The end of CD's?

Let's start out by asking my readers to say 'thank you' to Beth over at Nutwood Junction. She and I disagree over the upcoming election and I've spent many an enjoyable hour commenting on her posts. Why offer thanks? Simple. Commenting over there has sated (sp?) much of my urge to write about politics on Slapinions, thereby sparing you, dear reader, from trudging through those posts :)

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I was a late convert to CD's, making the transition in 1993. Even now, 15 years later, I dislike the silver frisbees. They scratch, they melt, they crack in two. If you have one kid, much less four, you might as well forget about having any in usable condition. MP3's? I like them, but if I'm going to buy an album I'd like something more concrete in my hands than zeros and ones.

So I was pleased to hear that the music industry is introducing a new format to replace (?) CD's. It's called Slot Music. Developed by Sandisk, it's a micro SD card smaller than your fingernail. It will hold an album's worth of songs, liner notes, and cover art with room to spare.

Of course micro SD cards are nothing new; I have one in my MP3 player to boost the device's memory. The 'smaller than a fingernail' bit alarms me, as I imagine I'd lose an album the day I bought it, but each Slot Music will come with its own USB device and should be usable in many cellphones, MP3 players, computers, and eventually car stereos.

By Christmas Walmart and Best Buy will be stocking albums in this format.

Personally, I'd prefer something like a hard, slim shell (roughly the size of a business cared holder) that opens while in the player to expose the tracks without risking damage to the music.

As for SlotMusic, let's throw it open for debate. Do you think this format will catch on?

(Actual) News of the Day

Two fascinating bits of news today. The first was word that there are plans to build a 420 meter skyscraper that will constantly change its own shape.

(420 and buildings that appear to move on their own - sounds like it could be a Cheech and Chong skit)

This skyscraper is proposed for the kingdom of Dubai, home of many engineering marvels in recent years. Each floor of the building would be capable of rotating on its own, courtesy of wind turbines located on each floor. The building itself would be pre-fabricated and allegedly need very few workers at the actual construction site.

It's an awe-inspiring concept and if it works it should be breathtaking. I say 'if' it works because the man behind the project seems to be a bit of a P.T. Barnum, with an exaggerated resume and degrees from colleges that don't exist. But you never know.

[I love engineering. Well, I love the idea of engineering, never having actually done it for a living. I always say that if my kids aren't sure about what they want to do in life I'd try to steer them towards that field, even though I don't have the slightest bit of talent in that department. It's better than wasting four years of college on an Art or History major like I did, that's for sure (assuming they don't want to teach).]

Floor space in the building will be $3000/sq foot, which means the largest apartment will cost a cool forty million dollars.

The second bit of news is that scientists have allegedly found the precise date of one of the events in Homer's The Odyssey.

In that epic poem Odysseus returns home to Penelope after ten years at sea and an eclipse occurs that very day. Following clues in the text (astronomical events, etc) they have pinpointed the day as April 16, 1178 B.C., close to noon local time.

If you take the book as pure fiction this is a colossal waste of time. If, as with The Iliad, there is a hard kernel of truth behind the epic then we now have a more accurate baseline from which to study the text.

Did I mention this was page 2 news in today's Journal-Sentinel, and while I don't have the paper in front of me I think it was also mentioned on the front page. I love history and I love literature, and I find the news compelling, but not that compelling. Wow.

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Completely irrelevant: when I was in kindergarten we went on a field trip to a farm and my Dad chaperoned. I remember the heat got to me and he stayed behind with me in the barn until I felt better. He bought me a orange soda from a nearby machine (a glass bottle no less - those were the days!).

I have no idea why that jumped into my head, but the whole time I was typing this post it kept hammering away at my temple, so I figured it's best to set it loose.

On Castro, Blu-Ray, and my choice in the WI Primary

Truly a day that will long be remembered by history.

First, time manages to do what the generations of Americans could not: after nearly 50 years in power, Fidel Castro has resigned as President of Cuba. In the long run, with a little luck, it'll shift Cuba back into the brotherhood of democratic nations. (I wouldn't mind seeing Havana myself).

Short term, with Fidel still alive and his brother Raul due to take charge, I don't think it makes any difference at all.

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In slightly less historic news, the VHS/Beta- like battle of this decade is over. Blu-Ray has taken the gold as Toshiba conceded the contest by abandoning their HD DVD technology.

I don't have either, so it matters little to me at the moment, but I do take issue with any technology called 'Blu-Ray'. It sounds like a marketing slogan, not the legitimate name of what will become mainstream technology.

* * *  Political Commentary - Enter at your Own Risk * * *

And then of course, the Presidential Primary is taking place today here in Wisconsin. In just a few hours Lis and I will take the kids along and vote. Here's the historic part: for the first time EVER, I'll cast a vote for a Democratic Presidential candidate.

[Please, no tears - I still intend to vote for McCain in the fall. All misgivings aside, I'm not willing to disregard the - and forgive me for being hokey- the will of the people and vote against the GOP's nominee just out of spite. If kosher reasons emerge - and they may well do so - he'll lose my vote. But again, not out of spite.]

With the Republican nomination sewn up I'm free to vote for whoever I like. A wise strategy would be to carefully consider who would be the biggest threat to a GOP victory and cast a vote to try and block that threat.

I'm not going to do that. For reasons I may go over in detail later, I think the GOP (surprisingly) has a decent chance against either Democratic candidate.

No, I'm going to vote for (gasp!) Hilary Clinton because in the event of a GOP loss, I think she would far and away be the most responsible, less dangerous option to govern the country.

To me, it'd be the difference between a President I disagreed with politically but who acted in the best interests of the nation (Clinton), and a President that I disagreed with politically but acted, despite his own good intentions, in a manner that would place this nation in jeopardy domestically and abroad (Obama).

Sure, write it off as B.S. Say that I really am voting to protect the GOP candidate, or that I'm a white guy voting against Obama's color. I counter by saying a categorical 'no' to both. For the record, while race plays a part in a good many things in this world, the only time race has played a role in this election is when Barrack Hussein Obama earns empty votes solely because of his heritage.

I have seen and heard nothing to disuade me from the belief that  Obama is anything more than a pretty face with an excellent ability to personalize the great words of his speech writers. He promises a lot, but I don't see any evidence that the can meet even a quarter of those empty words, nor any evidence he honestly expects to be held to that standard

I think, as I said before, that while he may or may not possess Jimmy Carter's sincere desire to do 'good', Obama is nothing more than Carter redux, packaged with all the flair of a modern JFK.

There are a good many more words to say on the subject, and I'm sure I'll get around to them in time.

Hilary Clinton earns my vote, and I hope yours too.

Tags: Hilary Clinton, Obama, McCain, Castro, JFK, Jimmy Carter, Blu-Ray, HD

Broadband! Broadband! November 8th

Today, on the eve of the one year anniversary of this blog, my family and I finally - FINALLY - purchased AOL Broadband via the local cable provider.

Considering that we've been online as a couple since ~'96 (and the mrs. online since the DOS version of AOL), this is, to quote Henry Kissinger, a "Big Big Wup".

Really, for technological glee this ranks right up there with my first computer and our  DVD player. I've already hit MLB.com, ITunes, and the Kurt Cobain site on the favorite section to the right . . .

Be prepared for mucho pics in the days ahead . . .