Archive for 2010
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[ 1 Comment ]Posted on May 19, 2010 by admin in Technology
Wednesday, May 19th, 2010Why I’m kicking my techno-addiction and joining an Amish community.
Personal computers and the Internet have made so many amazing things possible. Like spending an hour trying to convert a PDF to another format. Or getting Word to stop changing the format of everything you type. Or watching an amazing HD video clip on Vimeo that freezes every ten seconds. Or enabling one Russian guy to send millions of people an e-mail that tells them how to increase their penis size, even if they don’t have one. I jest of course; I love the ways in which technology can enhance our lives. Which is precisely why I’m going to do away with a tremendous amount of it in the coming months. And then slowly reintroduce it as I see fit. I’ve talked before about the various ways technology is impacting our lives, and maybe even making us crazy. Well, I’ve been thinking about this for several years, and I’m not the only one who ponders the issue. Back in 2005, Dr. Edward Hallowell – a psychiatrist who specializes in ADD – identified a related disorder he calls “attention deficit trait”, which is essentially a sort of “acquired ADD”. In this interview, he points out something that I’m always saying, which is that “No one really multitasks. You just spend less time on any one thing.” I have this trait bad, and so do a lot of people I know. It doesn’t help that I’m something of an information addict, with occasional flareups of Wikiphilia. I often find my life to be an almost surreal meta-reference to itself . And in that vein find it hilarious that there are web sites like Zen Habits that are devoted to making life simpler. Why would you need a computer, an internet connection, and a web site if you were trying to simplify things? Likewise with the video clips below, which are chock full of meta irony. You’ve probably seen at least one of them, but what kills me in both instances is that they both take fascinating and perhaps useless information, and present it in a way that’s technologically sophisticated, but probably least suited to conveying the information. A list of facts would have been much more effective, but not nearly as fun and distracting! As they say on the intranets: “it makes teh head asplode”. Read the rest of this entry »
From Cocktail Conversation To Kenya Conservation
[ Comments Off ]Posted on May 18, 2010 by admin in Clean & Green
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010Lori Bergemann made the leap from food service to conservation work ten years ago. It’s probably time she started drawing a salary. Help make it happen as Amara Conservation begins its tenth year.
 This woman has run a non-profit for ten years without taking a salary. Let’s try to change that. |
The woman pictured at left – Lori Bergemann, of Amara Conservation – is an American who lives in Kenya devoting her life to educating rural Kenyans about how conservation of their wildlife and resources is one of the most powerful keys to a better future for themselves. That alone would be kind of interesting. But what’s even more interesting to me is that just ten years ago, she was a bartender at a fine dining restaurant in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Back then she had a dream – but no concise plan – for doing something to help animals. Today, she lives in Kenya, committing all of her time to the education and conservation work that is the core of what Amara does. Lori also happens to be an old friend of mine. We have definitely had our ups and downs. Like all humans, she has some personal flaws, and she’s quite a character in some ways, as am I. But she remains an inspiration to me. Not because I want to be like her, but because she’s proof of a belief that I hold dear, which is that ANY of us can do ANYTHING if we keep our heart open and work hard for it. All of which makes it kind of exciting for me that it’s been more than ten years since Lori served me a drink, and that now I find myself serving her, by supporting her dream in any way I can. Part of that means asking YOU to support what she does. I’ve been a supporter of Amara since its inception; I started my own business about two years before Lori launched Amara, and provided almost all of her original media services and “brand” in one way or another. Her organization has outlasted mine by a couple of years though, and I’m impressed (as I think YOU should be) that Amara still adheres to a steadfast belief in directing donated funds as directly as possible to projects they’re involved in. Their overhead is lower than any NGO that I’m aware of, and one reason for that borders on the absurd: Lori has not taken a salary in the entire ten years of Amara’s existence. If that sounds as crazy to you as it does to me, be a part of changing that. Who knows what she’ll pull off if she could earn a living from what she does. If you want to help, one of the simplest ways is to simply make a donation on their site. If you are anywhere near southeastern Michigan in the next couple of weeks though, consider getting out for one of the fundraising events that are kicking off their tenth year of operation. I’ll be at both, and would be delighted to see you there!
MoHo: At Last, A Politically Correct Term For “White Trash”
[ Comments Off ]Posted on May 17, 2010 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture
Monday, May 17th, 2010After extensive research and market testing, we came up with a term to give white trash their pride back: MoHo. Along the way, we discovered Dreadnecks, Pillbillies, and Whinorities.
 As you can see, a “dreadneck” is nearly indistinguishable from a “redneck” |
In our most recent piece on the white American subcultures referred to as Rednecks, Hillbillies and White Trash, we observed the fact that the latter of the three were the only ones that lacked pride in their culture, partly because of the fact that the very definition of their life is based on aspiration, but also in large part because of their moniker. We said we’d work on a nicer term than “white trash” to help them reclaim a little pride. Well, after extensive research and market testing, we think we have it, and the winner is… “MoHo”. It’s the perfect term, because – much like bobo or fauxhemian – it evokes urbanism, aspiration, and desperation all at the same time, but while handily including a contraction of “mobile home”, the cornerstone of MoHo culture. As you might guess, we kicked around a lot of other terms along the way, and were a little surprised that some of them were being used seriously. Especially disturbing was “pillbilly”. Partly because it was so commonly used, but mostly after watching one of them in action, smoking a prescription pill in a sort of chasing the dragon style. And although Urban Dictionary defines “whinority” in a racial way, I’m going to start using it to refer to any white person in America that complains their life is hard. See our short list of other terms we passed over below, and feel free to share any we haven’t covered. Read the rest of this entry »
Lawyers Gonna Put You In The Hurt Locker
[ Comments Off ]Posted on May 16, 2010 by admin in Popular Media
Sunday, May 16th, 2010Makers of The Hurt Locker are causing more casualties in the War On Piracy. Didn’t they hear about the cease fire?
While the Iraq War has claimed at least 100,000 casualties, it looks like the makers of the Oscar-winning film about it are getting ready to claim another 20,000 or more. Only in this case, the lawyers will be doing all the shooting, and the casualties will be internet users like you and me who are nerdy enough to use Bittorents. It appears no-one at Voltage Pictures (the backers of Hurt Locker ) got the memo about how stupid it is to sue your customers, and so they’ve contracted US Copyright Group (who apparently didn’t get the memo about updating their vintage web site) to go after every one of the filthy pirates that swiped their movie . Don’t they know that even the MPAA has decided that Anti-piracy is passé and that it’s now to be called “content protection”? You may remember the relatively short-lived You Can Click But You Can’t Hide campaign (our parody below) by the MPAA a few years ago, which was a little different, and not nearly as insane as the practice of suing consumers en masse, which even the music industry has come to realize is absurd . Who knows when these industries will ever figure out that they’re fighting an assymetrical war (ironically, much like the one that the film is about) and that their “enemy” is the future and their inability to understand it, not the consumer. Just ask British entertainer Peter Serafinowicz, who expains in this Gawker piece why he’s going to have to sue himself for piracy. Do the Hurt Locker folks ( and me) a favor and buy their dang film through this link
He Blinded Me With Silence
[ 2 Comments ]Posted on May 15, 2010 by admin in Music
Saturday, May 15th, 2010Thomas Dolby had a tremendous impact on pop music for a few years, and then it seemed he lived up to his last name, suppressing any noise. He’s back though, with a new album called “A Map Of The Floating City”, due for release later this year.
  This is probably one of my favorite pop albums of all time. |
If you know your pop music history, you know that Thomas Dolby was – in spite of a rather short life on the mainstream charts – one of the most influential acts of the 1980′s. If you don’t know your pop music history, you’d at least know his songs She Blinded Me With Science
