The 10 Signs That It’s Time to Delete Your Facebook Account

From Herculodge... I visit here every day.

http://herculodge.typepad.com/herculodge/2011/06/the-10-signs-that-its-time-to-delete-your-facebook-account.html

You Have Got to Be Kidding (but Part of Me Wants to Understand)

Cartoon of bearded Mickey Mouse with Minnie in a veil causes stir in Egypt
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43558265/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/

You won't see the picture there, just get the story.

See larger picture here (I'm no fan of Glenn Beck)
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/egypt-christian-mogul-enrages-islamists-with-bearded-dickey-mouse/

As much as I am perpetually in wonderment at some sects in some faiths responding so virulently at what I think are trivial matters, there is a part of me that feels if I am offending someone, and there is no more reason to do so than not to do so, why do it?



Example: I am known (by some people in some situations) to string profanity together in ways that is effective an poetic. However, I am equally adept at expressing the same sentiment with polite words. As I told my son many times (and it resonates with him still), there are no bad words, only words that hurt people.

There is a line you cross when you hurt people. It's manifestly not about the words, but the intent, or perceived intent.

There is also a line that the offended party crosses, by looking for opportunities to be offended; you can find those opportunities everywhere no matter who you are, if you look hard enough.

The solution is tolerance, honesty, and a little trust on both sides. Chip away at those and you wind up with people dying over ideas - chemicals and electrons and synapses and neurons. Much ado about nothing has killed more people than serious grievances ever will.

Funny story about Mark Twain's swearing - "You got the words right, Livy, but you don't know the tune."

http://homepage.smc.edu/larsen_lyle/mark_twain_and_the_art_of_sweari.htm



[update 2011-06-29]

I was recently told that a particular church service was especially good, from a couple people that were in the service; among the preacher's best, they said. I attend this church occasionally with my wife, as we have friends there. As is often the case, I was in the foyer/lobby/reception area having coffee during the service. I can hear the message over speakers in this area, but it's difficult to follow, as others are usually there also and visiting.

I listened to the message on a podcast recently to see if I could understand what was so wonderful. I must admit, I do now understand, but don't share the opinion. I'm as convinced as I was before that it treads a fine line between nonsense and enlightenment, but I will not share that link publicly or discuss it with my friends.

Why?

I don't want to hurt them, and I don't want to manipulate your judgement. There is no harm in believing what these people believe, and the experience is very real for them, and they made no effort to foist it on me, they only want to share something special with me that is special to them. What is wrong with that? I find it a charming gesture.

A Charles Kind of a Day

I love gray gloomy overcast days, morning 'til night. Not because I'm a gloomy person, but because gray days are still, peaceful, quiet, as though God has pulled a frayed wool blanket over the earth.


I'm definitely in the minority. Only those who know me well understand my sincerity. "Looks like a Charles kind of day," they'll say.


There's an area in the Alleghenies in West Virginia though which you pass on the way to North Carolina from Michigan where it is perpetually foggy. There is a sign there, "Fog Area," and every time I've passed through, 4 or 5, it has indeed been foggy. There's a rest stop there, for folks tired of driving up for hours and realizing shortly they'll be driving down. The mountains rise above it even more, and I always think, how delightful it would be to enjoy this every day.

In Session is back in session on TruTV

Looks like In Session has returned to Comcast on Channel 45. That's good news, it's been off since the digital transition in my area, and now if I am home I can follow the Casey/Clayee Anthony trial. It was turned on just this weekend, we'll see if this channel is the same one CNN keeps referring to has having daily coverage, though this Monday is a court holiday in Florida I understand and there won't be anything happening tomorrow. [2011-06-27: Since court is actually in session today, Monday, it would appear CNN was wrong on this; in fact, something very interesting has happened - MSNBC if streaming live coverage; first I'm aware of this.]

[2011-06-29: Turns out TruTV is not covering the trial ; I thought InSession was a component of that network; it would appear not.]

Not that I'm addicted, but if you care to follow it too, you can get nearly 4 hours of daily post-mortem on CNN HLN starting with Jane Valez-Mitchel at 7 ET, followed by Nancy Grace, Dr Drew, and finally Joy Behar.


(IMHO Dr Drew is the most interesting and probing of them all, and Nancy Grace - who probably spends 40 minutes out of the hour replaying old footage and waxing indignant - the least.)

All My Children

http://oldtimeradiodiner.blogspot.com/p/follow-me-here.html

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves / Did gyre and gimble in the wabe

Promo for Super 8 (http://www.super8-movie.com/): "The best summer movie of the year." Huh? Is it the best movie of the summer? Or the year? I think they want it both ways so they created something nonsensical that still manages somehow to get the message across.

English just works that way. Read Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky" (http://www.jabberwocky.com/carroll/jabber/jabberwocky.html) , or listen to a delightful song rendition by one of my favorites, Phil Harris: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pz-oyJQmrRI

Marketing is less about words than it is about sound and intent. Bad news for writers. Good news for marketers. You can be viscerally understood without saying a damn thing.

Great Example of Assemble-It-Yourself Instructions.

I bought a children's bookshelf at Meijer. It has cloth pockets and holds the books so they face forward, like a magazine rack in a book store. The writers/translators took more time than most companies that make this sort of thing. The first paragraph was very good...

Congratulations on your latest purchase.

Now what? Don't start sweating over this box of parts. This will be easy. We did the hard work for you. All you need to do is follow our simple instructions and you'll be on your way to transforming your room in no time. Good luck-though we're confident you won't need it.

KD8OSB Unboxes his Wouxun KG-UVD1P

http://oldtimeradiodiner.blogspot.com/2011/06/kd8osb-unboxes-his-new-wouxun-dual.html

"Circus Boy"

I saw an amazing old episode of Circus Boy from 1956.

Why amazing? It had a host of stars that predated my childhood and were already seasoned veterans by the time I was a teen.



* The star was Micky Dolenz (the drummer for the The Monkees, billed then as Micky Braddok)


* Russel Johnson guest starred, I think as Corky's (Micky's) long-lost dad. (Johnson was the Professor on Gilligan's Island, whom I most closely identified with, and I think why to this day I prefer long-sleeved white shirts with the cuff rolled half-way up my forearm)


* Rory Calhoun was a regular far as I can tell. (Once a 50's cowboy star, he was also introduced to me on Gilligan's Island, by then a well-known silver screen icon demoted to the small screen chasing The Castaways in a serio-comedic version of The Most Dangerous Game; but if you want some fun, catch him in Motel Hell, a campy outing towards the end of his career; make some popcorn and enjoy a Texas Chainsaw Massacre that doesn't take itself too seriously.)

* And Noah Beery, whom I first knew as Jim Rockford's father (yeah yeah, I know, 'Who's Jim Rockford?'). I think he played a clown that traveled with the circus.