythm or beat. Again, this was my brain trying to figure it all out, and looking for some sort of "reason" for it.
So thank you Corey Fogel, for throwing that monkey wrench into my neuro pathways. I just had to smile again, when I saw the above video which reminded me of the above thoughts.