Life here is slower, but the interruptions offered by technology have impacted suburbanites and urbanites just the same. PTA moms and barbecue-grilling dads may see initially see the Apple Watch as yet another tool forcing us to stay connected, but really, the opposite is true.
Like our city-dwelling counterparts, we also spend too much time tapping on small screens, while ignoring the vistas in front of us. We, too, carry around the guilt of having missed moments, while having forgotten the people in front of us. We stress over phones at dinner tables. Over eyes fixated on digital conversations, instead of spoken ones.
The Apple Watch’s promise is the ability to break that cycle. How ironic that is. We once paid Apple time and again for the privilege of using its many devices. And now – oh how clever, Apple! – we must pay again for the privilege of being able to stop.
Growing up in a small town in Southern Illinois, I miss the slowness of life at times. Except at midnight when I’m in the mood for a burger and no McDonald’s within 15 minutes is open late, far less 24/7. Great to hear another perspective on the Apple Watch. Will this gadget move us towards not using our gadgets as much in public?
One of the reasons that I haven’t started building Apple Watch apps yet is because of my lack of an Apple Watch to feel them on. Marco writes on how once he had the device, he understood how he went about things wrongly. This isn’t about technical limitations of the platform, but how people use it. What the expections are. Designing in a simulator is never designing on the device.
The Watch is the first device that’s encouraged me to spend as little time as possible with it, or with any of the other electronic sinkholes around my office, my home, and in my pockets. It’s the first product that lives in this world, offering a small, brief window into the digital one - instead of being a portal that envelopes us, pulling us into another place to be held hostage by our own need for novelty and trivial diversion.
I love that line “first product that lives in this world.” From what we’ve heard, Apple’s intent was just this. Allow you to step away from your phone more. Be more present.
When armed terrorists attacked Charlie Hebdo headquarters over Muhammad cartoons on January 7, unarmed police officers were forced to flee for their lives. When armed men attacked people gathered in Garland, Texas, on May 3 over Prophet Muhammad cartoons, armed police cut them down — and the Daily Mail reported that the body of one was left lying the street while police searched for explosives.
The difference between Garland and Paris can be summed up in one word: guns.
Many— of those that knew this event was going to be held— saw this coming. An art context for illustrations of Muhammad. They were wise to have plenty of security on site. I don’t think I support the event. I’m conflicted. Directly mocking something someone holds sacred is a difficult thing. Shining light on the atrocities committed by and in the name of the figurehead of a major religion? I’m not sure. But I do support their right to do this. And I would gladly stand to protect that right.
Yup, they forced one of their own to apologize for stretching out a hand to those they oppose, looking for middle ground and dialogue.
Ian Reisner, a hotelier whose properties have been subject to boycott calls since news of the meeting broke, wrote on Facebook that he made "a terrible mistake" by agreeing to host Cruz, who is adamantly opposed to gay marriage.
MSNBC makes it look like Reisner had a change of heart. But to quote the article from Bloomberg:
"Hundreds of people are contacting us to organize and help," said the organizer via email. "We will be meeting with a number of local gay rights organizations in the next few days to see how we want to collectively approach this unfortunate situation. We are a very powerful community -- as evidenced by what just occurred in Indiana and last year in Arizona. The thought of one dollar spent at their bars and hotels making its way into the campaign coffers of anti-LGBT elected officials is outrageous. If we have to shut the place down to prevent that from happening, we will."
Shut them down. These threats from the Left are becoming the norm for Christian business owners. But to leveled against a gay business owner, from what I can tell, is a new low. With non-stop threats over the weekend, it makes sense that Reisner would have a change of heart. Lose his business to stand with someone that disagrees? No brainer. No. Brainer.
"If these cultural Marxists won't even tolerate leaders in their own community like Reisner having a peaceful dialogue with the other side, then it's not a movement but an inquisition."
Dialogue. It used to be that we could reach across the aisle and talk with our opponents. Ask them questions. Seek to understand them. And now? Now anyone that disagrees with the Left needs to be silenced. No matter if they are the CEO of Mozilla or the owner of a mom & pop pizzaria. We have a problem.
"I'm not sure where their intolerance leads," said Cruz campaign spokesman Rick Tyler. "Are they going to boycott TV networks and their advertisers that interview Ted Cruz? Book stores that sell his books? How about the hotels that host his events. Where does it end?"
What does Cruz support on the matter of marriage? That it should be decided on a state-by-state level. That is constitutional, after all. If the Constitution doesn’t specifically give the federal government power over something, that something is then in the power of the state governments. Cruz believes that the Supreme Court throwing out state laws that back DOMA is unconstitutional. It is. Because the federal government doesn’t have power over marriage.
So the Left is trying to shut Cruz up. And because the gay men that own this hotel that Cruz had a fireside chat at were willing to open dialogue with him, they need to be shut down, their business ruined.
Parents Danielle and Adam and big sister Blayke are now a family of eight. The babies are named Ava Lane, Hazel Grace, Olivia Marie, Parker Kate and Riley Paige.
I don't know what I would do if I had 5 more girls. Having one is enough for now. Told Nikki that we are having 5 boys for every 1 girl. So if we have quintuplets next, which I am a twin, they had better be all boys. Now I need 4 more boy names. Oliver, Bruce, Bartholomew, and Harold. Done. If you did’t know, our daughter is Charlotte Meara, her middle name taken from the wife of Aquaman, Queen of Atlantis. Her first is taken from a famous web designer.
The human body starts dying at age 25. Our twenties slap us with the expiration date of sin’s curse (Genesis 6:3): slowly, in our ligaments; tightly, in our muscle fibers; subtly, checking for bumps; decimally, with a rising BMI. We feel death in our twenties; emotionally and relationally, in ugly and odious ways. Death latches its chain to our frame, slowly pulling us deep into an answer to the question “Death, where is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55). Our twenties bring so many answers to that question — transition, failure, desperation, dependence, accusation, responsibility, moral failure, stagnation, unfulfillment. “Sting” isn’t sufficient. Our twenties can be a dark time.
Coming out of a very rough and dark weekend and a hard start to the week, this article is exactly what I needed.
Leslie Newbigin said, “I am neither an optimist nor a pessimist; Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.” Is Jesus irrelevant? How is wallowing in a dialectic of self-deprecation and self-pity going? Is that doing things for you? Is that doing more than Jesus has done? If so, get off this article. Get off the Internet. Go and drink and at the very least be merry, for tomorrow you die (1 Corinthians 15:32). But if you’re clawing for a grip — for something, anything — keep reading. Jesus actually changes quite a bit. Here are five things he offers.
Easily 1 Corinthians 15:32 has become a favorite verse of mine today. A kick to the gut that I needed. It’s amazing how those can come at the right time.