ShowMeBlog

Let the Right One In

  Last night I watched a Swedish movie called “Let the Right One In.” 

“Let the Right One In (Swedish: Låt den rätte komma in) is a 2008 Swedish romantic horror film directed by Tomas Alfredson. It is based on the novel of the same name by John Ajvide Lindqvist, who also wrote the screenplay for the film. It tells the story of a bullied 12-year-old boy who develops a friendship with a vampire child in Blackeberg, a suburb of Stockholm, in the early 1980s. Alfredson, unfamiliar with the horror and vampire genres, decided to tone down many elements of the novel and focus primarily on the love-story between the two main characters. The lead actors were selected through a one-year-long process that involved open castings being held all over Sweden. In the end, then 11-year-old Kåre Hedebrant and Lina Leandersson were chosen for the leading roles. They were subsequently commended by both Alfredson and film reviewers for their performances…”  Wikipedia

  WARNING if you read the Wikipedia link it is going to tell you every detail of the movie.  
   Vampire movies are not my sort of movie but I did enjoy this movie.  Swedish films are interesting.

  There is going to be an English-language remake of the film in 2010 and I may check it out when it is out on video. 
  The book of the same name sounds interesting.  I may put it on my Amazon Wish List. 

Knol

  I reported here about Knol when it started up but I forgot all about  it.  I use Wikipedia here all the time.  I never even think of checking Knol. 
 

“Knol is a Google project that aims to include user-written articles on a range of topics. The project was led by Udi Manber of Google, it was announced on December 13, 2007 and was opened in beta to the public on July 23, 2008 with a few hundred articles mostly in the health and medical field. On January 16, 2009, Google announced that Knol had grown to 100,000 articles, and users from 197 countries and territories visit Knol on an average day.

Knol pages are "meant to be the first thing someone who searches for this topic for the first time will want to read", according to Manber. The term knol, which Google defines as a "unit of knowledge", refers to both the project and an article in the project. Several experts see Knol as Google's attempt to compete with Wikipedia, while others point out the differences between the projects…^{”   Wikipedia}

  I looked around today and there is a lot of great content on Knol.  Just one “unit of knowledge” that I found was “Bikinis – the rundown on skimpy swimwear.”  An interesting thing is that the content you can read it or listen to it.  I will still be using Wikipedia and I do not think they are the same.  But if I can remember I may be using links to Knol more.

Death Book for Veterans

http://mediamatters.org/research/2009...
Following false accusations that Democrats' health care reform legislation would institute "death panels" for the elderly, H. James Towey claimed in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that the Obama administration revived a Veterans Health Administration (VHA) booklet on advanced planning directives that would "steer vulnerable individuals to conclude for themselves that life is not worth living," calling the booklet a "death book." As with the death panel smear, conservative media -- particularly Fox News -- have promoted Towey's false "death book" claim, ignoring facts that undermine Towey's rhetoric.

Glenn Beck is a Mental Subject!

  The audio above is from the July 15th (2009) edition of Premiere Radio Networks’s Glenn Beck Program.  Over the years I have had to deal with a lot of mental subjects and he sure sounds like he has major mental problems.
  I have for years been saying we need better help for people with mental problems.  I do not like the way the legal system deals with people with mental problems.
  But Glenn Beck needs help.  The people that work with him and the people that he works for should see that he gets help before it is to late.  I am not sure if he is going to hurt himself or if he is going to hurt someone else but the guy needs help.  The woman was lucky she was not there with him but on the telephone with him. 

Bush to write a book

 The president that did not read books and could not speak and was the worst president of all time is going to write a book.  I hope Americans do not buy the book.

  (CNN) -- Former President George W. Bush is writing a book focusing on defining decisions he's made in his personal and political life, a publishing house announced Thursday. 

  The book, tentatively titled "Decision Points," is to be published in fall 2010, according to the Crown Publishing Group. Financial terms weren't disclosed…”

  The book is going to be on his 12 most important decisions.  The late night TV shows are going to have fun with this information.  The SNL show and “The Daily Show” are going to have some funny shows because of the Bush book.
  President Bush does not need the money I think he should give it all to Hurricane Katrina victims. 

Note from Frank Schaeffer – former Republican

“Open Letter to the Republican Traitors (From a Former Republican)
Dear Republican Leaders: The Republican Party has become the party dedicated to sabotaging the American future. Check out the sermon I just delivered about the Republican Party on CNN when being interviewed by D.L. Hughley -- and/or read on.
You Republicans are the arsonists who burned down our national home. You combined the failed ideologies of the Religious Right, so-called free market deregulation and the Neoconservative love of war to light a fire that has consumed America. Now you have the nerve to criticize the "architect" America just hired -- President Obama -- to rebuild from the ashes. You do nothing constructive, just try to hinder the one person willing and able to fix the mess you created.
I used to be one of you. As recently as 2000 I worked to get Senator McCain elected in that year's primary. (McCain and Gen. Tommy Franks wrote glowing endorsements regarding my book about military service, AWOL.). I have a file of handwritten thank you notes from Presidents Ford, Reagan, Bush I and II. In the 1970s and early 80s I hung out with Jack Kemp and bought into his "supply side" myth and even wrote a book he endorsed pushing his ideas.) There's more, but take it from me; my parents (evangelical leaders Francis and Edith Schaeffer) and I were about as tight with -- and useful to -- the Republican Party as anyone. We played a big part creating the Religious Right.
In the mid 1980s I left the Religious Right, after I realized just how very anti-American they are, (the theme I explore in my book Crazy For God). They wanted America to fail in order to prove they were right about America's "moral decline." Soon after McCain lost in 2000 I re-registered as an independent in disgust with W. Bush. But I still respected many Republicans. Not today.
How can anyone who loves our country support the Republicans now? Barry Goldwater, William F. Buckley and Ronald Reagan defined the modern conservatism that used to be what the Republican Party I belonged to was about. Today no actual conservative can be a Republican. Reagan would despise today's wholly negative Republican Party. And can you picture the gentlemanly and always polite Ronald Reagan, endorsing a radio hate-jock slob who crudely mocked a man with Parkinson's and who now says he wants an American president to fail?!”

Kindle 2 : Amazon’s New Wireless Reading Device

  On February 24th (2009) Amazon will start selling their new Kindle 2.  The price will be $359.00 with free shipping.

 

Slim: Just over 1/3 of an inch, as thin as most magazines
Lightweight: At 10.2 ounces, lighter than a typical paperback
Wireless: 3G wireless lets you download books right from your Kindle, anytime, anywhere; no monthly fees, service plans, or hunting for Wi-Fi hotspots
Books in Under 60 Seconds: Get books delivered in less than 60 seconds; no PC required
Improved Display: Reads like real paper; now boasts 16 shades of gray for clear text and even crisper images
Longer Battery Life: 25% longer battery life; read for days without recharging
More Storage: Take your library with you; holds over 1,500 books
Faster Page Turns: 20% faster page turns
Read-to-Me: With the new Text-to-Speech feature, Kindle can read every book, blog, magazine, and newspaper out loud to you
Large Selection: Over 230,000 books plus U.S. and international newspapers, magazines, and blogs available
Low Book Prices: New York Times Best Sellers and New Releases $9.99, unless marked otherwise

Ziff Davis abandons print

  I was reading the Social Media blog and I found the following: 

“It's worth noting this passing of an era, given that we'll see many more headlines like this in the years ahead. From Harry McCracken at Technologizer last week: Ziff-Davis: The Legendary Magazine Publisher Publishes Magazines No More. Excerpt:

This news has more to do with dead trees than electrons, but I can’t resist: Ziff Davis has announced that it’s selling its 1Up network of gaming sites to Hearst and shutting down Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine. Coming around six weeks after the company discontinued the print version of PC Magazine, the news leaves ZD with no paper-based publications at all.

Which is a big deal, since the 82-year-old publisher had as long, influential, and impressive a history of consumer publishing as any company on the planet. Among its titles over the years, other than EGM and PC Mag: Amazing Stories, Car and Driver, Computer Shopper, Creative Computing, MacUser, MacWeek, PC/Computing, PC Week, Popular Electronics, Popular Photography, Stereo Review, Yahoo Internet Life., and many others I’m not thinking of right now. Nobody published more successful mags read by more enthusiasts with a wider range of passions, or made more money doing so.”
Social Media story

  That makes me feel sad and old.  I was a big time reader of “Computer Shopper”, “Popular Electronics” and “Popular Photography” and I am sure many of their other publications. 
 
  I became a shortwave listener because of PE magazine back in 1955.  Later I became a ham radio operator (NØUWY) and it was because of my shortwave listening.  My name appears in PE magazine a few times.
  I got interested in computers and decided I had to have a computer because of PE magazine and the January 1975 issue of PE magazine above.  I read  Carl and Jerry in PE each month.   I build projects from PE.  I remember having and holding in my hand a Raytheon CK722 transistor and hooking it up and seeing what I could do with it.  I had to get a new one when I plugged the old one direct into the 110v socket.  Smile
  Those were the good old days. 

Something wrong with me?

  I wonder if my mind is starting to melt as I get old.  I got a long list of TV shows and people that I do not like.  One of them is Oprah Winfrey.  I do not know why I do not like her.  She does a lot of good work.  She just gave $365.000.00 to The Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta.
  I think part of it is that she makes public when she gives money and I sort of feel that is ego or self PR.  On the other hand I am sure when she gives money to some person or organization and her fans find out they will do the same.
  I also do not like many of the people that she has promoted on her show.  (Yes, I know Barack Obama is one of them.)  Many if not all of the people she has promoted seem to me to be royal ass-holes like Dr. Phil. 
  I do not know why I am not a fan of Oprah.  
  My feelings about her do not matter to her.  Her web site gets six million visitors a month.  I get 30 to 60K visitors a month to my blog.

  It may just be my old age and my brain cells dying. 
  Or it could be she has a dark side.

Overkill

  I been yelling for years about paramilitary police raids.  It is not just the drug raids it is the look and feel of the police.  Around here you see them all the time.  In military type uniforms.  It they want to be in the military that is great.  They could help out our nation. 
  Police work and military should not be the same.
  I have commented on some of the accidental shootings that have taken place.  I been talking about that for years. 

  There is a 110 page book out on the subject called “Overkill.” You can read it for free:  Overkill (pdf file). 

  The above map is interactive. 

Randy Pausch dead at age 47

“PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania (AP) -- Randy Pausch, a Carnegie Mellon University computer scientist whose "last lecture" about facing terminal cancer became an Internet sensation and a best-selling book, died Friday. He was 47. 

Pausch died at his home in Virginia, university spokeswoman Anne Watzman said. Pausch and his family moved there last fall to be closer to his wife's relatives.

Pausch was diagnosed with incurable pancreatic cancer in September 2006. His popular last lecture at Carnegie Mellon in September 2007 garnered international attention and was viewed by millions on the Internet.

In it, Pausch celebrated living the life he had always dreamed of instead of concentrating on impending death.

"The lecture was for my kids, but if others are finding value in it, that is wonderful," Pausch wrote on his Web site. "But rest assured; I'm hardly unique."

The book "The Last Lecture," written with Jeffrey Zaslow, leaped to the top of the nonfiction best-seller lists after its publication in April and remains there this week. Pausch said he dictated the book to Zaslow, a Wall Street Journal writer, by cell phone. The book deal was reported to be worth more than $6 million…”

The above is a short video (4 minutes) if you want to see the entire video of the Randy Pausch Last Lecture here is the Video. 

Karl Rove says McClellan sounds like a Left Wing Blogger

Remember Scott McClellan when he was the White House press secretary? He was the voice of the White House and of the President of the United States. He has a book out now and his former White House colleagues are attacking him on Fox "news" and other places.
Karl Rove says now that Scott McClellan, remember he was White House press secretary, was not in the loop and never knew what was going on at the White House. Then Karl Rove said that Scott McClellan sounds like a "Left Wing Blogger."

Hulu TV - Free movies

  I told you about hulu TV.  You can watch some movies and a lot of TV shows and it is all free.  I, as you all know, am a big movie fan. 
  This weekend after you check Howard's Notebook and read the blog and make a donation (smile) jump over to hulu TV.  I recommend the following movies;  "The Big Lebowski", "Bulworth", "K-Pax" and "The Slums of Beverly Hills".  

  If your not a movie fan then this weekend you could read Howard's Notebook and then go to ViewMy.TV and click on the C-SPAN 2 link.  You can watch all weekend BookTV.
  If you click on C-SPAN 3 you will get the C-SPAN History channel. 
 
  Want to play some games on your computer? 
  Check out IWON.  It is free.  They have many fun games.  You can also win some money.
  I like the Diamond Slots game the most.  I been playing each day for about 15 to 30 minutes.  I have never won any real money.

  Now you do understand that you should read all of Howard's Notebook first before you do any of these other activities?  Smile

Michael Devlin in Solitary Confinement for Life

  I read, on line, that Michael Devlin has now been moved to the prison and will begin to start serving his 74 life sentences in solitary confinement.  He will spend the rest of his life in a small cell alone.  He will never mix with anyone else.
  He kidnapped two boys and I bet he did other things in the past that we do not know about so he is getting what he has earned.  He will be in a maximum-security prison in Cameron (MO) and be housed in "administrative segregation" which is confined to his cell all of the time.

  This is what I found interesting...He can have one magazine and one newspaper and some sacred readings but no hardback books.  He will have no TV, no radio and no computer.