Twitter

Granted, I'm just getting my feet wet with Twitter. Two days of limited use isn't much. I've talked to people about it too. So far, I still don't really get the point.

I would say that "Highway Companion" by Tom Petty is a far more enjoyable experience than Twitter. Perhaps not his best work, but perfect for what it's title claims it to be. (That's my twitterific review of the album, just so you don't think I'm trying to make some snarky double-burn on Twitter and Tom Petty.)

So to hear people talk about Twitter like it craps Dilithium Crystals confounds me. I'm following eight people, including Shaq, MC Hammer, Britney and Wil Wheaton. Wil posts the most, second seems to be Hammer. Shaq is clearly to busy for grammar.

What's the point of just writing one sentence about a book you just read? I know I have a habit of writing about books I've just read on this blog, but I like to think I do some measure of analysis, however one-sided, ill-founded, unrefined and unclear.

Writing about it in Twitter is going to do what? Start some sort of one-sentence-at-a-time discussion? Tell the world you can read a book? (See, no one reads this blog, so I know I'm not bragging. If I were going to brag, I would write about how awesome I am at Marvel Alliance. Kraken probably can't look at himself in the mirror after what happened in Philly.)

Well feel free to discuss, please limit your response to 11 characters.

And I am putting that Tom Petty review on Twitter, maybe I'll just do that with my account. Reviews of old albums in 155 characters or whatever.

Intelligence

In the shower today, I was thinking about intelligence, and education. I do this often, it's probably a product of being smart enough to see a little more of the great big world of knowledge beyond my cerebral grasp. They say the more you know, the more you know you what you don't know. They also say you don't know what you don't know. Harumph.

Anyway, I'm not smart enough. That is, my education doesn't feel nearly complete, and I've been reading more than ever before. Intelligence and education are two different things, but they clearly relate. A person who continues to expand their education will generally be smarter in every practical sense.

So I was thinking about high school, that bastion of tangible educational accomplishment. My education progressed so much. I think I was too satisfied. I was too close-minded in college. I could have learned so much more. I think I'm back on track now. I feel young at mind.

The big picture I'm driving at here is that the same intelligence of seventeen, without any augmentation, doesn't look so smart at 26. Nine years of ignorance. I think it would be an easy trap to fall into.

Pre-conceived notions are a fog on the senses.

Obama recap, not as cynical as it may appear.

One of the things that bothered me before, during and after Barack Obama's win in November was the speculation on what it meant.

Even during the inauguration, I couldn't help but feel skeptical about it all. The history of slavery in the U.S. is a reprehensible mar on this country. Racism lingers on in many forms. Does one man's amazing ascent to the White House change it that significantly?

I guess I had hoped, in the primaries, that it wouldn't matter that his father was born in Africa. Subconsciously, I guess I wanted the issue of race to be so dead it didn't matter in a negative or positive way.

Obviously I was wrong.

So now the inauguration has come and gone, and after enduring countless people tell me how the world was changing leading up to and immediately after Obama's inauguration, I feel it.

Maybe it didn't take as long for it to set in with some people as it did with me, but now I am looking at the world in a new way. Of course, the media has already moved on with other news.

Philadelphia

I'm returning from Philadelphia now, in the car with Joey Baseball, Gannon and 'Oh Sweet Jesus' Richards. Pet Shop Boys on satellite radio, arguments on the merits of a 'geepiss.' (GPS)

Of course we met up with Stu Peloquin, he was the impetus for the trip. Trevor beingnin the city for six weeks of practical education made the decision even easier. Aidan came down on the train last night but left early this morning. We've been here since midday Monday.

We didn't take in too much of the local history, but plenty local color. Cheesesteaks every day ( Geno's the unanimous favorite), a Celtics/Sixers game won by the green team on a Ray Allen three with half a second left. Several pubs with great food and cheap beer, the kinds of places I would frequent If they were in Providence.

We took pictures with the statue of Rocky and traced his footsteps up to the Philadelphia Art Museum. We went inside, too. Nice collection. The Mutter Museum featured medical oddities. It was extremely interesting, but I'm not the medical student the museum claims to cater to, just a gawker, as I suspect 98% of it's clientele are. Nonetheless, there's nothing like a skeleton of a man whose ligaments turned to bone to reinforce the notion in my head of the careful balance of life.

I have been to Philadelphia before, but this was the first time I felt I experienced it. I certainly enjoyed my stay, despite the four inches of snow, which is apparently abnormal.