blog.rachelandjuan.com

Today, I was coming home from an interfaith meeting on how to address the systemic problems of crime and the like in our city.  As I approached our home, I saw a span of 8 blocks that were behind a police line, mine being one of them.  Luckily, Rachel was ok, but it struck me as ironic that as I was sitting in a meeting about crime, it was taking place at home.

The police would not let me drive in, so after a while of searching I finally made it home.  Would you pray for the two officers and…

I’ve been looking forward to the debut of a movie called The Golden Compass since I saw the previews in August, so last weekend I read the book on which the movie is based. I enjoyed it. Quite a bit. It’s a well-written, highly creative, and engaging story. I could barely put it down. There were some themes that made me mildly uncomfortable, but on the whole, my anticipation of the movie to be released on December 7th only increased. Then this week I received an email warning me against watching the movie, calling it the “anti-Narnia” and “the work of…

Today, I was working with my Thunderbird client minimized, and the title that it gave me caused me to pause:

Is this just simply trash for my brain?  Or more directly, is this trash for my soul?  Perhaps more simply, it’s just a monumental coincidence.  But no matter how it came about to be, I can’t help but wonder about the massive amounts of unwanted emails I get everyday:

Today, Alderman Donovan decried the Milwaukee Public School System (MPS) as they’ve asked for a 16% increase in property taxes!  This, after many similar hikes that have left many people struggling.  Donovan said…

Milwaukee Barcamp 2 this weekend past was a hoot!  Lots of nerds, (or trendy people, depending on how you look at it) came together this weekend to discuss all things remotely related to the world wide web.  Some people even came and talked about things not related to the world wide web.  So all in all, everyone talked about everything, and the sum of human knowledge was found and lost as quickly as an LED throwie.

However, the remnants of connectivity and collaboration are sure to remain long after this barcamp is forgotten.  But until then, barcamp will forever live…

Another inspired digital drawing!  I hope you like it!  I made it using Paint.net

This week I will be attending barcamp Milwaukee 2!  Barcamp is an unconference that is held to to talk about largely tech related topics.  As the name implies, many of the participants will actually be camping out in the conference area, complete with lan parties and talks of zen.  The word bar is an interesting geek symbol that represents the technology being discussed.

In an unconference the participants are also the presenters, therefore, I have submitted two ideas for sessions:

• Cross-platform development
• On the Go!

If there is enough interest, I will be leading a session on these topics.  While I may not be…

I have to give props to Pandora.com.  They have managed to come up with an online music service that I really like!  Normally online stations have one of two things: terrible bandwidth or terrible selection or both.

However, Pandora has a smooth sound, that I haven’t heard skip yet!  Also, they allow you to create your own stations based on music that you already like.  What that means is that I get to listen to artists that sound similar to the ones I like.  Why don’t you head over and listen to Smooth and Alive, my personal radio station that was…

Just a quick digital drawing that I thought indicated good movement.  I think I might submit it to Illustration Friday for fun!  Their current theme word is momentum.  Do you think it shows momentum? 

 It was a great deal of fun trying to get the right blur effects to get color and flow.  Do you think it worked?

The charts that accompanied General Petraeus’ report are incredibly fascinating.  Isn’t it great that there are people out there who are monitoring the minute details of the war?  I am very glad that it’s not taken lightly by our military and I’m glad that Petraeus is as sharp as he is.

However, groups like MoveOn.org seem to think that General Petraeus is massaging the information and parroting Bush policies.  But many people see Petraeus as more than qualified and hope to see Democrats fall backward.

What do you think will happen?

Today, I listened while someone read an editorial from Jeff Jacoby of the Boston Globe.  In it, Jacoby lists out the brutally convicting statistics about black on black crime.  In particular, I was struck by a quote made by Jesse Jackson in 1993, “There is nothing more painful to me at this stage in my life than to walk down the street and hear footsteps and start thinking about robbery–then look around and see somebody white and feel relieved.”  At the end Jacoby soberly states, “Americans overcame white racism; they can overcome black crime. But the first step, as always, is to…