Yesterday I saw the rather startling statistic that the average Facebook user views a whopping 27 pages on each visit. Of course the story goes on to explain that this huge surge in page views on Facebook has devastated the news portals which just a few years ago devastated newspapers and their websites.
Of course I am on the fence in my understanding of the popularity of Facebook. It is definitely a useful tool just as much as it is an enormous waste of time. The plethora of time wasting games and tedious updates and outright bitching that Facebook users engage in on the site is not just hard to understand -- it's troubling.
On the other hand, as I said, it is vastly useful. Facebook is basically a community bulletin board. You can post the trivial updates from your sad and pathetic day to day life and post way too many snapshots. But in exchange for using this free community bulletin board known as Facebook, they own it. They own it all. The terms of service are so vast and complicated that nobody, outside of a few highly techie folks, really read or understand them and those are the folks that have publicly deleted their accounts. Not because they are ashamed of what they are sharing but because the nerd behind Facebook could turn around tomorrow and change the TOS and sell every bit of information users have given up the rights to and we'd be even more relentlessly spammed than we currently are.
But in my eyes it's a necessary evil. It's the current hot spot and even though posting content there gives Facebook the right to do whatever they please with it, Facebook does actually drive traffic and increase readership. It's necessary because it's hugely popular. It's evil because once people move en masse to the next bigger and better network (hey, I used to use MySpace) Facebook's nerdy owner will get desperate even with his huge stacks of cash and he could very well peddle all of the information that has been collected via Facebook to persons or companies with less-than-good intentions.
In all reality, I give Facebook another two years at the most before users begin migrating to whatever comes next. It's part of the evolution of the internet. The users haven't gone anywhere, it's just the places where they congregate that has changed.
But some things haven't changed. MinnPics, nearing its second birthday, is even better than you remember. Check out the best photos from all over Minnesota now!
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Friday, June 18, 2010
Toddlers love ice - too much
Last night it hailed a bit at our house. That happens when the entire state is blanketed in end-of-the-world darkness that is typical with late-spring severe thunderstorms and the dozens of tornadoes we were cursed with here in Minnesota. In typical dumbass fashion, I waited until the rumble of thunder was steady to drag my after-work ass out to the garage and make room in the project-filled single stall death trap of a structure work the wife's crossover (SUV). My car, however, would have to linger curbside and pray to the gods that it survives without hail damage for the second time.
But as I said earlier, it hailed. Not a whole lot but enough for me to panic and slide my sandals on and run full speed from the front porch to the street and give my car the shelter of a Maple tree to ride out the storm. I didn't get a chance to inspect my sexy black beauty this morning as my old lady took it to work before I even crawled out of bed but the real story here is about my daughter.
The 19 month-old terror that she is wanted to go outside and see why dad was outside and she wasn't. After the worst had passed, we ducked outside to grab a few hailstones. I, of course, had to snap a photo and relate the hailstone's size to a quarter (the hail was larger) and after I had taken the photo, The Youngling grabbed the piece of ice and was instantly happy.
Until it melted. That's when the breakdown happened. I've never seen anyone of any age so utterly distraught over the melting of ice. It was sort of funny to me but also maddening and a little deafening because she expresses herself only three ways -- giggling, cryling and hysterically crying. But last night she took it to a whole new level and added a fourth form of expression. Hysterically screaming with intermittent fits of stomping wildly.
Somewhere, deep inside, I was laughing but this sort of behavior -- at least from a kid -- isn't tolerated. So we stepped in to action and tried to calm the situation but once a toddler's hailstone melts, there is no place for calming. The only cure for a loss as great as a piece of ice is time. And in due time, she calmed down enough to move on from that tragic loss.
If you want to see photos of the storms which swept through much of Minnesota, check out MinnPics.
But as I said earlier, it hailed. Not a whole lot but enough for me to panic and slide my sandals on and run full speed from the front porch to the street and give my car the shelter of a Maple tree to ride out the storm. I didn't get a chance to inspect my sexy black beauty this morning as my old lady took it to work before I even crawled out of bed but the real story here is about my daughter.
The 19 month-old terror that she is wanted to go outside and see why dad was outside and she wasn't. After the worst had passed, we ducked outside to grab a few hailstones. I, of course, had to snap a photo and relate the hailstone's size to a quarter (the hail was larger) and after I had taken the photo, The Youngling grabbed the piece of ice and was instantly happy.
Until it melted. That's when the breakdown happened. I've never seen anyone of any age so utterly distraught over the melting of ice. It was sort of funny to me but also maddening and a little deafening because she expresses herself only three ways -- giggling, cryling and hysterically crying. But last night she took it to a whole new level and added a fourth form of expression. Hysterically screaming with intermittent fits of stomping wildly.
Somewhere, deep inside, I was laughing but this sort of behavior -- at least from a kid -- isn't tolerated. So we stepped in to action and tried to calm the situation but once a toddler's hailstone melts, there is no place for calming. The only cure for a loss as great as a piece of ice is time. And in due time, she calmed down enough to move on from that tragic loss.
If you want to see photos of the storms which swept through much of Minnesota, check out MinnPics.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
The battle surrounding food
I don't plan on venturing in to parenting blog territory because I'm the last guy that should ever give parenting advice - outside of don't become a parent at 15 years old because that will never turn out well but I've been a dad now for about 19 months so that qualifies me for something.
The toddler is as cute as a whole truckload of buttons but the problem is that she knows it. She is already using her stunning good looks to her advantage and that is never good. Before she has turned two and before she has truly begun to talk she is already a tiny diva. I've heard stories about how she makes little boys her age do what she wants for her. If that isn't a glimpse in to the future, I don't know what is.
But this isn't about her manipulating of the tiny males around her. This is about her eating habits. I'll just say that I don't view obesity as ever being a problem for her because, from what I understand, obese people usually eat. This eating thing is something that the toddler rarely eats in my presence. Last night was especially tough as we actually held her down and put food in her tiny, angry mouth. Lately her eating habits include sitting for about two minutes (actually eating some) and then running around with us increasingly frazzled parents stuffing food in to her mouth as she sprints by.
I don't usually compare notes with other parents because I have other, more important things to talk about like what I'm having for lunch and the status of my shoes (disintegrating) but her eating habits are disturbing. Obviously, based on her steady weight, she is actually eating at some point and the pediatrician said that the whole not eating thing is normal but I'd love for her to eat at least a couple meals each day (maybe even sit for the entirety of them). Maybe some meat in her diet because as delicious as fruit is, it's not exactly rich in protein.
I'm sure this will all work out in the end but I've gone as far as having a sit-down conversation with the toddler where I discussed how if she doesn't eat she's going to be the first toddler to starve with a full plate of food sitting right in front of her.
If that was too wordy for you, try some photos. Check out the best photos of Minnesota at MinnPics!
The toddler is as cute as a whole truckload of buttons but the problem is that she knows it. She is already using her stunning good looks to her advantage and that is never good. Before she has turned two and before she has truly begun to talk she is already a tiny diva. I've heard stories about how she makes little boys her age do what she wants for her. If that isn't a glimpse in to the future, I don't know what is.
But this isn't about her manipulating of the tiny males around her. This is about her eating habits. I'll just say that I don't view obesity as ever being a problem for her because, from what I understand, obese people usually eat. This eating thing is something that the toddler rarely eats in my presence. Last night was especially tough as we actually held her down and put food in her tiny, angry mouth. Lately her eating habits include sitting for about two minutes (actually eating some) and then running around with us increasingly frazzled parents stuffing food in to her mouth as she sprints by.
I don't usually compare notes with other parents because I have other, more important things to talk about like what I'm having for lunch and the status of my shoes (disintegrating) but her eating habits are disturbing. Obviously, based on her steady weight, she is actually eating at some point and the pediatrician said that the whole not eating thing is normal but I'd love for her to eat at least a couple meals each day (maybe even sit for the entirety of them). Maybe some meat in her diet because as delicious as fruit is, it's not exactly rich in protein.
I'm sure this will all work out in the end but I've gone as far as having a sit-down conversation with the toddler where I discussed how if she doesn't eat she's going to be the first toddler to starve with a full plate of food sitting right in front of her.
If that was too wordy for you, try some photos. Check out the best photos of Minnesota at MinnPics!
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
My problem with soda prices
I am an unabashed fan of soda. I don't overconsume the crap - and yes it is crap - but I do love the sugary treat on a daily basis. I typically limit myself to one 12 oz. can per day and I'm happy after that. I don't know whether it's the sugary goodness of it or that I am a caffeine addict. Whatever the case, I do spend a certain amount of our household grocery budget on the worthless sugary crap. Lately, though, the prices have come to piss me off.I remember when I was a new full-time employee at my first job. Nearly every day as I returned to the office after lunch I would stop at a friendly convenience store and plop down a cool dollar and even with tax I'd be the temporary owner of a 20 oz. bottle of sugary, delicious soda.
I reluctantly accepted a price hike from 94 cents to 99 cents per bottle. That left the plus-tax price at $1.05 for a 20 oz. bottle.
Fast forward a decade and a 20 oz. bottle of soda at a convenience store can now cost upwards of $1.59! Did production costs of the sugary crap truly increase over 50% in a mere ten years? I doubt that because a less-than-portable two liter bottle of soda (more than three-times the size of its 20 oz. counterpart) can easily be found for one dollar.
Is the convenience and portability of the 20 oz. bottles in our rush-rush world of today the reason for the rather insane price hikes of soda or is there something more going on here? Would we be better off making our own soda from some bizarre online recipe or should we resort to drinking nothing but water? And what price is the breaking point? At what price will you say "no thanks" to 20 oz. bottles of soda?
Check out MinnPics - it's full of photos from across the great state of Minnesota.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Lady Gaga - Alejandro video
Outside of some simulated sexual intercourse and some S&M going on, Lady Gaga's video for her latest single, "Alejandro", is far from shocking. She's made the epic music video her trademark in the last year so an eight-plus minute clip for a four-minute song isn't much of a surprise. Lady Gaga is going to have to step it up a few notches. Oh, sure, she struts around fora bit with machine guns attached to her bra and spends the majority of the video just one step above naked but that's who she is. In being shocking, Lady Gaga has taken the shock out of her shocking and isually stunning imagery. To me, the video for "Alejandro" tries too damn hard to be edgy, shocking and cool and instead falls sort of flat.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Rules and rivers, both are in danger
The first rule of blogging is to update said blog on a regular basis. But rules are made to be broken and I love, love, love to break rules. For instance I sometimes speed while driving - usually a whopping 5 miles per hour over the limit on wide open freeways. Yeah, I'm a real badass. I also throw jars in the recycling without washing them - but I'm feeling like less of a badass in that department after DeRusha's Good Question last night.
But back to that first rule of blogging. Being that I'm a total badass, I'm not going to apologize for the past two or three months because shit happens and while I'll say that I wish that said shit had continued indefinitely, it hasn't so here I am back at what I used to do which boils down to me boring a few readers who pass by and find this and writing the occasional, hard-hitting post which connects with a few folks.
Then it hit me, yesterday I saw a blurb somewhere about the nation's most endangered rivers or bodies of water. One name in particular stuck out at me. The Cedar River. Hell, I know the Cedar River. I grew up adjacent to Austin which the Cedar River passes through and bestows a 100 year flood on the city every 8 years or so.
To most folks, the Cedar River is nothing more than a nuisance. It cuts the city in half and, as I said, it floods incessantly. But the increased flooding, I think, is directly linked to its endangered status. Sure, it has flooded numerous times in the past but because of the increased demands on the river upstream from the city of Austin by way of farm drainage, the floods have become infinitely more frequent.
Common sense would say that something needs to be done both about the increased demands placed on the river and its flooding problems within the city of Austin. While the city has bought up hundreds of homes located in what has turned out to be a rather vast flood plain, there is still work to be done. The environment-loving hippie in me says that we need to restore wetlands along the river to slow the flow of water and catch sediment and pollutants from the farmland's runoff but the farm-boy in me says to farm every inch of soil that doesn't blow or wash away. But there is a balance and I've seen it up close on my parent's farm. Realize that some areas aren't meant to be farmed. Just because you own it doesn't mean that it's fit for traditional crop farming. Seed some filter strips along the river and its tributaries and consider cutting a few drainage tiles and letting nature have its way with the low-lying areas which seem far better-suited for ducks rather than corn.
Lastly, get out and appreciate Minnesota or at least the stunning photos from across the state showcased daily at MinnPics.
But back to that first rule of blogging. Being that I'm a total badass, I'm not going to apologize for the past two or three months because shit happens and while I'll say that I wish that said shit had continued indefinitely, it hasn't so here I am back at what I used to do which boils down to me boring a few readers who pass by and find this and writing the occasional, hard-hitting post which connects with a few folks.
Then it hit me, yesterday I saw a blurb somewhere about the nation's most endangered rivers or bodies of water. One name in particular stuck out at me. The Cedar River. Hell, I know the Cedar River. I grew up adjacent to Austin which the Cedar River passes through and bestows a 100 year flood on the city every 8 years or so.
To most folks, the Cedar River is nothing more than a nuisance. It cuts the city in half and, as I said, it floods incessantly. But the increased flooding, I think, is directly linked to its endangered status. Sure, it has flooded numerous times in the past but because of the increased demands on the river upstream from the city of Austin by way of farm drainage, the floods have become infinitely more frequent.
Common sense would say that something needs to be done both about the increased demands placed on the river and its flooding problems within the city of Austin. While the city has bought up hundreds of homes located in what has turned out to be a rather vast flood plain, there is still work to be done. The environment-loving hippie in me says that we need to restore wetlands along the river to slow the flow of water and catch sediment and pollutants from the farmland's runoff but the farm-boy in me says to farm every inch of soil that doesn't blow or wash away. But there is a balance and I've seen it up close on my parent's farm. Realize that some areas aren't meant to be farmed. Just because you own it doesn't mean that it's fit for traditional crop farming. Seed some filter strips along the river and its tributaries and consider cutting a few drainage tiles and letting nature have its way with the low-lying areas which seem far better-suited for ducks rather than corn.
Lastly, get out and appreciate Minnesota or at least the stunning photos from across the state showcased daily at MinnPics.
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