What coffee drinker out there hasn’t stopped at the local convenience store to grab a quick cuppa joe, only to take a sip, spit it out and exclaim “this tastes like crap!” while tossing the offending item into the nearest trash receptacle?
Piece of advice … next time, hold on to your $0.99 cup of crap because it’s a heck of a lot cheaper than the world’s most expensive cat-poop-coated coffee beans.
Yep. I said cat poop. And yep, God help me, I am serious.
Maybe it’s the rose-colored nostalgia of pleasant family memories. Maybe it’s impending middle age. Or maybe, just maybe, I am not as patient as I’d like to think I am…. but I’ve decided air travel has degenerated into little more than exhausting exercise of getting from Point A to Point B in the most frustrating way possible.
Increased security requirements aside – some of which are bizarre and seem somehow foolish, but ultimately serve to protect us all, what has really turned air travel into a patience test is all of the changing individual airline policies, and the havoc they (inadvertently) unleash.
Continue reading Systematic Failure: The Schizophrenia of Air Travel
This is how madness begins …
When the writing gets tough, my mind tends to wander. (Well, my mind tends to wander no matter what … but especially when the writing hits a snag. But, I digress ….) I long ago formed the habit of having the television on in the background because, well, my mind begins to wander if it’s too quiet. Of course I subsequently discovered that if I have on the news or TNT or HBO, I end up watching the television. Yes, dear readers, my mind wanders a lot.
My solution? Put a movie I love but have seen 100s of times in the DVD player and put it on a loop. Today, as I do quite often, I put in Resident Evil.
Somewhere around the third time through the zombie-with-the-axe-limping-towards-our-heroes scene I wondered exactly how many times I’ve seen the darned thing. Like any good #twitteraddict I promptly tweeted the thought out. And, yes, my mind started to wander …. #lesigh
Several times over the last couple months I’ve commented here about the power of social media to bring people together around campaigns – raising awareness for Rare Disease Day, help for Haiti after the Jan. 12 earthquake, saving a favorite television show with #Heroes100. It’s a fun, easy, almost magical way to take action on the causes that matter most to you. In a few short seconds you can reach out to thousands of individuals – something that even ten years ago was almost unthinkable.
But what happens when that cause is your very survival? What happens when social media is something more than just fun — a means for isolated individuals to reach out to the world beyond their sickbed, wheelchair or hospital room?
With a black man holding the highest office in the land you would think America is past the race-bashing hate-mongering crap that has crippled us from within for the last 200 years or so. Sadly two recent very public events provide more evidence than I really wanted of the cancer that continues to infect our society.
This past weekend protesters associated with the “Tea Party” camped out in front of the U.S. Congress to express their dismay with proposed health care reform – exercising a constitutional right to activism and turning it into a sad public display of small-minded foolishness.
They spat at Congressmen. They hurled racial-slurs at the gay and black communities.
Continue reading Systematic Failure: Wal-Mart gets it right?!? Whodda thunk?!?
For a moment there, I forgot what planet we are on. Last time I checked I was living on planet earth – but former Marine general John Sheehan seems to be stuck in a parallel dimension where demeaning gay-bashing comments are socially acceptable.
I am not a member of the LGBT community, but I was Outraged (yes – that’s Outraged with a capital “O”) to see reports of Sheehan giving testimony before the U.S. Congress that pegged Dutch troops failures to prevent the Srebrenica massacre to The Netherland’s acceptance of openly-gay individuals in the military.
Continue reading Systematic Failure: Gays unworthy? Says who?
When I think of a cup of tea, I think: calm, tranquil, serene. The mental picture is two hands on a steaming cup, eyes closed while I breathe in vapors that tantalize the senses with hints of chamomile, mint or citrus smells (depending on my mood). Now thanks to a story from the Associated Press this week on Chinese activists going online to blast “drinking tea” warnings by meddlesome authorities, I’ll never see that cup of tea quite the same way.
According to the Associated Press story:
Police have long tried to shush and isolate potential activists, usually starting with a low-key warning, perhaps over a meal or a cup of tea. Now, the country’s troublemakers are openly blogging and tweeting their stories about “drinking tea” with the cops, allowing the targeted citizens to bond and diluting the intimidation they feel.
The movement is an embarrassment for officials, who are suspicious of anything that looks like an organized challenge to their authority. And it can’t help that “drinking tea” stories seem to be spreading among ordinary Chinese, including ones who signed a recent online call for political reform.
The country’s top political event of the year, the National People’s Congress, has given the stories another bump. More than 200 people say they’ve been invited by police to “drink tea” since just Friday, when the congress began, said independent political blogger Ran Yunfei.
That Chinese activists found ways to go around official censorship of the Internet and get their stories out to others helps increased a sense of community for those under scrutiny and reinforces the power potential of the Internet.
As we saw in Iran following the disputed June 2009 elections and for Haiti after January’s massive earthquake social media like Twitter can simultaneously allow users to spread information about events and draw in a truly international “coalition” of people who feel the same or empathize with the challenges. Those coalition members can and have raised the profile of the issue, raised money and provided invaluable moral support to those struggling through difficult situations.
It’s a strange kind of magic that unfolds via spells crafted of 140 characters or less. And I, for one, can’t wait to see what practitioners come up with next.
Every once in a while my curiosity gets the better of me. You know – like the spooked collegian who insists on going up the darkened stairs unarmed, wearing nothing but an oversized t-shirt, tube socks and thong to investigate the thumping noises? Yeah … that never ends well.
Yesterday was a fine example (well, minus the thong ….).
“Somehow” (*she grins*) my followers and I ended up voting in an Oscar-weekend movie poll. Actually it’s all @JeremyCShipp ‘s fault. A tweet came through my twitter stream Friday afternoon from the aforementioned offender “what are your favorite five movies?” I answered and then couldn’t get the question out of my mind.
So last night Twitter, I asked. You answered. Oh, boy, did you answer! Dozens responded to the call. In the end the individual movies mentioned as favorites topped 240. A very diverse bunch of amazing films! Everything from Finding Nemo and Aladdin, to Jaws and Jurassic Park, to The Shining and Nightmare on Elm Street.
Dear Fellow Travelers, Airline Personnel and Rude Individuals –
A recent airplane trip reminded, again, of how crazy this world can be. It seems that many travelers have lost all sense of common decency, common sense and manners. Most of the time its comical – but it’s also pretty sad. Please consider the following as a desperate plea for some consideration and a return to sanity.
One of the most wonderful things about social media tools like Twitter and Facebook is the ability to locate and connect with people who care about the same issues as you do – and try to do something about them.
The Twitterverse is loaded with great individuals and groups hoping to raise awareness and campaign on everything from human trafficking to health care, from sports teams draft choices to saving favorite television shows.
(Yes, #heroes fans, I’m getting there!!!)
Here’s just a sampling of my evergreen favorites: