Americans, and much of the rest of the world, seem to be functioning under a guiding principal which requires that the world operate at or below the lowest common denominator. Thus, in a major debate leading to what was once the most powerful job in the world, we find that the best that either candidate can serve up is a thin gruel of heavy spin, misdirection, and lies. Instead of inspiration and leadership, we get unreliable numbers and opinion, rarely … Continue reading
I have often wondered why aggressive, dangerous driving is becoming more prevalent than it once was. A case in point is the Philadelphia commute hour, where I would not be surprised to find machine guns being used to blast a way through traffic. As interesting as this is as a social observation, I find it even more interesting that law enforcement wants no part of even trying to make the commute safer. This latter observation may be part of the … Continue reading
On the way home from breakfast this morning, we noticed a car, an otherwise easy-to-overlook object, just another poorly maintained American-built automobile. I did notice, however the poorly-executed, multicolor, hand-painted sign on the back window, which declared the status of the occupants as graduates of a local high school class of 2012, to wit: Big-Ass 2012. Clearly, these persons wasted the last several years of their lives, those years during which society was supposed to impart an ability to reason, … Continue reading
I was feeling left out because everyone had written a column on the Facebook IPO but me. 🙁 As many of you know, I am not a huge fan of the Facebook concept. It seems to me that they are invasively intruding upon our lives for profit, relying on peer pressure and hype to get that job done. Along the way, they are selling the information they collect from us for free to marketers so that our lives can become … Continue reading
I suppose that I would be happier about the virtual life if I bothered to compare it more often to what we laughingly refer to as real life. Despite the problems that are caused by being one step removed from physical reality, there are even more problems in real life than on the Web, although those non-virtual problems are becoming more common online. Those of you that know me well are aware of my feeling towards business and the corporation. … Continue reading
One of the less-desirable facets of social media is the tendency of Web denizens to endlessly promote themselves. The way in which services such as Twitter and Facebook are designed certainly encourages this type of behavior. It is a very annoying trait, regardless of the goal that the user has in mind. And in all of it, there is a certain amount of obvious bullshit. There are two main groups of guilty parties. First, there is the online entrepreneur, always … Continue reading
It’s been a while since I made a peep. I’ve been pretty busy shedding an old life and building a new one. No more Kansas; Pennsylvania, now. No more Lawrence; Williams Township, now. And there is now a different house on a different ridge, this time quite a lot higher and about two blocks from the Delaware River. You know, the one that Washington crossed, though that is about 30 miles downstream. Life is better all the way around. A … Continue reading
When the race goes most often to the shallow and the loud, when integrity and ethics matter not, is it acceptable to resign the field and walk away? When all around is wilderness and Philistines, is there any point in staying the course? When the windmills are covered in advertising, should not one put away the rusty armor and lance, and walk alongside the horse in search of cool, still waters? What point is served when my ears are deafened … Continue reading