Culture
Everything I know is Wrong
I read Andrew Keen’s brilliant book The Cult of the Amateur over the weekend. I read it in one sitting.
I’m stunned. I’m shocked. I feel lost.
In short, with a mere 200 pages, Andrew convinced a hardnose like me that I’m wrong. About everything. About a great many things having to do with the internet.
I spent most of Monday in a fog. I felt like deleting my blog, shutting down my business, and going to work on a lawn crew for the next ten years. I’m not joking.
I think I’m starting to recover a bit. But who knows?
Mismanagement at Planned Parenthood
Is there anyone left who truly believes that Planned Parenthood is a great civic community service? Even if you aren’t prolife and opposed to abortion, you’d have to be a blind follower to keep defending Planned Parenthood in this day and age.
As you may know, in many areas across the country, the gloves have come off in dealing with Planned Parenthood and its misguided minions. Planned Parenthood, like many abortion clinics, is so desperate for profits they have spent a half-century lying and covering up its many illegal and unethical actions.
Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less
I’m personally outraged by the high cost of fuel lately. Largely because it doesn’t have to be that way. More than the price of fuel, I’m outraged at the complacent lackluster shrugging of shoulders from my fellow Americans.
Folks, you better wake up… if $4/gallon doesn’t do it for you, you might as well hand the keys to the country over to our enemies and their socialist friends in Europe. I once worked for an English chap who seemed to mockingly suggest that America has had it “too good for too long” because the English, and most of Eurpoe, like fools, paid $7/gallon. He seemed to intimate that we were getting our “just deserts”. What I can’t understand is Americans who passively think the same thing.
Is Ron Paul a complete fool?
I hate even bringing up an election that is so far off, but is Ron Paul completely ignorant of politics and public impression?
Ron Paul has formally announced that he will keep, yes keep, a $500 donation from an openly-acknowledged white supremacist. Ironically, the white supremacist’s name is Don Black. Somewhere, deep in the heart of the Black Power movement, there must be a guy named Don White. Can we just get these two idiots together and put them in a mud wrestling pit to sort out their problems?
Is Social Networking Finally Breaking Down?
I’m done. With social networking. I canceled both my Facebook and MySpace accounts last week. Why? It’s over. The dream of social networking. I’m convinced that people just don’t “get it”.
TechCrunch reports on a ridiculous new site called LifeAt. It’s supposed to be a social network for building residents in New York City? What’s next? A special website for people who ate at the downtown Mickey D’s last week? It has finally gone beyond the curious grouping of people with similar interests. Young with young. Professionals with professionals.
There are over 300 social networking websites available to sign up for about any interest you might have.
Top Ten Ways to Use your Upcoming Vote to Punish your Children
I wrote this for the 2000 year elections, but considering all the hoopla about the 2008 Presidential race already under way, I thought it appropriate to share these now. I remain hopeful that someone somewhere might benefit from it, despite a decade of proof to the contrary.
1. Always view elections in term of the immediate present. After all, you are the one who has to live with who you vote for, right? Don’t let those “long-term vision” freaks get to you. The next four years is probably going to be the best four years of your life, and you don’t want to go through them knowing you supported a LOSER, do you?
STOP the Stalker
Is it just me or is this just a truly deplorable (and laughable) sign of the post-modern culture we live in? I received this in my email box:
STOP the Stalker- UCF Victim Services Event: UCF Victim Services is hosting STOP the Stalker event to recognize Stalking Awareness month on January, 30th, 2007. The event will take place on the Student Union patio at 11am- 3pm. We will have free food for students, a game show with great prizes and information about Stalking and Cyberstalking. 102 Jamz will also be broadcasting live form the Union. A FREE self defense class will be offered in Key West C and D from 2:30pm - 3:30pm. A Cyberstalking presentation presented by UCF’s computer crimes officer Eric Walton, will take place from 7:30- 9pm in Cape Florida A and B. Please come out and join us for an exciting event and to learn more about the crime that is rapidly increasing on college campuses for both males and females.
Adultitis
After discovering Adultitis by Jason and Kim Kotecki, I almost had to laugh at how uptight we adults have become. I really liked their 40-Day Escape Plan. Unfortunately, with six children and a very busy schedule, I don’t quite have the luxury of doing my 40 days all in a row as they did. However, my wife has sort of encouraged us to do the 40-Day plan, so I thought I’d do it as I have time.
Conservative Shirts
Came across this site that sells some pretty wild shirts and thought I’d pass it along your way. There are some great shirts, this being my favorite (especially when you recall that the area that patriots (uh, ‘rebels’ as the British called them) in the 1770’s used to meet was called “The Liberty Tree”. After town meetings, they would meet their to plan their tar-and-feathering of shirksome, British, corporate polliwog types. And a few slightly more nefarious activities there, too. We should have Liberty Trees again today.
Despicable Job Choices
Sometimes, when you are down and out, between jobs, just trying to get by, you might be tempted to take a job that you otherwise would not have considered. I’ve seen engineers working at Walgreens. I’ve seen mortgage brokers working as roofers. No matter how bad it gets though, there are some jobs you should never consider.
Most people will automatically make wild claims that they would never do certain things for money - bank robbery, for example. Or prostitution. But, those are personal moral choices that people make because they lead to an undesireable lifestyle which, along with the potential criminal penalties, most people do not want to venture into.
Television Viewing Habits
Steve Pavlina once again has posted yet another good article that I feel compelled to comment on. He currently is in the middle of a 30-day TV fast and while that is good, I’m hoping he, and many others, continue to avoid television much more. As a father of six children, people often question what we “do” since we don’t have a television. I find the question amusing - but first let me give a little background.
Separating Contacts by New Age and Dark Ages
One interesting thing I did during my recent switch from Outlook 2003 to Thunderbird was to also go through all my email contacts. Anyone who had never sent me an email or replied to an email of mine in the past few years, or who did so traditionally late (like months later), I deleted their email address and made a separate address book for them called “Phone Only”. I have no idea what is with these people. They either hate me and have no spine to say so, or maybe they get an email address and have no clue how to use it. I’m not talking about people with wrong email addresses or mailbox full folks. Some of them actually used to be pretty good friends.
DVD Extras
I love DVD’s in comparison to videotapes. However, what once an odd trend has now become a de facto standard in the DVD world: the inclusion of “bonus” material on DVD’s.
I confess that I rarely watch this stuff. The only thing that I will regularly watch is a “blooper” reel from the movie. However, even a lot of these are just the actors flubbing their words and then yelling out some curse word while laughing and walking off the set. Those aren’t really all that funny or necessary to include.
Signs of the Times
I wrote this as sort of a spoof or comedy bit. Maybe you’ll find it funny. Maybe you won’t. If you love to drive I’m thinking you might.
If any driver thinks that the open road is freedom or that their independence is found in their vehicle, let them rethink the situation. We can not drive without being reminded at every quarter mile by some sign that we are bound by the whims and fancies of rogue puppet dictators: city planners, homeowner associations, and worse, the state department of transportation. Whether we realize it or not, these groups exact a toll upon our driving that we often succumb to without even realizing it. Many of the signs do not make sense. The chief of all nonsensical signs is the “Do Not Pass” sign, which if obeyed, would put an end to most trips real quick. All that is needs to be added is “Do Not Collect $200″. But, the dictators’ attempts to control our driving doesn’t end there.
The American Culture Defined by Television Commercials
In an age of multi-media entertainment, digital storage, and ever-advancing technology, it is possible that the idyllic American culture has been forever lost to photo albums and sporadic home web pages. In some instances though, critics might defend the traditional American culture in their renouncement of these modern approaches; they may go so far as to say that these mediums do not rightly represent the “real America”. Therefore, let us closely examine a singular medium: the American television commercial. Does it, in fact, represent the “real America”?
