Divah World

Doing the DivahPod shuffle

As I sit to do some office work, answer emails, etc. I decided to plug in my iPod to my computer, put it on shuffle and see what that was like.

I've made my own mix tapes before, but then, of course, I had control of what music was and in which order it played. That can still be done easily with an iPod, but I wanted to experience this random shuffle of my music. With a lot of different genres input, would it work for me?

The answer is......emphatically, yes.

Once again, I have to say....pretty cool.......

Divah Pod

I am now the proud owner of an iPod, and I have to say, I can see what all the fuss is about. I remember when Sony first came out with the Walkman--somewhere, I even have a somewhat early version. To be able to take music with you as you traveled was great. You could buy tapes, or make compilations of your own. Last year when I went with the Beth Sholom 7th graders to LA, all the kids had a small CD player--their Walkman. Same concept, for sure, with more music available because CDs are more compact that tapes.

The iPod is similar to those technologies, definately the next step. But the difference about the iPod is that it changes how you can listen and what you listen to. To quote Kenny Altman,  "this might sound corny and cliched, but this has completely revolutionized the way I listen to music." He's so right. It's not just that you travel with your music, but you have access to so much of it in any order at any time. (Okay, now I'm beginning to sound like that Qwest commercial--and aren't they one of the companies that was all smoke and mirrors??)

I've been transferring music. I have almost 1,000 songs input, over 50 hours of music, less than a third of this iPod's capacity. It's somewhat mind boggling to me. In years past, if you were going to take music along in your travels, you had to decide before hand what you would want to listen to. Now you can just figure it out as you go along.

I know at some point this will all be old hat to me, but for now, I'm still in awe........

The Cell Phone Appendage

I remember an anti-smoking movie they showed us in high school that portrayed a world where everyone had these "breathing sticks." (It was very 50's science fiction--in black & white, few if any non-white faces, the men in suits, the women in skirts.) I don't remember what the dire consequences of these sticks were, but I can conjure up the image of all the people on the streets with their cigarettes in their hands, held up to their mouths. This image comes to mind when I see so many people clutching their cell phones in their hands as they go about their business.

It is not my intention to bash cell phone use. Although far from a power user, I am glad to have a cell phone--especially when my car has broken down, or I'm stuck in traffic, late for an appointment. But do we really need to have it in our hands, at the ready at any moment when someone calls? Do you really want to be that accessible to the everyone?

And then there are scenes like the one I witnessed Friday on the 49 Van Ness bus. A man and woman in  their 20's got on the bus, obviously a couple of some sort--just dating or cohabitating, who knows. She boarded first and walked to the middle of the bus. He got on next, cell phone to his ear, and followed her. They stood together--she staring into space, he continuing with his conversation. As we traveled down Mission Street, they were able to procure seats across from us. She continued to stare; he continued with his call. He was doing more listening than talking--there was a lot of "uh-huh" and nodding. I had to think---how necessary was this conversation right now? There's a beautiful women sitting next to you--TALK TO HER!! At one point, he placed his hand over hers in a "yes I'm with you" kind of way, but still, the cell phone stayed at his ear. She was unimpressed. When they left the bus, he was still on the phone.

When I have visitors at my house, I don't stay on the phone talking to someone else. Why should cell phone etiquette be any different???

Music for the Ages..er...Aged????

In today's SF Chronicle, there was an article on the Supreme Court's decision regarding music downloads. ". . . the high court ruled unanimously that developers of file- sharing software could be held liable if consumers used the program to download copyrighted movies and music from the Internet."

A 22-year-old senior at San Francisco State was quoted, giving his opinion that music downloads do not hurt CD music sales - ""I'm not going to buy a CD for $16, $17 or $18 just to hear one or two good songs," he said Monday while his 40 GB iPod played music through external speakers on his desk at San Francisco State's student association office."

In his music-buying lifetime, he's always been able to choose not to buy the CD.

The consumer recording industry has definately gone around in circles with the changes in technology. From 78's, both one and two sided, where Broadway musicals came in a 3 or more record set to LP's, 33 1/3 'long playing" records with the material on one disc that you just flipped over. About the same time we get 45's, kind of equivilant to downloading, since you only had to buy the one song, getting a bonus track on the flip side. Then tape, the short-lived 8-track to cassettes--now the consumers can make their own compilations from existing albums. CD's are next--you can't record, but you can access any track in any order. But now, you can make your own CD's from either your prerecorded selection or individual tracts you download.

Back and forth, back and forth--the technology goes round and round.

With my birthday approaching, I am forced to realize that I am middle-aged..........

Not such a bad thing, but something to get used to..............

Community--physical & virtual

If you asked me, when I was in my 20's, what was my philosophy of life, I would have talked to you about friendship. Life went on, it seemed to me, with the support of friends, and the giving of that same support. I was lucky then, and I'm lucky now, to be encircled with a wonderful group of friends.

My philosophy hasn't changed that much as I journey into my 50's, I simply have a different way of expressing it. It's not that friendship isn't important, but it's having community that greatly impacts ones quality of life. The people in your community don't have to be your friends, although often they are, but as a group they are there to support you, and you support them.

There are those that think that the technology of the 21st Century that makes our world smaller and longer distances more accessible also makes it more impersonal and fragmented. I disagree. I think we can use the technology to make our local communities easier to maintain as well as create global communities we can all share.

I am lucky to be a part of both types of communities. My Beth Sholom community is an incredibly rich source for me--source of friendship, of spirit, of all kinds of support. I saw that support manifested in a wedding this weekend--one of the most joyous events I have attended. And the community is there as well when the shit hits the fan--something I certainly experienced when going through cancer treatment 3 years ago.

I also belong to a professional editing internet user group with members from around the world. I have witnessed an editor in Belgium having problems, sending out a call for help, and getting aid from both north and south hemispheres.

How does one find community? Actually, it's pretty easy. Look around for groups, virtual and physical, that share your interests and then---just show up.

Discovered in Cyberspace

In writing this blog, I am conscious that I am writing for an audience, as small as it may be. While I do share my thoughts, it is not a private journal. That's one of the things I like about blogging. It gives me a writing practice and helps in all my communications. I try to write clearly, concisely, and hope it all makes sense.

I realize that my audience is mostly friends and family--at least that's what I imagine. Yet the power of the web opens up my writing to others as well. Put in the right keywords and I can be found in a Google search. That happened about a month ago when someone in Switzerland Googled "Jörg Zintzmeyer", the designer of the Swiss franc, and found my post about the color of money. I also have connected my blog to Technorati, a site where you can use keywords to search blogs. Someone went there to search for  "wild parrots", and found my entry on the birds of 29th Street.

But this week, I definitely hit a highpoint. I noticed that someone had found my post "The Hard Reality of Sports" by using the keywords "nfl arrest" at Technorati. On the day the search was made, my post was listed within the top 5. I wondered about this, but I was more enthused that I got another hit through Technorati. When I checked my blog's stats the next day, I saw a Sports Illustrated/Netscape link. I was intrigued. When I clicked on the link, there was an AP story entitled "NFL Arrests High Profile But Not Unusual"  On the Sports Illustrated/Netscape page, the editors added content--a box titled "Editor's Web Picks." Lo and behold, under "What People Are Saying" was a link to my blog entry.

It's kind of kin to writing a letter to the editor of a newspaper and having your letter published in a newspaper--except they found me, I didn't contact them. I have to say that it did give me a thrill. Who knows who will find me next???