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July 31, 2009

Four For Friday - The Stuart Lisonbee Collection Note: This week's Four For Friday questions come from my friend, colleague, and longtime Four For Friday participant -- Orem, Utah's own Stuart "StuTheWise" Lisonbee. Enjoy, and if you'd like to add a collection of your own, shoot me an email message! ~ Mikal

Q1 - Wearing Your Emotions on Your Bumper: It's been a little over a year since Colorado State University scientists published the results of a study showing a correlation between the number of bumper stickers a driver chooses to display and the likelihood of that driver experiencing road rage. How many bumper stickers do you have on your vehicle(s), and which one is your favorite? If you're not a bumper sticker type of person, which is your favorite of those that you've seen?

Q2 - Secrets: I've long been interested in secret societies. A friend of mine is a Free Mason and a Shriner and has recently been hinting to me that he would like me to join the local lodge (unlike many secret societies, potential members are never invited -- to become a Mason, one must ask to join). Since many of Masonry's secrets aren't so secret anymore, I admit to losing some interest in it, but am still considering joining. Have you ever been "tapped in" or otherwise joined a secret society? If not, would you ever consider it? Why or why not?

Q3 - I Want to Believe: Like the poster hanging in Fox Mulder's office says, I want to believe. I believe there are intelligent beings, much like ourselves, living on other planets. However, as much as I want to believe that one of those alien races has visited and is currently visiting Earth, I don't believe that is the case. Do you believe in space aliens, and if so, do you believe they have ever visited Earth?

Q4 - Politics and Interpretive Dance: My favorite book is "Starship Troopers" by Robert Heinlein, which I first read as a teen back in the late 80's. But it wasn't until recently that I realized there was so much controversy over Heinlein's statements on war, American culture, politics, the military, etc. To me, it was just an enjoyable story. When you read a fictional story or watch a movie, do you simply try and enjoy it, or do you seek some deeper meaning or life's lesson from the author's/director's intended message?

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July 24, 2009

Four For Friday

Q1 - Familiar: If you see someone who looks familiar to you but can't exactly place their face, do you approach the person and strike up a conversation (in an attempt to figure out if and how you know them), or do you simply move on and try not obsess about it?

Q2 - Claim: Direct-response marketers (i.e., infomercials producers) told a Congressional panel this week that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) shouldn't attempt to change advertising rules currently allowing atypical testimonial claims to appear in their ads. As you've likely seen for yourself, infomercial advertisers who cannot substantiate atypical claims made in their own commercials are allowed to "disclaim" the statements in fine print or superscript that appears at the bottom of the screen (e.g., "Results May Vary" and "Results Not Typical"). The FTC has proposed removing the loop hole allowing disclaimers, and making all advertisers responsible for ensuring that consumers are not misled by ads in their entirety. Do you support the FTC's proposed change or is this just another example of government regulation gone wild?

Q3 - Wages: The federal minimum wage on Friday rose to $7.25 from $6.55. Do you think $7.25 is an appropriate amount to mandate for the federal minimum wage? If not, what amount do you think is appropriate and why?

Q4 - Observe: The longest total solar eclipse of the century took place this week, sweeping total darkness east from the Ganges River in India all the way over to southern Japan and then off into the near east reaches of the Pacific Ocean. In some areas, according to published reports, the eclipse lasted as long as six minutes and 39 seconds, the likes of which will not be seen again anywhere on Earth until the year 2132. If you could safely observe one natural phenomenon that you have never seen before in person, what would it be?

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July 17, 2009

Image via Wikipedia

Q2 - Celebrity Personality: Which famous person's personality do you think most resembles your own?

Q3 - Health Care: Americans are unsure that a healthcare reform bill introduced this week is the solution to problems with the U.S. healthcare system, according to a poll created and commissioned by a public policy expert at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. By a 50-42 margin, Americans oppose H.R. 3200 -- the House of Representatives' bill introduced July 14 to provide "affordable, quality health care for all Americans and reduce the growth in health care spending." Simple question... do you know enough about H.R. 3200 (officially titled "America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009") to say whether you support or oppose it?

Q4 - Age: If you've been telling yourself you're not old yet, you fit right in. No matter what their chronological age, most people say that they aren't yet "old" and that they feel younger than their birthday count, according to a new survey of 3,000 adults by the Pew Research Center. How old do you feel and how does that number stack up against your current age?

July 10, 2009

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Q2 - Tasks: Fortune 500 companies have been outsourcing tasks for years, accessing the globe to get their work done, cheaply and effectively. If you could outsource 10 hours of work a week to someone overseas, what would you have them do for you?

Q3 - Travel: "Travel will be down significantly this summer since tourism tends to track with the economy," says Carl Winston, director of San Diego State University's School of Hospitality and Tourism Management. How is the current economy affecting your summer travel?

Q4 - Evening: Plan the perfect evening out... what does it involve?

July 9, 2009

Image by smiteme via Flickr

Precisely, truly, unconditionally, unquestionably, categorically, come hell or high water, conclusively, decisively, no ifs ands or buts, no strings attached, on the button, on the money, sure as can be, sure enough, the very thing, and (breath) unambiguously and literally... YES!

Lost in Translation

Why Sarah Palin really quit us.

By Dahlia Lithwick - Slate

Whatever you may think of Sarah Palin, she's widely celebrated as a rare and perhaps raw political talent. She's gorgeous, charismatic, warm, and funny. She has a remarkable ability to connect with her listeners. But--with the exception of a well-scripted performance at the Republican National Convention--it's tough to find an extemporaneous Palin speech, statement, or tweet that contains a coherent message. From her acceptance speech last August in Dayton, Ohio, when McCain first tapped her as a running mate, to her circular and swooping prime-time interviews, Palin's political skill lies in selling a persona but not a message. And in the end, this may explain why she quit.

Palin's completely inscrutable resignation speech last week was only the most recent example of a lengthy political communication from her that explained nothing, clarified nothing, and expounded upon nothing, save for the fact that she speaks in riddles and koans. Watch it as many times as you like; you still come away feeling you've been treated to a cozy chat with the Mad Hatter. The media are bad. Those ethics complaints are expensive. Alaska was a great idea. She is not a dead fish. Put it all together and what do you get? A born fighter who has given us no sense whatsoever of what she's fighting for.

Had Palin simply quit without giving a press conference, there might have been a lesson in this exercise. Feminists would be free to say there are double standards for women, and conservatives could argue she was too visionary for her time. But Palin's act of explaining her resignation to us in a torrent of unconnected sentence fragments left everyone wondering, What was the point of Sarah Palin? If she cannot even communicate a simple idea ("I'm quitting because ..."), why should we care that she's quitting?

That's why the strangest part of the Sarah Palin saga will always be her loathing of the media. She never failed to remind us that she didn't like being "filtered." She only wanted to talk directly to us, her listeners. Yet the reason Sarah Palin continues to have any kind of political force at all in this country is because of the media "filter." The media helped refine and define her Dada statements and arguments into something that briefly sounded like a coherent worldview. Yesterday morning, Gov. Palin excoriated Andrea Mitchell for "not listening to me" in an NBC interview. You have to go back and watch the clip before you can apprehend that Mitchell was indeed listening. It was Palin who was speaking in half-expressed thoughts and internal contradictions.

It's too easy to characterize Sarah Palin as an irrational bundle of bristling grievance. But I think it's more complicated than her simple love for playing the victim all the time. If you think of Palin as someone who never felt herself to be fully heard or understood, not truly politically realized in the eyes of the American public, her rage toward the country, the media, and those of us who fail to love and understand her is easier to comprehend. Think of an American visiting France who believes that if he just speaks louder, he will be speaking French. Palin has done everything in her power to explain herself to us, and still we fail to appreciate what she is all about. I'd be frustrated, too, if I thought I was offering up straight talk and nobody was getting the message. Especially if I held a degree in communications.

Once you understand that Palin's only actual message is the importance of loving and understanding Palin, it becomes easier to understand why she quit. The more Palin tries to explain herself, the more we all fail to get her. Every time she goes off script, she makes less sense. No wonder she didn't want to do debate prep or be coached by the McCain communications team. Instead of thanking those who packaged, explained, and spun her, Palin resents them. And because she believes she has been crystal clear all along, she's come to resent us, too. The enduring political lesson of Sarah Palin may simply be that for most of her political career she's been lost in translation, without fully appreciating that only in translation was she ever, briefly found. Copyright 2009 Slate | Washington Post.Newsweek Interactive Co. LLC

Altogether, completely, en masse, entirely, fully, wholly, as a body, as a group, collectively, in point of fact, in reality, in truth, clearly, say it in unison... EXACTLY!

July 3, 2009

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Q2 - Receipts: Do you review the receipt you get at the grocery store? How about the bill at a restaurant before paying?

Q3 - Accomplishment: Answer this: "At the end of my life, I'd love to be able to look back and know I'd done something about..."

Q4 - Deposit: According to a recently published report, the average no-show rate for medical office visits is 7% and growing. As a result, many doctors and dentists now charge a deposit -- payable by credit card or PayPal -- when taking appointments. If you keep the appointment, the deposit is either dropped or applied to the cost of the visit. If you miss misses the appointment, you lose the deposit. The deposit, according to reports, generally will be waived in the event of a true emergency, or if you give ample notice that you cannot make the appointment -- usually 24 to 48 hours. Would you be put off if asked for a deposit for your next visit to the doctor or dentist? Do you think medical professionals should be allowed to charge you a fee for missing an appointment?