I don’t have much time to write tonight, but I’ll stop my work long enough to say this:
If I have to see the phrase, “close the deal” one more time, I may blow my top off!
Can’t the blogosphere and media come up with a new phrase? I thought it was clever the first 10 times. But now it’s just getting annoying to see.
If there’s anything that frightens the bejeebus out of a lot of people on the far right, it’s a fear that the tactics of environmentalists will destroy capitalism and have communism marching to our doorsteps.
That some people haven’t left the days of the red scare is not so surprising to me, yet it’s a little annoying. There are about five countries in the world (China, Cuba, Vietnam, Laos, and North Korea) that are still fully communist, and the first is more authoritarian capitalist than anything else these days.
But ignoring that whole side of things, there are ways to get cleaner fuel and energy without destroying the economy.
First and foremost, the oil companies need to invest into research into alternate fuels. I’ve said this before, and I still stand by it now. That’s the first step: research and develop alternative fuels, and then offer them. And not just new fuels, but also choices for electricity.
The next step is done by us, the consumers. With all that new choice, the people will be able to choose which fuels they want to use. And isn’t that what the conservatives want? A free market system? A democracy of the wallet?
Seems quite simple, doesn’t it? It’s basically the same thing we’re doing now, isn’t it? You’d think so, but it’s my opinion that as long as the oil companies are reaping huge profits on oil, that much serious development on alternative fuels and electricity sources won’t be done.
So, going back to the free market, I think the people need to start demanding it, specifically before gas reaches $6.00 a gallon everywhere. It’s simple supply and demand, but rather than waiting for the supply of oil to dry up enough that it’s scarce for all, lets do something now.
So:
1) Oil companies: Invest for research and development of alternative fuel technologies and infrastructures. It’s good for your future.
2) People: Demand this to happen, before you start paying lot of money for gas.
And, voila. Helping the planet, and keeping capitalism nice and strong.
According to the commenters over at Michelle Malkin’s blog (but not necessarily Michelle herself), you have to be a conservative to appreciate the song played for the arrival of the Pope at the White House, the Civil War-era patriotic song, “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”
The highly religiously themed song seems appropriate to welcome a reigning pontiff, but that’s not why I appreciate the song. Not being very religious, I don’t care much about its lyrics. I care more about the music, and BHotR has some awesome music.
It’s a very powerful piece, and listening to it twice over just now really set up the rest of my day for me. Take that as you will.
Being delayed at an airport seems a perfect time to write a blog entry.
I want to talk briefly about my time at night in Vegas, but first, a follow-up to yesterday’s entry.
I was talking with one of my professors today, and he pretty much seconded the theory I gave yesterday about Avid. When I mentioned the HD-DVD comparison, he said, “There you go.” So, I would not be surprised if they’re bought out or closed within the next couple years.
Nightlife time.
Vegas is the place to go for nightlife, but you already knew that. I’ll talk about the two big things I did in Vegas.
The first was seeing Love, by Cirque du Soleil at the Mirage. Set to Beatles songs, the acrobats fly around the stage, dance, flip, and more. I highly recommend it, but even if you don’t see that, you have to see a show. However, expect to drop at least $100, even for the cheap seats.
The next thing was what I did last night. I went to Tryst at the Wynn hotel. It’s a nightclub, and one of the hoppingest (invented a word there) clubs in Vegas. I don’t necessarily recommend you do what I did and go VIP, but if you do, make sure you have at least $800 to drop on the two bottle minimum.
We were told that the bottles were included in the $80 cover, but that wasn’t the case. Luckily, we got the minimum down to one bottle at $495. Still, if you can do the VIP option at Tryst, do it, because it’s totally worth it.
I also went to the casinos, and and went to a club at the Hard Rock cafe. All in all, the nightlife for me in Vegas was fun, and totally worth the money.
I’m a little disappointed right now. I was hoping to sign up for an Avid training session today, only to come to the convention center and find out that they’re not here.
They also didn’t come to NAB, but neither did Apple; yet, they decided to show up for BEA. I hate conspiracy theories, but when you fail to show up for two conventions in a row, that’s not good.
It’s probably best compared to when the HD-DVD guys didn’t show up for CES. About a month later, HD-DVD was officially discontinued. Now, I’m not saying this is Avid’s fate, but not coming to a convention like BEA is a poor choice, I think, especially when they were already set to come.
That’s how it’s also like the HD-DVD case. They were all set to appear at CES, then canceled at the last minute.
I wanted to learn more about Avid here, but now I guess it won’t happen.
Oh well. There’s still the Apple session in a bit.
I’m beginning to understand how being in Vegas can prevent one from doing blogging.
I never talked about the Lost producers interview. Very quickly, it was pretty cool. Cynthia Littleton from Variety interviewed Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse about producing the show. Basically, it was all about the challenges of producing a show such as Lost, about working on an actual island.
Afterward, I did a lot of walking around the exhibits. They have some awesome stuff here; everything from editing software to storage units and more. I attended a couple sessions that day. The first was about the challenges of working with new media. There were some big names attending that, including Scott Dinsdale, Exec. VP of the digital division of Sony BMG. I also attended a session on making money from services like YouTube. We’re doing a news package on the convention, and so we interviewed one of the presenters at that session. We also interviewed a rep from Google about their radio services. They have a software which automates the operations of a radio station. It can bring up songs, commercials, and more.
Yesterday, I attended the job fair they had. To be honest, it sort of sucked. The reps there either wanted something sent online (which I could of done from my hotel room), or they weren’t even hiring editors. One company was there hiring IT people. I was like, "Come on, at a television convention???" I understand they too need IT people but it seemed out of place.
After the job fair, I attended a session of professors and students talking about student run television stations, and then came back to the hotel.
Got to get back to the convention, but the next entry will be about the nightlife in Vegas.
Well, I’m finally here. After not being able to check in early (which is obvious), we headed to the convention (photos later). I don’t know what I liked more: the massive amount of vendors there, or getting free lunch.
I’ll have to say free lunch, because any free lunch is a good lunch. We had to sit through a discussion on direct-to-person marketing for digital entities, but it was kind of interesting.
Anyway, I’m not going to dwell. The photos I post later and throughout the week will tell all.
Pool time…
Oh, the wonders of wonders. There is a wireless connection emendating somewhere from the cabin. Where, I don’t know, and I’m not trying to connect to it.
Anyway, as sleep is proving kind of unattainable at the moment, I figure, why not blog?
In the latest election flap, Hillary Clinton is calling Barack Obama out on his small town comments. Basically, he says that because the government hasn’t served them well, small town folk are bitter, and when they’re bitter, they turn to their guns and religion. Clinton claims this is a horrible way of describing these people, especially in the state of Pennsylvania.
The response from these comments by the blogosphere and media is typical, and follows just about every other scandal that’s come up in this primary season. Depending on where loyalties lie, this either affects Obama a great deal (some claim yet again his campaign is over), or that these comments will be of little consequence come Pennsylvania’s primary.
While I think that Obama’s statement could have been a little more wisely worded, I’d consider myself part of the camp that thinks these words will have little effect on the upcoming primary. Perhaps if it was about a week closer to the primary would his words have more effects on the decisions of Pennsylvania voters.
But, with a week and a half to go, Obama has time to clarify what he said. He has already made a statement to the effect (more on it later; didn’t have time to read it, what with packing and the early as heck wake up). Obama has learned from old mistakes. Last time, during the Rev. Wright affair, he took a long time to speak up, and for a while it seemed that was to his detriment. But, with both what he said then, and what he’s saying now, voters will have a full week and a half to make up their minds.
So, was it a stupid thing to say? Sure. Will it have as much effect as Clinton is hoping, come primary day? I think it’s unlikely, and to keep bringing it up says a lot about her campaign tactics. Even if Obama’s campaigning is a little naive in nature, I know which strategy I like better.
I’ll post this up once I’m back on solid ground.
As promised, an entry from the airport. This one a sunrise shot from my home airport. The photo doesn’t do it justice. It was more beautiful in person.
Oh early flights…
Back later.
As you can see from above, I am packing for the trip. In a little over 5 hours from now, I will be heading across campus to board the van taking the group of us to the airport.
I must say, though, packing is and always will be a pain. You’re constantly have a list running through your head and are always worried about missing something essential. I think I’m pretty okay at this point, though. I have all the clothes I need, including any dress clothes. In my carry-on is all the essentials, including my meds, the resumes I’ll be handing out to prospective employers, some chargers, and my laptop.
The carry-on is neat enough. It’s one of those bags you can sling around your shoulder and carry fairly easily. It’s pretty comfortable, too, and is a lot better option for my laptop than my old case, which always seemed to get too heavy after a while of carrying it. It’ll work. Though at first I was a little worried I wouldn’t be able to fit everything I wanted in there, it seems to all have worked out in the end.
Alright, can’t stick around too long. Final packing to do, and then a little cleaning around the common areas of my room, since I won’t be here next week for room inspections.
I’ll try and make another entry from the airport, perhaps before if I’m lucky.
