Random Topics Reconstituted
Hey.
I tried to post this earlier today and the whole thing was flatlined because of LJ being persnickety. So I'll try to keep everything to the point today.
1) I just posted a new Friendtest: http://fpilot.friendtest.com/
Totally different questions from the one I posted two years back.
2) A last note about the Papal election--I hated the coverage by the American mass media. It was borderline offensive the presumptions and the attempts at humor and the insensitivity. I'm not a Roman Catholic, but I'd understand if some of them felt that the media just didn't "get it" this time.
Frankly, I thought their coverage of the same events in 1978 (when the Church lost two Popes within three months!) was more informative and more respectful at the same time.
3) Banner ads. I hate the Flash-animated ones, especially those I get with Hotmail. The BellSouth ones freeze my browser half the time. The ones from LowerMyBills are about as bad...
...And I know one of the models for LavaLife by reputation--and know that she's already married. So you can't have her no matter how many times you click or try to look for her. It's a scam.
4) Are we becoming a nation of action junkies? CBS Evening News earlier this week showed a family in L.A. that is running itself ragged. The two children have afterschool activities that run well into the night and so in order to keep up, the parents have forsaken some important household chores. Any family that lives like this (in my opinion) is asking for stress and burnout down the road.
Mom was telling me the story of a fellow student of hers...a compulsive activity-a-holic. Could not stand to be idle and bored. Tore up her bedroom if she ever got sick and couldn't get out. While I'm no stranger to compulsive behavior myself, this strikes me as really bizarre.
I'm not advocating slacking. Just as nutritionist Burt Wolf said "there are no good or bad foods, only appropriate and inappropriate amounts of them", I say "there are no good or bad activities, just appropriate and inappropriate levels of activity, and it's important to recognize them and establish a healthy balance." Know when to be "plugged" and "unplugged".
5) I wish the broadcast TV networks would ban advertising of prescription drugs. OTC drugs I could maybe condone being advertised, but there are only two things that come from the status quo: the first, consumer prices are driven up to cover the producer cost of "name recognition"; the second, the Internet-based Black Market is feeding off the advertising.
As I said before, I consider "online pharmacies" to be nothing more than drug pushers. I want them all shut down for keeps and their operators thrown in jail with the thugs and hoodlums.
6) My friend Dave Farris tells me he wants to publish a role playing game. I don't know how complete it is or how close he is to getting printed if he lines up a printer. I wish him all sorts of success.
More to come.
FP
I tried to post this earlier today and the whole thing was flatlined because of LJ being persnickety. So I'll try to keep everything to the point today.
1) I just posted a new Friendtest: http://fpilot.friendtest.com/
Totally different questions from the one I posted two years back.
2) A last note about the Papal election--I hated the coverage by the American mass media. It was borderline offensive the presumptions and the attempts at humor and the insensitivity. I'm not a Roman Catholic, but I'd understand if some of them felt that the media just didn't "get it" this time.
Frankly, I thought their coverage of the same events in 1978 (when the Church lost two Popes within three months!) was more informative and more respectful at the same time.
3) Banner ads. I hate the Flash-animated ones, especially those I get with Hotmail. The BellSouth ones freeze my browser half the time. The ones from LowerMyBills are about as bad...
...And I know one of the models for LavaLife by reputation--and know that she's already married. So you can't have her no matter how many times you click or try to look for her. It's a scam.
4) Are we becoming a nation of action junkies? CBS Evening News earlier this week showed a family in L.A. that is running itself ragged. The two children have afterschool activities that run well into the night and so in order to keep up, the parents have forsaken some important household chores. Any family that lives like this (in my opinion) is asking for stress and burnout down the road.
Mom was telling me the story of a fellow student of hers...a compulsive activity-a-holic. Could not stand to be idle and bored. Tore up her bedroom if she ever got sick and couldn't get out. While I'm no stranger to compulsive behavior myself, this strikes me as really bizarre.
I'm not advocating slacking. Just as nutritionist Burt Wolf said "there are no good or bad foods, only appropriate and inappropriate amounts of them", I say "there are no good or bad activities, just appropriate and inappropriate levels of activity, and it's important to recognize them and establish a healthy balance." Know when to be "plugged" and "unplugged".
5) I wish the broadcast TV networks would ban advertising of prescription drugs. OTC drugs I could maybe condone being advertised, but there are only two things that come from the status quo: the first, consumer prices are driven up to cover the producer cost of "name recognition"; the second, the Internet-based Black Market is feeding off the advertising.
As I said before, I consider "online pharmacies" to be nothing more than drug pushers. I want them all shut down for keeps and their operators thrown in jail with the thugs and hoodlums.
6) My friend Dave Farris tells me he wants to publish a role playing game. I don't know how complete it is or how close he is to getting printed if he lines up a printer. I wish him all sorts of success.
More to come.
FP