Why wait until Monday morning when Friday afternoon quarterbacking can be just as much fun? (Okay, that was my lame attempt to dispel a gay stereotype and prove that I really DO know when the Superbowl is being played...but I digress.) And what better topic to dissect this week than the massive self-inflicted implosion of the Susan Komen Foundation?
Health care and the Internet are on a headlong rush to each other at 4G speed. The big question is whether the point of impact will be a gentle caress or a "blunt impact trauma" (the medical term for the situation where your face hits the tarmac at a couple of hundred miles an hour...but I digress...).
The Problem: A name that no one can pronounce (Oh-nay-gun? Oo-nee-gin? On-ee-gan?), based upon a Russian poetry novel written almost 200 years ago, and performed in a medium (ballet) that some people still think of as arcane, inaccessible, and exclusionary to broad audiences. Oh goodie. Give me more of that, right?
The Solution: Twitter, Tumblr, and Unrequited Love.
Would you go online to buy a virtual daikon radish?
If your answer to this question is "Yes," then you're in good company; nearly 500,000 people spent between $5 and $40 each to buy limited edition daikon radish crops last year on internet gaming company Zynga's popular "FarmVille" franchise.
Of course, as in all things in life (well, almost all things...Kim Kardashian and Jersey Shore are exceptions...but I digress), proper context makes even the most seemingly bizarre and odd concepts understandable.
Internet advocates across the country celebrated today as Senator Harry Reid announced that he was indefinitely delaying a vote on the PROTECT IP Act - and then a few hours later, Rep. Lamar Smith shelved any further action on the Stop Online Piracy Act. Online policy advocacy groups across the country immediately heralded the news; my favorite banner headline was from arstechnica.com, which featured crumbling tombstones engraved respectively with SOPA and PIPA.
The United States Postal Service announced this week that snail mail is about to get even slower. (And what would be slower than a snail? The only thing I can think of right now is Michelle Bachmann...but I digress) USPS is trying to cut a whopping $3 billion from its budget...Read more
...he/she would probably not have created the Society of St. Pius X. Which, upon further reflection, might have been a good thing.
The ultra-conservative SSPX Catholic ministry isn't recognized by Pope Benedict XVI for a LOT of reasons (one of my favorites is comparing Harry Potter to the Antichrist). And its teachings highlight the very real digital - and by extrapolation theological - divide between the Vatican and some its non-affiliated Catholic brethren.
A milestone of sorts just passed as I was typing this blog: 11:11:11 on the little clock on my computer, and 11/11/11 on my calendar. I sort of expected the earth to move or something, and I DO think that I felt some sort of rumbling from deep within my soul - or maybe that was the bag of extra crunchy cheetos that I washed down a bit too quickly with an entire can of diet coke.
