I find myself as slack-jawed by the news coverage as I am by the news conveyed. Every news franchise – every minute – every news segment – rehashing the same ugly incident over and over. If I were actually at the incident, might this merely reinforce any existing post-traumatic stress? Yes, it hits close to home, but by continually telling us every nuance of what happened – or might have happened – from every bystander’s perspective, do we inure ourselves and our children to even worse future events? Worst is when they show us how the perpetrator did it. Now every sad sack off his meds knows how to do the same, giving us copycat fame-seekers. What was once nationwide atrocity is suddenly common morning news. Continue reading “News Coverage as Shocking as News Itself”
Slow Economy Movement
I’m tired of hearing how slow growth is hurting or economy. A sustainable economy shouldn’t dive and sky-rocket like a roller coaster. We have a slow food movement, slow cities movement, slow living movement, why not a slow economy movement? It’s time to crack down on bank executives making huge profits while the rest of us pay top-heavy mortgages. With new banking rules, banks are beginning to charge ridiculous monthly fees to use automated teller machines (ATM’s). Funny how they were originally introduced as a way to free up human tellers — at a lower cost to banks and consequently to bank customers. Some banks charge you if you call with a question about your account. Banks need to be more socially responsible and stop picking our pockets. Are you fed up? Let’s start the slow economy movement. Join a credit union. Drop-kick your bank.
Thoughts on Dolphins, Language and Tools
Language is what makes us unique, right? Not necessarily. In this PopSci Article “A Clever New Fishing Method, ‘Conching,’ is the Latest Trend Spreading Among Australia’s Hippest Bottlenose Dolphins”, we find that dolphins around Australia passing on a learned hunting strategy from one pod to another at about the speed we learn about the latest and greatest gadget from friends and family. This is considered news-worthy because in the minds of many humans, dolphins are mere ‘animals who only use rudimentary tools’. Continue reading “Thoughts on Dolphins, Language and Tools”
Detecting Fake Virus Alerts
You’re surfing along on the web, researching images of algae… That should be safe as milk, right? Yes, so long as you know when you’re being scammed. This video shows an example of how easy it can be to get herded into doing something you don’t want to do. Is your computer really telling you there is a virus, or is it just a scheming website owner trying to hack in to your computer? Find out in the video below.
iPWNage
I was recently in a dentist’s waiting room reading a library book. A couple walks in and notifies the receptionist they are their for their cleaning appointments. They sat down to wait as well and take out their iPads, with their matching black neoprene sleeves and begin amusing themselves, oddly together and separately. I suppose that would be no different from me reading my book. I probably wouldn’t have noticed, except the guy had his audio ‘haptic’ feedback noises set to ‘on’. Continue reading “iPWNage”
