Huston's East Side Uncovered & Imaged

Today's Google "Blogger Play" find is the fine foto-blog "Life with Lulu & Rufus" which features images of East Huston. That's right, East Huston. Now Huston is not the first American city that comes to mind when The Author thinks of photogenic locales, but as Lulu has discovered, there are fantastic and amazing images everywhere. I especially like Lulu's pension for Cantinas and street art. We share both of those interests. I'm posting this note today, without even writing Lulu and asking permission to use one of her fine photos. Yes, her blog is that good - if you like serendipity, authenticity and great pictures. So go see for yourself. You know you want to...

Pop Impulse Endorses Hillary

I am taking the occasion of the first anniversary of this blog and risking the ire of half my friends to post about a serious matter. The next president of the United States will face a very challenging term; unraveling Bush & Cheney's destructive mischief, settling lingering Middle East conflicts including but not limited to Iraq, and restoring our national reputation abroad as a serious superpower. The next CEO of the country will have to do all of that in the face of serious economic and geopolitical crises. After serious consideration and months of vacillating, I've decided that Hillary Clinton is best equipped by education, experience and temperament to get the job done.

Yes, I know that no candidate has lifted us up like Barak Obama since JFK. But at the end of the day, I believe we need a president who will do the difficult work required to dig us out of this hole. Stay up late at night making her brain hurt doing the people's work. A president who will be focused and relentless. Tough times demand extraordinary, tested leadership. That's why I'm endorsing Hillary for president. The Republicans put us into this horrible position, and they may just nominate a radical cleric as their candidate. (Look, the Neo-Cons and the Christian conservatives showed us their stuff, and it stunk.) So like most of the rest of the nation I'll be voting for Democrats.

Hillary is our best choice. And, she's earned it in case you've forgotten. This woman has proven strength and durability. She's stood up to the drug companies once, and as president I'm certain she'll finish the job she got started before the fall of reason. When nobody said it possible, she convinced rural, upstate New Yorkers to give her a try and now has stratospheric approval ratings as NY's junior senator. That's because she listens, and works hard to solve problems. And unlike several Republican candidates that come to mind, when Hill had her famous family problems, she worked them out while enduring relentless scrutiny and attack. Worked them out and kept her family together. Nobody can argue she's not tough enough for the job. And finally, I'm supporting Hillary for a very male reason. I know that I can trust her to make the bastards pay, as they should, for ruining my country. You see, Hillary has felt the wrath of the infamous cabal of angry Christain white men and borne the attacks of corporate character assassins, and she's still coming on strong. That's the kind of motivation that this author is looking for in a presidential candidate.

Tagging Cyberspace - One Year On

Pop Impulse is approaching its first anniversary. Though I am still struggling with navigational and design issues, almost 170 posts later, I am generally very happy with the site and the opportunity to tag cyberspace with my own mark.

That's what bloggers do, we TAG cyberspace with digital grafitti just as a Home Boy with a can of spray paint marks a boxcar or bridge. Some of our grafitti is unexpected and beautiful, some is stark and angry, and much of what I discover is the record of many mundane lives, dreams and aspirations. Almost all is worthwhile in some way to someone. What I really appreciate about the Blogosphere is its bottom-up architecture, which gives voice and admin authority to all. In a previously top-down world, that has been a most refreshing new direction.

In a way, I feel like I've been here before. In the mid-90s I was the publisher and executive editor of Southern Oregon Magazine, the first online regional travel WebZine. That pioneering site was 365 pages deep, contained original maps and a staff of editors headed-up by John Enders, a former award-winning AP correspondent. My two partners have moved on from that venture. John Fricker is an IT manager at Musician's Friend (a Pop Impulse recommended vendor); and Gary Roberts, who was responsible for the design, look-and-feel and maps in the publication, has become a master of Flash animations and advertising. The magazine, alas, was ahead of its time and though it won four awards our attempts to monetize the asset fell short of our needs. It didn't help that we all had day jobs as well.

Pop Impulse has become my refuge and my soapbox. From this blog, I stand and rant to Net surfers about all the stuff that I find interesting and important. At this writing, I have about 500 regular readers. I write to give voice to my wonder, my opinions, and my discoveries. But you keep me going. Three-to-four posts a week. I am grateful for my readers, and agree to keep the content flowing as long as there is interest. At some point, I will better organize the several subjects that Pop Impulse covers. And as all bloggers, I'd like to increase the amount of comments, diggs and subscriptions that I get...so I'm working on that.

In conclusion, I'd like to wish a Happy New Year to all. May the new year bring peace on earth and healing to the planet. I trust that all who celebrate at this time will have a safe and memorable passage into 2008. After a dinner at Meriwether's, my partner and I will be joining Portland, Oregon's hometown band Pink Martini at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall to mark the event. I'll return to this blog the first week of January, the same time-frame that I first lit it up in January of last year.

Really Take America Back - Jeff's Blog

If you've got 20 minutes or so, head over to my friend Jeff Golden's blog: Really Take America Back. He's posted a very timely video that is worth a look. Yes, I know it's 20 minutes, but good things take time and patience. Jeff's blog is about rediscovering and celebrating our common ground. You'll like his sensibilities and his progressive politics, so take a look.

Jeff contributed three articles to this blog when he attended the YearlyKos event in August and covered the news on the floor for Pop Impulse. That was before he launched ReallyTAB. You can read them here, here and here.

Google's Blogger Play Rocks

Google's new Blogger Play widget for your Google home page is surprisingly fun and way addictive. If you're not already using Google as your home page, you should be IMNSHO. If you are, you can easily add the Google Play widget. Just go here. The widget auto-loads and displays images that are being uploaded, right now, to blogs all over the planet. In Google's words, "You can watch the blogs go by..." And of course, there are hundreds of millions of blogs at this point. If you see a pic that arouses your curiosity, you can simply click on the image and the parent blog loads in a new window. Way fun, very addictive. I've gotten lost surfing for thirty-minutes at a time.

Really Take Back America

It is a great pleasure to announce the launch of my colleague Jeff Golden's new blog, Really Take Back America. Jeff recently contributed three fine reports to this blog on the happenings at 2007's Yearly Kos convention in Chicago. You can read them here, here and here.

And now, after a state-wide journey exploring a race for the U.S. Senate (which he declined to make), Jeff's joined the progressive blogosphere with a very stimulating new site. A former host of Jefferson Public Radio's Jefferson Exchange and published author, Jeff's writing is conversational, engaging and populist. He's an easy and pleasurable read. So head on by his blog and leave him a comment. You won't be sorry (unless you happen to be a wingnut).

If you like what you read, check out Jeff's latest non-fiction work: "As if We Were Grownups," at Amazon.

Big Thank You to Gina Smith

In the blogging world, links are important. And so are mentions by A-listers. So I'm taking a moment to proffer big thanks to Gina Smith for her recent nod to a Pop Impulse post. The post that caught her attention (after some modest self-promotion) is this one on Spanish regional music. Must have been the cool Ojos de Brujo vids. So head by Gina's fine blog, "I'm Gina Smith," and see what wonders she's up to. Since her background includes such stratospheric titles as: author; respected technology journalist and editor (in-chief); technology commentator on ABC's Nightly News; and, CEO of a Larry Ellison start-up in Silicon Valley, Gina's always got something interesting going on.

Torvalds Lauds Open Solaris - Gets Invited to Dinner

Open conversations, like "Open Source" communities, are a wonder. There's an intriguing conversation going on right now online between Linux author/guru Linus Torvalds and Jonathan Schwartz, president of SUN Microsystems around Open Source Solaris. Solaris is, of course, SUN's wonderfully robust operating system.

For background, Open Source refers in this post to software that is by design open to public modification, enhancement and updating. Thus, Open Source code is generally released with very few copyright restrictions and collaboration is presumed. Torvalds is responsible for the LINUX kernal in the popular LINUX version of UNIX open source code.

Back to the story. Torvalds, a legend in the coding community, recently posted an article about Open Source Solaris from SUN where he expressed considerable enthusiasm, and some reservations about the company's future plans for making their services truly public. And, he made a couple of cynical predictions. Read his post here.

Not to be outdone, and ever mindful of the power of public discourse, Jonathan quickly responded with this post, and invited Linus to dinner. Sweet. It *is* important for these guys to talk. At least to users, managers and IT professionals everywhere. Read the posts for yourself and decide: Solaris, really open? Or not? Leave me a comment.

As with many of my peers, I confess that SUN is a particular interest and sentimental favorite of mine. I've posted about the company and its products before, here and again, here. We're all depending on Java a lot these days, and I often wonder if users really appreciate the role that SUN had in making that important technology widely available. Sure, they're competitive (What successful company isn't?) but the company also has made substantial and long-lasting contributions to the industry.

Spring Break is Over Redux

After a long absence for Spring Break, bloggers block, some real work, and a dust-up over an electronic system error with the Oregon Department of Revenue around state taxes, I am finally back at it. Apologies for my absence. Spring chores got ahead of us this season, and my tractor broke down twice making matters worse.

Regular readers will note that I've added a "Help Russ Stop the War" widget to my permanent sidebar. I'm giving up on my self-imposed restriction against being too political. There's just so much at stake. So no rants, just a new widget and some upcoming articles around sensitive issues. Be ready.

My friend and colleague, Don Roberto, forwarded this link with the caption: The video that had to be made. So have a laugh at Alberto's expense. I'll be back soon with the finished versions of some long-simmering articles; including, a look at ethnic music in Spain, from Flamenco, through the Basque country to the Celtic sounds of Galicia. Spain has so much going on, it's hard to resist.

Celestial Teapot: First Reported Here

I am pleased to be the first to report that erstwhile game-guru, graphic artist and amateur political commentator, Rob Landeros (DonRoberto) has launched a new blog: Celestial Teapot. Check it out. But be forewarned, he's not happy with the Jr. Senator from NY and her re-position on Iraq.

Rob co-founded Trilobyte and was largely responsible for early blockbuster games including The 7th Guest and Eleventh Hour. Prior to that gig, he was art director at Virgin Games. Nuff said. He's da bomb. Like lots of folks, Rob finds himself frustrated by the current state of the earth, country and politics in general - so naturally, he's taken to blogging. That's when he's not designing web pages, creating works of digital art, or playing golf. Did I mention he plays a lot of golf?