Blogging: This One VS Wordpress

Perhaps because I've used "blogspot" (or "blogger dot com" or whatever the flavor du jour name is) for quite a while now but I find it easy to use.  I started noticing about a year ago that a lot of people use Wordpress. A lot of people whose blogs get read and commented on use WP as opposed to this one.

Yes, I said their name.  Wordpress. I've used it in my blog. Oh, bad me.  I'm damned for all eternity to have said their name on the Internet.  I'm going to use it in vain too.

Why do people blog?  It's basically journaling on the Net as opposed to paper.  There are a zillion different kinds of blogs and blogging out there.  Family, memories, parenting, animal, writing, creativity, cooking, political, social etc. etc. etc.  You get the idea. Facebook has given me a wealth of topics to blog about usually because someone got my goat or sparked a memory.

I think essentially why we blog or journal is the universal need to be heard. To be "seen." To feel creative.   We blog to capture our moment of cleverness, clarity or even genius. In a sense, we blog to immortalize ourselves.  We don't want to be forgotten.  As long as the Web lasts, we will last.  Our thoughts, ideas, recipes, photos etc. are there as though part of our essence is carved in stone with 0s and 1s. Our grandchildren or generations beyond can "know" us.

Digression.  The bane of blogging, journaling and often conversation.  Back to Wordpress.

I think Wordpress sucks.  I think it's a clunky, nasty, decidedly UN-friendly program. And I think at this point in my Technological Life, I'd like to think I'm relatively savvy at negotiating sites.  However, if you want to be heard (without a zillion ads cloggin' yo' bloggin') WP is the way most people go. A dear friend of mine (from the dog world) was lamenting WP just the other day and I said, "Why do you use that p.o.s. program?"

I confess, I do have a WP account but I almost always post a link to whatever my latest and greatest is to this one instead of trying to work around that scut-bucket loser of a site.

Telemarketers

What is this: National Call For Donations day??  Yes, we have Caller ID but they are getting so tricky, you don't always know.

8:30 in the f------ morning, the phone rings. (I had a crummy night's sleep so I'm really in no mood). Local area code, so I'm not sure.  It might be someone I know. And early in the morning, I'm on alert. Good news is rarely early in the morning or late at night.  In the dead of night, I've taken to answering the phone with: "What hospital or who's dead?"  A little disconcerting to an upset friend/relative who needs to talk.

Ha! that 216 area code was deceiving.  It's University Hospitals.

A guy, with a (granted) beautifully trained voice reads the spiel about the hospitals and ends with, "Shall we start with a $75 donation or would $50 work better for you."

I've worked in telemarketing ages past so my ordinary response to a live person is (depending on my mood):

1) I've done what you do, and it sucks.  No. Thanks. Have a good day.
2) No, not interested. Thanks.
3) And in the case of Bath Fitters, the most persistent of them all.

"I can get my bathroom entirely redone by a reputable contractor AND get a bathtub I actually LIKE for what you guys charge to recover the bathtub I hate. Why would i recover the tub I hate?"

BF: Dead silence for a moment of recovery.  "Well, we have a special going on...and we will be in your area giving estimates...."

"Are you going to replace the bathtub I hate?"

BF: Pause.  "No, we don't do that.  But we'd love to give you an estimate again."

"Look, honey, we eventually will get a new bathtub.  Not a recovered one. So you really need to take me off your list because you guys are too expensive and won't do what I want. OK?"

Call ends. For about 4 months, I don't hear from them but they crop up like orange barrels in Ohio.

But today, as the University Hospitals telemarketer set me up smoothly for the pitch and the swing, I start to chuckle, then I started to laugh. Softly at first then a good, sarcastic roll.

"Really?  REALLY?" I chortle. "Dude, you need to look at my last name AND our address because we've been at UH for some mighty big stuff (I give him the brief, one-sentence version). so if you think I'm DONATING, I'll let someone else's insurance company do the 'donating,' OK?"

Telemarketer (audible gulp): "Oh, my god I am so sorry.  I'm so sorry!"

And so every half hour after that, it's been another g----damn telemarketing call. The last one was Red Cross.  Will I donate blood?  Just tell me when and where and no I'm not going anywhere I have to get into a vehicle for. We haven't had an area disaster that I'm aware of and you always seem to have plenty of my blood type. My blood type is apparently quite common and

uninteresting.  One of the nurses admitted this to me.  And no, I'm not making an appointment.

ARC: "Blah, blah, blah..."

"I SAID I'll donate blood in my area and I will not make an appointment. Not unless you want to pay me for my plasma."

ARC: "Blah, blah, blah...."

"Yes I said I'll donate but no I won't make an appointment and no I won't go anywhere I can't walk to.  How hard is this for you all to get?"

I hate to imagine if I were a universal donor or a rare blood type.

It's now 20 some years since I did telemarketing and with each passing year, I get less sympathetic and kind.

Myth, Parable and the Modern Mode: An Opinion

©Mia K. Hess

An old acquaintance of mine wrote this quote:

The question: How to reach the not-very-bright hordes, when they simply refuse to be reached by logic, fact, or modern mode? How to communicate obvious and vital truths (conservation, global warming, public health, sexuality, basic nutrition, religion as parable/myth, the general awfulness of Mumford & Sons) the lack of understanding of which keep the country straggling and embarrassing, the laughingstock of the civilized world?  
T. Alexander

My snappy answer was "Turn off Fox News." But that is rather simplistic. 

First of all, it's not just America or Americans that are to blame.  There is general stupidity and apathy, blind obedience to "leadership' or what is fed to people by the government or media.  Anywhere.  In the world.  To make America and American the whipping boy, the lowest standard is just plain limited. We are not the only idiots in the world.

 Hello?  China throwing hundreds of pig carcasses in the river?  Oh, yeah, that was real bright and far-thinking, eh?  They could have a giant weenie roast and a big ass party!  No, instead let's pollute one of our main rivers. 

Do people need to step up, look at and make positive steps towards conservation, global warming, nutrition?  Absolutely? We all share the world.  Hey, folks, here's a clue-by-four: THERE IS NO WHERE ELSE FOR US TO GO. Hello, we have no colonies on the moon or Mars.  So if you screw this joint up, you're screwed. 

Sexuality?  Of course, that's a no brainer. Same sex couples should be able to marry.  We need, as a world society, more tolerance towards those who are not heterosexual.  Period, finished, end of story. If you think it's bad for LGBT in the U.S. you have no knowledge of the rest of the world.  None, zip, zilch.

Women's right and equality?  Again, a no-brainer.  Last time I looked men don't have a vagina and can't give birth.  So, grab your weenie and shut the front door.

Religion as parable/myth? Really? You honestly think that communicating "obvious and vital truths" in regard to religion is needed?  How exactly are you going to do that? Whose "obvious and vital truths": would those be? I sense a disturbance in the Force. 

I shall start this off by stating that I am not a Christian, Jew or Muslim.  By the mere fact and dictionary definition I am a pagan. (See DEFINTION.)

I believe in a Higher Power, which at any given time I can call God, Goddess, Mother, Mother Earth, Father Sky, Gaia, Great One, The Universe, Divine Love, Angel Michael, Great Spirit, Father Of My Ancestors or "Hey, Ralph!"  And I'm not joking about the last one. 

I believe in something greater than myself, a power which can "restore me to sanity."  Some days I am "coming to believe."  Some days, moments etc. I truly doubt.  Some days I'm pissed off and don't want anything to do with that idea. And there are days I forget too!  

I don't hold that thought or belief in a Power Greater Than Myself all the time.  I forget to ask for help or guidance, to meditate, to turn things over when things are in the crapper, to let go and let that Higher Power do something positive, heal a situation (even if temporarily). to bless those around me, to help those in need, to open a closed door or show me another one.  Etc. etc. 

A Higher Power can be a "deity", a group (such as a 12 Step type of thing), Nature, the Universe, Order, etc. 

My Higher Power is not confined to a couple of thousand pages in a book called the Bible, the Qaran, the teachings of Buddha or the Torah.  It's "bigger" than me, it's within and without of me.  

My question is: why don't you believe in a Higher Power?  Why do you believe that religion is a "parable/myth?"  Isn't that a rather simplistic view? Traditional church-temple-mosque type beliefs can be rather constrained, I'll grant you.  But the Divine, that Higher Power is so much more than what's found between 4 walls or a book.  Whether is be religious or educational!

Logic, you say?  What is logical about a tree?  A flower?  Nothing.  It's not linear, it's not logical.  Yes, it grows and dies but where was that original spark.  The big, cosmic, universe-colliding bang?  Sure, absolutely.  But why do people think that logic and belief are incongruous. 

Facts?  Facts can be misconstrued, re-phrased, re-tuned to suit the listener. Whose Facts are those?  Yours?  Look at pre-WW2 Germany and I rest my case. 

Statistics? Please. You can mangle statistics in so many ways that it's almost ridiculous.

Math, you say?  Yes, math is very "pure" in concept but how is it used, explained, taught, related to? Math can all be expressed in a different ways.  Math to me and how it relates to my life is different from math to you.  Funny thing: so is the concept of a Power Greater Than Yourself.  

Science?  Science as truth?  The Ultimate Truth?  Really?  They have come up with so many ways to change our perceptions of how dinosaurs lived and looked in the last twenty years, that the old stuff I learned as a kid is barely relevant  That's just as an example. "Hard" Science is ever-changing.  New discoveries are being made every day. Where does that spark of inspiration and sweat and try-again-because-that-one-didn't-work come from?  The human will?  Sure.  But when a scientist says, "Hmm, I wonder if I did THIS, that would happen?"  Where does that come from?  Isn't that the same as a musician writing a song?  Yes, he might know notes and theory but what is the essence that puts it all together and makes a decades-loved tune or symphony?  A touch of genius?  Luck? The hand of God? The Creative Spark?

The perfect example is when a baby is born.  Your child, grandchild, a friend's child.  You can know the sex, see the ultrasound, see that face nowadays,  even get a genetic makeup. When he or she comes out of the hatch, until then you still don't KNOW what they are going to look like, how they'll look at YOU.  That is a miracle.  That can't be completely explained in a scinetific, cut-and-dried way.  Talk about a Power, an Essence, bigger, greater than you and your human mind. Explain that one.

So I ask again: Why don't you believe in Something Bigger Than You?  A "Higher Power" if you will. Why do you try and negate that but using the fear-based "parable/myth: argument?  Why does it frighten you?  Because of the sheep-like devotion to rhetoric? You could say that about law or government or media   

That Something Bigger Than You inspires you!  It gave you the thought in your brain to write that paragraph and ask those questions about the "hordes."  It doesn't wipe the board clean of logic or facts.  It could inspire you in a way to help make those changes you want.

Modern Mode?  Let's talk abut that, shall we? Exactly what is that? The Modern Mode of what? Communicating?   It  sure as hell isn't the "Modern Mode" of compassion and forbearance and tolerance. 

The "Modern Mode" as I see it is: lighting fast communications, the Internet, social media, global satellites, force-fed, highly filtered, agenda-driven news, ever-growing ways to "connect" (without really connecting on a face-to-face level), new weapons, organ-regrowth, GMOs, super-farms, cloning, cell regeneration, new medicines and detection technologies, etc. 

Some of it is extremely useful and cool, some of it is great, mind-blowing, fabulously helpful, some of it is horrible, a lot of it is surprisingly de-humanizing and mind-numbing. (Think cyber-bullying.)  It's slowly creating robotic thinking; the inability to learn and connect without some device helping you. 

The Modern Mode is being collectively disconnected from "real" world. It's keeping you virtual, fed whatever you want or get the easiest way possible. For the most part, people are inherently lazy.  It's Fox News.  It's Rupert Murdock. It's keeping us stupid.  It's brain-numbing, soul-stealing.  We are more and more "of the world but not IN the world."

The "Modern Mode," in its most comic, yet true version, is two people sitting in the same room, texting each other, sharing a YouTube video. 

The "Modern Mode" has almost nothing to do with:
 Giving your neighbor a helping hand. Knocking on their door and saying, "Hi!" Talking on your porch, front stoop, hallway. 
Socialization face to face. 
Playing a game whether it's Backgammon, Baseball, Bridge, Bocci or board games with real people not in some virtual la-la land of WOW.
Taking responsibility for your own actions. Accountability  Winning and losing gracefully. 
Fresh air. Open windows on spring night.  Seeing the stars, the moon, a sunset in real time, with real wind and temperatures. 
Live performances  the arts, music, museums, history. Touching a 2,000 year old stone carved by some long-dead person.  
Consequences for bad, negligent  stupid behavior.  Apologies. Amends. 
Fixing it. Healing it.  Making it work and last until its just dead, Jim. You break it, you fix it.  Duct taping it, bailing wiring it.  Shouldering on.  
Caring, kindness, the human touch.  
Commitment; whether to an animal, person, an ideal.  Staying the course. Manners, consideration, politeness, a thank-you. 
A sense of humor.  A sense of wonder and curiosity about things, people, the world. 

These are considered by many to be out-dated, old fashioned concepts. Not in the "Modern Mode" at all. 

I like, use and appreciate technology as much as the next girl (or guy). I might be able to positively impact your life through its use.  The Gods know I sure as hell could implode your life through its use. 

If I want to create change in the "not-very-bright hordes" I can surely use technology to do so.  But human nature is such that to make essential, cellular, holistic change, the surest way is through human contact.  We are screaming as individuals, as a society, as a world, to be touched.  You can watch a video of me singing a song but when you are there, and I make eye contact with YOU or I touch your hand, we are changing each other.  If I touch the shoulder of a gay man who is hurting because society rejects his lifestyle and give him my support, we are changing each other.  If I write to my congressman or testify at a hearing, that's making change, even if it blows up.  If I walk outside the Afghani embassy with a sign saying, "Rights for Women." I'm making a change.  If I don't use a product because I don't like their policies or spokesperson, I'm making a change. If I recycle, save, reuse, donate, I'm making changes.  If I'm in my yard or on a walk and I get a bolt of inspiration as to how to do something, or who to talk to and FOLLOW THROUGH,  I'm making change.

If you don't like the "not-very-bright hordes" then quit bitching and blaming and make some changes. Make a shitload of money and buy a television station and do your own unbiased news.  Or if something you see on Facebook pisses you off, message that person or post or blog  and say, "what the hey?" or "Where are you getting your information from?  Here's another point of view." One person, face to face, at a time. You can be eloquent, you can get mad. To just blame all of society ills on Americans, stupidity  apathy and religion is too narrow, too easy.  

Don't be afraid to let the Divine shine within you. Even if you don't believe in Power Greater Than Yourself, last time I looked you aren't floating.  If can't look into the face of a child, a flower, a star, the sunset sky, an animals's eyes; smell bread, a rose, the wind; hear music that makes you laugh or cry and not see something beyond your comprehension, than you are missing out.That is the Myth, my friends. Don't blame anyone but your own lack of being a part of the Universe and Beyond. A part of .a Higher Power. A part of everyone and everything else in this world and beyond.


That is all.  I'm going outside.

©2013 Mia K. Hess

Google, Blogger, Facebook....and Puking Puppy

My brain hurts. Trying to get all this crud under one sort of umbrella. Google Calendars is the WORST offender. I have two damn Google calendars. Don't ask me why, I don't NEED two damn Google calendars. Can I delete one? Oh, apparently NOT!

And why, for the second day in a row, is Artie puking up his entire breakfast, poor little guy. I get the car ride, class thing yesterday. A lot of treats etc. But today? God only knows what crap he's been eating the back yard. Yesterday, it was projectile vomiting out the door of his crate. Smart little dog, he doesn't want to lay in that crap.

Sigh....my brain hurts.

OK, today's rant is:

OK, so, you got a Kindle or a Nook, an iPad, Smart Phone, laptop (whatever) for Christmas/
Yule/ Hanukkah....


PLEASE, I beg of you, spare your techno-savvy relatives, co-workers, the library people --- AND LEARN HOW TO WORK THE DAMN THING.


Unless you are going to pay them in some manner, way, shape or form....you are being lazy. If the nice library guy/gal says there is a tutorial online or written, please read it and just try before you bug the hell out of them. Read the damn destructions! A lot of libraries have FREE classes! The basics are NOT hard.


(I might buy the computer thing but a Kindle?? Come on....you turn the friggin' thing on.)


It's pretty self-explanatory. And I'l bet there are video tutorials for library lending. Nook and Kindle have good tutorials for using the devices online or ON the actual device.

Look, I'm basically an over-55 idiot and i'm lucky enough to have my own live-in, sleep-in geek. And I can work the damn things! I really hate asking my geek for stupid stuff. You should feel bad too. Ask technical or complicated questions, yes, but simple stuff? Like how to turn it on or how to read a book? Please. Get a grip.

Especially if we have explained this to you over and over....
and over...AGAIN!

All We Have To Fear IS Fear Itself

Thank you, FDR.  That quote stands even more vibrantly today than even ten years ago.  We are the most informed yet terrified folks that have ever lived on our blue planet.  Revisit Billy Joel's wonderful song We Didn't Start The Fire and just substitute a few phrases.  Still relevant.

The Internet is a wonderful place to visit but I do not want to live there.  It is the fierce dragon in our lives; it connect us in ways unimaginable as it soars through our lives; it is magnificent, beautiful and dangerous. It can kill your courage, your reason.  It can numb you. It can easily feed our fears --- bad dogs, child molesters everywhere,  government conspiracies, the vaccination controversy, unsafe water, global warming.  You can find a website, blog, link, video to validate your greatest fears.  We think the Magic Box is the Be All & End All. If it's on the web, it must be right.  (It used to be TV!).

I want to use the Dragon.  I want to bask in the warmth of his fire, and fly on his back to places I've never been and may never go in my lifetime. But I have to be conscious, to know when it's time to walk away from his cave, or climb off his back and connect.  With Mother Earth, the Great Spirit (God, if you will), the touch of a human's hand, the feel of my dog's fur, the vibration of my cat's purr.  No matter how funny that YouTube video is it's nothing compared to shared laughter with a friend.  No matter how compelling that website is about how you shouldn't let your kid go outside because s/he may get nabbed by some weirdo, maybe s/he needs to scrape her/his knees and learn about people by being with them.

I see so many people being so afraid.  If I take this, drink this, go there I'm going to die.  That's the bottom line.  Well, yes, you might.  However, you will pass from this mortal coil eventually.  And yes, conscienceless lunacy is not an excuse.  "Hey y'all --- watch THIS!" should not be your optimal last words.

While I do think that The Powers That Be want people afraid, this is NOT a new thing.  Fear has always been a way to control The Huddled Masses. If you don't bring offerings to the tree gods, your crop is going to die; tithe to the church, you're going to hell; buy this cleaner, you are bad housewife; etc. It goes on and on.  I see the Dragon and he's big and huge and he looks so smart and powerful.

Here is a secret I've learned.  As the Dragon is flesh, bones, fire and yes, a little magic --- the Internet is just what people, human being just like you and me have put into it.  You can let it serve you, or you can serve it. If you give into fear, you are serving it.


And if you live in fear, your not living much at all.  You are living in the past or in some nebulous future.

I want to live the rest of my life. How about you?

What I Noticed About Facebook

Let me start by saying I really like FB.  I'm not AS "addicted" as many people are, but i do check it daily and I really like seeing my Friends' pictures and hearing about the stuff going on with them, as trivial and often banal as it can be.  I even get Messages on my phone (I turn that on and off.)

I would still much rather talk in one of these conventional ways:

(No. 1) face to face
(No. 2) on the phone or (the unconventional)
(No. 3) via Skype

However I can hear how friends are doing, especially if they've been sick or have suffered a loss or have a joyous occasion -- a baby, a wedding or new pet! I can Message them and IM them as well.  FB IM kinds of sucks but it's OK for what it is.   FB is also wonderful for "spreading the word." Hey, here's a dog for adopting, here's info about the play I'm in.  Etc.

Things I've noticed about FB:

A) You don't always get posting from every Friend on your list, what's up with that?  I know it has something to do with Settings but hell, those folks are my FB Friends and yeah, I want to see what they've posted.

B) I am rather astounded at the people who have Friended me.  And the people who have not.  I'm am also amazed that I have FB friends who live in Europe and Australia.  I'm happy that (as a result of FB) I am part of a RunKeeper "street team" consisting of two ladies, one from Sweden and one from "Oz."

C) Here is big thing I've noticed....your FB Friends share a commonality with you.  They either share the Family Tie or you have things in common: work, hobbies, pets, etc.  But in almost all cases, you are on the same bandwagon.  That can be good, or it can be very limiting.

For example: I don't think there should be a bias against any dog breed.  "Punish the deed, not the breed." If that (bias) were the case, I'd be posting stuff like, "Little dogs are nasty little buggers" based on my been severely bitten by a few in my lifetime.  Ergo, most of my FB Friends are of like mind, about PTD- NTB thing.  Not about the Little Dog thing of course!  So are the Groups that I subscribe to.

Bearing that in mind, what I have noticed is: some people get into Over-Posting A Point Of View.

The Daily Same Old Post Subject.  for example: Here's yet another reason why Aquarian Men Are Scum (AMAS).  (BTW, they aren't.) And of course since the comment threads they receive are from Friends (almost all of whom share the poster's common opinion), you get the "yeah, you go, you're so right!" stuff all the time. I do get tired of seeing the Daily "AMAS" link, justifying yet again your point of view. OK, all right, already, We Get It. You think AMAS!!! I could do that every d--n day about Pit Bull Prejudice, for example.

If you want to justify your opinion. I think you should either Blog about it, or join a Group but perhaps, just for the sake of beating your platform "horse" to death on FB, you should set up a FB group: Air-Sign Men Are Scum.  Then your Friends who are of like mind can go there and you can merrily bash and rant about all the Geminis, Librans and Aquarians males out there!

I, for one, don't mind a good debate (was part of an awesome thread about a t-shirt saying recently).  But what attracts most people to FB is your pictures of your new baby, dog, the dolphins you saw in the ocean, how you/your kids/your family are doing, a funny/interesting video, a song you rediscovered, how to help Joplin, Missouri, etc.  And yes, even an occasional Rant!

Remember That Head-Spinning Exorcist Thing?

Well, that's they way I'm feeling right about now. My brain is fried, trying to learn to be smarter than my Smart Phone! Syncing calendars, calendars, emails, trying to make it all work. I have been at it all day long but I feel like I'm can see a bit of The Google Cloud.

I would much rather sit in front of my computer screen then type a whole crummy blog with my phone's keypad. Most likely I'd end up with something that should end up in DamnYouAutoCorrect.com! But I can access my Blog on my phone, another major accomplishment!

There is a part of me that is beginning to fathom what my husband and nephew-in-law are doing, why they are like dogs with a bone. They're going to work at that computer or problem, gnaw at it, until they get it. They want to know the Monster that is the Computer Age, the uncontrolled beast. They want to know the beast because in so many ways, the technology is growing so quickly, that laws, morality, standards, personal integrity just can't keep up with it.

I knew from reading stuff about my Smart Phone that a lot of this kind of thing is feasible, so why not used it. I know a lot of people are really scared of technology and I get that. I am getting less fearful and that really is thanks to people like Marty and Bryan. Even though I sometimes get glassy-eyed when they explain something, i might absorb some of it. And now it's been so much trial and error!

But when I could find stuff on my phone calendar, that was pretty cool! Don't be afriad to spend time with your iPhone or Smart Phone. Just have back-up, know your apps, that kind of thing!

Can It Be Done?

Trying to write a little bit without the computer:
Let's see what happens, shall we?

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