Student: It is so difficult to not yell when my blood is boiling.
Master: It is so difficult to listen while you are screaming.
Month: August 2008
Joe Biden..that Twit(ter)
The only thing I can say about Joe Biden at this moment is he was the first presidential candidate to appreciate the power of Twitter! Follow @JoeBiden and @BarackObama. I still cannot find a John McCain official Twitter account nor one for Petraeus. For some reason Biden doesn’t thrill me. Of course, McCain/Patraus frighten me.
Update:Thank goodness it wasn’t Hillary!
McCain not a natural born citizen until April 10, 2008
Cathy spent the day in the car with her father yesterday having him regurgitate the misinformation that is the hallmark of the Republican Party. I received text messages asking me to find Barack Obama’s real name. To believe the hearsay, Obama’s real name is Barry Soetoro. I took a few moments to look into it and found Snopes, Fact Check, bloggers galore, The LA Times, and many other sites which confirmed Obama’s eligibility as president and showed his genuine birth certificate as Barack Hussein Obama II born in Oahu Honolulu Hawii at 7:24pm August 4, 1961. In the process, I discovered that John McCain’s citizenship eligibility was in question until corrected by an act of Congress. Here’s my comment from Domestic Psychology:
What’s funnier is that we had to pass legislation to make McCain eligible.
McCain was born in 1936 in the Panama Canal Zone while his father was stationed there as a naval officer. In 1787, however, the framers insisted that any president be natural born — that is, born within the United States. … absent a constitutional amendment, the question remains whether McCain can claim natural-born status. [Source, JONATHAN TURLEY, Legislation Introduced to Remove McCain’s Panama Problem in Seeking Presidency]
See also The New York Times. It took an act of Congress to make John McCain a natural born citizen. See 110th CONGRESS 2d Session S. RES. 511 agreed on April 10, 2008.
To make it funnier, I told Cathy that if McCain/Petraeus take the White House, I’d move to Panama. Now I have to reconsider that!
Bad Dad
I have turned chores such as cleaning rooms into them against me. There is no pleasure in the task for anyone. My blood pressure soars and their tears flow. I think it is time for a new paradigm in this household. Chores will no longer we done alone. Dad will be your partner and we will have fun with the mundane.
From the mouths of babes
Amy, in a gleeful mood, describing her day at school and tapping the front left part of her head with a single finger: "____, whose participating part of his brain got damaged, really likes music."
Can you rely on Twitter for breaking news?
Twitter gets the word out and fast! Twitter can spread news quickly because the news comes first hand from those experiencing it, concise (140 characters), and directly from their finger tips to a potentially worldwide audience. However, the ability to receive that breaking news has much to do with how well you, the reader, can process the stream of data; how many people you follow; and what subject/focus group captures your interest.
How many should I follow?
In the beginning we commit to following a few. "I don’t understand how people can follow hundreds or thousands. I’ll follow 10 or 20." That is how I began my Twitter experience. Today I follow 555 (yes, like the timer). A quick sidebar, if you follow 10 people who Tweet once a week each you will have a far different Twitter experience than following 10 people who Tweet once an hour. Too often we think of Twitter in "numbers of followers and following" when really it should be "ratio of following to tweets produced by those you are following." Back on topic, If you follow a small number of people your Twitter experience will be one of intimacy and learning great detail about those people. Your experience is narrow and deep. If you follow hundreds of people or thousands, your experience is wide and shallow; however, you experience a pulse like a life force on the common thread that ties those people together. If those hundreds of people are all in the tech industry, you will know what is happening in technology the instant it happens. If those hundreds of people are in the entertainment industry, you will know the gossip and dealings of Hollywood, Broadway, etc as it happens. If those hundreds are politicos, you will be informed more quickly about politics than others. And if those hundreds are locally connected, say all from Knoxville, then you will know about the happenings in your local area more rapidly than others. Of course topics bleed over. Those you follow could be local people that are into technology and politics. If those hundreds or thousands are diversely unrelated, you will get noise.
How to process the information?
Twitter’s power is in its SMS interactions. Okay, not so true. Twitter’s power is the community, the people, the audience; however, adoption of services like identi.ca, which stands to give Twitter the most fierce competition, has been slow due to lack of SMS integration. If you follow hundreds of people and something newsworthy happens, your phone will beep so quickly that you cannot possibly follow the conversation. Although SMS is very powerful for Twitter, it is cumbersome when the action is occurring. Watching Twitter in a browser is tedious and requires taking your attention away from other activities such as your job, family or playing solitaire. Using a program catered to Twitter is the best way to get the most from Twitter. For me, that program is Twhirl. Twhirl can connect to multiple Twitter accounts, Friendfeed, Identi.ca, Seemic and anything that commuicates with XMPP (and if you don’t know what that is, don’t worry, most people don’t). Twhirl sits in the background and in my peripheral vision I see its little stream move along. When I take breaks I scan it for keywords. In certain circumstances I get a ping with an alert to say it needs my attention. For the most part, I can stay connected without being distracted. And if it ever becomes a distraction, I turn it off. The problem with programs like Twhirl becomes its ease, addictiveness, and amusement. On a whim, I can send a nonsensical out and often it is directed to a single person but rather than making it a private message, I inadvertently spam 550 people (or in Barack Obama‘s case 64,140 people). Of course, maybe those 550 people want that level of interaction. For me, that remains my unanswered question, "what do these 550 people want or expect?"
What subject matter belongs in Twitter?
Your interests will dictate your Twitter experience and make it far different from someone else’s Twitter experience. I believe Twitters fall into 45 categories:
- Exhibitionists, Voyeurs, Gossips – These are the folks that will send/read a stream of messages about the minutia of daily life
- News feeds – These are the folks alerting the world about their experiences with the California fires, or the next big event. These are the newspapers getting the headlines out. These are people like myself alerting others that the Interstate is at a stand still.
- Topic Specific – These would be people sharing information about a particular subject. Unlike news feeds these will often include back and forth discussions about the topic.
- [addition to original post] Spammers – People taking advantage of the tendency to follow those who follow you simply to draw attention to a product or website. The Twitter staff and others are trying to minimize the ability for people to spam through Twitter.
- [added Nov 5, 2008] Utility – such as how The RedCross has used Twitter to make accessing the Safe and Well database easier.
A fifth category could be utility such as how The RedCross has used Twitter to make accessing the Safe and Well database easier. By following a topic specific group of people, you will get a pulse on the latest news regarding that topic. You will be in the know. By using a program like Twhirl, you can have multiple Twitter accounts simultaneously following different topic areas. Or by checking Twitter Search (aka Summize) you can quickly be updated on a particular subject matter. So yes, I think that you can rely on Twitter for breaking news. I think some misinformation is likely to come with the speed at which Twitter delivers that breaking news, but Twitter (and main stream media) will be quick to correct the misinformation.
See also: Who quit following you on Twitter?
Of Grasshoppers
Student: I want a friend.
Master: You must first be a friend.
Doug’s Mantras
How can I help?
Wow! Tomorrow’s animated movies will rock!
From the mouths of babes
Mom: "Evan, lay down on the couch."
Evan, 3 years old, not looking up from his toys but to brush his hair from his eyes: "Okay maaan."
Mom: " Did you just say ‘okay man’?"
Evan, not looking up from his toys: "I say okay man."
Mom, shocked: "What are you? A hippie?!"
How to express discontent
Our indoor cat is fairly tolerant. The litter box can be down right foul and she still uses it. Last night my pillow was marked by the cat. This morning the dog bed was marked by the cat. A pair clean pants was marked by the cat. And now, the couch marked by the cat. Perhaps she was expressing her discontent that someone had thrown trash into her litter box.
Today I learned that I can punt a 30 yard field goal and have the football land on its feet. Perhaps I was expressing my discontent over an expression of discontent.
Oh W.ell No
Oliver Stone, What were you thinking?!
Missing exotic pet
Illegal to buy or sell these in Tennessee. I hope they find it.
Mobile post sent by djuggler using Utterz. Replies.
Browncoats turn Blu
Blu-ray of course around November 11. (Seen on Truemors)
Don’t Do Business With Jack Butturini
Don’t do business with Jack Butturini of Martial Arts America or any other karate studio/instructor that requires you to sign a 3 year contract. Think about the length of time you are asking your child to commit to a specific interest! My 12 year old has spent nearly ¼ of his life practicing karate two and three times a week. Interests wane for children. A responsible parent should encourage the child to explore different interests, and yes, a responsible parent should encourage commitment but within reason.
My son started taking karate in the summer of 2005 (earliest post). He is burned out and hasn’t gone to a single lesson for the past 3 months. He achieved his black belt and is done. He lost his motivation before the black belt testing but showed great resolve in completing the task he had begun and I found that both honorable and mature.
Today I asked Jack Butturini to absolve me of the remaining time on our contract as I find spending $175 a month to receive no services in return a little ludicrous. His studio has moved 3 times since we started with Martial Arts America (formerly Jack Butturini Karate) each time becoming further away and more inconvenient and he is now preparing for a move to his fifth building. One of the moves was damage control to remove his name from the studio after a party at the Butturini household was busted with minors allegedly being provided alcohol by the adults (see also and commentary at Dr. Helen). While others badmouthed him, I stood up for his character and the philosophies the school taught. People were unquestionably released from contracts but we stuck with him. Today, as he laid his inability to release me from a contract on the shoulders of the owner of a billing company (SEP) which will have me dishing out another $1925 for no services rendered, I decided I could no longer give the same character reference. As such, I officially retract any supportive commentary I have given Jack Butturini and Martial Arts America.
I also admonish the karate industry itself as a thieving, conniving, bunch of unscrupulous bloodsuckers who under the guise of "character development" seek to empty your wallets in contracts and testing fees. I make that statement after talking to parents of students in a variety of karate studios around town all of which ultimately seem more interested in selling uniforms, testing fees, and locking you into a monthly fee and contract comparable to leasing a car than they are in your child’s development as a martial artist.
I think karate and the other martial arts are wonderful for children. I think it develops discipline, agility, grace, balance, and muscles. I do not think parents should be baited into a long term serious economic commitment by stringing a child along for 30, 60 or 90 days then dashing their hopes "unless mommy and daddy sign this piece of paper." If you cannot find a studio with shorter commitments such as quarterly or monthly, then give up on karate and do something longer lasting such as Boy Scouts. Now if you excuse me, I have to go close a bank account and prepare to be sued. [Update: Readers request clarification of this statement. That was snarky. Although I considered it for one angry moment, I would not close that account.]
Update: Paula is happy with Eun’s Martial Arts Center, 11110 Kingston Pke, Knoxville, TN (865) 675-2255 who offers 1 year contracts.
Update: Stormare Mackee recommends Wheeler’s Karate in Powell off of exit 112 who has 6 month contracts at roughly $80 per month.
Update: To be more clear on the figures, Noah has not attended a class for 3 months, 3 x $175 = $525, so the total I will end up paying out is $2450 to not attend his school and this is why you should never attend a single day at any studio which requires a long term contract. If you get rooked into a trial period, the child will be hurt; see paula’s comment: "…The kid was devastated…"
Update: Be sure to read Toni McSorley’s comment! Sounds like a school doing the right thing!
Update: I received an email asking if my statement that "I have to go close a bank account and prepare to be sued" meant I don’t plan on honoring my contract with Jack Butturini. To clarify, that was a snarky comment made in jest. I admit I considered it but doing so would be against my nature. I asked the billing company to move the bill date from the 20th to the 5th of the month. They increased my bill from $175 to $190(They adjusted it back down to $175), that account is open, and as long as the IRS has not seized it, they’ll get their hard earned money. There is a medical clause which applies to my son that allows exiting of the contract but based on Jack Butturini’s comments I really don’t expect him to be open to that. My motive of this post? Simply to warn other parents to be cautious of placing their young children into such lengthy contracts. Think about the last time you joined a gym and later found yourself paying monthly fees and not going. This is the same thing.
