Paramus New Jersey Independence Day 4th of July Firework Show 2013

NYC New York City traffic crossing GWB into New Jersey in work van

Watch my view (from windshield mounted iPhone) on one of my many trips back across the George Washington Bridge from NYC back to NJ.

If I Were the Devil - by Paul Harvey

Rebecca Romney - Don't Love Me because I'm beautiful, love me for my mind!

     Earlier this year Rebecca Romney, of History Channel & Pawnstars fame, made a post on her Facebook page (August 12, 2013) warning that she was no longer going to allow comments about her appearance.  If you make a comment about how she looks your comment will be deleted and you will be blocked.  This would normally make sense coming from an individual who was getting a disproportionate amount of disparaging remarks.  That is not the case here!  In fact, it is quite the opposite thing she has issue with.  She is personally offended by the comments about how attractive someone thinks she is.  She feels that this both detracts from her intellect and lends to the idea that she is the rare book expert on Pawnstars based on her appearance and not her vast knowledge of rare books.

Rebecca Romney said:

It's time to address a growing problem here on my Facebook page.

Everyone, I know that when you write comments about my appearance, you are meaning to be complimentary. But I find these comments irritating non-sequiturs at best, and incredibly disheartening at worst. 

I appear on Pawn Stars because of my expertise as a rare book dealer, not because of my appearance. They wanted Bauman Rare Books to help with the show, and I happened to be the manager of the Las Vegas location. Responding to my appraisals on the show or my posts here about books with comments about my appearance feels belittling: I am trying to educate and entertain with intellectual stories, only to receive comments about my appearance in response. As if, for a woman, only the appearance and not the intellect matters.

I've hesitated to crack down on these comments because, again, I realize most of you really are just trying to be nice and you mean well. But I have noticed that a number of people who used to comment along with the intellectual discussion no longer do so--and some have messaged me to let me know it is because they don't want to continue engaging with the crowds who think that appearance is the most important issue to discuss.

I want this to be a community of history lovers, book lovers, anyone who wants a fun fact or historical tidbit. But I personally find it very difficult to keep up this discussion when I am constantly faced with evidence that to some, nothing I say matters, only how I look.

So, fair warning. From this point on I'm going to delete any comments that focus on my appearance, and will likely ban persistent offenders. I have no issue with any of you individually. But I am sick of hearing stories about book lovers who visit this site interested in talking about books, only to get creeped out by the comments, never to return. Please be respectful to me and the other bibliophiles here.

Thank you, everyone. I really appreciate it.

     There are two major issues I have with what she did and her attitude overall.  The first issue is that she is totally fooling herself if she thinks appearance is not a factor.  I believe that, whether she was aware of it or not, production people had scouted that location and were aware of her position and her appearance. It would be very ignorant to assume a TV show is going to choose a shop for an on air expert without any scouting.  Ask any woman who works in the industry and they will tell you that appearance matters, be it good, bad or anywhere in between.  Everyone of the experts on that show has a distinctive look and she is no different.  The other issue is with her point that compliments on her appearance detract from her intellectual standing.  To say that a woman can not be appreciated for both her beauty as well as her intellect is completely foolish!  On the show she is always dressed nice, but very covered up and professional.  When people comment on her beauty it is based on her body silhouette and her face, hair and make-up.  I would argue that without her intellect, her looks wouldn't garner so much attention, if any at all. I find her attractive based on the complete package that the show portrays.  Being a TV personality in any capacity opens the door for public opinion and commenting on just about anything they can dig up about you.  If you are getting  positive attention, I say you should be humble and thankful and just go with it!

Remembering 9/11

Exerpt from 9/11 timeline of event (History.com)

•    8:46 am – Mohammed Atta and the other hijackers aboard American Airlines Flight 11 crash the plane into floors 93-99 of the North Tower of the World Trade Center, killing everyone on board and hundreds inside the building.

•    8:47 am – Within seconds, NYPD and FDNY forces dispatch units to the World Trade Center, while Port Authority Police Department officers on site begin immediate evacuation of the North Tower.

•    8:50 am – White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card alerts President George W. Bush that a plane has hit the World Trade Center; the president is visiting an elementary school in Sarasota, Florida at the time.

•    9:02 am – After initially instructing tenants of the WTC's South Tower to remain in the building, Port Authority officials broadcast orders to evacuate both towers via the public address system; an estimated 10,000 to 14,000 people are already in the process of evacuating. 

•    9:03 am – Hijackers crash United Airlines Flight 175 into floors 75-85 of the WTC's South Tower, killing everyone on board and hundreds inside the building

It was what started out as a normal Tuesday morning.  My wife was up with our 1 year old and flipping through the channels looking for something to watch.  At some point she went past the news and saw what was unfolding.  She immediately ran upstairs to wake me up to come see what was going on.  That was right around 8:46 AM.  I remember that because at that time my job that was close to home and I didn't start until 10 (I usually slept til 9) and I was wondering why she woke me before the alarm went off. Once I got down stairs and saw what was on the screen, I was totally stunned!  We both thought it couldn't be real.  I remember thinking it might have been some kind of movie or a spoof in the vein of the 1938 War of the Worlds radio broadcast that fooled all of those people into thinking there was an actual alien invasion.  We are not "News people" normally but we sat glued to the TV for rest of the day as we tried to make sure everyone we knew was okay.  I remember being so concerned for the cloud to toxic dust.  Living 15-20 minutes from ground zero gave life to all sorts of concerns.  I didn't go to work the rest of that week. It was really a surreal time unlike any I have ever experienced.  In the end we were fine and no one we knew personally was lost or injured.

Does Jailbreaking help or hurt Apple's sales?

Does jailbreaking help or hurt Apple's iDevice sales? I was a somewhat early adopter of the iPod touch and I found myself bored with it after a week or so.  It sat around until I discovered jailbraking.  The fact that Cydia made it possible to enable the iPod touch to do all of these new features and also customize nearly every aspect of the device had me immediately hooked!  I currently have an iPhone 5 and unfortunately it was issued with iOS 6.1.3 which has not yet been jailbroken as of this writing.  I have been to referring back to my old iPhone 4 for all of my jailbroken fun.   I am eagerly awaiting the new jailbreak whether it be on iOS 6.1.4 or the new iOS7.  If Apple ever finds a way to shut down all jailboken iDevices, I will be heading over to an Android phone.  Even an unmodified (rooted) Android phone allows you significantly more freedom and room to flex your creative muscles than the out of the box iDevice.  While I do not believe it would sink Apple if the jailbreaking community jumped ship, it would certainly hit them in the wallet!  The jailbreaking community adds millions of users who would not otherwise be on an Apple device!

If you knew you could never jailbrake an iDevice (assuming it was 100% with no hope of any work around), would you still choose Apple products?

Please comment and let me know.

P.S. If you already think Apple sucks then this really doesn't apply to you! =)

other items of interest:
Ten iOS 7 features that were borrowed from the jailbreak community

The NEW iPhone 5S and 5C have been officially announced!

Apple.com iPhone info

The 5S adds some cool new features and the 5C adds color choices never before available on an iPhone. The real news I was looking to get was the new pricing. There has been talk leading up to this announcement that the 5C was going to be a cost conscience alternative for smartphone buyers who can't or won't put out the high price of the 5 and now 5S.

Wired.co.uk wrote:

"Apple has launched the iPhone 5C, a lower-cost version of the company's flagship smartphone, in a selection of candy colours.

Announced by Phil Schiller, Apple's SVP of Worldwide Marketing, the reveal focused on the customisability of the device -- something that's deemed to be important in many Asian markets. Not only does the phone come in green, blue, white, red and yellow, but the wallpaper for iOS7 will match the colour, as well a new range of custom cases. Users can mix and match covers and cases to create their own customised version."

I really don't see how this is much of a dollar saver.  It is "only" $100 cheaper.  Yes with a contract it is half the price of the higher end iPhone 5/5S but if you buy the phone outright its is $100 off and you really pay for the phone when you sign a contract despite the low upfront price.  The 5C is $549 vs. the 5S is $649 (16GB T-mobile / Unlocked).  $549 is hardly a budget phone.

So what exactly is the point of a digitally signed autograph???

I received a text message from T-mobile offering an autographed and personalized Glen Perkins photo if I went over to their link and provided my name and email address!  I like sports. I like autographs. Who doesn't like free stuff?  So I went to the link.  After reading closer, I notice it said "digitally autographed picture".  I went ahead and gave the required info to see what this could possibly be.  I expected to be asked for a shipping address to mail it to, but no other info was required and the photo below appeared!

Glen Perkins digitally signed this photo to me.  Other than to post on your social media page I see absolutely no value, intrinsic or monetary, in this promotion for the consumer.  This is just an information grab from T-mobile and MLB!

Here is the original text/tweet:

@TMobile: Hey #MLB fans - Get @Glen_Perkins' personalized, digitally autographed pic from T-Mobile, FREE: http://t.co/1S26EQFAHp #MNTwins

m.twitter.com/TMobile