August 1, 2010

Sunday Morning Coffee – iPhone, Frightened Rabbit, Intelligent Design movie “Expelled”

I bought an iPhone! I was trying to make it until November when my contract was up with Sprint but alas, I’m weak. It didn’t help that my Treo 700p had been acting up, or that I had another avid iPhone fan encounter (thanks Tasha), or that they bumped the memory up to 16GB. I coughed up the $200 penalty and decided to jump in. Of course, my device superiority will be short-lived as the 3G phone will be here soon (Apple 3G phone).

I’m completely blown away. The screen, the engineering, the user interface are magnificent. The onscreen keyboard is a little tricky but I’m starting to get it. Weather, stocks, email, music, photos, etc., all in one little magic box. It’s not all love, I hate the headphone jack. Some genius figured out how to extract a few more dollars by putting a recessed jack into the phone. If you plan to buy an expensive pair of headphones, make sure its iPhone compatible, otherwise you will have to carry an adapter.

I’m really into the song “Heads Roll Off” by Frightened Rabbit. I think they sound a bit like Counting Crows. Anyway, give my Tumblr a listen. Also, If you are a music fan, sign up for Last.fm. It’s an up and coming social music website.

Much buzz about the showing of the Intelligent Design film “Expelled” in Minneapolis this past Friday. Best place to get a ‘biased’ synopsis is here. Interestingly, Ben Stein fronts for the documentary, I’d be curious to hear how that happened. Does he really believe this garbage should be taught in public schools?
Intelligent Design aka Creationism is a Trojan horse designed to get faith-based education into the classroom. It is there, among the minds of youth, that Creationists hope to perpetuate their fantasy.

Religion confounds me. The beauty of religion is that it strives to guide us on how to be better to each other and to ourselves. Since most people don’t seem to actively seek out self-improvement, they rely on religion to supply their inspiration and motivation. The irony is that most of humanity’s suffering & bloodshed is caused by religious zealotry & fanaticism.

I think a few centuries from now, the role of religion in society will be diminished. There will be other institutions or methods to obtain moral and ethical direction. Technology & the information revolution we are currently going through will accelerate this awakening. Especially among those that currently don’t question or challenge the answers they are spoon-fed.

Enjoy your Sunday. Ah, one more thing, I’m now twittering. Check out the widget at the top left corner. Do you use twitter? It’s approaching 1,000,000 users. If so shoot me a ‘follow’ and let’s connect.

Muxtape.com – Make a mixtape for all to hear.

Flashback (Around 7th grade):

Did you ever own a tape recorder when you were a kid? Well if you are 30 something you probably did. First were the big bulky one-speakered GE models, then the boom boxes, and then the Sony walkman. I remember listening to my radio and waiting for songs I liked to come on the radio so I could record them. The idea of being able to play music “on demand” enthralled me.

Well one look at this site and I think you will agree that we have moved out of the dark ages. This nifty little web app brings back a simple concept, the mixtape. You can upload up to 12 songs (10MB each) and then send on to friends. No more burning discs and shipping around the globe.

I can think of dozens of ways to ‘socialize’ this site. Can’t wait to see what develops here. Check out this months first effort from moi. Silversun Pickups, Frightened Rabbit, Kooks, & more.

JBinFrisco’s 1st Muxtape

You can use your right and left arrow keys to go thru the songs, return pauses. Awesome.

Update: It appears you can’t share the muxtape link directly. Still trying to figure it out. Too bad, this mix I made is BA!!!!