MySpace vs. Facebook

I never got very into MySpace. You go to someone's page, hear a song, see their wallpaper and pictures, maybe read a blog post. But most people have their pages so tweaked out its hard to find or read anything. And there's just nothing to do there. People just leave dumb comments, etc.

But I just got on Facebook. SOOOOO much cooler. Very clean, easy to find stuff. Little notifications of what your friends are doing, with lots of hyperlinks.

And the BEST is the applications. There's this great music one called iLike. Has a cool music game. AND gives you updates if bands you like are coming in concert. That's a major killer app to me.

Not sure if you need an invitation to get in, but let me know if you want one.

SoCal on Fire

The fires that have engulfed all 7 counties in Southern California has taken a toll on my psyche. Has the fires affected me? Not personally. My home is nowhere near any of the fires. None of my family or friends have lost their homes in the fire. The worse thing has been breathing ashes for the last several days.

What the fire has done to me is smack me back to reality that we, as human beings, are at the mercy of Mother Nature. No matter how much we push, pull, twist, and bend her, she always snaps back and we always get our "world" rocked. So many lives have been turned upside down by these fires. Homes lost. Lives lost. Businesses lost. It's terrible to think about, but what happens when all the proof that you existed and did something in your time on Earth gets burnt to a crisp?

Check out this picture, which hit me the most. An amazing example of the fury and beauty of Mother Nature and the visual reality, at least for me, that we're just a small drop in the bucket that's called Earth.

Congressional Gold Medal

I thought this was an event worth noting. Next Wednesday the 17th the Dalai Lama will be in Washington D.C. to receive the Congressional Gold Medal. I don't know if the ceremony will be on TV (CSPAN maybe?) or if it will get any press at all, but the "after party" will be on a Web cast starting at 11:00 am Eastern time. For some reason, you have to register for the Webcast, but you can register for the Webcast here

Dave Zirin = genius

Dave Zirin is a sports columnist and the author of several books. But he's not a normal sports columnist. He writes about the intersections of sports and politics. As he points out, some people think that sports stars should just keep their mouths shut about politics. But it is impossible to separate sports from politics. Politics affects every part of our lives, whether people know it or not. And sports is also a big part of American culture, so its inevitable that sports and politics are constantly influencing each other.

His books talk about many classic political sports stories:
-- Jackie Robinson (and Roberto Clemente) fighting for integration in baseball, and the country as a whole
-- Muhammad Ali being banned from boxing in the U.S. for refusing to fight in Vietnam
-- the Black Panthers on the podium at the Olympics (and all the athletes who supported them that didn't get as much press)
-- the many swindles where rich team owners convince taxpayers to pay for stadiums at which they can't afford to attend the events
-- Barry Bonds and the steroids debate

These are just a few examples. If you're into sports or politics, and especially if you're interested in both, then definitely read his books "What's my name fool" and "Welcome to the Terrordome", available on his site at http://www.edgeofsports.com/

KANYE WEST SKIT ON SNL

Funny clip from SNL.

Public Service Announcement

If you're like me, you hate telemarketing calls. I especially hate when I get those calls on my cellphone. With an industry so hated, wouldn't you think that telemarketing companies would've figured something else out by now? Thank God for the Fed's "Do Not Call Registry". If you don't want to be called, go to the link (donotcall.gov) and sign up your phone numbers.