The Friday Flashback

Yesterday, the evil in the world got to me. I read stories of kids killing themselves because they were heavily picked on by classmates. Then a guy fought to go to the prom with his boyfriend and his parents disowned him. And then the asshat members of that church who protested at a fallen soldiers funeral all because he fought for a country that they say approves of homosexuality. Ugh...it gets to me sometimes! Today I needed a song that was uplifting(It is Good Friday afterall) and I think this one has a great message.

I am beautiful no matter what they say

Words can't bring me down

I am beautiful in every single way

Yes, words can't bring me down, oh no,

So don't you bring me down today

Happy GOOD Friday!

You're Beautiful!

Bob Out

The feeling of freedom

Thursday night. All assignments and accomplishments finally done and handed in. Behind me, I have a great day with no worries, only smiles. Ahead of me, I have one week of Easter break.

Yes, I think that was all the ingredients for making me feel truly free tonight. I love that feeling. ♥

Daily Thoughts 4/1/2010

The keyboard of a writing ball, seen from above. Rasmus Malling-Hansen inveted this writingmachine in 1865. Also called the Hansen writing ball.

Daily Thoughts 4/1/2010

I read some more of A Better Pencil on the way to see the dentist this morning. There is quite a bit of interesting material. Dennis Baron describes the experience of writing in clay tablets telling us that no tablet comes out the same and that they are often quite hard to read. He describes his early experiences using Wordstar one of the first word processors as well.

I especially like Dennis Baron's commentary on how as early as Gutenberg, people chose the author and publisher over the format of the writing. It did not matter so much that a book was printed on papyrus, vellum, or paper, the content was what was important to people. What Gutenberg did was make the content more available to people. The main detraction was that vellum and papyrus lasted over a thousand years leaving a more permanent record. Even in the 15th century "content was king."

This idea still has relevance to us today. It is the content that matters. The package is more of a convenience and a preference of tools than a necessity. There are benefits to printed works on paper as well as electronic works. I think there will be less paper books, but those that are printed will be better laid out, have higher quality paper, as well as better illustration to compete with digital books. They also will be printed more quickly, be more easily recyclable, and be easier to get. At least, this is my hope. Ebooks will make many more books available to people. This is especially true for books that are creative commons or no longer under copyright. Both the ebook market and the print on demand market are the two fastest growing segment of the publishing world.

I had a chance to stop by the library after my dental visit where I work to pick up two more books, Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks Fifty Years of Mysteries in the Making by John Curran, and The Ruling Sea by Robert V.S. Redick which is a fantasy novel.

Outraged!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OUTRAGED.

Click here and watch this video. I saw it this morning on Good Morning America. It blows my mind that people like these protesters actually exists. Lance Cpl Matthew Snyder, 20, died while serving in Iraq. Members of the Westboro Baptist Church, headed by Rev. Fred Phelps, protested at Matthews funeral, claiming that the soldiers were evil because they defend a country that tolerates homosexuality.

I was so mad that it just blew out of my head and erupted into tears. How can people be so hateful?!?!?! I just don't get it sometimes.

SERIOUSLY, I JUST DON'T GET IT!

Bob Out

"Leadership is overglorified" courage, heart and followers are critical...

Easter!

Usually by Easter, this flower bed has red tulips and white jonquils along with the yellow daffodills. Maybe next week. It's still nice to see Spring popping up everywhere.
My favorite Easter was the year it fell on my birthday and my mom had a party for me the day before. One little girl brought me 6 live chicks, all dyed pastel colors. What a surprise that was!The kids loved holding the little fuzz balls. Sadly, they didn't live long - probably the dye.
Our Easter consists of church and then a family dinner. We'll have barbecue, baked beans, corn casserole, salad, deviled eggs, chips, and dessert. Afterwards, we all go outside and play whiffle-ball in the front yard with the kids. Some of the men may try to catch a bass in the lake. There will be Easter baskets for the children. Hopefully it will be a sunny day!

A Story for Art in our society - Robert Redford speaks

"We better grab this moment now, because it may not last..."