a breath of fresh air

Hi. Would you be interested in a Motorized grill brush? (No scrubbing!) Well, it’s currently $19.99 at Brookstones. Or how about your own Pet Owners Robotic Vacuum? 350 bucks. Or pocket sized germ eliminating light? Oh, and the Fish Agility Training Set. Yes, this complete set of underwater activities allows you to train your pet fish to perform a series of agility maneuvers, including swimming through hoops, pushing a soccer ball, navigating a slalom course, and more. Because your fish will do these things if you buy them the right materials. Because training your fish is vital these days. Because they want to be talented.
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Wow. Honestly?
I was flipping through the pages that my mother had turned town in the recent (hundreds of) catalogs that arrived conveniently right before Christmas. I was appalled to say the least.

Reading "Software that opens worlds to the disabled" By James Flanigan was the most refreshing experience I’ve had recently. It’s really nice to know that some people have their priorities straight. The article describes a nonprofit corporation entitled “Project: Possibility” that enabled the development of various programs aimed at helping disabled people “expand their capabilities”. This development takes place at the University of Southern California and is lead by groups of volunteers.
“ONE computer program would allow vision-impaired shoppers to point their cellphones at supermarket shelves and hear descriptions of products and prices. Another would allow a physically disabled person to guide a computer mouse using brain waves and eye movements,” said Flanigan.

I’m sure Apple Inc. is developing their latest music player or phone at this moment and I only wish that technology aimed at helping to improve a person’s needs was as quick in the development as the technology that only exists for our pleasure.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/18/business/smallbusiness/18edge.html?8dpc=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1229569390-qhX/k1fHu5Zp8SbhUW8Oyg

the agony and the ecstasy

“With modernity crumbling, our thoughts turn to antiquity.”

Maureen Dowd suggests in her editorial, “Are We Rome? Tu Betchas!” that the new is not working out, so we’re making our way back to the old. The really old. I was so drawn to this article because it comments on and captures, in my opinion, so well what exactly is happening today. Dowd comments on “sand-castle economy” which currently “washes away under the tide of bad gambles and debts”, reminding me of Coldplay’s Viva la Vida.

“One minute I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me
And I discovered that my castles stand

Upon pillars of salt, and pillars of sand”

And this just tied the whole Roman thing together completely with the literal, however more than accurate, vision of a crumbling structure. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen connections with the lyrics of this song. Roger Cohen directly references it in his op-ed, “The King is Dead”. So this article struck a cord when I realized the constant emphasis on how our economy is not stable, being reduced to salt and rock.

Half of Dowd’s Op-ed is in Latin, alluding to the past, but also contributing to an air of higher intellect in her article. It’s sophisticated and interesting. But this Latin ramble has a greater significance. Dowd, whether intentionally or not, has made a prediction. She is obviously discussing current events –“Baracum Obamam”- but in an ancient language, suggesting a similarity between then and now. This is where I personally become frustrated. When we ask our parents why we learn history, they reply “So history doesn’t repeat itself”. Well then. It’s been said that America is on the brink of a new Renaissance. “Who we are and what we care about is shifting-and a new set of imperatives, products, behaviors, and ambitions is emerging,” says Patricia Martin in her book, Renaissance Generation. Now, the Renaissance was not ultimately a bad thing, but we are also being told that we are in the midst of the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/opinion/12dowd.html?_r=1&oref=slogin