Ode to Alphonse

July is always reserved for the Tour de France, and with this being Lance Armstrong's last Tour, we've been treated to a great ad campaign from Radio Shack. I don't know whether these ads show up anywhere else except on the Vs. network during the Tour, but I thought I needed to do a post to commemorate my favorite ad campaign in a long time. Enjoy.









You're welcome.

Modern capitalism? Broken.

One of the news services I subscribe to had a story on oil companies destroying Nigeria, and how the gusher in the Gulf pales in comparison to what has happened there. Recently I heard the situation in the Gulf described as "the worst in U.S. history, and wondered how it compared to others around the world. The news is not good.

How do we change this? The divide between the ultra-rich and even the middle class has become so wide that, even though they are greatly outnumbered, the rich control the message and the capital. And they control the message to the extent that, even though he knows they are evil, the little guy still trusts the big companies that drive our economic system and believes what's best for business is best for all. The big companies can stomp on the livelihoods to pump up the portfolios of the stockholders, and thereby their own worth.

How did we get to this point in human culture? The problems are so deep and extensive, I can't even begin to think about solutions. All I can come up with is wanting less, but so many are convinced that our happiness lies in having more material things that I'm not sure those of us who get it can take an economic bite out of big business. We're afraid of promoting local food because it might upset Wal-Mart. And exposing the large corporations for the evil entities they are is likely to be fruitless as well, because they can manipulate the message to make themselves look good.

Disclaimer: Don't read beyond this point if you are uncomfortable with reading something that might be considered "socialistic".

I don't know what to do with this, and I thought it might be a place to start the conversation: how do we make things better? How do we fight the battle against huge corporations that aren't bothered by trampling whatever stands in the way? What are the main factors driving this situation? How do you fight back against a much, much, MUCH more powerful adversary? What tools that can be used against unquestioning acceptance of rampant capitalism, misinformation, and overwhelming amounts of money and capital?

So it goes.

I write like
Kurt Vonnegut

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

I don't know why I think this is so funny.

Edit: On further review, this is seeming more and more ridiculous with each passing time I put in samples of my writing. I kept getting Vonnegut, and was pretty pleased with myself, and then I got Dan Brown. Hardly in the pantheon. Then I just got H.G. Wells.

So it goes.

Thank you, Captain Obvious!

I think I scared my kids when I yelled at the t.v. tonight. Seriously. I mean SERIOUSLY!?!
Don't text while READING TO YOUR KIDS?!?

I can't think what I might have texted while I was reading to my kids:
"No way! I cnt blve this junie b! LMFAO!"
"Alxndr had a trbl hrbl no gd vry bad day. LOL BOO HOO."
"Wish sam i m wld go away. Dont like grn eggs n ham either."
"I wldnt do that harry. vldmrt will own u."

Seriously.

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Wake UP!

We've reached our destination in Quebec, the Chateau Grande Alle. It's Quebec City Summer Festival up here, and the Grande Allee is closed down. Outside we can hear some band playing "Ring of Fire" and "Folsom Prison Blues". They're singing it in English.

We've scoped out the site of tonight's ARCADE FIRE concert. As we were walking around looking for food, we heard loud music from somewhere out on the Plains of Abraham. A slightly closer listen revealed: SOUND CHECK! So we heard some freebie Arcade Fire, and even heard "Wake Up" from a distance, where we were eating. Never mind that the music playing at the sidewalk bistro was a mix of Jason Mraz, All-American Rejects and Lady Gaga, among others. We got pretty geeked to hear the strains of our favorite song of the past year or so.

Concert starts at 9:30--we'll be headed down soon to stake our claim on prime territory for the show. We're pretty pumped up about this concert.


Post-concert update: One of the top three concerts I've ever attended. Man, they put out a lot of energy! For "Haiti", they brought up the 14 or so members of the opening band RAM, from Port-Au-Prince. Regine's family is from Haiti, and today they launched an organization called KANPE for Haitian relief. They also pledged to match up to $1million of their own money if people text "STAND" to 30333. Each text sends $5 to KANPE.

QUIZ: Tech Savvy Teaching: How Do You Rank? | Edutopia

This is for my teaching friends:

QUIZ: Tech Savvy Teaching: How Do You Rank? | Edutopia

You Want My Business? Don't Be a Jerk.

I've been holding on to this for a while, but I feel like I need to say something.

At heart, I'm a boycotter. When something about a business ticks me off, I take personal action. About ten years ago or so, someone gave me a gift card to Wal-Mart. I already didn't like their business model and the way they treat their employees, so my plan was to go in, buy some socks, and recover the cash. Well, of course they don't do things that way (to be fair, neither do most businesses, which is why I hate gift cards) and they wouldn't give me cash back on my socks. So since that time I've boycotted them.

The power of the purse is important, but I really doubt any of the businesses or establishments I've boycotted feel the direct impact of my withholding business. But it makes me feel better about not supporting something that troubles me on a deeper level.

And sometimes my boycotts lead to some personal level of sacrifice, which makes me feel better, too. There is a place in town that serves pretty good coffee, and a mean reuben. And they no longer receive my business. It bums me out because I enjoyed their service very much until I could no longer support them on a moral level.

During the school year this year, my wife and her Sunshines were out for a walk. I'll spare the details of where the walk took them, but they were on the property of a local store, headed to where they were going. No one was loitering, no one was stealing, no one was vandalizing. The owner of the store physically accosted one of the students when he wasn't doing anything wrong. Now mind you, sometimes these kids do something wrong. Sometimes they are not the best-behaved kids. But this time they were minding their own business, getting from point A to point B. And one was physically assaulted by a grown up who should be able to control himself.

Unfortunately no charges were pressed, so it's not really a matter of public record, and being too specific might be viewed as slander. I'd love to make it a public crusade, because grown-ups should act like grown-ups, and bullies should be put in their places. But it does make me feel better to put this out there, as a cautionary tale: you do things I don't like, you lose my business.