Is Tweeting for Twits?

If you’re old enough to remember when a typewriter was the only word-processing tool available beyond pad and pen, keep reading… In the Fall of 1983, I attended Virginia Polytechnic Institute (VPI) in Blacksburg, Virginia as a Computer Science major. Blacksburg is a college town and VPI is its crown jewel. VPI’s campus is inviting, its people friendly, its library—with sprawling caverns of couches and study areas—is fabulous, and it’s one of those places where form follows function. I never thought I’d own a pair of those “hideous” duck shoes VPI natives were so fond of…and then it started raining. One walk across the quad soaked my Nikes to an unrecoverable state, and gave me reason enough to assimilate. But I digress… My experience at VPI made me recall a professor—I’ll call him Prof. Smith here—who was none-too-fond of modern technology.

Prof. Smith was a stout and crotchety fellow, much like Ed Asner on the Mary Tyler Moore show back in the day. When the original IBM PC/XT was released he swore he’d cling to his typewriter forever, and that he would count himself among the “lost” in the new millennium as technology evolved to bring us so many “useful” products and services. Useful products like…You know…like the Snuggie. Just thinking about Prof. Smith’s staunch attitude makes me smile today and reminds me of the Star Trek movie scene where Mr. Scott is attempting to speak into a PC mouse, “Computer… …Computer! ,” and then, frustrated, he begins typing rapidly as he’d recognized that “old” Earth’s primitive technology had not yet evolved to where voice recognition fully replaced conventional input devices. Mr. Smith and Mr. Scott, I salute you, for today I am feeling age creep upon me as I ponder the newest craze in modern technology (a.k.a. Web 2.0). Taking center stage in my theatre of annoyance: Twitter.

Twitter is to Blogging what a postcard is in comparison to an average letter. Twitter is a micro-Blog. “Tweeting” is a reference to Twitter’s function that allows people to communicate to other people in snippets of 140 characters or less. Users can send and receive tweets via the Twitter website, Short Message Service (SMS), or other external applications. The service is free to use over the Internet, but using SMS may incur mobile phone service provider fees from your carrier. Are people who tweet twits? That depends on who you ask. Ask me, however, and I’ll tell you I’m leaning heavily in the direction of the affirmative.

If Mark Twain were alive today, I definitely think he would have a Blog, but I don’t think he’d tweet. Ditto for Shakespeare and F. Scott Fitzgerald. The novelty and the problem with tweeting is that anyone can do it. And therein lies the problem. It doesn’t take much intelligence to tweet! It’s bad enough that students are submitting papers with “LOL” in their prose and genuinely expect their professors to “get it.”
Sample Tweet: “I’m now eating dinner [Blah Blah Blah]”…

Does anyone really need to know (or care) of such minutiae? I feel much like Prof. Smith when I think about the uselessness of Twitter. Not to my surprise, there are plenty of folks who disagree. Still, it’s my own belief that tweeters are simply using Twitter to further their own personal brands. Serena Williams, Shaquille O’Neal, Dwight Howard all tweet. The LPGA is actually encouraging its players to tweet between golf holes on the tour! Larry King, Tila Tequila, Carson daily, Ashton Kutcher, Alyssa Milano, and MC Hammer also tweet. In the interest of research only, I can confirm to you that none of them had anything interesting, fresh, or remotely significant to say.

Conclusion? Frankly, if you follow people who are famous (or otherwise), who really have nothing substantial to say, then you’ve got way too much time on your hands! Do yourself a favor instead and go outside, read a book, work out in a gym, or volunteer in your community. Leave the tweeting to those for whom it’s intended: narcissistic, self-promoting people with nothing to say.
Is Tweeting is for Twits?
[In the voice of Marv Albert]: “YES!!!”
‘Nough Said,
+THINKR

What happened to pragmatism in America?

Here we are in the worst recession since WWII, 3 million jobs have been lost, and people are losing their homes and struggling just to keep food on the table. This is a time when people should be re-thinking their priorities. This is a time when one should be focused on things that are truly important—Personal fitness, family, faith, scholarship, and finances, to name a few. Given the state of the economy, this is a particularly crucial time when responsible people are being mindful of what they can (and cannot) afford, lest they become a burden (at best) to family or (at worst) to the government. At the risk of sounding insensitive, I give you exhibit A: The couple who recently had the octuplets. The voyeuristic tendency to praise that which is clearly impractical financially just doesn’t make sense. The media is gushing over the eight babies, the doctors are smiling and beaming for the cameras, and all is well with the world, right? Not so fast. How is the ability to birth a litter any different from the preposterousness of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s pleas that he did nothing wrong? Dig a little and you discover some facts that are disturbing.


Fact: This couple already had six children between the ages of 7 to 2. Is there some reason they felt the number of children they already had wasn’t enough? I realize we are all free to pursue (and get to define) happiness in our own way, but shouldn’t there be a baby-cap? I’m not suggesting extreme controls like the controls in China, but for the sake of argument let’s put the “U.S. Baby Cap” at twenty-two to allow the happy couple opportunity to complete that second football team. More seriously, has anyone considered the multitude of people who will—out of narcissism or stupidity—attempt to “one up” the octuplets? Has anyone considered the well-being of a family with that many children in this decade?

Fact: The father is a “contract worker” who is due to return to Iraq. So let me get this straight, the Dad is going overseas while the wife gets to tend to fourteen children under the age of seven?—at least nine of whom are still in diapers! No problem for you, right, Ladies? And at what price? Fathers work away from home all the time, but should one consciously be having so many children knowing full well that you’ll be absent from raising them? It’s not been publicized just what sort of contracting Mr. Anonymous is doing, but I’m guessing he’s not exactly rolling in dough. In short, there’s plenty of private (and probably some public) assistance being doled out to this family. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not against private or public assistance…when it’s warranted. What disturbs me is that this situation was avoidable in the same way one can avoid being trapped on a mountainside and in need of a helicopter evacuation at the public’s expense. You don’t do such things “because you can,” you just don’t do it.

Fact: 46 physicians, nurses and other staff members prepared for the births. CNN reports that in the seven weeks prior, a team of 46 doctors, nurses and other staff prepared for the births. In preparing for the births of our own children, there may have been 5 or 6 physicians and nurses involved at best. 46 doctors, nurses, and staff seems to be an awfully high number. And who paid for all of those folks’ involvement? Most likely you and I did. Not the hospital. Not the insurance company. Rest assured, you and I will pay for it in higher premiums and taxes.

And so we have the anonymous couple, pleased with their choices that have resulted in abundant blessings—All children are blessings, after all. That said, one cannot ignore the conundrum that has also been created to feed, clothe, house, educate, and support a home of so many minors. A responsible couple would have decided to expand their family in the context of needing nominal assistance, but to do so consciously under these circumstances screams of entitlement and frivolity. Instead of praising such an event, one must ask, “what were they thinking?” And who signed off on implanting the embryos into a woman who already had seven children? Did this make sense to the doctors who supported it? Why? Was adoption considered? And why are there rumblings about them having even more children? Is there some Guinness Book record to exceed that no one cares about they’re trying to break?

Call me a pragmatist…I can live with it. As Americans, we are all free to pursue the happiness we desire however we choose to define it. Just don’t expect me to cheer when someone makes a conscious, irresponsible decision that others indirectly will have to pay for.
‘Nough said
Peace,
+THINKER

Credible messages can no longer come from Bizarro-Barkley

Remember Bizarro from the Superman comics? He was the imperfect, anti-Superman. Dark. Evil. Stupid. Every now and again, Bizarro-Barkley shows up for no apparent reason. It wasn’t too long ago that I was thinking to myself, “Charles Barkely has come a long way to rehabilitating his image.” Barkley, a former NBA star, 13-time NBA all-star, and current TNT NBA analyst, is the same guy who, as a player, spit on a fan, threw his fair share of elbows, and (in an off-the-court incident) threw a man through a plate glass window. Suffice it to say, Charles Barkley has always been controversial. The press has often taken delight in the fact that he doesn’t always think before he speaks. Even when he’s right, the credible messages and desire for political favor have been undermined by Barkley’s own foolishness. Alas, Bizzaro-Barkley is at it, again.

For those who haven’t been paying attention, in May 2006, Charles reportedly had issues with gambling debts and claimed to have lost between $50 million and $60 million in the past 12 years due to gambling. Two years later, the Wynn sued Barkley, claiming he had some $400,000 in gambling debts unpaid. In retrospect, even for one who can “afford it,” it’s more than a bit disconcerting in light of the plethora of more constructive things that money could have been used for. Barkley has made it known for some time that he’d like to pursue the Governor seat in his home state of Alabama. Yet Barkley’s desire for public adulation conflicts with his own rhetoric. Charles did a Nike commercial in which he unequivocally states, “I am not a role model.” Bizarro-Barkley admitted (in 2006),” Yeah, I do have a gambling problem but I don't consider it a problem because I can afford to gamble. It's just a stupid habit that I've got to get under control, because it's just not a good thing to be broke after all of these years.” I certainly don’t begrudge Barkley’s desire (or ability) to gamble, but if he’s lost even a fraction of what’s alleged, he’s got a real problem for which he should consider seeking assistance.

Among Charles’ more recent comments, he openly criticized LeBron James for responding to questions regarding speculation that he would go to the New York Knicks in 2010. In fairness to LeBron, he never instigated the speculation. Taking a firm stance would weaken his ability to negotiate down the road, and saying nothing would have only exacerbated the speculation. LeBron was in a Lose-Lose situation, and it was Charles who, in his own words, “should have kept his mouth shut.”

Barkley then spoke out against his alma mater, Auburn University, for not hiring Buffalo’s Turner Gill on grounds that Gill is black. Barkley’s rant was never backed up with any hard evidence—the presumption being that everyone should simply know the facts in advance or take Charles’ word that Gill was the better candidate. Auburn hired Iowa State’s Gene Chizik, who had a 5-19 record in two seasons—by contrast, Gill, a former Nebraska quarterback, took over one of the country's worst programs at Buffalo three years ago. Gill guided the Bulls to an 8-5 record and their first MAC championship this season, upsetting previously unbeaten Ball State 42-24 in the Dec. 5 conference championship game. Lost from many discussions was the fact that Chizik was the defensive coordinator at Auburn in 2004, when the Tigers finished 13-0 and ranked No. 2 in the country. I can’t say I entirely disagree with Charles on this point, but once again, the message was discredited by (the character of) the messenger. The issue lies in the fact that college football program directors are not obliged—as are their NFL counterparts—to have a diverse candidate pool.

Fast forward to present day. Barkely gets arrested on suspicion of drunk driving. The Dallas Morning News reports that Barkley told Arizona cops that he ran a stop sign because he was in a hurry to pick up a girl who had "given him (oral sex) one week earlier," which the former NBA star described as "the best one he had ever had in his life." I know newspapers are struggling to maintain readership these days and titillating headlines sell papers (and advertising), but this falls in the category of “things we really did NOT need to know.”

An Open Letter to Charles Barkley…
Dear Charles,
You were truly a great NBA forward in your day, and truly prophetic in your declaration that you are “not a role model,” but you could have saved us all great pain by NOT participating in “kiss and tell”—I’m still trying to burn the image from my brain! As I suspect you will be retaining your TNT gig, I hope you will be contrite in response to inquiries of this latest episode of your own stupidity from your panel compadres, Ernie and Kenny. For the record, you owe it to the public who, despite your admonishment to do otherwise, do see you as a role model. You owe it to them to convey that “credible messages can’t come from the in-credible people” such as yourself.

Despite all of your antics—past and present—you still have a great opportunity to make a difference given your notoriety. Don’t waste that opportunity, lest you fall into that category of African-American athletes who were hugely talented, but were (and are) undermined by their own narcissistic tendencies—e.g., Terrell Owens, Adam “Pacman” Jones, Mike Tyson. All of these men, like you, were physically gifted at their respective sports, but despite multiple opportunities, continue to screw up in life.

If not from me, take some advice from those whom I know you respect—Magic Johnson, Tiger Woods, Michael Wilbon, and Michael Jordan come to mind. Personally, I think you’re a better man than them in that you’ve always been willing to state your honest opinion about controversial topics—something today’s athletes are loathe to do for fear of losing endorsement opportunities. That said, you’re running out of chances, Charles. The Bizarro act is getting old. You can’t expect folks to respect your opinion—never mind vote for you—if you can’t manage to act like an adult for an extended period of time. It’s time to man up, Chuck. It’s up to you now.
Peace,
+THINKER