Oh, wipe your tears away... Sunday, bloody Sunday...
• Plus! Annnnd... Google debuted their "Google+" social media services this week. As a so-called "Facebook killer" it's pretty interesting. I like that its smarter at controlling who sees the things you post. I like being able to organize people into my "Circles"... which are kind of like old rotary phone dials...
Of course, if you have a hundred friends, you can only see thirteen in your little dial until you click on it, but I guess that's better than nothing.
Except...
I've already got Facebook, Twitter, and this blog sucking up my time. Do I really need another "thing" cutting into my already mega-packed offline life? I mean, I suppose I can give up sleeping and going to the bathroom, but is Google+ really worth it? Time will tell.
• Colbert. This past week Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central's Colbert Report received approval from the FEC to form his own Political Action Committee. But, unlike regular PACs, he formed a Super PAC which has no restrictions on the amount of money he can raise. I'm absolutely fascinated at the prospect of a comedian having access to a PAC, and can't wait to see how much he can raise and what he's eventually going to do with it.
So I donated some money. And got an autographed photo for my trouble...
Whatever he does with his money, I'm betting it's going to be a heck of a lot more interesting than what Sarah Palin has been doing with her PAC monies.
• Roundabout. I noted an article link over on Neil Turner's Blog about how the British roundabout is conquering the US. This is something I can confirm as true. Years ago, the only roundabouts I'd ever seen in the USA were in Massachusetts. But now they are popping up everywhere. The first I remember seeing in my home state of Washington was at the I-90 interchange in North Bend...
Image taken from Google Maps
And now, even small local cities like nearby Wenatchee are getting roundabouts.
The problem is that nobody here seems to know how to drive on them. Most of the time I've seen people encounter a roundabout, they full-stop instead of yield. And, even then, they don't know what to do, preferring to just sit there for a while until they get up the courage to enter. Hopefully this will change as they become more prevalent, but right now they're more trouble than they're worth.
• Arrietty. The next film by animation genius Hayao Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli is called Arrietty, and is based on the beloved book The Borrowers by Mary Norton. As with everything Miyazaki touches, it looks stunning...
My loved of all things Miyazaki is well documented. He has been a massive influence on me for decades, and his works are without peer in the animation world (the people at Pixar practically worship the man, for example). That he has continued to work after his "retirement" in 1998 has been a source of absolute joy to me, and seeing yet another film with his fingerprints on it makes me happier than I can possibly express. And while his role at Ghibli seems mostly supervisory now (though he appears to still be doing some writing and drawing too), he seems to have good people (including his son) carrying on his work...
Arrietty was released in Japan almost a year ago and I have yet to see it. Today I learned that it won't reach the USA until FEBRUARY, 2012!! And while I would prefer to see the movie with the original Japanese soundtrack and subtitles, the North American release is certain to be an English dub (as usual). I don't even care. I just want to see it! Then hopefully the Blu-Ray release will preserve the Japanese version like Ponyo did. In the meanwhile... I wait.
And that's all she wrote since I have to get up early for work in the morning. Here's hoping all my fellow USAsians have a good holiday tomorrow!
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I really like Google+. It’s easy to use though for some reason it won’t let me post links. I can +1 all day long but posting outside links? Nada. The fact that it has controls over who sees what makes me insanely happy. As it is I have my mom on Facebook so any of my naughty commentary must be kept to Twitter. It’s hard to be naughty in under 140 characters.
Also, roundabouts always remind me of European Vacation. “Look kids! Big Ben! Parliament!”
They have roundabouts in S. Jersey where I live, and are actually getting rid of them. There were 5 in a 25 mile radius when I moved here 6 years ago, now there are 2 and one is being worked on to become a straight road.
And no- people never learn to drive in them
Happy 4th to you. I haven’t yet tried Google+, and I’m not sure I want to. Like you said, I have enough other social networks.
I love roundabouts, but yeah, who in the States knows how to drive on them? When I lived in England, I actually found it easier to drive there than in the States, even on the “wrong” side of the road.
That’s funny = I’ve always driven on smaller roundabouts without even thinking about it. (They’re here in my community and always have been, and in one that was a planned community years and years ago.)
Hope you have a great 4th, Dave!!
When I was learning to drive on the wrong side of the road in England, roundabouts were initially the bane of my existence, Once I got the hang of them, I came to see them as a work of traffic-flow genius, but only in the hands of a people capable of driving like non-asshats. I predict that installing them everywhere in the U.S. will primarily increase the spilling of blood on the roadways.
There are TWO roundabouts here in Bentonville. And none of the locals seem to understand what to do with them. It’s almost painful to watch. Actually, it IS painful to watch.
Oh, and I’m at #6 on the phone dial 😉
W00t! Number 9, baby! This may be my first appearance in a Blogography post. Wait… that seems less likely as I think about it. I’ll have to check… Oh, right. Davestin!
I feel about the same about google+. I’m still trying to work out how useful it is but it’s hard to tell with so few people on it.
They’ve installed a few roundabouts here over the last couple of years. The central-Ohio traffic engineers are so confident in the ability of the local drivers that they are currently installing the second roundabout in what will eventually be a dual-roundabout configuration. (Well, technically there’s about a block separating them. But, still…)
That was my initial reaction to Google+ as well. Yet *another* thing I have to keep up with. So I made the decision to not get involved with it. I barely have time to keep up with blogs & tweets let alone more more social network thingy 😉