Items of Interest this Week

This week I have been turned onto:

David Horsey: Political cartoonist for Seattle PI. Great cartoons on their site daily!

Dance Dance Revolution: This has been around for several years but I had never played it until last weekend! My little bro Gabe and sis Mia'ana have a rocking two pad setup that we danced on for the playstation2. Between dancing up a storm and then jumping into the pool to cool off I had a blast! I love being a kid again. But more importantly this game was hilarious and a workout! Parties will never be the same.

Home Budget Software: Using Excel has never been so much fun. Now I hope the I can save up enough of our hard earned money to someday afford the coveted CowSlippers! Its going to be beans and rice discipline for me. But seriously, money for rich people like us is just a game of goal making and luxury good buying. I just would like to play the frugality game a while to see where the money is going especially now that I may be out of work soon.
I love my Dear wife Sonja for being frugal with me this week and not going out to restaurant once in 6 days! (its like a record for us). And she is such a champ. She comes home and is excited to try to make some type of meal out just old things hiding in the cupboard and fridge.

GoodReads.com

I've heard that Socrates believed that the written word (ie. books) would be used too much as a crutch for man. He seemed to believe a person addled their mind, became lazy, by relying on a written source rather than memorization. His concern is valid but there are so many positives that outweigh it.

And as Al Gore said in a speech recently, the invention of the written word, then the printing press (and now the Internet) had helped to democratize information and societies. These inventions allowed people to educate, write and distribute their ideas to others. It allowed a person to participate in the world of knowledge! No longer was information controlled by the few (not as much at least).

In the early days the powerful disseminator of knowledge was the church. What they said was truth. This was because there wasn't another source of information, no less a dissenting one to open up an argument on the topic.

One of the first book's to be widely distributed using the printing press was the Gutenberg's Bible and it wasn't in Latin but in common tongues. Now suddenly the people could interpret the Bible for themselves and talk about it then print books themselves with their views.

Now the Church wasn't the only channel to watch when wanting to hear God's word. You can see where this goes. The point is that democracy is strengthened by the public having access. Multiple sources and the chance for their own ideas to be heard by others.

So lets celebrate reading! Today I learned of a very cool website: GoodReads.com Here people can track what books their friends and others are reading and reviewing. It's free and gets me excited to read more.
Please join me and go make an account. Peace

Democracy Now! and Alternative Radio

Ok its time to get political now. If you have been paying attention you are outraged by the situation in the world today. I wanted to recommend to you the best sources for news and information that I have come across. These cut down deeper than the daily superficial sound bites of the popular media (TV, newspapers). These guys are part of a network of "progressive" sources that I and much of the world really respect due to their commitment to truth. (Note: Listening to these professional sources can blow open your little world).

Democracy Now! - Daily one hour news radio/TV program out of NYC...awesome.
Alternative Radio - Hour long lecture each week from some of the world's best authors/thinkers.
Counterspin - 30 mins of de-spin of popular media
Common Dreams - Online essays by progressives and links to many sources.

Rocketboom

There is a daily online news video blog (vlog) that is quite fun that I recommend, its called Rocketboom. It is one of the most popular vlogs online next to Ask A Ninja

Rocketboom is newsworthy however and keeps you up to date on crazy news on the web, while Ask a Ninja keeps you in touch with something else....not sure what. :)