Month: August 2007

Obama lays out plans for terrorism

This is a couple days old, but Barack Obama laid out his vision for fighting terrorism Wednesday, saying he was prepared to send troops into Pakistan if the threat warranted.
“We’ve got a color coded politics of fear.”
Obama maintains that the war in Iraq should have never been launched.
“Just because the President misrepresent our enemy does not mean we don’t have enemies… the threat is real.”
He also said the US should have all combat brigades out of Iraq by next Spring and the US should focus back on Afghanistan and possibly Pakistan where Al Quida is being safely harbored.
Hear the report from NPR.

Ryan Adams releases new CD


Ryan Adams has a new CD out, Easy Tiger, and NPR has the scoop.
The clips on the NPR piece sound great. Maybe a little different than Adams’ previous work I’ve heard. It sounds very layered with instrumentation. I’ll need to be sure and check it out.
What’s your favorite track by Adams?
I think I’ve got to say one of my favorite tracks is La Cienega Just Smiled off his Gold album.

2nd monthly Casa de Blundell Dinner Club

Well, if the new steroids I’m taking for poison ivy start kicking in as they’re expected, we’re still planning to host our 2nd monthly Casa de Blundell Dinner Club tomorrow night.
Tomorrow night’s theme is “My Big Fat Mediterranean Dinner.”
I’m looking forward to it. I’m a big fan of Greek, Lebanese and Mediterranean meals. It will be fun to see what everyone comes up with.

We’re planning to fix Fattoush (one of my favorite meals in Nigeria) as well as Kofta – another favorite while I was in Nigeria.
Funny how my favorite meals in the middle of Africa were Lebanese 😉 although I did love the red stew we had during several meals.
We’ll let you know how everything turns out – as long as the steroids kick in.

Throw your cellphone away

Wired offers 10 reasons to throw your cellphone away.

  • It makes your life more complicated
  • It’s horribly expensive
  • It enslaves you to a one-sided contract
  • It makes you perpetually available
  • It is boring
  • It must constantly be recharged
  • It knows where you are
  • It encourages stupid people to become a public menace
  • Ubiquitous pleather accessory shops
  • It turns you into a public annoyance – Hell is other people’s ringtones.

I’ve gotten to where I’m using the actual phone part of my cellphone less and less. I often leave it in the car or at home whenever I don’t think I’ll need it. It’s still a security blanket in some regards. But I do love the convenience of sending prayer requests or other text messages to a number of people all at once without having to pick up the phone over and over again to pass along a message.
What about you? Could you drop your cellphone and move back “into the stone age?”
What if we just all went to two way pagers? Could you live with that?

Thanks to Lifehacker for the tip.