Thursday, February 14, 2008
2007 comes to a close; what a year it was
The year 2007 is now over. We now leap into 2008. I say leap because this year will stay will us a bit longer than last. We have one of those rare February 29ths in it.
We have a leap year because the actually length of the year is 365.242 days. That quarter day makes it necessary to adjust the calendar every four years. Otherwise we would slowly drift out of sync with our seasons.
Now it is a hair less than a quarter day so we make further adjustments every century or so. To further refine our calendar, century years are only considered leap years if they are divisible by 400. Therefore the century years of 1700, 1800 and 1900 were not leap years.
The year 2000 was. The year 2100 will not be one. So get your calendars set.
How do I know this? Why I googled it and got the info almost word for word from an article on "The History of Leap Year" by Mary Bellis on About.com.
So back to the year 2007.
It was the year of the long awaited new Microsoft operating system Vista. I guess the term vista implies a new horizon for operating system. Well, many are still reluctant to climb the Microsoft mountain and take in the view. Vista is ram happy (a memory hog) and not as fast as advertized. If fact, in some cases, Windows XP has proved to be faster.
Vista will be the dominant operating system in the future. It has to be. Microsoft will make sure of that. As newer, faster, computers are sold, there will be less problems, and the grumbling will die down.
It also was the year of the iPhone. This device has upped the ante for cell phones. Already the market is expanding as new smart phones are brought onto the market to compete with Apples first generation phone. It has its flaws and short comings but it is showing the public just what a personal communications device can offer. And more people are deciding they want more that just a phone to make calls. They want a device that can connect them to the world.
We saw and heard an event near the end of the year that demonstrates the convergence I have been documenting for some time now. I mean by convergence the blending of the Internet into mainstream culture. YouTube, which is still a toddler in human years, continues to merge. We have candidate debates using video questions from YouTube and well as some Internet video stars moving to broadcast television. But now, perhaps the most interesting event was the broadcast by Queen Elizabeth II of her annual Christmas Message. This year it was done from the Queen's channel on YouTube.
Ironically, it was the 50th anniversary of the Queen's first video broadcast in 1957. Some of the footage was skillfully woven into the 2007 message. While YouTube is not known for its taste, this presentation was of top caliber as it was produced by the BBC.
Maybe George Bush could start is own YouTube channel?
During 2008, we plan to grow and expand the stardem.com Website. We plan to add some new blog and perhaps encourage some of you to participate. If you have an idea for a topic, drop me an email at the address I give at the end of this column. Some topics might include sports, Shore history and area events.
We also will be growing the recently added photo gallery. We will show you how you can contribute to this, too.
The timing of Christmas threw me off this year. I got screwed up on my deadline and missed my column last week. I did get it posted on the Web site and it is in my blog. I threatened to use it for this week's entry, but I managed to avoid that. Check it out in the Life area online.
I hope that 2007 went well for you and that 2008 will be part of a bright future.
As always, you can reach me at rpolk@chespub.com.
We have a leap year because the actually length of the year is 365.242 days. That quarter day makes it necessary to adjust the calendar every four years. Otherwise we would slowly drift out of sync with our seasons.
Now it is a hair less than a quarter day so we make further adjustments every century or so. To further refine our calendar, century years are only considered leap years if they are divisible by 400. Therefore the century years of 1700, 1800 and 1900 were not leap years.
The year 2000 was. The year 2100 will not be one. So get your calendars set.
How do I know this? Why I googled it and got the info almost word for word from an article on "The History of Leap Year" by Mary Bellis on About.com.
So back to the year 2007.
It was the year of the long awaited new Microsoft operating system Vista. I guess the term vista implies a new horizon for operating system. Well, many are still reluctant to climb the Microsoft mountain and take in the view. Vista is ram happy (a memory hog) and not as fast as advertized. If fact, in some cases, Windows XP has proved to be faster.
Vista will be the dominant operating system in the future. It has to be. Microsoft will make sure of that. As newer, faster, computers are sold, there will be less problems, and the grumbling will die down.
It also was the year of the iPhone. This device has upped the ante for cell phones. Already the market is expanding as new smart phones are brought onto the market to compete with Apples first generation phone. It has its flaws and short comings but it is showing the public just what a personal communications device can offer. And more people are deciding they want more that just a phone to make calls. They want a device that can connect them to the world.
We saw and heard an event near the end of the year that demonstrates the convergence I have been documenting for some time now. I mean by convergence the blending of the Internet into mainstream culture. YouTube, which is still a toddler in human years, continues to merge. We have candidate debates using video questions from YouTube and well as some Internet video stars moving to broadcast television. But now, perhaps the most interesting event was the broadcast by Queen Elizabeth II of her annual Christmas Message. This year it was done from the Queen's channel on YouTube.
Ironically, it was the 50th anniversary of the Queen's first video broadcast in 1957. Some of the footage was skillfully woven into the 2007 message. While YouTube is not known for its taste, this presentation was of top caliber as it was produced by the BBC.
Maybe George Bush could start is own YouTube channel?
During 2008, we plan to grow and expand the stardem.com Website. We plan to add some new blog and perhaps encourage some of you to participate. If you have an idea for a topic, drop me an email at the address I give at the end of this column. Some topics might include sports, Shore history and area events.
We also will be growing the recently added photo gallery. We will show you how you can contribute to this, too.
The timing of Christmas threw me off this year. I got screwed up on my deadline and missed my column last week. I did get it posted on the Web site and it is in my blog. I threatened to use it for this week's entry, but I managed to avoid that. Check it out in the Life area online.
I hope that 2007 went well for you and that 2008 will be part of a bright future.
As always, you can reach me at rpolk@chespub.com.
# posted by Richard Polk @ 10:23 AM 
