Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
The New Digital World
This presidential election is one for the history books. I turned 40 this past April and haven't really cared or paid to much attention to Politics until I was 30 yars old. How much can a President really impact my day to day life anyway? Well while Bush has been in office I have received several checks from the stimulus package that directly impacted my check book in the form of cold hard cash. Which I always like. This was basically my money anyway Congress just decided to give the money back to me. As a get older I find myself getting more interested in what is happening in both local and national politics.
In a very short period of time access to information has gone from 4 TV channels and handful of radio stations to hundreds of cable TV shows, 1000's of satellite radio stations on top of the local radio stations, and do not forget the Internet. This new Digital World has created to much information for the average pin head to digest. Recently I read an article from Harry Lewis, who is a computer science professor at Harvard. (Click here for the story)
In this article written for the Boston Herald Harry mentions that the interactivity of the media, the atomization of knowledge and the premium on rapid response result in a collective loss of wisdom, judgment and perspective? It is amzing how incorrect information can be posted with little if any consequence.
For instance, recent blogs and other web media site reported that if Obama wins, he is going to be sworn in on a Koran instead of the Bible. Or that Trig isn't SarahPalin's baby, it's her daughter Bristol's. Or, Obama refuses to say the Pledge of Allegiance. Here's the list of books Palin wanted to ban from the library ...
All these claims, none of them true, turned up in the e-mail inboxes of millions of Americans this summer. In spite of both campaigns' efforts to correct the record about their candidates, the rumors linger on and spread. Amazing how the national media used to be objective. Or at least that is what we are told. Growing up in the 70's and graduated from High School in '86 I never really paid attention, but now it is so obvious that Keith Oberman is a very Liberal supporter of the Democrats. NBC and CBS are so one sided in their reporting it is hard to take anything they report seriously. The good thing about all of this new technologies we have at our finger tips is that the average person can Google just about anything and verify information as a way to Fact Check what a particular candidate says or news report. Using site like factcheck.org or snopes.com can debunk most inaccurate reports.
So eventually these stories get sorted out and corrected right? Not really. The impact can be huge and sometime irreversible. Harry Lewis point out in his article the destructive nature of what can happen. On Sept. 7, a Bloomberg News online site posted a headline about the bankruptcy of United Airlines. Within minutes, the company's stock dropped from US$11 to $3, wiping out a billion dollars in networth. The headline was erroneous. A news story from 2002, when United actually had declared bankruptcy, inexplicably crawled out of its digital cave on Sept. 6 and turned up as a Google search result. Human negligence (anyone reading the story itself would have realized that it was not current) and urgency to spread the word (anyone delaying a response for a few seconds might lose millions of dollars) combined to produce the implosion.
So are we as a nation getting dumber becasue we have access to much information?
Titans roll by Colts to remain unbeate
The Titans won big last night. I have had season tickets flast year and dicided not to puchase them again this year. Man was that a mistake. Who knew the Titans would have such a great start this season.
Monday, October 27, 2008
MC Palin 08
It appears that Obama may win the Presidential Election according to the polls. I have a hard time understanding how the inexperienced Senator from Illinois with very questionable relationships and back ground can be on the verge of becoming the President of the Unite States. Only in America. I am a supporting McCain only because I feel he is the better of the two bad choices. I posted comments a few days ago about how the media bias for Obama has help him tremendously. However once Obama is elected I bet the love fest for Obama will quickly fade as more detailed information emerges about his past will make it very difficult for the national media to ignore. The press will turn on Obama and he will find himself getting attacked by the same Media that has assisted him during his campaign. He will find himself under constant pressure to answer questions he has refused to answer during his campaign because it will be a very news worthy. Only a few reports have truly explored Obama's true past and I believe there is still some questions regarding his Birth Certificate.
Is Barack Obama a Natural-Born Citizen?
I voted Thursday and I am so glad I got that out of the way. Early voting is a great thing but does it create a way or increase the chances for voter fraud? With all of the news of ACORN and the reports of voter fraud in Ohio and other states, I wonder how much voter fraud has occurred in the past that the average American doesn't know about. Probably more than we think. Wonder how he beat the Clinton machine? Obama knows first hand how the voting process works down to the street level and this is how he won the Democratic Primaries.
How did the national media get so Liberal? http://www.cato.org/pubs/journal/cj20n3/cj20n3-7.pdf. Interesting how any Presidential candidate, either Democratic, Republican, or Independent can be at a disadvantage when he doesn't have the support of the national Media. The sheer volume of stories and reports that are favorable to their position gets aired or reported.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Bellevue Steelers finish 7-1
Maddux played a lot this last regular season game against Grassland. We started off slow but ended up wining pretty easily. Maddux has gotten better each week and continues to improve and I think yu now understand what is actully happening on the field. I have to remember this is his first year to play and he is then youngest on the team at only 7 years old. He still needs to be much more aggresive but I am so proud of him for playing this year. Playing with older kids has helped this year.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Is the Economy Really that bad
Listening to the major news programs like CNN, NBC, CBS, and other major network media one would think that the US Economy was going to crash and create a major global depression sending the entire world into a downward spiral. While in school at UT, I major in Economics and it has always been a interesting how capitalistic markets respond to major shifts in the equities markets. Last week while sitting in the parking lot of Walmart I noticed a lot of people coming and going in and out of the store and did not appear from what I saw that day that people were worried about spending money.
The cover on the TIME magazine last month showed a soup line from 1920's during the great depression which sometime pictures can create a perception of things that are not really true. I wished they had instead used a picture of people standing in line at an Apple Store for the new 3G iPhone. I witnessed this myself at the green Hills Mall in Nashville Tennessee last month. This was 3 weeks after the new iPhone was launched and their was still a line of people wanting to purchase this new phone. Now if the economy was so bad would you see people standing in line for a cell phone?
Unfortunately the national media has made this slow economic time seem even worse with the constant news of how bad things are. Yes it is bad for many people who have lost their jobs and others who are having trouble making mortgage payments on their ARM's. I wish the major news media would be more positive in their reporting.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Stock market panic
Sitting here at they Y watching Alli finish practice. Reading on my Blackberry how the stock market tanked again today. Loosing over 700 points. This is crazy and the economy is in for a wild ride and it may take 3 years for this to stabilize. One hand it is bad but on the other hand it appears to be a good time to buy. As long as you have a 10 year investment window you should be ok.
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NCS Volleyball Over - Basketball Time
Ashton and Addison had their last Volleyball game last night at CPA. They played FRA, who they could have beat but again their coach doesn't know what she is doing and really limited our chances to win. Coach Saunders looks like she wants to loose. Over the last year or so watching the twins play club volleyball at Impact I have learned a few things and still have a lot to learn about Volleyball. NCS did not have a consistent rotation and when coach Saunders did sub she would take out the wrong plaer at the time. But here are agian like after Middle School Basketball saying it will better next year. I really hope we do not have the same caoch becasue Ashton and Addison will not play for the school if we do not have a better Volleyball.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Friday Afternoon Confernce calls
Every Friday I have several conference calls through out the day that are always long and boring. Right now am listeing to a Technology Road Map call for upcoming AT&T Wireless Data devices. At least I get to work from home!
NCS plays the undefeated Jo Byrns fottball team tonight at home. They are really good and NCS has their starting QB and RB out for the season now. It's funny how I played footbal with Michael Grey's dad at Hillwood many moons ago. Michael Grey senior was alos are kicker and I held for extra points.
Monday, October 06, 2008
"Time sure is fun when you having Flies!"
Like kermit the frog says "Time sure is fun when you having Flies!". I love that saying. I know it is silly but it funny. Alli and Maddux are growing up so fast and we are so busy every week that Jennifer and I have to miss some of the kids events as we can't be in two places at a time.
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
AlliGator
Sitting here at AlliGrace's swim practice. The Bellevue Hurricanes came in 2nd place last Saturday at the Robertson County Y. She has improved a lot since last year and really enjoys swimming. Maddux is up here to playing he should be on the team as well.
We are already up here why not.
The Presidential race is very interesting with what is happening with the economy. Congress is voting to use 700 Billion dollars to bail out some of the investment banks who purchase equity in sub prime mortgage markets. Not sure this is the right thing to do or not. Letting the market correct it's self over time may be good for the overall health of the American economy. It would be brutal for a few years as we slowing worked out of the consumer and credit debt the is pulling down the country. Dave Ramsey is going crazy during this time. I would vote for Dave if he ran!
The Nashville Christian Booster Club picture web site is starting to take off. Since setting it up last month I have received 7 pix orders.
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Wednesday, September 17, 2008
AlliGator Swim Practice
Sitting @ the Y watching Allie do the back stroke. She has improved a lot.
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Monday, August 18, 2008
Another day in Paradise
Wow how times have flown by. The twins had their boys friends over last night. They had gone to the movies with Garret and Hunter. Garret drives and it just seems weird that the twins who are 14 years old are now going on dates with boys friends to the movies. I guess it is time for this type of stuff they will be 15 next month. ARRGGHHH!!!
Maddux got to play a little more Saturday in the his Football game with the Bellevue Steelers. He is getting much better I am trying not to be so hard on him as he is just learning how play.
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