It’s been a week since Barack Obama’s monumental victory. As the enormity of the task he accomplished sank in, I came to a startling realization: Greatest Political Accomplishment In History.
I don’t say this lightly, but think about what he’s done. This man has risen from modest beginnings outside the establishment to become the single most powerful man on the planet.
In a country that has been founded and run by (relatively) conservative rich white Anglo-Saxon males for 300 years, a man of Kenyan decent and color has risen to the highest office. That’s like a Pakistani becoming the British prime minister! It’s like a Filipino rising to the top of the power ladder … in Japan!
In a country that is currently at war with Muslims in a fight that started as a way to catch an enemy by the name of Hussein, a guy that spent part of his youth in Indonesia (the largest Muslim country in the world) and with “Hussein” as his middle name has become Commander-in-Chief.
In a country where, in many states, a 7 year-old Barack Obama wouldn’t have been allowed on the same bus or in the same diner as a poor, dirty white man - he is now the leader of each and every one of those white men - in each and every one of those states! That’s like a drunk bum walking into the nicest restaurant in town, getting the keys to the front door and being told “it’s yours now.” Up until last Tuesday, it just couldn’t happen. Now it’s as real as the screen you’re reading.
“Okay so it’s big,” you might be saying, “but the Greatest Political Accomplishment in History? Come oooon!”
The Greatest. In History.
For starters, you remember Martin Luther King of “I have a dream” fame? Yeah, this IS the dream. Diddo for Malcom X and Muhammad Ali. I mean, Muhammad Ali was (and may even still be) the most recognizable face on the entire planet not 20 years ago - THIS IS SO MUCH BIGGER THAN THAT!
How about Abe Lincoln abolishing slavery? That was definitely huge, but now a once-slave IS Abe Lincoln!
The end of World War II? Monumental … but now a Jew is RUNNING the Third Reich! Think about that. Running the whole damn thing that tried to ruin him for so long … and without a shred of violence.
Ghengis Kahn creating an empire that covered most of modern day Asia? Barack’s empire covers most of the globe … and he didn’t have to kill and maim half the continent to get it. Same can be said for Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte, the list goes on…
Make no mistake: no matter where you live today, barring the end of civilization as we know it, your great-great-great-great-great-grand kids will know Barack Obama’s name, recognize his face, and probably study him in school. How could they not? He accomplished the greatest political feat in history. His face already belongs on Mount Rushmore - and he isn’t even president yet!
And you know how he did it? The internet. Damn I love this industry - but more on that in another post.
On this Remembrance Day, I salute and admire the man. How he goes to sleep at night without having incessant nightmares of him and his family being assassinated, I will never know.
Barring that type of disaster, the next 4 years should be downright fascinating. A man who already accomplished one of the greatest feats in history - a peaceful, insightful, fiercely intelligent man - now has 4 years to show the world what he can do as it’s leader. My money says he will do as good a job as any that has stood in his shoes.
The real solution to this problem will clearly only be resolved when Google finally starts including the ability to either import Add-Ons (ideal) or for developers to start creating their own. I’m personally shocked that they haven’t already included this since they will lose a lot of the momentum they have garnered from the impressive performance.
HOWEVER … you have not made it this far down this post for nothing. I am dedicating this post (and open thread) to make-shift solutions to any sorely missed add-ons.
That said, here are three that I’ve just figured out:
Spell Check:
The spell-check is built-in to Chrome - okay that was easy.
Managing Bookmarks in Google Chrome
For starters, you can import your bookmarks from any other browser at any time with Google Chrome (and they even remain in the same order and folders). Of course, this does me no good since I’ve been using Foxmarks to manage my bookmarks AND RSS feeds. HOWEVER, I have figured out a pretty good solution.
For even greater ease of use, I recommend embedding your bookmarks directly into your iGoogle page.
*Once this is done, I highly recommend uninstalling GMarks since it overrides the very useful bookmarking system used in Firefox 3.
RSS Feeds in Google Chrome
Tragically, there is still no auto-recognize feature for RSS feeds and they are definitely not available in the toolbar. This, to me, is the worst thing about Chrome right now, though I’m confident Google will be addressing it very shortly. However, there is a simple web-based solution to this, assuming you have all your bookmarks in Google Bookmarks:
At the bottom left of the screen you will notice “Manage Subscriptions”
Click “Import/Export”
Follow the directions to import your feeds into Google Reader.
Voila! Chrome RSS feeds - well, not exactly, but at least they are now just a tab away.
Again, I recommend embedding your Google Reader feeds into your iGoogle home page to have everything in one tab.
Firefox search bar in Chrome:
I love the ability to change the search engine on the fly in the firefox search bar. This is actually possible in Chrome as well:
Hit the Customize Google Chrome button at the top right of Chrome (the wrench).
Select Options.
In Basics, you can manage the default search engine.
Of course, if you haven’t imported your search engines from Firefox, then you won’t find all the engines you want. But assuming you have done this, they should all be there!
Got any other go arounds we haven’t thought of? Would love to hear them in our comments section.
UPDATE:
Found this GREAT link providing additional info about this:
Google launched their Chrome browser last week and I’ve been using it since day 1. I have to admit - I’ve been a Firefox junkie for over two years now - in large part due to the plethora of add-ons.
I’m the guy that uses FAR too MANY plug-ins and that has at least 4 toolbars showing at all times. Here’s a screenshot of my regular Firefox toolbars:
So when I installed Google Chrome the other day, naturally one of the first things I did was try to install my beloved Firefox Add-Ons.
At first I noticed that Chrome automatically imports all your bookmarks from any other installed browser of your choice. Good sign! My bookmarks folders were even laid out across the bookmarks toolbar folder in exactly the same order:
I quickly noticed, though, that my RSS feeds - which are normally organized within these folders - were no where to be found.
So what about those Add-Ons? Well, I have good news and bad news.
The Good:
Chrome comes equipped with a ton of Chrome plug-ins, pre-installed. That makes it more user-frendly off the bat than Firefox and basically results in a truly “plug and play” experience upon installation.
Additionally, at any time you can import your bookmarks and settings from any other browser installed on your PC.
The bad:
For starters, there is no Google Toolbar. Yes the address bar works just like a search bar, but if you’re looking for all those extra gadgets the Google Toolbar provides - like PageRank Checker and AutoFill - fawget about it!
Most importantly, there is as yet no ability to import or download third party Firefox Add-Ons. Personally I love the Alexa toolbar, can’t work much without SEO for Fireox, and rely on Foxmarks to keep all my RSS feeds in line across PCs (it’s brilliant).
Aside from the utter lack of add-on capabilities, I have to say that Chrome is far ahead of the competition. It is sleeker, cleaner, more intuitive, and much … MUCH faster than any other browser I’ve ever seen. It seems to use about a quarter of the CPU compared to other browsers. Additionally, it’s got some really cool features such as incognito browsing and customizable application shortcuts.
All this to say … I love my add-ons but DAMN I LOVE CHROME! What to do…
Read my upcoming post for how to get Firefox add-ons in Chrome - really.
In a country that is currently at war with Muslims in a fight that started as a way to catch an enemy by the name of Hussein, a guy that spent part of his youth in Indonesia (the largest Muslim country in the world) and with “Hussein” as his middle name has become Commander-in-Chief.
For starters, you remember Martin Luther King of “I have a dream” fame? Yeah, this IS the dream. Diddo for Malcom X and Muhammad Ali. I mean, Muhammad Ali was (and may even still be) the most recognizable face on the entire planet not 20 years ago - THIS IS SO MUCH BIGGER THAN THAT!
