The Voices in Frank's Head

Okay - so technology has been used to accomplish some amazing things. Science put a man on the moon and it treats illnesses that just a few years ago would've been hopeless. We've learned to break the sound barrier and communicate with one another across the not-so-vast distance that has become cyberspace. But some technological advances just make me wonder what the heck the inventor was thinking. I can't believe it, but someone has actually managed to take the concept of wearable computing and used it to create shirts that enable their wearers to send "hugs" to one another remotely. With this shirt on , you would actually feel it if someone send you a "hug". The shirt itself is Bluetooth enabled. The orange ovals on the shirt are actuators where you would feel the warmth, pressure and heartbeat of the person who sent you this "hug." This idea seems both cute and scary at the same time. Now that we've reach this point, you know it's on

I finished reading The Assassin's Gate: America in Iraq by George Packer over the weekend. It's an amazing book, written by a reporter who supported the War in Iraq. His writing his very compelling. I learned a lot about Iraq and America's involvement in region by reading this book. In fact, this is one of those books that I deliberately took my time reading - and read with a highlighter in hand. I highly recommend this book to everyone who wants to know anything about the War in Iraq.

Today is the three year annivesary of America's invasion of Iraq. That was the beginning of a war that everyone in Washington seemed confident would be over by August 2003, but now seems likely to drag on for several more years, end up costing the U.S. taxpayers more than $1 trillion and bring even more Americans home in a body bag. We continue to occupy Iraq, in spite of the fact that public opinion polls show that roughly 80% of Iraqis want us out of their country, under the claim that we're spreading democracy and freedom. ( I've always thought democracy means that the people decide what is going to happen; not foreign leaders.) In spite of that, the Republicans in Washington continue to argue that any change of course in Iraq is tantamount to treason and the Democrats are bubbling around like idiots, with no clue of what they want to do. There's an election this year and, for the first time in my life, I'm voting for nothing but the third-party candidates. The

I published another article in Model D. This time it was about indie filmmaking in Detroit and entitled, "Making Movies in Motown." It featured interviews with several Detroit-area filmmakers and talked about why they are working in Detroit instead of any other city. You can read it on-line at http://modeldmedia.com/features/detroitfilm.aspx I will probably have another article published at Model D in a few weeks.

My friend, Jessica Marie Jones , sent this one to me via email. I laughed so hard that I knew I had to repost it here - along with my editorial comments in blue. Life in 2006 #1. You accidentally enter your password on the microwave. (Okay, I haven't done this one but I can imagine myself doing it if I was tired enough.) #2. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years. (Bingo!) #3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers for your family of 3. (Nah, most of my family now has their cell phone as their only phone number.) #4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you. (Been there, done that.) #5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they don't have e-mail addresses. (Guilty as charged.) #6. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home to help you carry in the groceries. (Yeppers. Cell phones have replaced honking the car horn.) #7. Every commercial on television has a