Keep it to Yourself

 

And here’s another thing about Facebook:  There’s just too much drama. 

Maybe it’s the people I know. (Years of working in a call center has definitely brought some dramatic folks into my life!)  But, I just don’t get why you’d want to be airing some of that dirty laundry on a public timeline.  Broken hearts, crappy bosses, family squabbles—is Facebook really the place?

I mean, sure, tell me about your life-changing event.  If you had a rough break-up, some commiseration from your friends could be helpful, absolutely.  And even if you and I aren’t all that close, that sort of pain touches a common nerve, so I’ll try and leave some sort of encouragement.  But I don’t need all the vindictive anger that comes out after a breakup.  I don’t even really need your play-by-play of your grief and pain, but I’m a little more tolerant of that.  Just not the anger and calling people out all over social media.

And the groups?  Oh my goodness.  These people don’t even know each other, so how can it possibly create such feelings of animosity?  Sometimes I just want to take them all into a timeout corner and tell them to sit quietly until they can learn to play nicely.

By now I’m sure you’re wondering if griping about people’s social media habits on my blog is really much different than the behavior I’m griping about, and I suppose that’s a fair question.  I will only try and clarify that it’s not the occasional rant that I have a problem with, but the constant, unnecessary bitchiness that just makes me scratch my head and wonder why. 

On Person of Interest one time, social media in general was referred to as “a swamp of indiscretion”, and I’m reminded of that phrase almost daily.  There’s a ton of over-sharing, of course, but it’s the angry over-sharing that always bothers me the most.  Seriously, can we not all just get along?

Feel Good Friday, August 22

 

There’s so much craziness going on in the world.  Wars.  Racial and religious tensions.  Crime of just about every imaginable flavor.  It’s overwhelming sometimes. 

But, when it all seems hopeless, it’s refreshing to know that we’ve got a leader we can turn to for a needed dose of wisdom and inspiration.

Sadly, I don’t typically turn to elected officials for that much-needed boost, but I can always count on Kid President.  Making the rounds this week is his back to school message, and I was glad to see it, because the world definitely needs to show a little more awesome.

If you’re not familiar with Kid President, you really should check him out.  I’d vote for him (and his staffers) for real, but I wouldn’t want to ruin them!

Outside the Inbox

 

I just emptied out my spam folder.  I’ll admit, it’s been a while since I’ve done that, since I’m generally content to just let the email wizards figure out what is and isn’t worth delivering to my inbox.   Maybe I should peek in there more often, though.  Because apparently there are an awful lot of people who want to say hello to me, offer me amazing investment opportunities, and declare their deep love for me—or at least make a night in bed feel like love.  Who knew you could get such an ego boost from your email?  I’m going to hang out there more often.

Seriously, though, I’ll admit to being puzzled by spam.  Not annoyed, mind you—I’ve never been one of those people who will rant and rave about spam, but then, I also don’t mind the junk mail that comes to my home (except for the number of trees it kills), and I often don’t even complain too much about telemarketers.  I figure everyone’s just trying to make a living.  But spam puzzles me because I can’t understand how there’s any profit in it for anybody.  I mean, if my own practice is anything to judge by, somewhere around 99.99999% of the mail in a spam folder is deleted before anyone ever takes a look.

But, even if you couldn’t resist a subject line and opened up the message, who clicks suspicious links that might infect your entire computer or allow someone to steal all your private information? Or, even if it’s not some sort of malware lurking in the link, who buys random stuff off the internet from a sketchy ad in your spam folder?  But, obviously, somebody does, or these spammers would quit flooding my mailbox, hoping that I’m the one who helps them strike it rich today. 

But, it’s not going to be me.  I might be close to the ultimate consumer, drawn in by all sorts of ads, and easily intrigued by a good deal, but even I don’t shop in the spam folder, no matter how much they might try to boost my ego.

 

And Still It Goes

 

On this date, way back in 1925, a trial began that would come to be known as the Scopes Monkey Trial.  A science teacher, John Scopes, was on trial for the absurd and unreasonable action of teaching science—in this case, evolution—to high school students. 

In the week that followed, what should have been an ordered and judicious event turned into a circus, segments of society were divided on opposite sides of a religious line in the sand, and reasoned debate was abandoned for hyperbole and theatrics.

It’s kind of hard to believe that argument took place 89 years ago, isn’t it?  I mean, it could’ve been yesterday.  And at the rate we’re going, it will be tomorrow.

 

Merry Happy Everything

So, I’m not sure this time of year is supposed to be the season of frustration venting, but I’m going to take just a second to do it, anyway.

I have to say that I’ve become completely annoyed at all the people getting up in arms over the phrase “happy holidays” or any equivalent thereof.  And, of course, by “all the people”, I mean “all the Christians”.  I don’t know that I’ve ever heard anyone rant over inequality or discrimination because no one said “Happy Ramadan to you”.  But the way I see it is this:  During this time of year, there are a lot of things being celebrated, all deeply personal and none more right than the other.  Christmas is my celebration of choice, but I’ll admit that I often opt for a more generic greeting with those I don’t know, because their choice of celebration could be different.  I don’t feel that saying “happy holidays” to someone in any way lessens my belief or cheapens my own celebration.

On the other hand, I don’t think less of people who say “Merry Christmas” to total strangers, either.  Sure, it might carry with it just the slightest layer of conceit to assume everyone believes the way you do, but I don’t think that’s the way most people intend it when they say it, and I think even most non-Christians would take it in the spirit it was intended.  Just as it wouldn’t offend me if someone were to wish me a happy Chanukah or Kwanzaa or Saturnalia.  Whatever the phrase, I’m pretty sure most folks are just trying to convey wishes for the joy and blessings of the season, and I’m thankful if someone wants to share those wishes with me in any form.

So why do so many Christians these days want to take offense if their particular greeting is not the one being used?  Why do they offer a “Merry CHRISTmas”, like they’re brandishing some sort of weapon?  Is their faith so weak that it’s threatened by a few words?  Honestly, I just don’t get it.

Here in our state, we’ve got lawmakers trying to pass a Merry Christmas bill. (They’re modeling it after a similar one passed recently in Texas, which scares me just a little that our elected officials are taking their lead from the folks down there, but that’s a whole other story.)  Anyway, they’re trying to make it legal for schools to have “traditional” displays and celebrations and teachings of the same.  Of course, traditional means Christian or Jewish, though I’m pretty sure there are seasonal celebrations that pre-date those two mainstays.  Not that Oklahoma is just a hotbed for diversity of any type, of course, religious or otherwise, so, honestly, if the schools were to celebrate only those two holidays, I’d say there’s a pretty good chance the vast majority of districts would be serving 99.8% of their population.  Or more.  But I’m not sure that’s really the point. 

I think it’s ridiculous that the legislature would want to encourage our school system to teach any sort of exclusion.  And let’s be honest; religions tend to be very exclusionary.  Most teach that their way of believing is the only right way of believing, and that to do otherwise will certainly have some sort of negative repercussion on your eternity.  I don’t think public schools are the place to teach that message.  I think educators should be the ones to ensure that kids know there are lots of things being celebrated as the year draws to a close, and that no one is wrong for celebrating the way that they do.

So, please, if I don’t wish you a merry Christmas, don’t be offended.  I’m not trying to diminish your belief in any way; I’m simply hoping that your season is a joyous one and filled with everything that you want it to be.  In other words, happy holidays.

 

Feel Good Friday, December 6

 

I’m glad people share things on Facebook; it exposes me to things I might not ordinarily see or know about.  But, just as often, clicking on a link from Facebook causes me to click on another link, then another, and another.  The Internet really can be a time suck, but more times than not, I run across things that make it worthwhile.

Such was the case a day or so ago when I wandered through one of my favorite spots, Upworthy.  I don’t remember now what originally led me there, but I do remember the story of Mushy, a high school student in England struggling to overcome a stammer.  This is the original video I saw:

But this video had a link to Mushy’s “full story”, and after seeing these few minutes, I knew I wanted to see more.  It turns out that he was featured on a reality TV show called Educating Yorkshire.  Typically I’m not much of a fan of reality television, but if all eight episodes of this show were as good as Mushy’s episode, I might be persuaded to reconsider my view of the genre.  Oh, and I love that Mushy’s teacher was willing to try something he saw in a movie; that’s a man after my own heart!

If you enjoyed the five minute condensed version, and if you’ve got half an hour to spare, you can see more of Mushy here:

Drama Free is the Way to Be

 

“The best way of removing negativity is to laugh and be joyous.”

~ David Icke

I’m not a fan of drama.  In life, I mean.  Television, movies, books—bring it on.  But when it comes to every day living, I’d prefer things be a little more humdrum.  But some people seem to thrive on drama.  Always looking for something to gripe about, dwelling on bad situations, quick to take offense.  I’m sure you know the type.  Not that we need to bury our heads in the sand and pretend that life is just a bunch of roses, but I just don’t see the point in choosing to be mired in such a way of thinking that you end up spreading drama wherever you go.

Except for some family members that I’m pretty much stuck with (can’t choose family, you know), I’m lucky not to have a whole lot of drama-ridden negative Nellies in my midst.  Though, honestly, that’s not all luck; except for family, I do get a whole lot of choice in who I spend time with, so I try to choose wisely.  But today I ran smack-dab into a bit of drama courtesy of a classmate.  Her dramatic method of choice is the quick to take offense and then lash out variety.  I know this about her; I’ve seen it in action before.  So you’d think I wouldn’t be surprised when it happened again, this time with her negativity aimed in my direction, but surprise me it did.  And, as drama is wont to do, it managed to seep into my brain and put a cloud over my whole day.  That’s my fault, of course; I shouldn’t let other people’s wackiness have such an impact on me, but sometimes it’s hard to take a step back and ignore it. 

Still, at this point, I’ve had my say, addressed the perceived insult with an apology (since I honestly did not mean to offend), and have gone on about my business.  But it doesn’t feel resolved, and I feel pretty sure things will be tense when we see each other again tomorrow.  That’s the way it is with drama—it likes to linger.  But, I know that I can’t do more than I’ve done; things will either be okay or they will not.  Obviously, I hope for the “okay” resolution, but I’ll admit that there are days when I completely understand reclusive hermit types, and think it would be better if we all just lived in our own little bubbles and didn’t have to interact with each other at all.

Anyway, I just wanted to get it off my chest a little bit, and say that each time I run into such drama, I am a little confused, and frustrated, and saddened.  But, with all due respect to Mr. Icke, I think tonight the best way of getting rid of negativity and moving on from the drama is to see what happened on tonight’s episode of White Collar, so that’s what I’m going to do, and hopefully before this headache takes over and the med I just took for it wins out and I find myself sound asleep on the couch again!

Good night, and I wish you all a sunshiny and fun Friday, completely drama free. 

Family Feud

 

“A father is a man who expects his son to be as good a man as he meant to be.” ~Frank A. Clark

Fathers and sons.  What is it with those guys, anyway?  I mean, I’ve always heard about the quarrelsome dynamic that exists between men and their male offspring, and goodness knows, I’ve certainly been witnessing it first-hand for years now, but I still don’t understand it.

Maybe I wasn’t prepared because I’d never been exposed to it personally before I began living it.  I have brothers, but they’re of the step variety, so we didn’t grow up in the same household.  Certainly there was some tension between them and our dad at the times they lived with us, but I always thought that was because they moved in with us as they were becoming young men after being separated from their dad for so long.  And Brian has never indicated that he went through any significant drama with is own father.  So how was I supposed to know what was lurking in the wings?

All I know for sure is that my husband and son have not particularly seen eye to eye on much of anything since the kid hit driving age.  And whatever frustration it is they feel for each other is exacerbated by the fact that neither of them can see—or at least won’t admit—how very much alike they are.  I keep thinking things will eventually improve, but I think at least one of them is going to have to grow up first. 

 

Facebook Friday, November 8

 

My friend, Judy, shares a lot of things on Facebook that I really enjoy.  She’s one of those virtual friends that I so wish I could have the opportunity to meet face to face, because we so clearly have so much in common.  The video I’ll share with you today is yet another item that appeared on my FB feed courtesy of Judy.

As I know I’ve said at least a few times before, I dream of a world where people are all accepted for exactly who they are, though there certainly are times I despair of that dream ever becoming a reality.  I know that’s a dream Judy shares, too.  But, I won’t bore you with a lot of my blatherings today, I’ll simply let Ash Beckham tell you how she views things, and about just a few of the similarities that we all share.  I think if enough of us can begin to recognize and accept these similarities, we just might get to the point where speeches such as this one will no longer be necessary.

Oh, and for the record, like a lot of other really cool things, this was being shared via Upworthy.

 

A Minor Rant

 

 

 

I’ve never been one of those folks to get on the “big brother” kick.  If “they” (whoever they may be) want to put cameras at all the intersections to make it easier to catch folks with traffic violations, I’m not too worked up about it.  Sure, it’s lazy police work, but maybe it saves a few bucks.  GPS tags in license plates?  Well, I’m not sure exactly why they would need that, but I’m not going anywhere I’d be ashamed to be found, so I don’t have any real privacy privacy objection to it. 

Even in my computer browsing, I don’t take a lot of steps to hide my history, or block cookies, or anything along those lines.   But, here’s something that bothers me:  those targeted sponsored posts on Facebook.  You know the ones, they’re about some product or service that you were just browsing for in another window.  Like I said, I’m not doing anything I’m ashamed of—not even on the web—but that doesn’t mean I want people poking around in my search history just to try and sell me something.  It seems like that crosses a line that ought not to be crossed, even for me.  It might not be exactly “big brother”, but it does seem awfully rude. 

No Phones Allowed

 

  You ever have one of those moments when you realize you’re just not sure how you ever functioned without some seemingly indispensable piece of technology?  I mean, intellectually we can usually recognize that whatever we’re feeling so attached to is actually relatively new to the landscape, but we just seem so dependent.

  Well, I had one of those moments today about my cell phone.  As you can imagine, phones aren’t precisely encouraged in the classroom.  But, while every instructor has a rule about not using your phone in class, none of them (or at least, none of mine) really mind if you have it out on your desk just in case something important comes up.  You know the drill: just keep it on silent and leave the

Image courtesy of Feelart at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

room if you actually have to take a call.  But, during exams, it’s a different story.  I suppose if phones were really only phones, even then it wouldn’t be much of a problem.  But since what they really are is tiny little computers capable of turning even the biggest slacker into an A student with the touch of a few simple search buttons, you can see why the instructors are a little more particular during the testing times. 

Anyway, this is finals week, so during my exam tonight, I had my phone tucked safely away in my pocket, knowing it was off limits.  But it was still powered on (on vibrate), so I could tell I was getting some text messages while I was testing.  Honestly though, I didn’t think too much about it.  It’s not unusual for the PTK gang to send out a group message and then blow up my phone as everyone starts chiming in to the conversation.  And I never received a phone call, so I didn’t figure it was anything too important. 

But, as soon as I left the classroom, I pulled out my phone to see what the chatter was all about and found that my husband had taken himself to the ER.  We’ve both been fighting this crud for the past week now, but he’s definitely worse than I am.  He went to the doctor yesterday and got some meds, but today his blood pressure was really high.  Now, it’s been running a little bit high for a while (and I haven’t been able to talk him into a doctor), but today was approaching dangerously high.  I checked his medication info sheets since he hadn’t bothered to read them, and found a list of possible side effects that all screamed “increased blood pressure”.  So, I had him call the doctor’s office and they told him to stop taking one of the pills.  Then I saw him briefly on my way out the door to school tonight, and he still wasn’t feeling too great, and was reporting yet another symptom—loss of hearing. 

Well, as the evening wore on, apparently the whole hearing thing got worse, and the BP didn’t get a whole lot better.  He called the doctor yet again, who told him nothing he was taking should be impacting his hearing, nor should his BP still be so high many hours after having taken his last dose of steroids.  They directed him to the ER, so off he went.

So, as it turns out, the hearing is just a really bad ear infection (though why they didn’t find that yesterday, I’ll never know), and they finally convinced him he needs to see a doctor for some actual management of his blood pressure, so it’s not all bad.  But the weird thing was the moment of panic I felt when I realized something at least mildly important had been going on and I wasn’t aware of it.  For a minute, I was trying to figure out if there was some sort of emergency number for the school I could give out or something.  I mean, what if this had been really important?  What then?

But then I realized, as I always do when these moments arise, that the world got along just fine for an incredibly long time without cell phones and the ability to be instantly and constantly connected.  For myself, I’ve only had a cell for about 16 years.  Now, in some ways, that’s a really long time, and you can see how a person can become dependent.  But it’s also not even quite a third of my lifetime, which means I’ve spent the vast majority of my life—even most of my adult life—without a cell phone.  And I survived.  It might be hard to imagine sometimes, but it’s true.  The younger generation might not be able to conceive of a world without such instant communication, but I certainly know it existed.  And, when these odd moments of panic arise now, I can take some comfort in knowing that I could live without such newfangled technology, should the need every really arise. (A confidence I’m not sure my son or others his age could muster.)  But, I’ll be honest:  I wouldn’t like it.  Maybe I need to devise some sort of code for my husband to use in cases of emergency, so I can recognize the important events just by the buzzing in my pocket.

 

In Search Of . . .

 

 

At some point during my sort of busy weekend, I was scrolling through my Facebook feed and came upon a post that made me giggle:  “Random thought: what did you Google today?”

I wish now I’d taken the time to jot down an answer just so I’d have gotten the notifications to see what sort of responses showed up, because now I don’t even remember who posted it.  (Apologies if it’s someone who might actually see this!)  Anyway, I think it’s an interesting question, since I know I’m not the only one to use the amazing search engine to find out strange and wondrous things.

At the time I saw the post, my only searching of the day had been homework related, so just a few legal terms and concepts.  And it’s a rare day that goes by that I don’t add a few more of those to my search history.  But since then, every time I’ve popped over to do a quick look, that post has popped back into my mind.

So, yeah, the parol evidence rule and extinction of contracts have recently shown up for me, as have Big Papi, Lyrid meteors, frog sounds, a quick refresher on the proper usages of affect/effect and lay/lie, Earth Day, and Miranda exceptions for public safety (I’m probably not alone in that last one). 

And, I remember back in our more prolific fanfiction-writing days, my friends and I used to joke that if we were ever suspected of any sort of criminal activity, our browser histories would likely sink us, since we very commonly searched techniques from lock-picking to murder, as well as the statutes applicable to whatever crime we might want to commit and the defenses to go along with them.  Fun Google times there.  (And just a little bit scary, the kind of information you can find with so little effort.)

As someone who grew up in the days of making trips to the library to search through volumes of bound encyclopedias and the card catalogue to find whatever tidbits of information I might need to know, I seriously love Google.  And while encyclopedias certainly provided some tangential information and entertainment when you’d stumble across something interesting that you weren’t really looking for, it’s nothing compared to the hidden wonders that await in the vast land that is the interwebs.  I mean, who hasn’t been lured by "just one more” random link that showed up on your Google quest?  I know that I’ve certainly lost many an hour just moving from page to page, reading through the most arbitrary assortment of information, not precisely remembering any of it, but knowing that should those random topics come up at some point in the future, I’d be ready to at least participate in the conversation.  You’d never get that sort of immersion from an encyclopedia.

Don’t get me wrong; there’s still something magical about walking into a library and browsing through the stacks, but that’s a much broader appeal to stumbling across something new and exciting rather than actually trying to find a particular piece of information.  I’m not even sure libraries still have printed encyclopedias, much less card catalogues.  Research will likely never be the same as it was back in my youth, but I’m not convinced that’s entirely a bad thing, not when the replacement method is so darn handy.  Yeah, we might lose something of the wonder of hard-copy books and the institutional reverence of the local library, but when you’ve got worlds of information available at the touch of a button—even on a phone wherever you go!—I think it’s probably worth a few sacrifices.

So, tell me, what have you Googled today?

V is for Violence

 

Image courtesy of Simon Howden at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I’m having a “what is this world coming to?” moment. 

Yesterday, a young man in Oregon randomly (apparently) shot total strangers before killing himself.  That was just the latest in a string of public shootings that seems to stretch longer and longer as  I grow older.

And here at home (well, not my actual town, but my local big city), we’re setting homicide records these days.  We’ve had 95 so far this year, up from 60 back in 2011.  What is up with that?  I know 95 might not seem like a lot to some of the really big cities in the world, but wherever you live, I hope we can all agree that it’s 95 too many.

And let’s not forget about home invasions, armed robberies, and various assaults along the way.  Earlier this week, our local news was carrying a story about a fight between several young women that was caught on video tape.  Bad enough these girls thought the best way to solve whatever problems they were having was by slugging it out on a public sidewalk, worse still that rather than intervene, someone else thought the best way to react would be to film the incident and then post it to Facebook.  Seriously, if these sorts of things don’t make you stop and wonder what the world is coming to, I don’t know what will.

And speaking of the world, what about the wars?  People everywhere fighting for whatever their cause might be.  I’m not here to speculate on which of those causes might be just—any or all of them—but I am wondering if shooting, and bombing, and killing is the only way to solve the problem.

Sadly, I don’t have any answers.  I promise you, I would not be sitting here typing this if I did; I’d be out fixing things.  But I am a firm believer that violence is rarely the answer. (Really, the correct word is probably never, but I’ll grant that there are any number of circumstances I’ve never confronted, so I’ll hedge my bets just a little).

But maybe—especially at this time of year, when everything is supposed to be about peace on earth and all—maybe if we all just take a moment to deliberately think about the need to end the violence in our world, then maybe the idea will begin to spread.  We’re supposed to be the most advanced creatures on this planet, so surely we can find a way to work together to find more constructive ways to deal with our differences.  That’s something I’d like to see the world coming to.

Linking up over at ABC Wednesday; venture on over and enjoy the various ideas you’ll find.

Believe It or Not, There Wasn’t Always DirecTV

 

As I sit here watching my almost-nightly fix of Criminal Minds on ION TV (while I’m recording my current nightly fix of the Hallmark Channel holiday movie), I’m thinking about the marvel of cable (or satellite) television. 

Though we tend to think of cable TV as a fairly newish invention, the truth is that its earliest forms showed up way back in the 40s.  But that was really just to move the television signal a little further down the line and get a few more viewers (and a few extra dollars for the folks with the big antennas).  But by 1972, broadcast regulations had changed, HBO was launched, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Of course, I grew up in a slightly smallish town, so the fact that premium television stations existed somewhere didn’t really do me much good.  And I also grew up with a fairly old-fashioned father, so even once Norman, OK had a well-established cable television system, my dad didn’t really see the point in paying good money just to watch TV.  I remember my sister and I wanted cable for quite a while before it actually made it into our home, and I can remember thinking how lucky some of my friends were who already had access to those magical extra channels.  But finally, my dad gave in.

I really don’t remember how old I was—I’m thinking maybe 15 or so—but I completely remember the way we found out.  It was about this time of year, and the whole family—Mama, Daddy, Tanya, me—was out at the mall doing some Christmas shopping.  We were doing what families do at malls, chatting as we wandered from store to store, when Daddy very nonchalantly told us we were getting cable for Christmas.  It was so out of the blue, with absolutely no fanfare, that I thought he was kidding.  I laughed, and just sort of said, “oh, okay, neat”, or whatever it was that teenagers were saying those days when they were playing it cool, and wandered off into the next store.  But my mom followed me and explained Daddy hadn’t been kidding; he really was finally getting us the cable we’d been wanting for so long. 

Oh my gosh.  I was no longer playing it cool.  I don’t know exactly what happened then, but I’m pretty sure it involved some hand clapping, goofy grins, and hugs.  Oh, and a lot of questions of “WHEN?”  For a TVaholic like myself, there couldn’t have been a better present; I was thrilled. 

Of course, it probably won’t surprise you to know that some things don’t ever change.  The cable was supposed to be installed the next day, but there was some reason it couldn’t be done.  It seems like we waited forever, though I’m pretty sure it was really only a couple of days.  You’d think after waiting a couple of years, another couple of days wouldn’t have mattered much, but I was ready.

I still remember those early cable days fondly . . . the way an extra 10 or 20 stations seemed like a smorgasbord of variety, even if I only watched a few of them . . . the “remote control” that was a big box with a slider channel selector and a long cord stretching across the living room from the TV to the end table . . . programming that came to an end before the day was over . . . all things that seem positively prehistoric when compared to the satellite TV I’m watching now, with remote controls on both sides of my living room, round the clock programming, and literally hundreds of channels—even if I still watch relatively few of them.  Still, prehistoric or not, it was part of my history of television infatuation and it paved the way for what I have now, so, tonight I say a little word of thanks to cable TV.

 

7 Score and 9 Years Ago

 

If you check out any sort of “this date in history” type of list, probably the first entry you’ll find for today is the Gettysburg Address. 

Giving a fairly last-minute speech at the dedication of a military cemetery, President Abraham Lincoln took a few minutes to utter some of the most famous words in American history.  It only took him a few hundred words to remind his audience of the founding principles of our country, and encourage them to go forward re-dedicated to those principles.  As someone who sits down to tap out my thoughts pretty regularly, I have to say that I’m impressed with that sort of efficiency.  And the fact that those few words have taken on such historical significance is nothing short of awe-inspiring. 

It does seem that there is some disagreement among the scholars about the precise wording of the speech, though the variations aren’t great.  And I think everyone is in agreement about the final few words:  “. . . that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” 

Whether in honor of those lost in battle more than a hundred years ago, those fighting today on the other side of the world, or those who sacrifice in a myriad of ways in service to this country, I think it’s a resolution worth keeping.

Image courtesy Henryhartley via Wikipedia Commons

 

Webmaster I Am Not

 

                                                                 Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

As I may have mentioned, my responsibilities with ΦΘΚ involve keeping up the social media for the chapter.  And, by “keeping up”, I mean create and implement a whole new plan of action.  It seems in the past, the chapter often didn’t have a PR officer, so any form of advertisement (if that’s the right word) pretty much fell by the wayside.  They did have a Facebook page which wasn’t being utilized, but beyond that, not much.

So, in addition to trying to put the Facebook page to work for keeping members informed, and doing the same with a campus forum for members, I’ve been trying to stay in touch with our campus newspaper to get the club mentioned at least once a month and keeping fliers posted on the bulletin boards. 

But, I also decided to launch a chapter blog a week or so ago, figuring one or two posts a week would keep things plenty updated for the moment.  It’s not getting a lot of traffic, but that’s okay; I knew it would be slow going.  One of the other things my duties call for, though, is publishing two newsletters per semester.  I’m running a little behind, because I only just got the first one done.  Rather than print them for distribution, our advisor thought an electronic publication would be a better choice, suggesting I simply put it up on the blog.

All of that sounded like a great idea until I got around to actually trying to upload a document from template format into a blog post.  Wowser.  You know, Word has a “save as web page” option, so I didn’t anticipate it being much of a problem, but I find that things rarely go the way that I think they will, especially when technology is involved.

After many, many attempts and a lot of trial and error with modifying the HTML code, I finally got it almost right—certainly close enough that I could live with.  I work in Chrome, and it was fine there; ditto for Firefox.  Sadly, when I got to IE for testing, I found that it does not display in that browser.  WTH?  But, it was after midnight, and the blog stats say that most of what readers we’ve had have come in from Firefox, so this is a battle I simply cannot continue to fight tonight.  Maybe I’ll tackle it again tomorrow, or maybe I’ll just try and get it worked out within the next month or so before the next volume has to be published. 

But, the ordeal has served to remind me of some of my limitations.  I waltzed into this whole thing thinking, how hard could it be?.  I figured, post a few Facebook status updates, a blog post or two, maybe get some pictures floating around, and life would be good.  After all, I already know how to use Facebook, Blogger, and a camera, right?  If only.

Frustrating as it is, though, sometimes it’s good to come up against the things you don’t know, to figure out how to use what you do know, and what you might want to learn next.  While I was pondering this, I found a quote: 

“In the process of trial and error, our failed attempts are meant to destroy arrogance and provoke humility.”  ~Master Jin Kwon.

Seems just about right to me.

What sorts of things have provoked humility for you recently? 

Oh, and if anyone knows any simple secrets to converting Word newsletter templates to HTML, I would love to hear them!

Report or Make the News? The Blurring Line

 

  As I’ve said before, you won’t typically find a lot of political or current event type information here on these pages, because I neither feel particularly qualified to discuss those topics, nor am I particularly interested in most of them.  However, during this election cycle, I’ve been paying a bit more attention to the news than normal, so I’ve had some thoughts about the media in general, and on television in particular, as that’s where I get most of my news.

  My son, occupy-minded young man that he is, often complains about the bias and propaganda tendencies of “mainstream media”, though he’ll spend hours watching the Free Speech TV network. 

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I think bias is bias, regardless of what channel you happen to be watching, and I’m not sure that it’s any less propaganda-like just because it happens to be a message with which you agree.  However, what I’ve ultimately decided is that for the most part, mainstream media tries to simply present the news without a bias, but I've come to believe that is almost impossible to achieve.  Not that they shouldn’t try, of course, it’s just that I’ve reached the point where I don’t really expect it.

The main bias—regardless of whether it's local, national, print, etc.—is simply the stories that a media organization chooses to report.  The issues that are getting coverage are pretty much the issues that the public will be focused on and feel more strongly about, whether or not those issues happen to be the most important issues at hand.  That's a lot of power.

As an example, think about Pres. Obama's birth certificate and Gov. Romney's tax returns.  At this point, in my opinion, there is nothing newsworthy about those issues, as absolutely nothing has changed about the facts involved.  And yet, every time some politician/interest group/celebrity brings it up again, the media puts it back in our faces, keeping it an important topic of consideration.  They may see that as reporting; I see it as pandering to the lowest common denominator and stirring up trouble.  A person’s beliefs on those two topics might weigh in as part of their decision making for choosing a president, but I think it would be unfortunate if all the brouhaha surrounding it caused those issues to be anyone's primary consideration.

Also, I think most of the media should refrain from providing their "opinion", and should stick to reporting facts.  As I said, I do think it's about impossible to completely separate out the two, but sometimes there doesn't seem to be much of an attempt made. 

Even clearly labeled editorial segments on the local news or in newspapers I think can be a little bit of a problem.  I sort of think the people doing editorials should not be the same people writing news stories or anchoring the nightly broadcast; there should be more delineation between facts and opinions, and I think it's hard to make that separation if the same guy moves from reporting the latest details of the campaign trail and then telling you what he thinks about the latest big news topic.  The anchors of the two local news broadcasts I watch most often both have editorial segments, and the more I see it, the more it bothers me.

On the other hand, not too long ago, I saw CBS news anchor Scott Pelley on the Letterman show, and I have to say that I was pretty impressed with him.  Dave tried multiple times to get him to weigh in with an opinion on several topical items, but he never did.  Each time, he would deflect the question about what he personally thought, and respond with more details about the situation at hand, or explain historical parallels, or whatever.  I'm sure he has plenty of opinions on everything that he reports, but I appreciated the fact that he opted not to blur the line.

In this day and age, I think just about every media format is feeling the pressure to compete with the immediacy and engagement levels of the Internet.  But, where I really think television news can excel is to try to do the one thing that the interactive format of the WWW won’t allow: simply be a trusted source of accurate reporting of the world around us.  If the anchors and reporters could remember that we’re counting on them to research and report the news rather than make the news, I think we would all be better off.

 

G is for Gobsmacked

 

I think I might’ve said before that I don’t really have “guilty pleasures” in terms of my TV viewing, since I don’t really watch anything that I consider so inherently bad in any way that I shouldn’t be watching it.  But, one of the programs I do take some grief over is Doctor Who.  Mostly I think that’s because a lot of people only think of older episodes with goofy looking aliens, and they don’t go much beyond that.  But that’s like only remembering the original Star Trek for the Horta, or something.  Sure, it’s cheap special effects, but that is so not what the show is about. 

But, I’m not here to convince you that Doctor Who is worth tuning in to, though it certainly is.  No, I’m here to say that one of the things that I always enjoy when watching it is hearing some of the British expressions and turns of phrase.  It’s always been interesting to me how American and British English are so close and yet still so far apart.  Subtle little changes that give a language character.

Of course, you’ve got the normal substitutions that we’re all pretty accustomed to:  loo instead of bathroom, petrol rather than gas, lift for elevator.  When I was a kid, those were some of the earliest “Britishisms” I learned, and they always made me laugh.  I’m also still fond of the way they say “brilliant” where we Americans might say “awesome”, and “spot on” instead of our more mundane “precisely”. 

I’ve been watching quite a few rerun episodes of the Doctor this past week or so, as BBC America tries to get us all excited about the upcoming new season beginning this weekend (it worked for me), so I’ve had occasion to hear a few.  None of them were entirely new to me, which maybe means I really have spent too much time watching the adventures of the wandering Time Lord, but they’re still entertaining to me, just the same, and I thought I’d share a few with you.

Nutter:  Crazy.  As in, “I think people who believe in alien life are all nutters.”

Bits and bobs: Little bits of this and that.  “What say we pop over to Saturn and pick up some bits and bobs?”

Whinge:  Complain. “So we’re stuck in a time loop again; quit your whingeing.”

Bollocks:  Seems to have a few uses, but I like nonsense.  “A 900 year old man travelling through space and time in a police box? Now you’re just talking bollocks.”

Gobsmacked: Jaw-droppingly amazed.  “The Doctor dances? I’m gobsmacked.”

Those are just a few of the expressions I’ve enjoyed recently.  And the thing that I love best about them is that we share enough language that they all make perfect sense in context, even if it is the first time you’ve heard them.  Well, that and the fact that I just think they’re kind of fun. 

So, if you want to have a bit of a grin, spend an afternoon tuned in to BBCA (most any show will do, though I am certainly partial to the Doctor), and see what kind of words you can learn.  I think you’ll be glad you did.

And, if you want to take a gander at an entire gaggle of G posts, do graze the entries over at ABC Wednesday.  You’ll be gobsmacked at the good things you’ll find.

 

June Photos, Day 5—Sign

 

It’s not something I think about all that often, at least not consciously.  But, really, signs are everywhere.  Traffic signs, retail signs, menu signs, billboard signs . . . the list goes on and on.  You could do an entire photo spread with the posted signs you see throughout your day.  And that’s just the ones that are created with the explicit intention of conveying information.  

But what about all the other little things that pop up throughout your day that portend one thing or another?  Those are signs, too, right?  And, no, I’m not talking about an owl sighting bringing doom or a bird pooping on your head bringing luck.  At least, I’m not necessarily talking about those things, though I’d be lying if I said those sorts of thoughts aren’t at the back of my mind.  I figure things get to be wives’ tales and legends for a reason, right?  But I digress.  The real point is that there are all sorts of pieces of information that lead us to draw a conclusion of one sort or another; we call those signs, too.  Wake up to rain, and take that as a sign the morning commute will be bad.  Not enough milk for cereal?  Maybe that’s a sign you should skip breakfast anyway.  Like I said, there are all sorts of signs.  For myself, I’m still looking for the one that means I’m going to win the lottery.

Anyway, these are the things I was considering when I began thinking about todays photo theme, so I’ve got some literal signs (as well as what they signify to me), and some that are just harbingers of information for me and me alone.  As you’ll notice, I don’t think all signs mean deeply important things.  It may be a character flaw of some sort.

Like the song says, there are signs everywhere.  What signs did you run into today, and what did they herald for you?

May Photos, Day 20—Something You Can’t Live Without

 

Well, there’s the obvious, of course—family, friends, enough money for food/clothing/shelter. 

But, today’s choice is a little more futuristic than those time-honored items—electronic gadgets.

I suppose I could live without these things; after all, I managed for a good portion of my life.  But the idea of making do without them now is a little bit terrifying.  After all, these are the items that keep me in touch with those aforementioned family and friends.  I can’t really say that they do much for the money aspect of things, though when I was working, I did use the computer and phone for higher productivity, so maybe that counts a little bit. 

Mostly, though, they’re the way I stay connected with the people close to me and the world as a whole, and living without that ease of communication is something I don’t even want to try.