It doesn’t matter how tough we are trauma always leaves a scar. It follows us home, it changes our lives; trauma messes everybody up. But, maybe that’s the point. All the pain and the fear and the crap; maybe going through all that is what keeps us moving forward. It’s what pushes us. Maybe we have to get a little messed up before we can step up.
- Grey’s Anatomy
Earlier today, Apple held a keynote address previewing the big updates coming in the software update 3.0 due out sometime (hopefully soon). Engadget always does a really good job at putting together live blogs during the events, often chocked full of dialogue, jokes, as well as the updates and pictures.
I’ve put together a simple list of all the new features coming in this really big update starting with …
Application Subscriptions
You will be able to purchase additional levels, music or updates without having to leave the game or current application. For example if you use the City Guide application, you’ll be able to purchase new maps or updates from the application itself, rather than having to go through the Applications program. And it’s all tied through the iTunes store.
Peer-to-Peer connectivity
It’ll be easier to find other people or iPhones and form connections. This is especially useful for multiplayer gaming, but will also work its way into other software once it’s developed.
Software/Hardware communication
Software developers can no write software that interacts with hardware. The iPhone can connect and work with devices like stereo speakers or a blood pressure reader.
Maps!
Currently when you launch a link to a map in an application, the application closes and the Maps app is launched. Users wanted the ability to access Maps from within another application. This is now possible which means no more switching back and forth.
And with this maps update there’s …
Turn by turn driving directions
Apple is letting developers use the core location for use within other applications. We should start to see some pretty neat GPS apps pop up soon. However, you’ll have to bring your own maps because licensing doesn’t allow the use of the titles.
Push
Rather than let applications like AIM or Yahoo IM run in the background and drain the battery, Apple has put together a third-party system that will handle the events, IMs, email and other notifications and ‘push’ them to the phone, rather than the phone having to check them all the time, which drains the battery. This new service looks promising.
Streaming audio/video
Also works with in-game voice.
Tons of new medical uses
Such as finger-pricking (diabetes glucose testing) paired with a glucose monitor, heart surgery apps, and more.
Games with in-game chat
Cool, I guess. Heh.
Ah and now for the big one!
Cut, copy, and paste
And the system looks pretty easy to use. Very exciting! And it’ll work for third-party apps.
Landscape keyboard
In Mail, SMS, and Notes. Yay!
MMS!
We will have the ability to send picture messages! Finally!
Voice Memos
Support for two additional calendar types
Stock updates
We’ll have news at the bottom of the screen and details in the application.
Spotlight search
Now we can search the device: Mail, Calendar, Apps, you name it.
Note Sync
You can sync your notes.
Auto-fill
For use with form fields, etc. Much like your internet browser.
Stereo Bluetooth
Anti-phising
And these are supposedly some of the hundreds of new updates. So there you have it. Exciting! View the Engadget blog on this with pics here: http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/17/live-from-apples-iphone-os-3-0-preview-event/
It started out like any other morning should at the military housing complex in Heidelberg, Germany, where I lived while I attended the sixth grade.
However, the afternoon’s events were to be far from ordinary for this 11-year-old who wasted most of his day wondering what it would be like to kiss a young girl named Stephanie.
Stephanie was a pretty dirty-blonde (or was it a pretty-dirty blonde?) with blue eyes. She was slightly taller than me, and because I had just begun to exit my chubby stage, she was also slightly thinner than me. OK, more than slightly. In homeroom that morning our plans were cemented, and though I don’t remember how I do remember what: we were to stop somewhere after school on the walk home and “try” a French kiss.
Focusing on school the remainder of the day was nearly impossible.
I had never kissed a girl before. The thought of finally going through with it was driving me crazy. The act itself felt so … mature and adult. Was I ready for all this?
And on top of all that: Stephanie was the girl, you know, the one guys couldn’t get. She was beautiful and unreachable. She was also bossy and mean.
I tripped over myself being the nice guy for her. I’d sharpen her pencil if I got up to sharpen mine, but she expected that already. In fact, if I didn’t sharpen her pencil, I was in the doghouse. She wasn’t the nicest of girlfriends, but she was mine for an entire week. And this being my shot at a kiss, with tongue, I didn’t mind.
We didn’t have any other classes together, so after school was out we met out front for the walk home. She was exceptionally bossy that day. Maybe she was nervous too? I didn’t like that too much, I decided, but I chose to keep my opinions to myself lest I ruin the whole escapade. She was wearing blue jean shorts, white shoes and a red shirt. Her frizzy hair was crimped and seemed to stick out like a tent around her shoulders rather than resting on them.
We held hands on the 10-minute walk to our side of the complex. We walked between buildings, rather than on the main road. She was walking fast. Did she want to get it over with? I walked fast too: partly because I was anxious and partly because she was pulling me. Being rushed only added to my curiosity: Were we committing a crime of sorts? Are we going to get caught?
The apartments in the military complex had shared basements, each with laundry and designated storage spaces. We tried entering a building neither of us lived in - neutral ground, and evading parents – but it was locked. We scored on the second try, though, and we headed downstairs to the right, past the laundry and a/c units and ice machine, as far back as we could go. There were windows, the typical ones you’d see in basements: short and high up, but they lit the room decently. This was good because we could keep the lights off as to not raise suspicions from people walking by, or maybe this was good because I was terrified.
The room was strangely quiet, and neither of us spoke. We stood there, facing each other, her hands on her hips and mine in my pockets. I kept looking between the floor and her, and when our eyes met, she looked impatient. I’m pretty sure she had done this before; she was the expert. I was left floundering. How did I start? Did we talk first and it just happened? Or did we just – go for it?
“So…” I said, breaking the silence.
“Well, are you ready?” she asked in a bossy voice.
“Yes. What do I do?” I asked.
“Stick your tongue in her mouth when we are kissing,” she said, and then she walked toward me.
I stood up straighter as she closed the space between us, her hands still on her hips. She came in with her eyes closed and I was tempted to close mine, but I kept them open at least until our lips met so I can watch anything new she might try. Our lips met, finally. They were both opened slightly. Her lips were always wet - little bubbles appeared simply when she talked. I could feel the wetness of them now, up close and personal.
She had told me what to do with my tongue, so that’s what I did. Only I did it slowly – a little at a time, testing the waters; to see if she would reciprocate. She did. Then a little bit more, and I felt more of her tongue. Then I gave her the whole thing, and she did too! What consisted of only a few “swirls” of our tongues felt like years of experience, all gathered in the basement of military housing where no one knew we were.
And when it was over – just a few seconds later – I felt like I had reached some new level of maturity, of manhood.
Alas, the kiss was over and, apparently, so was our relationship. No matter – I went to school the next day with a renewed sense of place. I had done something very few of my peers had. I no longer deserved to live among the other sixth-graders, rather I was ready for a the next step: a relationship where we could French kiss all the time. I felt confident, empowered, manly.
Little did I know I wouldn’t kiss another girl for several more years.
Recently (though I don’t know why recently) we’ve discovered that high fructose corn syrup is bad for you. Well duh. Do any number of internet searches to find out the details, but basically it contains mercury. “Mercury is toxic in all its forms. Given how much high-fructose corn syrup is consumed by children, it could be a significant additional source of mercury never before considered …”
We’ve become a people that prefers a lower cost to higher health. While organic foods are becoming more prevalent, they are still a bit more expensive. Rather than spending the extra few cents to a dollar for the higher quality food, we’ll cause long-term damage and health effects to our bodies, choices that are most likely taking away from how long we live.
And this might sound far-fetched, but consider what we’re doing to our DNA. Our bodies react to things we put in it much like a virus adapts to antivirals. It becomes more tolerant. After suffering initially it learns to accept the opposition. When we catch a cold, we fight it off and eventually become immune to that particular strand of rhinovirus. We are forever immune to it.
Darwin’s theory of “survival of the fittest” is clearly shown when we fight a cold. We suffer initially and, if we’re strong and able, fight it off. Viruses are living things just as we are and we adapt and evolve just as they do. So imagine what consuming copious amounts of mercury does to your body. And then, once we’ve adapted to it, think about what it does to our offspring.
We are cheap now but we are paying for it with our health and the health of future generations. Isn’t another 5-10 years of life worth the extra $.50 – $1.00 now?
Check out this pretty cool break-down of the ingredients in Mountain Dew:
http://nerdparadise.com/science/chemistry/didyouknow/mountaindew