The rise of the netbooks recently has taken some of the press by surprise, and to be honest, as a power-user I was also a bit skeptical. But in reality, any user who has helped someone else perform a task on a computer can see very quickly the appeal of a simple interface and a single-task based system.

Olpc, eepc, the netbook and several “toaster,” or internet-mostly systems that use baseline hardware and an open-source browser as a platform to access the internet have changed a computer from a software engine to a browser engine. It is a simple task-execution system, OS agnostic, mostly browser agnostic and is easy to configure. The gradient between netphones and desktops becomes grayer as more devices fill in, leading me too ask just one question:

When is the task-based interface going to truely make its way to windows? Soon please.

I wanted to share what I drew in the book, but thought maybe words this time. Cross-posting for saturation.

I cried today for, I think, the first time since my Father died.

Some of you know why, this is for you. In honor of one of the most important and loved of all my favorite places:

Top 5 songs my unconscious offered up to make me cry:

5. Cheers theme
4. Change is gonna come - Sam Cooke
3. That damn catchy Beta Band song, everything is not going to be alright, asshole.
2. Both sides now - Joni Mitchell
1. Landslide - Dixie Chicks(damn them anyway)

Top 5 things that meant the most to me about the bean:

5. Hot Java on tap.
4. It wasn’t going back to my empty apartment.
3. I met the nicest people, and count them among my friends.
2. Thursday Night Open Mic - the best ever.
1. Tiffi and I met there.

I will take it with me where ever I go, that sense of peace, of belonging. I feel a montage coming on, gotta go.

Keep up the bigoted comments about WV, prove you are a lazy hack. Why don’t you ask your writers to come up with some new material, it’s obvious you can’t.

You are worse than Karl Rove pandering to the fears of the public. You are dismissing the entire state, a state you obviously don’t understand. Maybe you should stop whining about the outcome of the primary and try to do something about it.

To quote someone I used to respect, “You’re hurting America! Stop it!”

So, how is it that not only the true mainstream media, blogs, blog commentators and the industrial humor complex (including Jon Stewart) succeed in painting my entire state, West Virginia, as racist without understanding their own bigotry. It is a sad day when everyone points and laughs and the media takes no responsibility for their obvious impotence in the face of an under-informed population.

You can’t fight racism with regional bigotry.

We, the state of West Virginia, have provided coal for cheap heat and electricity to the east coast for hundreds of years, all the while living in isolation and poverty. From generation to generation we eek out subsistence and yank ourselves up by our bootstraps only to have to move away for a decent job. You will find West Virginians everywhere you go, displaced but friendly, holding get-togethers, finding one another, discussing the world and trying to get by. So before you judge us all by the cherry-picked interviewees, try to get to know one of us. No matter how little we have, we are willing to give, and just because some of us are misinformed due in no small part to the media, we are willing to listen.

I love small towns.

Especially small towns in WV. I am not sure that it is the people, as I have never been anything but who I am while occupying a town. It isn’t just the pace, as most would have you believe, it is more of a sense of understanding. While a larger world defies quantification and categorization, a small town will have patterns. Once you know the people, you understand the patterns and often, the repeating ones. Growing up in a small town, the sameness of things is either comforting or burdensome, the fake plastic castle of home.

Through a series of events that I will share at some point, I went to Follansbee recently and met the Mayor and Town Council. My Brother is a councilman in my home town, so knowing what to expect, I braced for a siege. I learned a thing or two about the town that I didn’t expect in the short time we were there.

What I now know about Follansbee, WV:

• The Mayor was a school teacher, has wisdom, is respected and doesn’t like the f-word.
• The city council is mostly of Italian decent, has a good sense of humor and is willing to listen.
• Follansbee lost one man in the line of duty in Vietnam, his friends and family want to honor him with a plaque in the park.
• His family uses the park as much or more than anyone.
• The Newspaper Reporter we met, knew too much about the movie business.
• There may be a Tattoo shop turf war going on.
• A Movie is like a War.

Trust me on the last one, I have it on good authority.