You’d think Donald Trump was the first politician (or activist) to say something controversial in the public sphere. People react to Donald Trump like they’ve never heard such horrible things coming from a public figure before. (And I don’t just mean leftists… many Republicans also rush to show their outrage.) But if you’re a conservative, you’ve been listening to liberals and left-leaning politicians, pundits, and celebrities make outrageous, racist, sexist, ridiculous, and inflammatory statements for years. Look at how much outrage there was when people heard President Trump on video talking about how you can grab women “…by the…
Will the decline of society be captured on video?
I’ll admit it. The video revolution is leaving me behind, and I’m OK with that. Not everyone wants to watch video. I don’t spend any time watching video. At all. It’s probably accurate to say I’ve not spent one minute watching a video meme or newsletter this year. Video is too time consuming. If you watch a video, you are bound by their pacing and time. You’re at the mercy of however long it takes the video to give you the information you want. And it’s that much more disappointing to find out at the end that you wasted…
Weaponization of the CEO
It happens. Especially in smaller companies, where the CEO tends to be, or can be, more involved in the day-to-day. When people have an agenda, or an idea they want to pursue… or perhaps they don’t like the direction the team is going, they can happen upon the CEO. I’ve seen it too many times. The CEO is a friendly and engaged person. They care about what’s going on in the business, but they also care about empowering their employees. So the person who’s not getting their way finds themselves in a position where they have a seemingly innocent…
Fences: Real and imagined
On the coasts of this country, it’s not difficult to find neighborhoods in which the majority of houses have fences around their yards. It makes everything seem more compact, and even a little claustrophobic. In the Midwest, it’s the opposite. One yard runs into another, and even the neighborhoods look like a bunch of houses sprinkled onto an otherwise abandoned field. Meanwhile, the residents of the coasts are known more for being standoffish, defensive, and a little skeptical of anyone who just starts speaking with them. The Midwest is known for being a far more welcoming and friendly place….
*ucking autocorrect
Being annoyed with autocorrect is not a new phenomena. And I don’t try to write about things that have been well-covered in other arenas. But given where we are, as a society, on our tech journey, I’m dumbfounded at how poor and irritating the autocorrect experience remains. Last week, I started keeping loose track of how often autocorrect either changes the words that I wrote as intended or leaves an errant spelling uncorrected, and my estimate is around 25% of my text sessions. I generally hate texting, in general. Especially texting conversations. I’m not sure how our society transitioned…
My dream job
If I could do any job I want, I’d get in a police car and spend the days pulling people over who are driving slowly in the left lane of the highway. Growing up, we were all taught to drive in the right-hand lanes unless we were passing. The left lane was for faster cars to pass slower cars. One of my kids just finished driver’s ed, and I asked her to let me know if they still teach this. Turns out they do. But no one does it. If you drive for any length of time in the…
Peppermint shampoo
I recently stayed at a hotel where the complimentary shampoo was peppermint shampoo. When I opened it in the shower, it was like a was washing with a candy cane. (Who can even smell anything in a shower, anyway? What smells in a shower?) When it’s 6am in the morning, the last thing I want is to smell a blast of peppermint in the shower. What’s worse, my whole head smelled like Christmas. Who the hell thought that would be a good idea…?
Conservatives: they walk among us (and they’re not what you think)
The leadership and activists of the American left are, and have always been, anxious to portray conservatives as racists, bigots, homophobes, sexists, and xenophobes (among other things). It’s a great marketing strategy when you know you’re up against the worst marketing department in the world. What’s always fascinated me about this is that we all know conservatives. But that doesn’t seem to occur to people. Back in high school, I used to sit with two friends who constantly discussed the politics of the day. Reagan was President at this point, and listening to them, you’d think he was the…
Who’s responsible?
The nice thing about people who support liberal candidates is that they’re easy to spot. Driving around the country during the Obama years, it seemed everyone who voted for him had a sticker on their car. During the Bush years, and now the Trump years, it’s very rare to see cars with stickers for either of them. I realize I live in a liberal area of the country. But I also travel a lot, and I look for such things. Originally, I figured in Texas, I’d see more Bush or Trump stickers. But anecdatally speaking, I’ve found it far…
Sweet irony: It’s not what Trump says, but what people think he says
Here’s the cycle: Trump speaks, and doesn’t say anything about a particular race of identity group. Trump’s political opponents (leftists) hear racism in whatever he says, even though there’s no actual mention of race (see his most recent tweets about Elijah Cummings and Baltimore as the latest example). The media reports Trump’s political opponents claims of racist rhetoric. Most Americans, not bothering to read what Trump actually wrote or said, hears the claims that Trump’s comments were racist and conclude they must have been racist to garner that kind of response. People conclude that Trump must be racist, because…