D_

3 million + views.

I think:

• The aspirational equivalent of putting a man on the moon: most of the people in the world may never have or experience exactly what we see in this video. Just as most of us may never step foot on the moon. BUT all of us experience ALL of the technology that got us to the moon everyday, most of it invisible, unnoticed, taken for granted. We consume it without knowing it’s origins.
• Creating experiences that allow people to integrate technology like this in a way that unites us – finding a way to unite humans across the strata of mankind.

I see these aspirations and feel there is something missing in the portrayal of the perfect home, the 1 kid family with the Dad in the kitchen of the perfect white Architectural Digest decor, bellhops who anticipate every move and wait to serve perfectly, et cetera ad nauseum. I will never know this reality in part because I don’t desire it. It’s the matrix and repulses me with it’s portrayal of perfection.

I contrast that with the reality of the terrible dailiness of life and ask…for the wide flung throng of human kind who will never experience any of what is shown…how does it serve them?

When we are able to show how technology can solve the real and deep issues and challenges that face us…and not just the superficiality of a slice of a life that doesn’t represent the experience of 95% of the human beings on the planet…well then that’s something that will change the world. We can do that. If we will do it.

I think that was part of the brilliance of Steve Jobs – the cell phone is more or less ubiquitous – and he made a new thing to change the world by remixing/innovating something that everyone was already using and really changed the world in a way that engaged the crowd that surrounds us. He made it beautiful and it fits in my pocket and I take it with me and it unites us across borders, seas and cultures.

This video also reveals Microsoft’s “shadow” – the blind exaltation of technology without the massive soul of a Steve Jobs-like vision. At some level, conscious and unconscious I am repulsed by one and inspired by the other.

D_

High Flight

by John Gillespie Magee, Jr.

Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds…and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of…wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up, the long, delirious burning blue
I’ve topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, nor even eagle flew.
And while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space…
…put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

What I think is:

Michael Steele and his cronies (including some of the worst Republican representation in decades) did some damage – major damage with their inept and vision-less leadership. They focused on the wrong things – like demonizing the Democrats. Not useful.

I like Reince – but I’m taking a wait and see posture…waiting to see if he is more of the same BS or the real deal. I am sincerely hoping for the latter.

Besides that – anyone who has a Star Wars-like name will get my attention: Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Reince Priebus….hmmm

D_

Please accept, with no obligation, implied or explicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2011, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere . Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.

And to All My Republican Friends:

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Fondest Regards,

Weed Pottle, Esq.