NOT Being Digital?

Back in 1995, I bought a book called "Being Digital" by Nicholas Negroponte.  Negroponte is the founder of the MIT Media Lab, as well as the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) Project.

I read it cover-to-cover several times, and it had a strong influence on me at the time, and many of the predictions made within it turned out to be right on the money.

Somewhere along the way, I lost it.  I don't know if I loaned it out and never got it back, misplaced it in a move - I just don't know where it went.  So I wanted to replace it, and read it again.

Now that I live in the bright, shining digital future Negroponte foretold, I wanted to buy it in digital form to read on my iPad.  Get this - it's not available in readable digital form.  It's only available in print and audiobook (narrated by Penn Jillette).  WTF?!?

Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally

Glenn Beck was the organizer of a rally on the National Mall.  The stated purpose of the rally was to show support for a return to more traditional values, called "Restoring Honor".  The media in general are critical of this rally on the National Mall today, with many (including Rev. Al Sharpton) suggesting that by holding the event on the National Mall on the same day MLK gave his famous "I have a dream" speech, Beck's "stepping on toes" and such.  Is it because Beck is white?  Perhaps.  Let's see if they acknowledge the magnitude and diversity of the crowd that was there:

Yes, that's the National Mall - filled with people of all types - all there supporting traditional values.

The good Reverend held a "Reclaiming The Dream" rally nearby, but the turnout was less significant.  The only picture I could find was this:

It looks like a smaller crowd, and I didn't choose to compare the old photograph with the new one.  But it shows something about the size of the crowd.  In the black & white MLK photo, you can see people in the crowd way back.  In the Sharpton photo at right, not so much.

Also, Sharpton's event was missing someone. Alveda King, the niece of Martin Luther King, Jr. was at Beck's event, and spoke to the crowd.