Zaskoda

For those who may not know: misogyny is the hatred of women or girls while misandry is the hated of men or boys. I just did a little curious research regarding these two terms using Twitter search. My results are rather unscientific, but I invite you to do your own probing and see what you come up with.

My approach was simple. I did a series of 6 searches for specific words and phrases and took note of how old the last post on the first page was. There are always 15 entries on the front page. Thus, the age of the last entry gives you a concept of how often the word is used. If the last entry is 3 hours old, that means the word or phrase is used about 15 times in 3 hours. Simple enough. Lets begin.
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Uncategorized misandry, misogyny, Rant, sexism

Obama and crew recently launched a Digg style service for asking questions and followed up with a town hall meeting addressing those questions. That, alone, is brilliant. However, the results of this approach really surprised me. From Newsvine:

Obama told the audience Thursday that one of the most popular questions was whether legalization of the illicit drug would help pull the nation out of the recession. The president jokingly said: “I don’t know what this says about the online audience.”

In a serious response, he said he didn’t think that was a good economic policy.

Read more…

Uncategorized Drug, Marijuana, Obama, Rant, Reform, Stats

Are you sick of hearing about “social media” yet? Maybe you are, maybe you aren’t, but social media is definitely being talked about, probably now more than ever. The bitter irony here is that social media is as old as the Internet. I mean that very literally.

Consider the Wikipedia entry on the topic:

Social media is information content created by people using highly accessible and scalable publishing technologies that is intended to facilitate communications, influence and interaction with peers and with public audiences, typically via the Internet and mobile communications networks.

I highly recommend reading the rest of the entry. Unfortunately, the perception of the existence of “social media” isn’t much older than the popularity of the term itself. If you ask Amy Nut, she thinks social media began with MySpace:

As the Internet began to permeate into every home, teenagers found a new way of expression via the Internet. One way teens found of sharing common interests with other like-minded teenagers was through MySpace.

MySpace launched in 2003. Sure, 5 years feels like an eternity in our rapidly evolving world of the Internet. However, I’d like to take a moment to introduce potential users to some of what existed before there was MySpace.

Forums: Forums have long been online social gathering points for small and large crowds. Still popular all over the Internet, forums have been around since 1996. That’s a full 7 years before MySpace even existed

Wikis: Today, Wikipedia is one of the most well known successes in social media. Much to many a social media marketer’s demise, there’s no room for promotion. However, for the record, the first Wiki went live in 1995, making it 8 years older than MySpace.

IRC: The ultimate grandpa of Internet chat has to be IRC (Internet Relay Chat). The technical difference, from a user perspective, between IRC and Twitter really boils down to the minor variation between having a “chat room” and a “follow list”. Dating back to 1988, IRC is 15 years older than MySpace. (and 18 years older than Twitter)

Usenet: In the very early days of the Internet, a system known as Usenet came online. This system was the inspiration behind the before mentioned Forums. The system was hugely popular and still exists today. The system went online in 1979, making it 24 years older than MySpace. Admittedly, there were relatively few Internet users back then.

BBS: The BBS (Bulletin Board System) scene was popular before the wide spread adoption of the Internet. A BBS ran on a host computer and a user’s computer connected directly via a modem. While the precursor of the BBS systems came online in 1972 (before I was born), the first true BBS cropped up in 1978. That’s a whopping 25 years before MySpace.

Finger: Born in 1977, the Finger protocol is pretty old. It wasn’t until id Software‘s used the protocal that it suddenly became popular – at least within the gaming scene in the mid to late 90′s. All but dead now, replaced by blogs, the technology was born 26 years before MySpace and 32 years before I the writing of this post (on WordPress).

The concept of social media, unlike the buzzword itself, is not new. It’s not even close. In fact, the Internet was designed to exchange data. In a way, the Internet has always been social.

The same way old fashion becomes new again, technology concepts keep being reborn with new terminology. Trends pick up and everyone gets this feeling that things have somehow changed. Perhaps they have. However, before you get excited and anxious, take time to consider how far back the path goes.

In 1996, I started composing weekly updates about a game I was working on. It was my Web based progress log filled with bits of personal chatter. I may not have known it, but it was, basically, a blog.

Everything old is new again; and the world keeps spinning. Remember where we came from.

Uncategorized History, Rant, Social Media

I love getting a paycheck. I even like having responsibilities… But right now I’m getting dressed for work – in fact, I even have only one shoe on as I type this. While putting the shoe on, I reached up and shook the mouse at my desktop to leave the screen saver and see what my iGoogle homepage was reporting.

Sure enough: 3 new inches at Vail and A-Basin, 4 new inches at Breck and Keystone, and 5 new inches at Wolf Creek. It’s 8:30 now, lifts open at 9. I stopped futzing with my shoes to write this post. It’s sort of a quiet protest. By the time I get my cup of coffee and get settled in at my desk, folks will be taking the first lifts up for the day and cutting into some freshies.

Normally, it wouldn’t bother me so much – but this season we’ve had pretty crappy conditions. It’s also been over two weeks since I’ve ridden, and I’m none too happy about that. Anyway, I gotta tie my shoes now. Then, I’m off to work.

Uncategorized

Intro

The story behind marijuana and the law is long winded and rather upsetting. For a good overview, I recommend watching Grass. We somehow decided that alcohol and tobacco are ok, but pot is not? At the end of the day, it’s just a plant!

There’s little reason to preach anymore. I have a hard time finding people who think marijuana should be illegal. I’m sure there are DEA agents who would disagree (unemployment?!), but even law enforcement is starting to get behind a legalization movement. Well, some law enforcement. Derek would think otherwise.

My biggest concern is that my tax money is being spent to put people behind bars that I really don’t think should be there. Lives are destroyed because of marijuana laws. And I’m helping to pay for this? I feel dirty!

It seems that rallies and protests don’t really DO much anymore. So what would? I have an idea!

The Idea

The idea is a peaceful protest that sends a message. Only, the message is directed at those in jail, not the government itself.

We could use public records to build a list of people who’ve been put in jail for nothing more than Marijuana based crimes. Growers, dealers, whatever… so long as they didn’t slaughter a bus full of nuns.

Then we take the list and start by sending apology letters on behalf of concerned American citizens. We say, “look, we’re sorry you’re in the slammer and we’re actually paying for you to be there… we’re trying to get the laws changed but until we do, we wanted to at least let you know we’re thinking about it…”

As a step further, maybe folks would want to send gifts – comfort items. Bags of Cheese Puffs?

While the message would be directed towards inmates, I think it would send a bigger message of compassion. It’s a break away from the stereotypical “we’re going to march on Washington and show our anger” approach that obviously didn’t work.

I wouldn’t know where to start to organize something like this, but I would definitely contribute to such an effort. Maybe the folks at NORML could make it happen?

Uncategorized Cannabis, Idea, Jail, Legalization, Marijuana, Pot, Prison, Protest

I recently caught on to a growing trend of co-op housing. In a nutshell, a group of folks will get together and buy a house. They’ll all live in the house and work together to live efficiently. A friend of mine specializes in helping groups work together effectively. It’s good stuff.

On the flip side, there’s a huge trend of folks moving to freelance work. NPR did a piece on it, referring to it as gig work. Some of their guests cited it as a new kind of work culture. My own recent project, Webcraft, was an attempt to move that direction myself.

I found the technical details of running a freelance business to be a hindrance. I didn’t like having to file paperwork declaring the business. I’m currently trying to find a good accountant to help me deal with my taxes. I had to probe around for a long while to find good invoicing and financial tracking tools. I also had to setup my website, email, and other services. The whole time, I was eager to get to work on something.

I believe there’s an excellent opportunity – right now – to start a co-op to support freelancers. Here’s how I see it:

• The co-op is a corporation of some kind. A biz/legal/accountant type person could probably choose the best structure.
• Leadership roles (i.e. CEO) would be filled be “elected” employees. The co-op, at large, would vote to hire/fire leadership staff. The co-op would also vote on pay, benefits, etc.
• The co-op would provide freelancers with key services: health benefits, accounting, legal council, server hosting, etc.
• The co-op members would meet regularly and be active in evolving the overall structure of the company.
• Members could leave/join the co-op at any time.
• Members would perform their normal freelance work with their clients.
• Members would be required to pay some level of fees to the co-op for operation expenses (probably tiered).

The co-op could decide to go so far as to put together community offices or other utilities if the group voted for it. Where most businesses are top down and a CEO makes all of the calls, this company would be flipped upside down. The freelancers themselves would choose the direction of the company.

I’ve been mulling over this idea for the better part of a year. The “employees in charge” notion was actually inspired by a story I heard about such a company existing in a foriegn country. I wish I knew more about it so I could research it. Either way, had I a bit more free time, I’d love to research this whole idea a little further. If this strikes your itnerest, I’d love to chat about it.

EDIT Looks like someone beat me to the punch: http://www.freelancersunion.org/

Uncategorized Business, Co-op, Company, Cooperative, Freelancing, Gig, Idea

I recently took a work trip to Dundee, Scotland. It was my first trip over the pond. I did not get much play time. Overall, I don’t see Dundee being one of the places in the world that I’d like to live. Anyway, I poked my head in a toy store while there and saw this “snowboard”. I think I would have called it a butt shovel myself.

Overall, things have been slow this snowboarding season. Nino and I went up to Wolf Creek the weekend before last. We had wonderful conditions. It dumped the first two days we were there, and the sun came out on the third. I got to ride with good friends from Texas (and some new friends). Overall, it was one of the best weekends in a while.

The spring equinox is near and the snowboarding season is drawing to a close. I’m scheduling a surf trip to Sayulita soon. While chatting with friends, I realized I’ve gone to Sayulita every year for the past 3 years. I figured I should try to make it again this year.

I did not get to ride enough this season, but I’m happy I got in as many days as I have.

Uncategorized

I’m annoyed. It’s not a big deal, but it’s annoying me anyway. I keep getting “follows” on twitter from tweeps, usually promoter/advertiser types, with thousands – sometimes tens of thousands of following/ers. These tweeps don’t know me, they don’t know anything about me, and most of all, they don’t care what I have to say.

For those tweeps that are on this mindless mission to collect the largest follow lists possible on Twitter, you need a name. You’re a bunch of attention whores on twitter, so I’ll call you twhores.

If you are following more than 300 tweeps, I call you a twhore.

Why 300? It fits well with the Dunbar number (the number of individual in a social group that the human mind can keep track of). Orginally, Dunbar set the number for humans around 150. Later, it was suggested to be as high as 290. I think 300 is a nice safe margin.

Granted, some brands and other twitter accounts are using twitter for slightly different reasons… but, those aren’t the folks I’m talking about. I think you know who I’m talking about… Maybe someone will come up with a better name for these twhores later on… But for now, I feel a tad better.

Uncategorized Rant, Social Media, Twitter

Alright, I’m an advocate of not driving more than need be. I’m kind of lazy, so I’m not always a good advocate. However, you’ve got to use your body to keep it working. That’s the neat thing about a self-maintaining machine. Anyway, that said, let me get to my quick point. I’ve seen a number of comments from treehugger ecogeeks about the amount of calories a car consumes daily versus the amount of calories our bodies use. It’s interesting stuff, but there’s a point I see missing often times. Cars carry heavy stuff (if only itself) across long distances very quickly. So lets play with some numbers.

First, there’s this popular link over on GOOD showing the amount of calories in gasoline. Meanwhile there’s a considerably less popular link to NutriStrategy’s calories burned per exercise. From the first link, we know that gasoline has 31,268 calories per gallon. A Ford Escort gets upwards of 40mpg. Lets make the math easy and say it gets 31.268 mpg. (See what I did there?)

31,268 cpg / 31.268 mpg = 1,000 calories per mile

This car weighs almost 2,500lbs. The average American is slightly lighter. According to that NutriStrategy chart, running at 10mph for 1 hour burns 1126 calories for a 155lbs person. Can you run at 10mph for a full hour? Holy crap. Anyway, lets pretend you can. In 1 hour at 10mph, you’ll run (approximately, I’m no mathematician) 10 miles. (See, I’m doing it again.) So, lets do the math.

1126 c / 10m = 112.6 calories per mile

Neat.. so we’re looking at a car using somewhere between 8 and 9 times as many calories per mile. Now less toss weight in. The car was 2500lbs (not including the person) and our person is 155lbs.

2500lbs / 155lbs = 16.1

The car is moving the same amount of weight as 16 people. Now, you might say “but a lot of that car weight is the engine itself…” True, but the same is true for the human, no? So lets keep going a moment. Let see how many cpm per pound we’re using.

Car: 1000cpm / 2500 = 0.40 calories per mile per pound…

Human: 112.6 / 155 = 0.73 calories per mile per pound…

Assuming a car speed of around 60mph, that means a human uses almost twice as many calories per pound to move at 1/6th the speed of the car. That is assuming no extra load for either. Toss in another person or two and a couple of hundred pounds of gear, what do you think is the best way for you and your mates to travel over long distance?

Now that I’ve blogged in support of the automobile, I’d like to say that I’m not a big fan of America’s addiction to cars. I’d like to see better use of trains, actually. However, pretty pieces of art showing calorie use compared is kind of a load of crap. Speaking of crap, I wonder what kind of numbers you would get if you compared the emissions per calorie consumed for a car versus a human? Ewww….

Uncategorized Rant