One People, Small Planet.

One of the things I still love about computers and the internet, is the connections you can foster and maintain which transcend time, proximity, and all that stuff. I'll deal with a few errant pop-up ads, a crappy system, the maintenance, the waiting... wow, I could go on, and on about the negative aspects of these at once burdensome yet amazing tools. But I'll choose instead to focus on the "creamy goodness" (had to use that one JS).

I've been looking-up a bunch of jams lately, and tonight I meandered back to 1991. I had somethin' in my head that set me back to Pop's Cool Love in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Spent the evening with my "brother from another mother" Jason, the band, and Pop. He's a cool dude for sure. He's bridged more gaps than the Army Core of Engineers. They got that "James Brown kinda soul". Deep, heartfelt, and human.

I'm hoping I still have the Pop's Cool Love, A Man cassette tape in the center console of my ride, and crossin' my fingers that it still plays. I'll check tomorrow morning.

UPDATE 03/27/07: The cassette did not play, or the Bose tape deck is no longer working. Looking into the problem...

I actually realized the other day that the only time I remember to turn on the CD player is when Yo-Yo and I drive to Hockey or need to get somewhere. Scary. On Friday, she reminded me that the easiest way to "fix the muffler problem, is to play a little 'JB'." It didn't take me long to pick-up on what she was puttin' down. :-)

Anyway, I stumbled across some of Dimitri Ehrlich's writing -- he's an old friend from back in the day, in the neighborhood. He's a really talented guy whose written piles of words for rags like Rolling Stone, Interview Magazine, Spin Magazine (and lot's more, the list goes on), songs, books, and done a bunch of other stuff. He's rubbed elbows with all the biggity bigs for years. It was Dimitri's interview with James Brown in Pulse Magazine that prompted me to call Mr. Brown at the Correctional Facility in Aiken, South Carolina. It turned out to be the day he had been released on early parole, and I missed him by just a few minutes. I did speak to Mr. George A. Anderson, one of Mr. Brown's Attorneys for a good ten minutes. That was pretty cool...

Like the energy that crosses a synapse, I'm finding all sorts of little nuggets like these. Slices of my life. A life entwined with many others. One people, small planet. We are all infinitely interconnected.

Peace.

Your Future is Just Behind You

Okay, things have been... well, tougher than usual as of late. But only the good stuff is worth the work. I've been reaching deeper than the regular stretch to grasp that goodness these last few days. No. Maybe it's actually been these last few months. No bother either way, and that's not the point.

Getting hit by a punch you see comin' is tough enough. But when you can't get outta the way from that one, and it's followed by several more you didn't see -- that's when you reach deeper.

Breathe deep. Try to catch your breath while you get up from the mat. Five... six... seven... You're standing upright, but you're not all there. Now it's a test of will-power, cunning, and heart.

These are troubled times. Not unlike the times that came before today. Such is the nature of the human condition. It's the manner in which you press-on, if you can -- that is what seeds the future.

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."

- Martin Luther King Jr., Strength to Love, 1963

Apollo has landed, again...

Apollo - From Adobe Labs

"Apollo is a cross-OS runtime that allows developers to leverage their existing web development skills (Flash, Flex, HTML, Ajax) to build and deploy desktop RIA’s."

Apollo is the code name for a cross-operating system runtime being developed by Adobe that allows developers to leverage their existing web development skills (Flash, Flex, HTML, JavaScript, Ajax) to build and deploy rich Internet applications (RIAs) to the desktop.

Apollo enables developers to create applications that combine the benefits of web applications – network and user connectivity, rich media content, ease of development, and broad reach – with the strengths of desktop applications – application interactions, local resource access, personal settings, powerful functionality, and rich interactive experiences.

Apollo enables familiar application interaction models, including drag-and-drop support, rich clipboard access, and desktop and system shortcuts. Furthermore, Apollo applications run as regular applications, and do not have to run within another application or shell (as web applications do by running within the browser).

>> labs.adobe.com/technologies/apollo

>> labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/Apollo