Scraping the Bottom to Find the Top?

I would not be true to myself if I didn't take some time to talk about politics. In this case I would like to touch on the current presidential primaries. I am not here to be a mouthpiece for the left or the right. As far as I am concerned, the terms have little meaning as the ideals they are associated with are ever shifting and often miss categorized to begin with.

I had planned on writing about a completely different topic this evening but then I started thinking about the election when I was shown one of those silly “take a quiz” time killing websites. This website in particular is designed to match you to your ideal candidate for presidet based on how you answer a series of self-ranked questions. Whether or not the results of this test are entirely accurate or without bias as a result of the test model is unknown to me but for the sake of argument I am going to take it on faith that it gets pretty darn close.

Mike Gravel

Tommy Thomson

I am not going to tell you who was assigned as my perfect candidate based on my feelings about the tested issues, but what I would like to focus on is who is generally leading the pack, according to this site, as far as compatibility with those taking the test. To my shock, and in some sense horror, the top two matches are Mike Gravel (D) and Tommy Thomson (R) respectively.

I think the shock largely comes from the fact that these guys are (or were in Thomson's case since he dropped out) nearly dead last in each of their races when looking at the polls and according to this site, all things being equal, they should be ahead by at least some margin.

The horror I feel creeping into my mind when I look at these two leading the pack in the compatibility test stems from the reality that these two individuals are far more polarized toward the left and the right than many of their fellow candidates. If these two really do match up the best for a combined 27% of those taking the test, then I fear for the future of our country because, while discourse is the key to growth and understanding (often through compromise), vastly divergent ideologies can potentially lead to uncompromising rifts in society as was illustrated by our own Civil War. Given the current socio-economic state of our country, I do not think a second civil war is on the horizon but I would not be surprised if we see increasing division in our country based on ideological lines.

My Questions

If we are becoming so bi-polar as a nation, how are we to find common ground in order to maintain a bond through our national identity as Americans? Also, with such divergent beliefs on both sides, how are we as a society going to determine the best course of action to the benefit of all and if one side should somehow prove to be more correct is it wrong to impose the uncompromised correct path upon society?

I am also curious why you think the candidates that are seemingly the most compatible with people's beliefs running in last place? I have a few ideas about this myself but I want to hear what you think.

Solid Entertainment

I know I put that blurb up about how I will attempt updates every Tuesday. I mean to stick to the Tuesday schedule for the regular rambling but I also want to mix it up a little bit for my own sake and for the sake of the reader (you).

So I will try to write a “Solid Entertainment” piece every other Friday, starting today, that covers some combination of music, movies, and other media. I will be the first to admit that I am not always on the cutting edge of the all encompassing subject of entertainment so please feel free to make me aware of new stuff that you like.

This first issue is mostly music with a short TV plug.

Public Defendaz

Public Defendaz debut album, Speedy Trial Vol. 1, is a hard hitting yet richly poetic dose of straight up hip hop. The beats and instrumentals throughout are solid and would keep your head bumping on their own and when combined with unforgiving and largely thought provoking lyrics that just keep coming at you, it is clear that Public Defendaz are on a mission.

Challenging the all too prominent and often misguided stereotype that hip hop is all about money and flash, this five man group takes on not only issues of race, equality, poverty, current events, and the current political stage but they also rightly call out other more mainstream artists for becoming complacent and embracing the selling stereotype.

In the proud tradition of groups like Public Enemy and DEAD PReZ (hell, lets not make this just a hip hop thing and include Bad Religion and Rage Against the Machine), Public Defendaz are out to make their voices heard and make a difference.

If I had to lodge any complaints about Public Defendaz they would be: 1) that they don’t have a non-MySpace website, although this is totally excusable since maintaining a website comes at a cost that I am sure a new band does not want when they are starting out; 2) Their MySpace page does not seem to embrace the “simple yet hard hitting” attitude that comes through in their music as it is dominated by flash navigation and the fan comments definitely need some cleaning out, but this could also be considered a work in progress; and 3) as far as I can tell, they have not released a CD that I can get my hands on so MySpace or live are the only places to hear them, which is a shame because they would be a great addition to any collection.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Watch this show but not with your kids (unless your kids are my age and then you should watch it together). It is beyond hilarious, and with the addition of Danny DeVito to the regular cast it is just that much better.

Fox may drop the ball on hanging on to a lot of good shows but someone over there was doing their job when they decided to keep this one going.

iPDA

My PDA experience

It was 2001, only six years ago, and my life was largely defined by my work as a computer programmer for AIM Systems Inc. (now Retail Anywhere Inc.). In order to keep my busy life straight and keep track my quickly growing list of phone numbers, as my friends and family began getting cell phones, I decided to do what is now nearly unthinkable; I purchased a PDA. It was a bulky Palm III with extra memory for all those applications I thought I would be getting. The Palm V was already out and the Handspring that used Palm OS was arguably better but the III had its charm and the price was right.

It seems like it didn't take long for pure PDAs to fall out of fashion in favor of more phone integrated systems and mp3 players. Within a year or two even the simplest of cell phones had a “to-do” list, calendar, alarm, and could store a ton of phone numbers. More advance phones already had mp3 capabilities and soon enough they had phones with PDA operating systems.

Enter the iPod

In a lot of ways the iPod was a step back in PDA technology and a “big” step forward for mp3 player technology (really it didn't do a whole lot different, technology wise, from its contemporaries except it had a nice clean interface, smooth integration with iTunes, sexy marketing, and a ton of storage space). The iPod can store memos, address, phone numbers and all that stuff but it lacks the interface that makes doing these things convenient while away from a computer so in this area it is really a PDA-, which is fine because it is a rock'n mp3 player and that is what it is supposed to do and I am glad Apple decided to get into the mp3 game.

iPhones and the Return of the PDA

Now I don't have an iPhone and those I know that do love theirs so I am going to take it their word for it that they are the best cell phone ever conceived by man. I may even get one of these days but for now I in no way claim to be an expert on the iPhone. As far as I am concerned, it looks cool and from what I've seen is like an phone + PDA on steroids (keep in mind, when I say PDA, I am including iPods in the general PDA family even if they are an offshoot, and the Palm III and Startac used in my illustration are for example only and use largely because that is what I used to have).

The thing I don't get about the iPhone/iPod phenomenon is the new iPod Touch. The iPod Touch is being marketed as this new revolutionary thing, and granted the interface is cool because it is the iPhones, but it is just a really advanced return of the PDA. I would go as far as to call it a pure PDA now that the interface is back to all the address booking, phone number storing, “to-do” lists, and memos as well as the mp3 functionality that makes it an iPod (the only drawback is there is no tactile sensation on the main screen that allows at least some “blind” navigation of the iPod). Basically, iPhone minus phone equals PDA.


My Questions

What I want to know now is why will people buy the iPod Touch? Does it signal a comeback for PDAs now that interfaces have improved enough to make the PDA more userfriendly as well as fun and sexy? Or, will it sell because it is an iPod product and people can't help but want the next cool thing on the block, and iPods, of all kinds, are definitely one of the cool things to have these days.

Given its easy WiFi access, I'm sure it is only a matter of time before someone hacked the iPod Touch so that it can serve as a VOIP device and then we have a whole new can of worms.

Addendum

Here is a good, if not slightly cheerleaderish, review of the iPod Touch.