I have but one small complaint, and it relates to the design of the body itself. There is an extremely sharp 90-degree angle where my wrists rest, so that there’s always a little digging in my skin on the underside of my wrists/lower forearms. I thought Mac was all about design? Maybe they are going more for visual than functional with this choice? I really am perplexed. Since it’s a Mac, I keep thinking I must be “doing it wrong!”

Thoughts? Comments? General harangues?

• Why our hotel bed didn’t get any action
• Cuban rhythms at (le) poisson rouge featuring Marc Ribot
• Rap Battle in Union Square
• Mariachi on the 2 Train headed uptown
• Lionel Ritchey cover while waiting for the Staten Island Ferry
• Goofing around with Jake and John in the shiny round thing
• Sound effects with Fred and Jake in Park Slope

Shiny Round Thing with Two

Shiny Round Thing with Three

I bought a Verizon Blackberry instead of an iPhone because I loved the VZ NAV software I’d used with my LG phone so much. I got the Blackberry and was brought back several builds to Verizon Navigator version 2.9 (having used version 4+ on my old LG phone). Once the NAV software finally DID upgrade a few months after I received my Blackberry, it was TERRIBLE. There’s a 30 second splash screen (hello, I’m LOST!); frequent lack of contact with satellites; when it DOES work, there’s a time lag meaning I miss turns; and no text prediction (I type in “RAL” and even though every place I go is in Raleigh, your software can’t predict the second half of that word in the city field!). Was this build even beta tested? I am extremely disappointed and regret even getting the Blackberry. I loved VZ NAV so much, and you’ve really blown it with this build. I feel like I’ve wasted a lot of time and money on this product, and before, I was preaching the wonders of it to EVERYONE. A product this flawed should never have been released. I’ve now bought an external Garmin GPS for my car and have uninstalled the VZ NAV from my Blackberry. I expect others will do the same if you don’t improve the performance of this product VERY soon. I’m a big Verizon fan, but this was a huge misstep for you.

One thing I noticed when rewatching my video is that I failed to mention that this version I’m demonstrating in the video is actually the latest UPDATE of VZ Navigator. Yes, I had that v. 2.9 before, but I did upgrade a couple of months ago, as soon as that software was available.

And then I took this survey. I voted against the required test. It’s not the answer. Here’s the comment I made after the quiz:

Oh wow. This is getting into SERIOUSLY slippery slope material. Ever heard of Eugenics?

Galton thought some similar things to this. You know who was a big fan of Galton? Hitler. This is a very bad idea. History has shown this to be true. I KNOW it seems to make sense, but the consequences of such an action has proven to be disastrous.

In this very country:

Some states sterilized “imbeciles” for much of the 20th century.

In part, intelligent testing began because people wanted to sterilize/disenfranchise those who were not as intelligent. The thinking was that the smart people should be in charge, but that’s not Democracy. That’s elitism. That’s unbalanced. That’s Eugenics, and at its extreme, that becomes concentration camps. As I said before, that’s a VERY slippery slope. We don’t need another Nazi Germany, or another Bell Curve debacle.

People who aren’t as educated can be very frustrating when their ignorance is so off the mark, but they live here, too. You think your opinion should matter more because you feel you know more, but in a true Democracy, it doesn’t mean more. I feel lucky to live in a country where all people have a right to free speech, a right to dissent with leader’s views. And nowadays, I love that because of the internet, more and more people are being exposed to all those views. There are plenty of people who have learned that what they believe may not be true after all because of something they saw on YouTube. Anyway, I digress…

A reminder:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Look, I know many of us are afraid right now, but please, let’s not go there. Let’s just not.