Tues Ten 082509: Slow Things

I’m exercising a bit of economy today with this post because I’ve just finished the most profound article I think I’ve read in a while. Something I saw on Twitter yesterday prompted me to begin my original Tuesday Ten post as a semi-rant on things I hate reading in 140 characters or less. Actually, they were just things I hate reading, only made more annoying by their dumbed down, misspelled, or speed edited 140-character summaries. The headliner? Trashing your kids or your husband to your 1,637 followers! Holy Badmovimous, Twatman! If you can’t say something nice…

Of course, I was faced with a conundrum because to write the Tuesday Ten post that leaped from my Tweetdeck screen would mean violating one of my own personal social media rules: It may be sarcastic or annoyed. It may be fed up or fatigued. But, in the end, it better be positive. Ix-Nay on the post about Itter-Tway.

Then, I read this article from the August 22 Wall Street Journal by John Freeman (actually found from a link on… Twitter). The poignant sound of Mr. Freeman’s name–Free. Man.– was not lost on me as I read “Not So Fast”, his treatise on the value of slow communication. He certainly seems free from the “Tyranny of Email”, the apparent title of his upcoming book related to the article.

So, for economy’s sake, I decided to write today’s post as a Tuesday Ten and Most Interesting Phrase Paragraph of the Week (MIPOTW) all rolled into one. How very efficient of writer Haley.

Mr. Freeman’s absolutely on-target thoughts about the drawbacks of the hyper-communicative world we’ve created made me want to sit down for a moment. Hopped up on bandwidth with 140 (or so) characters at our disposal and a thousand “Joe Bloes” listening, we’ve become so enamored of the outflux of information that we are less mindful of what we’re really saying–and even less attentive to what really matters. Is that progress?

In an article full of interesting phrases and paragraphs and concepts, Mr. Freeman’s idictment of the internet is that:

“It has encouraged flotillas of unnecessary jabbering, making it difficult to tell signal from noise. It has made it more difficult to read slowly and enjoy it, hastening the already declining rates of literacy. It has made it harder to listen and mean it, to be idle and not fidget.”

His recommendation? Spend more time in the slow lane.

“If the technology is to be used for the betterment of human life, we must reassert that the Internet and its virtual information space is not a world unto itself but a supplement to our existing world…

Given that our days are limited, our hours precious, we have to decide what we want to do, what we want to say, what and who we care about, and how we want to allocate our time to these things within the limits that do not and cannot change. In short, we need to slow down.”

With that in mind, I give you a new and improved, more progressive Tuesday Ten: Ten [wonderfully slower than dial-up] Things I’ll never get from the internet.

1. A spit-kiss from a preschool boy

2. A glistening glass of sweetened, iced tea

3. Crumbs on my shirt from the warm sweet roll I just baked

4. The smell of a library book

5. An early Fall breeze

6. Freshly folded clean clothes

7. Sweaty, dirt-filled giggly faces in need of a wet washcloth

8. Conversation with chocolate sprinkles on top

9. The chance to hold the hand of the one I’m listening to

10. Baby Girl’s first steps accompanied brothers’ cheers.

Word Up! Wednesday

The Junkie and I have been on the outs this week. Nothing serious, I’m just regrettably behind on my posting.  I thought I’d better explain why and share a little enthusiastic “howdy” with an 80s-lovin’ Word Up! Wednesday. (If you’re over 45 or under 30, please consult your nearest UrbanDictionary.com for a translation.)

Did I mention that I love my day job? I do. Over the years I’ve had the opportunity to do lots of really fun things with the added bonus of being able to draw, write and play on the computer every day. It’s a tad more complicated than that, but you get my drift. The Queen has given me lots of leeway to explore many hair-brained ideas, and the last few weeks are a prime example. I am so excited that the evolution of our company marketing has given me the chance to start up some new work-related writing projects in conjunction with our new website design. In short, I am now authoring a company blog for Dux D’Lux Advertising called Quack! as well as a bi-weekly ezine called Quick Quack! Nifty. Holy Brain-Overloadus, Twatman! I’m also tweeting for the company and managing our Facebook fan page and group to build up our “social media presence.” Double nifty.

In addition, we are gearing up for the launch of our new website on Monday, July 20th — incidentally coinciding with the anniversary of the Apollo moon landing. The metaphor of the level of complication involved in this “launch” is not lost on me considering the 6537 hours I’ve spent obsessing about this newest iteration of the Dux website!

So, that’s the Word Up!  My thoughts and keyboard have been otherwise entangled of late, but I can’t wait to flesh out some of the ideas I have simmering just below the surface. You’ll be the first to know, Junksters.

I leave you with some screen shots of what’s been monopolizing my thoughts. We’re hosting a Website Preview Party facilitated by Facebook Guy tomorrow. I hope you’ll take a minute to click over to our fan page and cop a comment on what you see!

Tues Ten 061609: Iran

Sorry folks, the Ten Tuesday Tickles in the way of GREAT design and style blogs I’ve been obsessed with this month will have to wait.  Holy Revolutionbrew, Twatman! I’m just too astounded by the situation in Iran and the amazing power of Twitter. My social media guru followees have been trying to get us to buy in, and until now I’ve just seen Twitter as a gigantic cocktail party in which I’m an eavesdropping wallflower. But, the events of the last two days have convinced me that this formidable outlet for citizen media has real power beyond “I just downed another cup of coffee” and “Here, read my latest blog post”.

10 amazing things/events/whatever about revolutions/free speech/life learned from Iran and Twitter:

1. Twitter postponed a scheduled maintenance shutdown because of the vital role the service was playing in accessing information in and out of Iran. They embrace their own potential. (Can’t see FB doing that, honestly)

2. The Iranian government disallowed any foreign journalists from reporting events outside their offices and from providing video footage. Censorship is alive and well, and used as a real weapon for oppression.

3. People on the ground in Tehran were actually working to confirm or deny reports that were coming out. I saw multiple tweets from freedom supporters disavowing incorrect reports of army activities, etc.

4. There are actually some hard-to-believe realities and guidelines about using something like Twitter to support global activities. See this link.

5. Get to know the cyber ins and outs because oppressors and dictators do. I “reTweeted” (twat?) the above link from it’s original site and 10 minutes later the web page had been pulled and an “account suspended” notice posted. Later it was posted again on the site listed. Can’t promise it will remain there.

6. Unlike the comfort of my upstairs office, some of the people tweeting from Iran are in REAL, not imagined danger. They might not be here tomorrow. Yes, we still live in that world.

7. ABC’s morph into Presidential TV on July 24 for a sell-job on healthcare reform is looking a little Ahmadinejad-ish.

8. Are there actual people out there who really don’t understand that David Letterman was talking about Bristol Palin and not her 14-year-old sister? Inappropriate bad joke in poor taste aside, do we really need to manufacture an “outrage” when there’s one staring us right in the face?

9. People everywhere just wanna be free. (Thank you, Rascals) You can’t get a good freedom movement down. It’s why totalitarian regimes don’t work in the end.

10. Words have power, and it’s my right and privilege to use them. Own it. Take responsibility for it. Make it count.

Tues Ten 031009: Yummy Snacks

In honor of my perpetually hungry twitter followee, Chris Blake, I give you…

Ten deliciously yummy, grammar school inspired, of absolutely no nutritional value snacks–if you don’t count milk chocolate as a source of calcium, peanut butter as a source of protein and vegetable oil as a source of, well, vegetables.

1. Ding Dongs (in the foil wrappers, of course)
2. Snickers
3. Jelly Bellies
4. Blow-pops
5. Girl Scout cookies — Peanut Butter Patties, my fave
6. Sugar Daddies, and Babies — good at any age
7. Gummy Bears, and worms
8. Moon pies — ’cause I’m a Southern girl
9. Laffy Taffy — I only buy it for the jokes
10. Lest we forget, Doritoes!

Chase one or all with a swig of Nu-Grape and you’re set!
Just in time for lunch.  How ’bout that!

Holy Germuptus, Twatman

My own tweet about sums it up my lack of twitter observation this week:
@eyejunkie Stomach Bug! Thurs=2yo down, Sat=same2yo down again, Sun=6mo down, Mon=3yo down. Me + Lysol, so not pals anymore!

But, I still managed to find a few items of interest:

@RicciNeer RT @SocialNetDaily: RT @christianfea Develop a Twitter personality. Be fun, interesting, enthusiastic & provide value to followers.
[ugh. twitter sounds like work.]

@screamingeagle1 “You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.” — Mark Twain #quote

@gaping void Please tell me what you want. I aspire to mediocrity.