Gen Plus » inauguration

“The Moment”

Janet Wendy Spiegel — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 05:56:05 +0000

Mixed into the excitement of today’s inauguration, were two technological items of note that may have gotten swept a bit under the carpet. The first is the launch of Barack Obama’s Presidential website at http://www.whitehouse.gov/ Obama’s team have created the first dynamic Presidential website with a tone very much in keeping with the tone Obama set throughout his campaign for the Presidency. If you click on the site, you’ll see, right at the top right corner an email sign-up. His team plans to continue the powerful email communication strategy that won him the hearts of America. As well, there is a sense of transparency, lots of video and tons of info. I’m signed up. You should, too.

Second on the technical side is the amazing interactive 3D photo of “The Moment” — the moment of the swearing in. Attendees were encouraged to email in their pictures to CNN, from their perspective at the inaugural celebration. The result is an astounding bit of online technology developed by Microsoft Live Labs, called “Photosynth”– a truly interactive, 360 degree, multi-dimensional, multi-moment , virtual collage. When you first click on the picture, you think you are just zooming in, however, each “zoom” is another picture. I was fascinated by the close-ups of the Obama’s — pictures grabbed several moments and you can see, expression-by-expression “the moment”, even seeing Ted Kennedy smiling behind Obama. Apparently, many other photos will be added over the next few days, but even at this stage it is astounding. http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2009/44.president/inauguration/themoment/

Blogging Boomers Carnival celebrates #100

Janet Wendy Spiegel — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 16:42:23 +0000

When the moon is in the 7th house, and Jupiter aligns with Mars…

It may not be THAT aligned, but I find it rather appealing that our Blogging Boomers Carnival celebrates our 100th carnival episode on a national holiday (MLK) and the day before the most historic presidential inauguration in the US. Does it mean anything??? At all?? I doubt it. But coincidence? I don’t think so…

It gives me great pleasure to direct your attention and your clicks to The Boomer Chronicles for this week’s 100th installment of Blogging Boomers Carnival, hosted at one of our carnival founder’s (Rhea Becker) sites!

When Wes Hein and Rhea Becker, both exceptional writers, asked me to join their Carnival a few years ago, I remembered thinking, “Huh?” I had no idea what a Blog Carnival was, what it was for and I seriously doubted we’d be at it more than a few weeks. I didn’t know either Wes or Rhea, but had “met” Rhea online through her blog and found her writing very appealing.

A Blog Carnival, for inquiring minds who want to know, is an online round up of blog posts by a specific group of bloggers (in our case Boomers) that makes the rounds by being hosted on a different blog each week (or day or month, depending upon the schedule your group decides upon.) When we started, there really were no social networks, except for My Space and a fledgling LinkedIn. So we kind of started our own. Each week, for the past 100 weeks, we stayed on track and on schedule (thanks to Wes and Rhea’s tenacity and good organizational skills!) and shared our views on all things Boomer. As a result, the Carnival has become quite well known among Boomer circles. We aren’t all the original members, but I am delighted to have been part of the first round.

There are some weeks, where, as a blogger, you sometimes feel a bit discouraged. Perhaps no one has emailed you anything exciting for a few days. Or the news is just really bad (like, oh, let’s say, our economy falling through the floor). Or people are afraid or too quick to move on to take the time to comment (yes, we LIVE for comments). But having our Carnival deadline is always the kick in the pants to inspire some sort of blogging frenzy on those rare occasions that blogger’s block kicks in.

Thank you for following our blogs. You have no idea what your support means to each of us. I hope we’ll continue for another 100 carnivals and I’ll do my best to keep you engaged (with my witty reparte, insightful commentary, ground-breaking analysis…LOL)!

Watch Obama’s inauguration live and online!

Janet Wendy Spiegel — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 20:23:25 +0000

Do you have to be at the office or on the road tomorrow? Don’t despair — if you have access to the internet, you can watch this historic inauguration live and online at CNN: http://www.cnn.com/live/ Plus CNN has partnered with Facebook, so if you sign up, you’ll be able to join millions of other by logging in and sharing your reactions and status for this historic moment.

This is really exciting.

Too much to say and not enough time…

Janet Wendy Spiegel — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 18:37:43 +0000

Apparently, along with many of you, I’ve got a heck of a lot on my mind lately. There are so many things I want to share — reviews of new movies coming up (a little bit of escapism never hurt anyone), much, much more on the auto industry, perspective on the economy, new technologies — but there will be NOTHING more exciting this coming week, than watching the inauguration of the Unites States of America’s first black president. On Tuesday, January 20, 2009 starting at 11:30 am, Barack Obama will take his place in history. I want to see Barack’s face the first moment he is called, “Mr. President”. I want to hear the words he will first say and cry my first emotional tears of relief that he will be in place to lead a hopeful charge for our futures.

Just as I remember exactly where I was on 9/11, the worst day in the history of the US, I will remember exactly where I am, on possibly, the best day in US history.