This day has been far too long in coming.
The WhiteHouse.gov is already changed and looks useful this time. I’ve already subscribed to the blog. I’m impressed with his speed, his organization and his tech team. Imagine a President attempting to interact with and inform the American people. I love it.
My favorite parts of “Obama’s speech”:http://www.pic2009.org/blog/entry/president_obamas_inaugural_address/:
bq. Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions – who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.
bq. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works.
bq. Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control.
bq. As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience’s sake.
bq. Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions.
bq. For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus – and non-believers.
Goodbye and good riddance to the most incompetent President in our history:
One could be excused for voting for Bush in 2000 (maybe you thought the country could benefit from a guy who failed in everything he ever attempted?), but it was clear by the 2004 election that Bush was inept. So if you were one of the dolts that voted for him in 2004, you owe the country an apology. And don’t forget that helpful tip that you have now learned: you are unable to recognize the obvious. But don’t despair, you can turn that into a useful skill — your natural inclination is the opposite of what you should do, so just do the opposite of what you think you should do and all will be better. Here’s some examples for you… when you pick up a pen to write with your right hand, remember that you’re left-handed, so just switch the pen to your other hand — people will be amazed at your new ability to write! When your natural tendency is to push on doors that clearly read “pull”, remind yourself to stop and do what feels weird and you’ll save several hours a day that you normally waste trying to get into buildings. Eventually, you’ll get the hang of it. And hopefully before 2012.
I’m glad there won’t be any more of these, they’d be funny if they weren’t such an embarrassment to the country:
http://services.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/271557392
The Steelers beat the Ravens for the 3rd time this year to go to the Super Bowl against the Cardinals (and two of their former coaches). If they win, they will be the first team to win 6 Super Bowls. I don’t want to be over-confident, but I’m more confident that the Steelers will beat the Cardinals than I was that they’d beat the Seahawks in 2005.
The Steelers beat the Chargers to go to the Championship game against the Ravens.
The Ravens was the one team I was hoping would lose during the playoffs because I think the Steelers could beat any of the other teams. They can beat the Ravens too, and did twice this year, but the Ravens will be tough.
The Steelers were the only team this weekend who was favored to win that did win, the only home team to win and the only team with a bye week last week to win. And it ended up not mattering that they were the #2 seed and not the #1 seed because, thanks the Titans losing, they get to play at home through the playoffs.
AllRecipes finally got with the program and announced a Premium membership. Although they call it “Supporting Membership”, which sounds more like a beg for charity than a premium service. We at Recipezaar launched a Premium Membership back in 2003 and it took AllRecipes that long to copy it, with fewer features and a higher price. Genius!
There is no love lost between me and AllRecipes. Their mouthpiece, Esmee Williams, used to harass us every time we did something new, sometimes demanding that we remove recipes because they were too close to recipes on their site and got huffy when we explained how copyrights work. At one point she directed us to the Chilling Effects site to prove the legitimacy of her claim, not realizing that the site is run by the EFF to protect people from the “chilling effects” (violations of 1st Amendment rights) of copyrights or that we were on the right side of the copyright law. We even had many AllRecipes employees contact us looking for jobs. When Reader’s Digest bought them after years of attempts by AllRecipes to find a buyer, Esmee emailed us the press release as if to gloat (Congratulations Esmee, you have a new boss. That’s quite an accomplishment!). The company is an embarrassment and I have enjoyed watching them flounder time and time again. Maybe by copying Recipezaar feature-for-feature, they’ve found a path to success. But I doubt it.
Gay and I went to “Beveridge Place Pub”:http://www.beveridgeplacepub.com/ for a rare date night, only the second time we’ve left Hudson at home. We’ve driven by it for years and never felt tempted to go in, but ever since discovered that it’s a highly-regarded beer place we’ve been trying to get a chance to go. Hours before we left, I checked their web site to see what beers they have on tap (they don’t list them, unfortunately) and realized that they don’t serve food at all. Instead, they provide a set of local restaurants that will deliver to the pub. That doesn’t make for such a nice date night, but we decided to not change our plans and we went anyway. I’m glad we did.
The New York Times did “a taste test of barrel-aged beers”:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/dining/07wine.html?_r=1, which is a recent trend in brewing. See their “tasting report”:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/dining/07wlis.html?ref=dining. I’m still trying to get my hands on Pike’s Entire bourbon barrel-aged stout, but I “have had Dogfish Head’s Burton Baton barrel-aged IPA”:http://troyandgay.com/blog/2008/06/11/dogfish-head-burton-baton-imperial-ipa/, which is very good and I still have a few bottles left waiting for a good reason.
The Seattle Times “interviewed Rick Steves”:http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/living/2003879700_webricksteves12.html on his stance on travel as education:
bq. I think if the world knew what was good for it, it would establish a fund to pay for Americans all to have a free trip for six weeks, anywhere they wanted around the world upon graduation. It would be the best investment the world could ever make. Because right now an America that is threatened by, fearful of and misunderstands the rest of the world is a costly thing on this planet.
bq. I used to think the world was a pyramid with us on top and everybody else trying to figure it out. And I really traveled believing I could just share with people all the beauties of American culture, and I don’t believe that anymore. I like my way of living, but I don’t think that other people want to copy it.
bq. America, frankly, doesn’t know what war is like. We don’t have many living memories right now of what a serious war that the Europeans have experienced is. Consequently, we’ve sanitized it. And Europeans have many more powerful reminders of how war can devastate a society. Consequently they’re inclined to find alternatives to war a little more aggressively than we are.
I happen to find “this blog”:http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/11/kindle-20-to-hi.html on Wired.com googling for “Kindle 2.0″ and thought the photo was familiar. It turns “it’s one of mine”:http://www.flickr.com/photos/troyh/2584801338/. At least he credited me with the photo.
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