I kinda want facebook to start charging

No, I don't want to pay for facebook. I never will. I have email and my phone if they ever do start charging. I do want them to try though, so they will realize their user base isn't a bunch of cattle that they can just push around and make them do what they want. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe most facebook users will just be lemmings and do what master Zuckerburg says, but I doubt it. The user base will plummet if they incur a fee. I want to see it happen, it'd be kind of funny. I doubt a pay service would last more than a couple of months at most. In any case, I'm not worried about it.

Besides, I doubt they will anyway. FB is rolling in the dough with their current ad-based business model, and I'm sure they very much realize what I just said. But I still think an attempt would be fun to watch.

What you may have missed about the iPad

I'm not going to waste time introducing the iPad. If you're reading this there's a 99% chance you already know all about it. Or do you? I won't lie, I haven't even watched the keynote itself yet. That's on tonight's agenda. But I have already noticed some people running wild with misconceptions. Here are a few things I saw on Apple's website you might not have heard about it.

Keyboard Support

One thing people half-dreaded before the announcement was the fact that the tablet likely wouldn't have a physical keyboard, and it doesn't, but it does have a keyboard dock. Yes, I know that was well-covered in the keynote, but I have heard a lot of people complaining about having to buy it. The big epiphany here is that it also works with the long-running wireless keyboard via bluetooth. Great news for a lot of people that already have one.

Camera Support

Again, maybe I'm late to the party, but I know I missed the fact that there is a camera connectivity kit during the keynote. It makes the photo viewing applications and possibilities much more useful. Imagine being on a photo shoot; you can pop the pictures over and show them around to everyone very easily. Now whether or not you can use cameras live to take pictures directly on the iPad or not I don't know.

It's a big iPod Touch... that's a good thing

Most of the critics of the tablet so far have simply pegged it as a big iPod touch. Yes, that's true, but it's also a good thing. So many more things are possible with the extra screen real-estate that would have been a little tedious on an iPod touch. Same backbone, sure, but a whole different body with plenty of new possibilities.

So just a few things I noticed that were falling under the radar in the media that still seem important to me.

Can the media not cover an election?

So I'll just start out by saying that I am quite happy about the election of Scott Brown in Massachusetts a few days ago. Not only will it help deter some of the nasty stuff going through congress right now, but it also proves that when the people want to say something, they can. They aren't locked in to a certain procedure. They will vote for what they really want. And that's a staple of American government.

I am however, saddened by the media coverage of the whole thing. I feel like the only thing I see from just about any news source is that Coakley lost because she ran a poorly funded, under-advertised campaign. Ummm... Did anyone consider the idea that MAYBE Mr. Brown stood for what the people wanted and Coakley didn't; MAYBE the people didn't feel like she would be a good representative of their ideals in the capital.

I kind of feel like I'm stating the obvious, that the people of Massachusetts picked Scott Brown for senate because he would properly represent them in the senate, but nobody seems to be saying that, so maybe I'm not. This shouldn't be a revolutionary idea, but if someone has only been paying attention to the mainstream media, it might be.

Not that money running the government is anything new, but it's still disheartening to see such poor coverage. Just my two cents.

Pants on the Ground

Everybody loves this guy now. Makin fun of people with their pants on the ground. The sad thing is how true it is. Seriously, get yo' pants off the ground!

'Church' isn't just a building

As I was leaving school today a middle school PE class that had been using the high school's field was walking back to their domain. Right as I was getting into my car one of them yelled, "Hey, I know you! You go to 12Stone; you play guitar!" I must say, I was pretty excited, but not because it made me feel famous or cool or anything like that. I was excited because it was such a reminder that my church isn't that building on Buford Drive. It's a community of people that stretch all over the state, really (hey Jackson county friends!).

It's one of those things we seem to forget so easily yet it's so important. I seem to remember Carlos Whittaker once saying on twitter something along the lines of, "I don't get people saying 'going to church today.' It's like saying 'going to family today.'" It's a good point really. Your family is a group of people that you are close to and that you spend time with, etc. Your church community should be the same way, just bigger.

Thankfully, pretty much all of my best friends are also part of my church family, so it's not that much of a challenge for me, even though I don't think about it in context that much. I'm sure it is more difficult or others that might not be as close to people at church on a personal level. I'm not saying it's a sin to not hang out with people from church, like you have to plan it out or anything, but it is a wonderful thing to do, and I know time spent with church people during the week has been very helpful to my relationship with Christ in many cases.

Above all, just remember that the word 'Church' doesn't just apply to a building.

Yes... Again... Sorry

Yeah... I've moved my blog again... sorry if you were somehow really attached to my old URL or something, but I doubt it. I'll admit I'm not as big of a fan of blogspot's templates but I'll be honest, the main deciding factor in moving back was the fact that blogger supports Adsense. Y'know, why not make a couple bucks? Heck, maybe I can start making enough money off of it and just set up my own website! I can dream...

Anyway, I've decided to change my angle again as well. Yeah yeah, I know. I've just realized that I keep trying to brand my blogs into something like "oh this is going to be focused on one thing." I'm just not focused on any one thing. At all. I'm exploring too many things right now to do that. Thus, the_explorer. Hope you enjoy it. I'll do my best to write thoughtful and enjoyable things.