Defining Glass

Glass is a tool. It will be defined by it's uses (and misuses).

Don't take my picture.

I myself am concerned for my privacy with glass. I do not like my photo being taken, and tend to look around and avoid people I see with their smartphones out. When talking to someone, I don't like that they can "Ok, Glass, Take a picture," and I have no time to stop them, and no way to grab the device and delete the image without picking up an assault charge.  If this was real life, and I actually took your picture back there when I typed "Ok, Glass, Take a picture," you would have had no way to stop me or escape the frame.

Seriously, gauge your reaction time. Have a conversation with someone, and have them randomly say, "Ok Glass Take A Picture."Just gauge your reaction time. Were you able to process what they were doing, and react accordingly? I tried this with a smartphone, I don't have glass, and couldn't leap out of the way in time, unless I knew it was coming. I did manage to fling myself to the ground, once. That worked well, until we factored in that the person looking at you would just follow your movements. There is no escape?

Talk to me.

In the same respect, when I'm talking to someone, I want to talk to them. Nothing peeves me more than being in conversation and watching the person take out their phone. I don't care what you have to reference, and I do not want to put the conversation on hold while you source your point. I don't want to see pictures from the internet, or watch a youtube. Actually I found a plus side to glass, it's harder to shove it in someone's face. You have to shove it on their face. 

Smartphones have taken us back a step, if I do say so myself. Watching a technology-addled adult struggle to find directions using Google Maps, and their GPS, and this and that, while I just walk up to someone and ask where the nearest convenience store is, or best yet when I point to it... Well, it's hysterical. 

Also, about all those teenagers on their phones. Wow! In five years will we see everyone standing still staring into space and talking to themselves, instead of pushing their thumbs into the palms they are staring at? There has been a semi-recent rocketing of the coolness factor in the "nerd genre" of things, will Glass have more than just hipsters clamoring for frames? Drunk dialing, has it become easier? Is Glass a secret key to educating youngsters? What's up? Where is the future? How do we truly define Glass?

To me privacy is one issue with Google Glass that is barreling over the broader topic of societal evolution, of which it is a large factor of. Debates are flourishing all over the internet, everyone wants to know about the future of Glass, it's defining purpose.  Dennis D. McDonald asks, Has Google Lost Control of Glass? I might have to agree with him.

This entry is comprised of re-arranged and revised statements written by myself in public comments on this thread.

St. Patrick's Day and America

I can't but find it overwhelmingly funny how many Irish-Americans embrace this holiday, especially here in America, especially in NYC, despite how the Irish were attempted to be driven from this land as 'snakes'. 

The Irish were originally not wanted here in America, for they were the people who took all the jobs. They were willing to risk their lives to build the bridges, it's why many bridges along the East Coast have the Cross in them. The Irish took the low pay, and sent the money back to Ireland to give their families a chance at a new world; a chance in America.

Does this story sound painfully familiar? Does the story of a man busting his ass, to send dollars across an ocean to his family, where they save those dollars and hoard them as if they were the last dollars on earth, for those dollars eventually equate to a ticket to America? How about shanty houses and "ghettos"? Surely you've driven through a ghetto and thought, 'What degenerates!', without realizing that the Irish originally brought the ghetto to America.

"Poor Irish were illiterate and faced considerable discrimination. They were considered best for manual labor. Thus they often feared losing jobs to freed blacks." (3)

Yeah, the Irish used to be *"the Mexicans"* , a disgusting racial blanket term Americans use to refer to illegal immigrants / emigrants & legal immigrants /emigrants who appear to be of Spanish descent. These are the people that do all the jobs we didn't want to do, these are this generation's Irish, and look at how all of you treat them. "Irish immigration peaked in mid to late 19th century. This was largely because of dire poverty and starvation in their homeland," (3) much like the current emigrants and immigrants of america. I fail to see the difference between the two groups of people: They both brought disease and crime, but also culture and economy.

While 'Saint' Patrick is said to have drove the Druids from his land and is commended for this controversial act of hate and bigotry (1), the glorification of this man highlights the very hypocrisy of the current American culture. It highlights how the now upper class Irish of America have taken it upon themselves to assert not only the bigamist attitudes of St. Patrick, but to be a part of the fist of society keeping the modern day 'Irish Immigrants' down. 

Today, on the streets of most cities around America, you will see people wearing flags with painted faces, screaming for love of their heritage. There will be brawls, most likely, for alcohol will be involved in copious amounts: That is after all the point of this day here in America. 

St. Patrick's Day, a day of fun. The point of the day is to get raucously drunk on extremely shitty Green Beer, assert your heritage as superior for but one day, use your heritage (or the honoring of a heritage that you do not acknowledge as your own) as an excuse to waste as much money as possibly on extending an inebriated state. You are encouraged to vomit in public, it's practically a badge of honor, and the more civil unrest you cause the better. Take to the streets in the middle of the night yelling *"FUCK YOU I'M IRISH! BAHAHAHA"* , then throw your empty beer can at a homeless man, or just on the ground, because Fuck Everyone: You're Irish. Most don't know the speculative history behind the holiday, and if they do, they chant whole heartedly, "Fuck the Pagans!", if only so their fun isn't ruined, their Idol for the day tarnished, despite how they sound like braying mules. 

Is this holiday anything more than history itself being defiled by commercialism, here in America?

A very prideful day indeed, for the Irish, here in America. 

 here is not used to raise moral, or rally the Irish against oppressors. It is used as an excuse to get drunk, a reason to spend money, and potentially worst of all it is used as a manipulative tool, leading the Irish away from their true heritage and turning them into the monsters they have been oppressed by for so long.



Some links:

• (1) http://www.patheos.com/blogs/wildhunt/2012/03/saint-patrick-druids-snakes-and-popular-myths.html
• A wonderful read about the associations of Snakes and Pagans, as well as the historical and heritage-wise importance of St. Patrick's Day to the Irish
  
• (2) http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/assessment/2000/03/st_patrick.html
• "No snakes, no shamrocks, just the facts"

• (3) http://www.udel.edu/soe/deal/IrishImmigrationFacts.html
• Facts about Irish Emigration to America.

+Le Andre' Ward 

Text Version:

 This reminds me of a book my stepbrother lent me to read while in the forests of Belgium.

I was skeptical, judging the book by it's cover of course. According to him, the book was promising enough to have read "four or five times, at least." First edition, based on one of the most popular console games of this age, a New York Times quote as I've come to expect of book covers; Not a book I would have picked for myself. 
I was swimming in Sci-Fi jargon. Oddly enough, the immediate immersion into a world completely unknown wasn't a cover-closer. Pushing vigilantly through, if not fueled by the strange words, was character development so strong it would have taken a nuke to mask it. Did I mention there's also a nuke?
I fell in love with the unlikeliest of characters, for the book is written from multiple perspectives. Walk in the shoes of an unfortunate species, witness the complexities of humanity in artificial intelligence, have your heart beat camaraderie with whichever side you choose.
Most importantly, read the book from cover to cover. You will laugh, you will shed a tear, and the end may leave you bawling silently in the dark of your room, contemplating love, existence, and what lies beyond the Belgian forests.
The book was #HALO  : Contact Harvest , supposedly depicting the first ever contact with aliens. In other words, this book is the catalyst for the whole Halo series . At least, that's what my stepbrother told me.
I suggest everyone and anyone read this book. You don't have to be into Science Fiction to understand it. 

I've been... #INSPIRED  . Thank you, +Le Andre' Ward , and have a wonderful week!

You

Then it was apparent, 

Blatantly true, 

What was going on, 

What we had to do- 

But could we? 

Would we? 

The answer to should we-

Yes! Of course. 

But who?

The real question,

Of Course,

Who?

Not when,

Not why,

Certainly not how,

This all was apparent,

Had to be done now!

The way that I saw 

It was blatantly true,

The matter at hand

The one who must stand

Defiant against 

The cold!

The bland!

For freedom,

For justice,

Across every land, 

It all will start with you,

The revolution starts with you.

A Whole Museum Of Disgust

I've unfortunately come to realize that not everyone harbors the same appreciation or respect for history as I. Wandering the halls of Versailles and the Louvre, I witnesses despicable and disgusting acts, acts of which I consider to be against the goal of historical preservation, as well as downright disrespectful to history itself.

Now, it could be said that I am just being sensitive, that everyone shows their appreciation for history and it's stunning artifacts through different avenues, that such love can me expressed through a multitude of subjective ways. However, I find some of these acts to be as appalling as crime itself, more so because of the blatant signs that ban many of these uncomely behaviors.

Flash Photography, the sin of all sins. The act that has the capacity to boil my blood, toil my rage, and spoil my euphoric mood. I'm done talking about this, for anyone with a third of a braincell knows that flash photography is bad for ancient artifacts. Common knowledge to the educated world, and if you didn't know: now you do!

We get it. You're here. You're surrounded in history and - hey presto- you can coordinate your clothing. You look nice, but you know what's six thousand times more interesting that I want in my shot besides you? Get ready for a huge shocker: I want to photograph the artifact behind you! The one you and your swelled with narcissism head are currently blocking the view of! I understand that you want a photo of yourself next to something so amazing, who wouldn't, but I find there is a thick road-block-esque moat between 'picture of me with the Mona Lisa' and 'Me modeling by the Mona Lisa'. While 12 other people and myself attempt to view the object you are using as a prop in your 'Photoshoot at the Louvre', sighing and aheming and giving you every other clue to MOVE, you continue to pose, check the picture, and demand another shot because your hair wasn't perfect or something equally as insignificant to the rest of the world. Do us all a favor, snap your photo and move along. Your picture might look great as a 'facebook default', but we really honestly truly madly deeply don't care. We care that the museum closes in less than 2 hours, that you are blocking the view, and that you are wasting everyones time.

Talking over tour guides is something that you just don't do. They are tour guides for a reason. Please shut up so I can continue to learn, thank you!

Exhibiting boredom rudely. Why?

Playing with your phone or video-game device is one of the most disrespectful things you could possibly do while surrounded by the works of ages.

Lack of courtesy for others. This includes but is not limited to screaming, shouting, running, pushing, shoving, and line cutting. Just, no! I swear, people forget what it means to be civilized humans.

Touching- I shuddered simply typing the word. Do you know how many slime ridden germs, acids, and decomposition agents dwell in the greasy grimy crevices of your oily grubby fingerprint?

I've worked myself into a rage.


People, please. Museums are not playgrounds. Appreciate responsibly.

The Golden Age of Acceptance

Honestly, I hope the first world nations of the planet get a wake up call.

I hope everyone in the world opens their eyes, and sees the reflection of themselves in one another. 

Pointless hate, discrimination, I want it all gone.

I want more opportunities for youth, the elderly, anyone, to be able to help the world where they can, how they can.

Beautify our cities, revive the cultures, feed each other, help each other;

Become a diverse global community of awesome.

I want every creature on planet Earth to live harmoniously as nature intended, without intentional destruction, without forgetting that this is our one and only planet Earth. 

Our borders won't matter in a thousand years.

I want travel between the lands and nations of Earth to be accessible to all, 

For no single nation, person, or business to dictate the planet's economy.

I want people to develop real life relationships, as well as ones online. I want to bring back community and personal economy, promote people to open their own stores, manufacture their own goods.

As for factories: 

I want them to embrace technology, 

I want them to support the communities they are in and provide jobs and training, and never hire a machine over a worker.

I want the illusion of the importance of the number on the dollar bill to diminish, 

Personal worth and happiness are far more important, 

As is the survival of the human race. There is no reason for anyone to starve on this planet.

I want the economy to blossom, I want the individual to be recognized for what he or she contributes to society. I want communication to flourish, I want to see children playing in their yards, polite exchange of comments on the street.

I want every human to be provided with basic needs; food, water and shelter, and the equal opportunity to succeed: Access to the Internet. 

I want to take a price off of knowledge, and share it with everyone. I want to teach others, be taught by others, and know that learning is happening everywhere always. I want us all to look at each other, learn from each other, love each other.

I want The Golden Age of Acceptance. 

The best part? It's completely possible.

This Is Why I Occupy

Message to the Police of America

Shame on you, Police.

You are the new gestapo . 

You are the henchmen for The Man.

You invoke fear in who your job is to protect . 

You are the guilty who are "just following orders." 

You are the holder of the weapon , 

You hold the power to control yourself.

You hold the power to stop violence. 

You, the police , are the ones meant to protect us ,

While we stand out here, in the weather on the streets,

Protecting your rights, your pension, your free speech.

Has your paycheck become more important than being human, 

Does that uniform give you the divine right to decide who deserves to painfully suffer, 

who deserves to be beat and battered, 

Shot in the skull,

Maced in the face?

And is this a grope I see?

You, the cop in the riot gear, hand on your baton,

Would you beat down that protester if he was your son?

Would you spray that woman in the eyes if she was your mother?

Why, Policemen , do you use war tactics on civilians, on citizens of your homeland?

Why is our government calling for attack on it's own people?

Is there a war in the United States going on that I don't know about?

Have we turned into the self conflicted warring nation that we read about on the news? 

The conflicted warring nations that 

suppress their people, 

deny them their rights, 

the very countries that we send our forces...

 to liberate? 

(And you wonder why we Occupy.)

We are liberating ourselves, Policeman,

Through our peaceful occupations.

Join us,  we're already with you.

Thursday Dining

Every Thursday my Father and I dine together, a tradition that dates back to the days of divorce. We eat locally, normally trying out places until we find one that fits. When I was young, it was Francesca's, the  Italian restaurant in Rockland my Aunt owned. It was awesome, because I had full access to the "soda gun". I was the sugar-high priestess of pop, reigning power supreme over the hose on Thursdays ("As long as it's not too busy.")

Due to relocation and, well life, new restaurants replaced Francesca's. We tried out a couple, including Olive Garden. Chain restaurants just didn't make the cut. The restaurant of choice became a Japanese Hibachi place called Gasho, and it would remain to be for many years. In case you have no idea what Hibachi cooking is, here in a picture:

It's where they cook in front of you, right there on the table, and it is delicious. This is still my favorite way to dine, for not only do you watch how your food is prepared but playing with food is strictly recommended. At Gasho, mealtime is showtime. After placing your order, a highly trained professional chef wheels out on a cart your uncooked dinner. As the ventilation fan above your head roars to life, so does the chef. He begins by throwing his weapons tools into air, tossing and juggling them, clanking them to a beat! Sometimes, if there are multiple chefs cooking, they sing together!

The tricks don't stop with the knives. the fling around your food too! I'm very proud to say that I can catch projectile broccoli in my mouth from at least a five foot distance! I don't want to spoil all of the tricks for you, but these chefs get creative! They even catch debris in their hats.

Still not impressed?

ONION-CANO.

Of course, dining Hibachi will always be a treat, not just at Gasho. Gasho just so happens to be not only the home of some of the best hibachi I have ever eaten, but also a piece of living history. 

Aside from phenomenal food (have I mentioned that yet?) the grounds of Gasho feature beautifully sculpted landscape. Rock sculptures, a koi fish pond, even an old water mill.  A midst the Japanese garden, there is a little hut. It is actually a private Hibachi room, with a round table inside! One day I will rent out that room.

Gasho is located in many locations, apparently. The one I frequented is in Central Valley, New York. However, Gasho or not, you will never regret going to a Hibachi Steakhouse.

Times change, and of course relocation happened again. We ended up in the small town of Monroe, MI, and happened across the lovely restaurant called Pete's Garage.

A screenshot of my ever so eloquent review of Pete's Garage on Restaurantica. I crossed out the name and took out the picture, to remain as anonymous as possible here, but you are more than welcome to creep if you so desire.

And now, for the edited and revised version! I cannot believe I mis-spelled "Definitely"! Defiantly? 

All being said, dining on Thursdays is a solid tradition.
 I look forward to future restaurant endeavors!

Some questions for the reader:
Do you have a specific day of the week, month, or year that you set aside to dine out? Where do you go? Who do you dine with? 

Have you ever been to either Gasho or Pete's Garage, and what was your experience?