When I was 29, and single, dating went like this: See a guy at a party, make eye contact, if he walks up chat a bit, find out some stuff (who his favorite band is, if he likes the Coen Brother’s films, if he had ever bothered to finish undergrad), make out, start dating. Just like that. I didn’t care about getting married, so I didn’t care if we got serious. Nobody I met had kids (or rarely had), no one had relaxed into a job they once hated. We just wanted to be hot for each other and have some things in common. Bonus if we liked each other’s friends.

Sigh… doesn’t that sound nice? Now at 39, and single, dating goes like this: [Read more →]

Tags: his & hers, technology
4 Comments »

The oil still gushes from the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, and washes up on shores, destroying and threatening tourism, fishing, and ecology. The Coast Guard and BP work tirelessly to plug the leak and limit the damage. The U.S. District Court of New Orleans just overturned an Obama administration moratorium on new drilling, citing that this rig’s disaster does not necessarily presage others’. Sometimes it looks like the President is more concerned with punishing big oil than fixing the problem.

If the United States did ban offshore drilling, where would we get the lost oil? These are considerations that the government will hopefully make. In fact, which forms of energy we should develop, where we should develop them, and how we should develop them seem to be the greatest challenge facing mankind in the 21st century. The answers are debatable, but there is one consideration that is not conventionally thrown around. Antarctica. [Read more →]

Tags: politics & government, technology
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The New York Times, one of the most famous news-related advertising-delivery publications in the world, has exercised some serious journalistic muscle in bringing its readers the lowdown on one of the most important issues of the day.

Facebook’s privacy policy.

Because, you know, that is some serious stuff. The article, entitled Price of Facebook Privacy? Start Clicking reveals that people who voluntarily choose to partake of the social networking site have to read and click on a few things to ensure that some of their information is kept “private.”

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Tags: technology, trusted media & news
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Deciding to take a vacation from social networking was especially difficult for me. Not just because I love it or that my time during the day has become so deeply entrenched in it, but because, well, I work in social networking for a living. As a “social media marketer” part of my job description is creating and cultivating social networks for brands like The Ritz-Carlton Residences. On certain days, I literally spend a full work day bouncing between sites like Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn and other little microcosms on the web.

I opted to take some time off from my personal Twitter and Facebook accounts this week mostly because I’m starting to feel burnt out. After hours of staring at a scrolling screen of messages, one starts to- how do I put this- go completely and utterly insane. Add to that, the constant feed of articles from my enormous Google Reader account and I was starting to feel dizzy. And tired of hearing my own voice. And tired of hearing everyone else’s voice. Feeling a constant need to “be caught up” with four hundred people was starting to get exhausting.

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Tags: technology
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This has potential to be a touchy subject. Anyone out there with a kid or a pet is guilty of over-texting photos of said children to friends and family. I do not purport to be innocent of this heinous and irritating crime. I do, however, try to capture moments that are funny or extraordinarily cute if it’s an image I plan to send. Here’s an example of what I consider text-worthy:

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Tags: family & parenting, going parental, technology
6 Comments »

So someone left a car bomb in Times Square. The immediate questions that come to mind are who, why, what was its capability, how can such things be prevented from happening again?

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Tags: art & entertainment, politics & government, race & culture, religion & philosophy, technology, television, terror & war
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There is apparently a Facebook group praying for the death of President Obama. The group’s page says:

DEAR LORD, THIS YEAR YOU TOOK MY FAVORITE ACTOR, PATRICK SWAYZIE. YOU TOOK MY FAVORITE ACTRESS, FARAH FAWCETT. YOU TOOK MY FAVORITE SINGER, MICHAEL JACKSON. I JUST WANTED TO LET YOU KNOW, MY FAVORITE PRESIDENT IS BARACK OBAMA. AMEN

Now there is a Facebook petition calling on Facebook to ban the above group. [Read more →]

Tags: politics & government, technology
10 Comments »

Like millions of my fellow denizens of this deeply troubled planet, I’m looking forward to purchasing an iPad. And then, three or four years from now, I’m going to throw it into the garbage or, as we euphemistically like to refer to it, the “recycling bin.”   [Read more →]

Tags: environment & nature, technology
2 Comments »

Rumors are flying out of Cupertino about a new Apple device, the iShit. Expected to be priced from $499, the iShit will be the first consumer product made entirely from human feces. While the iShit won’t necessarily do anything spectacular (or anything whatsoever), the Apple logo will be prominently displayed on its case.

Analysts expect demand to be high.

Tags: technology
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When Falls the Coliseum is all up in the Twitter and the Facebook.

Follow us on Twitter to get tweeted every time we have a new post. We’ll tweet the hell out of you. Then you can re-tweet us. Yes, it sounds dirty. Don’t keep us all to yourself. Share the love.

And join our fan page on Facebook. We try to highlight a couple of posts a day. Just another way for you to know what’s going on at WFTC. And if you “like” a post or “share” it, you can help introduce your friends to this site. Do it already. You know you want to.

You can also sign up to receive e-mail announcements for every new post. It’s free. And good for you.

Tags: announcements, technology
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BBC News reported this week that the Treasury Department has eased sanctions against Iran, Cuba, and Sudan with the hope of “[helping] further the use of web services and [supporting] opposition groups.” While I generally disagree with sanctions on principle, and so certainly welcome any removal of them by our gov’t, I can’t help but make a few quick points regarding the general narrative that this move fits into. [Read more →]

Tags: politics & government, technology
1 Comment »

I’ve been a Facebook believer for well over a year now. Although some have logged off permanently, I couldn’t be prouder of my obsession. This social networking site has given me the chance to communicate with people that I haven’t seen in a long time. One would argue that there’s a reason why we lose touch with people, or that our three hundred Facebook friends are fake friendships. But frankly, I need all the friends I can get, if they are real friends or merely Facebook friends. [Read more →]

Tags: ends & odd, technology
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To anyone who stumbles self-consciously through voice messaging: relax, voicemail is dying along with the home landline. To everyone else: let’s not prolong its suffering. [Read more →]

Tags: diatribes, technology
2 Comments »

I’m about as far from an electronic gadget junkie as you can get. I own a barely-used cell phone and a laptop that never works fast enough. I bought a Kindle, but that was only after Oprah told me that it was her most favorite thing in the world. (And Oprah would never lead me astray.) It was only recently that I learned what “apps” are. I don’t text, and I definitely don’t sext. And what is Wi-Fi anyway? I don’t know. I employ a husband to figure out these technical details. So it’s pretty surprising, then, that I watched the dog and pony show for the new iPad, Apple’s latest must-have item. [Read more →]

Tags: technology
2 Comments »

I’m a member of the Mac-Cult. I went with a MacBook Pro over a Dell last year to avoid Vista and have never looked back. When my phone plan was up I switched to the iPhone. I’ve considered getting an Apple tattooed on my person in a private but alluring area. Today is a great day, for the High Priest has shown us a sign, a sign so magical I want to lick it. Behold the iPad! [Read more →]

Tags: technology
2 Comments »

I spent this past week in telecommunications hell, as the California rains shut down my Verizon phone and DSL line for the third time this month; this time for almost the entire week. It surprisingly made me long for the monopoly that once was AT&T. [Read more →]

Tags: technology
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It’s been about a year, now, since I made the move to a cell phone that does more than just telephone calls and text messages. Now my phone is A LOT smarter … wish I could say the same for me. [Read more →]

Tags: technology
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When I was an undergraduate, back in the 1950s*, professors had office hours. There were maybe 3 or 4 hours a week we knew the professor would be in his or her office and we could stop by to talk about course content or an upcoming assignment. We had the phone number of the office and could call during those office hours if we had a quick question. Professors also were available by appointment if we had a class that conflicted with their office hours. But basically, aside from seeing them during class time and the option of seeing them during their office hours — hours that they set — we didn’t have contact with them. They didn’t generally provide their home phone numbers. If we had a question at night or over the weekend, we lived with it. [Read more →]

Tags: education, technology
4 Comments »

One question I have concerning full body scans at airports, and the threats they pose to personal liberties, travelers’ dignity, yada-yada-yada … what about the poor schmucks who will have to look at way-too-many images of way-too-many travelers such as myself?
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Tags: technology, terror & war
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Raising a kid can be expensive. There are diapers and formula when they are babies, and as they get older they get pickier about their toys and their clothes (not to mention you still need to feed them!). Plus, maybe there is a certain bike they want or there is a new Wii game that is out. And in this economy, buying any holiday gifts at all may be a difficult expense for some people. Needless to say, I was intrigued when the other day, a friend “invited” me to donate to her daughter Ashtyn’s bike fund through Facebook.  [Read more →]

Tags: family & parenting, technology
1 Comment »

I have a house full of books. Every room in the house has bookshelves. Last summer, I put four new six foot tall shelves in the basement and filled them, front and back — that got the books off the floor around the rest of the house. That’s the second time I’ve done this.

So, some people like the clutter of books, as I do. Some love the feel of a nice deckle-edged hardback with crisp paper — some more than others.

I understand, even if I don’t share it, the appeal for some of having all their books in a convenient, portable form. And, undeniably, it’s cool to be able to have instant access to a big library of books. (How big is something I’ll return to.)

But, for me, the Kindle is not that. Look, toilet seats are made of the same stuff that Kindles are (and the comparisons don’t end there). [Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, technology
8 Comments »

If a tree falls in the woods and there’s no one around to hear it, does it make a sound? Well, that depends on whether it has a Facebook page. Sounds ridiculous, huh? I thought the same thing when I recently applied for a job to be an interactive editor for a news website. [Read more →]

Tags: all work, technology, trusted media & news
1 Comment »

I started out life as a Latin teacher, and apart from being able to spend time poring over smut no one else could understand and being called a scholar and not a pervert –- it was long ago and in those days the former term was considered preferable -– the appeal was that the subject domain didn’t change very much. You could delve deep and really understand what you were doing.

Oh, Saint Heraclitus, where did I go wrong? I fell into the blogosphere, and I will never be the same again. [Read more →]

Tags: movies, stone age memes, technology
3 Comments »

24,000-22,000 BC: chunky fertility goddess statues (pictured below: notice the prominent and large brains.)

10,000 BC: cave painting

4,000 BC: ziggurat construction [Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, technology
2 Comments »

There was an interesting article on CNN.com the other day (”interesting” in the sense of discouraging, scary, and unintentionally funny) titled “The Future of Libraries, With or Without Books,” about how librarians, in the same spirit as a 54-year-old woman getting a nose piercing and tramp stamp to keep up with “the kids,” have wholeheartedly and uncritically embraced the digital revolution, and, in the process, are dumping the “shushing ladies, dank smell and endless shelves of books.”

Are you one of those dwindling band of benighted bibliophiles that labors under the naive misconception that “endless shelves of books” are what libraries are all about?  Shush.  Today’s library contains “hipster staffers who blog (and) chat on Twitter.”

Wow.  Blogging.  That’s some cool new technology that all the teens are doing, isn’t it?
[Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, technology
24 Comments »

I always liked that scene in Mission Impossible where Tom Cruise is lowered into the CIA computer. There’s all kinds of suspense having to do with external constraints like being suspended from a cable while hacking into the computer and not being able to make any noise and so on. As any computer user knows, though, what’s amazing about the scene is that Cruise manages to get the computer to do what he wants. All those external plot-heightening devices are nothing compared to the mundane suspense of going to work and trying to do something with a computer at all. [Read more →]

Tags: stone age memes, technology
3 Comments »

Uncle Sam is cheating!

Considering all the money that flows out of New York City’s Financial District, it should not come as a surprise that the news was first brought to light by the Wall Street Journal, but here’s the bottom line: if you just got a fat under-the-table payment at work, or if you’re crying poverty during the day while night swimming in a pool filled with dollar bills, don’t go bragging about it over the internet on your social network of choice. [Read more →]

Tags: money, technology
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Not everyone noticed it, but the world ended last week. The Wikipedia model tanked. The New York Times reported that the English-language version of the “free encyclopedia that anyone can edit” would will soon institute the editorial review of articles about living people. So there will still be a Wikipedia but the revolutionary encyclopedia we have now will, in effect, cease to exist.

The changes Wikipedia is undergoing are likely to have broad-scale effects on the Internet and on information use throughout cyberspace. [Read more →]

Tags: stone age memes, technology, trusted media & news
10 Comments »

I am not a fan of Twitter. I feel that anything truly worth saying requires 200 characters at minimum. I think the fact Ashton Kutcher established himself as the F. Scott Fitzgerald of this medium suggests it is one to avoid whenever possible. I do concede, however, it’s possible it saved a life. This week Michael Beasley of the Miami Heat checked into a rehabiliation hospital to deal with “possible substance and psychological issues.” Before this, he hinted at his problems with Twitters including, “Feelin like it’s not worth livin!!!!!!! I’m done.” Did someone close to him see these Twitters? Did just typing out his thoughts help Beasley realize how desperate he was? Did he originally consider using only six exclamation points but then added a seventh to be on the safe side? [Read more →]

Tags: sports, technology
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Maslow’s hierarchy of needs should be rejiggered to feature another irresistible human drive. Who can resist drawing black curling mustaches on billboard pictures of beautiful ingénues and decorating upstanding pillars of society with devil’s horns and pitchforks? Photoshop has given us the power to satisfy this need and then some, but these days the influence of photo manipulation seems so pervasive and so powerful that its place in society is being debated in the British Parliament.

Britain is considering a law making it illegal to photoshop ads in publications intended for readers less than 16 years old, according to Jezebel.com. [Read more →]

Tags: art & entertainment, stone age memes, technology
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