Uh oh...dredging up Christmas 200?

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Marc on Brad on Marc the Amateur

1. Absolutely love the picture, it cracked me up! Okay Mr. High Speed Low Drag, you should probably get some work done now, since it probably took you ALL morning to make it.

2. I whole-heartedly agree on CBS Sunday Morning. It's a great show, and one that is recorded on my DVR every week. I will say, though, that I wouldn't call it a news show. It's more of a human interest show.

3. I don't think Keen's point was that the big broadcast news outlets aren't somewhat slanted, but they can be taken to task on outright slanderous and absurd reporting (get sued and lose a lot of money). In the book he cites the story of Jayson Blair, the New York Times reporter who was fired because of his lack of journalistic integrity. You can't get fired from your own blog. But I think we can agree that half the battle is understanding the source.

4. Mel Gibson and I were talking about you this morning. He was pissed. He might call you, but I told him that if he did, DO NOT LEAVE A MESSAGE on the answering machine.

Brad on Marc the amateur

Love the topic, and it dovetails nicely with a previous book recommendation you provided Marc, FARK. I'll say a career in the intelligence community has made you quite a conspiracy theorist. First off I want to start by saying that the mere suggestion that this should be your last post amounts to familial treason and I will hear none of it. Now that we have that out of the way...

I have some general thoughts on the conclusions you highlighted. I realize this is like a telephone game, so if my commentary is off the marc (intended) because I misunderstood the details behind your bullet list, I'm sorry about that. But in the interest of provoking thought (since Marc likes that so much)...

The idea of confusion about sources of information and credible news goes far beyond the Internet. I'll give you 2 examples:

#1 example - THEY. Nobody knows who THEY are but THEY are commonly referred to as distributors of knowledge or facts. THEY said its the most snow we've gotten since the 40s. THEY say anal glands in german shorthair pointers are worse than in vizlas. Examples are irrelevant, listen for the trusted source of information in your next conversation, the all-knowing THEY.

#2 example - "real" news outlets. I challenge anyone to find a news outlet that isn't slanted towards something. FoxNews - Fair and Balanced...not so much. CNN - the most trusted name in news...hardly. 60 Minutes, 20/20, Dateline - pure propaganda and scare tactics to get people to watch so they can sell Viagra and Levitra to their viewership (sorry Dad, everything Ann Curry says is NOT the gospel).

Now part of me feeling that way is because "news" is so damn negative. Accordingly, my new favorite show and credible information source is CBS Sunday Morning. Check it out, great show.

Part 2: I think there is a place for Wikipedia which is broad, general knowledge. You can type "wine" into Wikipedia and find out some basics about wine, choosing wine, and purchasing wine that can prevent you from looking like a buffoon when you go to the next dinner party. If you are writing a college paper based on Wikipedia then you should first go back and get your GED. Of note: Upper Iowa, a University for whom I teach, specifically references Wikipedia in their "do not use" list of resources. It is mandatory language for all syllabus'.

Part 3: YouTube. Pure entertainment baby. Has anyone notice the incredible things they can do in movies and make them look real? Yea, well about 90% of those tricks are available to the common video amateur. That's what THEY say anyway...

Part 4: Down with the Facebook! I'm not on it and I don't care what airport terminal in Dallas you are going to the bathroom.

Part 4a: Down with the Twitter! I also don't care that Paris Hilton just got a bikini wax.

Part 5: Down with Pampers!

Part 6: Down with Russia!

Part 7: Down with Kevin Bacon!

Sorry I got a little carried away...

Should this be my LAST post??

I just finished a book that boggled my mind. The Cult of the Amateur: How Today's Internet is Killing Our Culture by Andrew Keen. I came across the book while browsing in the bookstore and decided to make it my first purchase for my new Kindle. Written in 2007, the main points of the book are even more relevant today then they were at the time of the writing. It was a fascinating... I soaked it up in about three days.

If you read the reviews on Amazon, it has a lot more bad reviews than good, but I still enjoyed it. I scanned through the criticisms, and it seems that most people agree that Keen's content is worth discussing, but they don't agree with his conclusions. At any rate, it was thought-provoking, and that's mostly what I'm looking for in a book (either that or pure entertainment!). So here's a horribly simplified list of some points that he made in the book:

- Too many people equate the credibility of blogs with broadcast, vetted, and expert news, and that is muddling "truth" in our culture.
- There is absolutely no accountability in the internet world. You can say whatever the hell you want to and there are no consequences, as opposed to professional news sources who MUST be credible, otherwise they get sued.
- Blogs and amateur news sources on the internet are killing the industry of professional journalism.
- Social networking sites are incredibly narcissistic. America is obsessed with "broadcasting self".
- YouTube has become a sort of covert advertising industry, since many viral videos are actually "plants" from political groups or corporations that are selling something. Most people cannot tell the difference between what is credible and what isn't.
- Wikipedia is basically garbage, since a 19-year-old high school drop out holds as much authority as a Ph.D. in their editing process.
- Pirating is killing the professional music and movie industry.
- Our culture (wrongly) lends more credibly to something that is "amateur" than trusted professional sources, largely due to the "amateur" culture of the internet.
- The "cult of the amateur" is actually sucking money and jobs out of our economy.
- The internet is sucking up every detail of our lives and simply feeds us what we want to hear, therefore it further narrows our world view.
- There is very little (if any) regulation of what personal information can be stored by internet sites, how it is to be protected, the length of time it can be held, and disclosure of the information.
- It's too easy to be duped by the internet.

Here are MY conclusions:

- I should buy actual CDs from independent music stores, even though it is more expensive.
- I should spend less time talking about myself on Facebook, because in essence, it IS narcissistic.
- I'm going to pay closer attention to the SOURCES of information that I read on the internet.
- I'm going to check out Citizendium.com, which was created by the same guy who actually invented Wikipedia. It's similar to Wikipedia, but has some things in place to recognize actual experts instead of letting ANYONE be "the" authority.
- I just might subscribe to a newspaper.
- I would like to intentionally read a bit more from sources that are opposed to my personal stand on issues.

Whenever I write about books, I really wish that you guys were reading it too. I've realized that it's really hard to summarize a book! Here's an attempt to practically show you an example of one of the things the author laments about the internet:

Take a look at the FIRST review of the book on Amazon. It happens to be a very negative review and is written by someone at Publishers Weekly. You can also see that Publishers Weekly is copyrighted by Reed Business Information. Just out of curiosity, I did a little research on Reed Business Information, and became immediately aware of how much Reed Business Information is invested in internet publishing and advertising. They have a "Chief Strategy and Internet Officer" and "Director of Internet Business". Included in his job description is the following: "... drives e-revenue growth by leveraging best practices and e-competency across Reed Business, with responsibility for company strategy worldwide." Part of their stated strategy is to "provide a range of communication and information channels - magazines, exhibition, directories, online media, marketing services - across five continents."


Okay, here's my point: doesn't it make sense that Publishers Weekly, that is owned by Reed Business Information, would give a negative review to a book that heavily criticizes everything that they do to make money? As a matter of fact, two of Reed Business Information's proprietary websites were mentioned BY NAME (in a negative sense) in Keen's book. So, how many people read that review on Amazon and think, "Oh, this is some random book reviewer who didn't like the book. I'm not going to read it." When actually, the book review could have been written intentionally as a negative review by Reed Business Information because of the content of the book and the threat it poses to their industry. Then they could have employed a clickbot to get that review placed at the top of Amazon's editorial review list, so it becomes the first one that you see.


The good news about our blog is that I don't think our readership of two is terribly concerned with our journalistic integrity or fact-checking. Rants wouldn't be nearly as much fun that way.


Read the book!

Marc on Brad's "Holidays"

Did you say Thanksgiving? I'm not talking about that. It was over a month ago, at least I think. I don't quite remember. I only remember Halloween.

Brad on the holidays

The true spirit of Christmas is totally lost for most people between holiday parties, family expectations gone awry, and the insanity of shopping and gift giving. What a waste of a great holiday and a great time of year. All the stresses represented in the commentary are part of the reason I love Thanksgiving.

Yes Thanksgiving. This holiday is still relatively unblemished. Giving thanks...what a great reason to get together! The simplicity of enjoying great food, friends, and family is what makes this holiday my favorite!

[WARNING: CONSPIRACY THEORY TO FOLLOW] So why is Hallmark leading the conspiracy to squash Thanksgiving between Halloween and Christmas? Because they can't get people to buy a bunch of useless $h!t that nobody needs on Thanksgiving.

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." -- John F. Kennedy

Three cheers for Thanksgiving!!!

Marc on Christmas and Family

Ed, I agree with you on the comments that you made about expectations. For whatever reason, people expect that Christmas needs to be "awesome", and the additional pressure can affect everyone's mentality going into it.

I don't know what it is about Christmas itself. It must be the memories that we all have from our childhoods, the fond memories of getting all those presents and how wonderful it all seemed. We want to experience those same joys at Christmas time, but I think that as adults, we realize the fleeting joy of things. As a result, we hope to find that same thrill in our family relationships. We want that ON CHRISTMAS, not in February, not over Independence weekend, and not at Halloween. There is something special about that time that we call Christmas.

We all know that much stress can come from the physical limitation of living in these bodies that we have; we can only be one place at one time. Given the opportunity, I'm sure that we would all choose to see everyone that is important to us on December 25th. But we can't do it. That leads to choices, and although a million factors can affect those choices. Unfortunately, the choice of where to be on Christmas can be viewed as a pick based on priority or importance. But that's not the case. The location where we end up on Christmas can never sum up the value that we place on a relationship, especially familial relationships.

Perhaps one of the greatest mistakes that we make (and I'm guilty of it too) is that we expect that all familial relationships should be hunky dory all the time. In reality, we all get on each other's nerves occasionally, and conflict is inevitable in the human experience. When we love people, we expect more. And as you mentioned Ed, when we have higher expectations, there is a greater opportunity for a "let down" or a failure.

If we learned anything from our Mom and Dad it's that family is family. We've all expanded that into our "married in" families as well. We talk about each other, we laugh at each other, we argue with each other, but we're still family. And we still get together over the holidays because we're family.

It's late on Christmas eve and here I sit in San Diego at least a thousand miles away from all of you, and I wish I was going to see you tomorrow. I love my family here too, and I'm happy to be with them. Guess what? We have the same issues on this half of the family. There's always drama, always some conflict, always some disappointments. But in the end, there is joy. Joy in the fact that we have family, people who we love despite their faults, and who love us despite all of our faults.

Have a Merry Christmas and remember that regardless of expectations or anything else, I don't think I've ever left a family get together without some fond memories, and over time, those are the ones I remember, not the bad ones. Blood is thicker than water. I love you guys, and you'll always be family.

Well, the Christmas break has finally arrived for me.

I wanted to post something here since I believe that our first posts on this blog related to New Years resolutions. No, I'm not going to share my resolutions for two reasons: (1) I don't yet have any; and (2) When I do create them they will probably be no more profound or worthy of reading than anyone else's resolutions. So, sorry to disappoint.

Instead, I wanted to post a blog about one thing that consumes most of our communications during this time of year. And perhaps one of those things we have blogged about the most ... No, not Favre (although that's another good idea) Nope, I'm talking about that most glorious of topics - one's FAMILY.

Family gets a lot of play during the holidays. Spending time with your family, particularly extended family, is something that's both cherished and cursed. The idea of spending the holidays with FAMILY is a challenging one for several reasons. First, there are big expectations. Big expectations lead to disappointment. And disappointment leads to the thought that "I'm not doing that again". But the holidays come again next year and spending time with family (especially given the expectations) is a hard habit to break. So we endure another season of a house full of FAMILY, small talk, and somewhat anxious and awkward conversations so as not to be a catalyst for a cataclysmic conflict or argument during the most sacred of holidays. Am I right?

One of my favorite movies depicting such frivolity is Chevy Chase's Christmas Vacation. There is no greater source for making you feel good about the family you have! It's funny and refreshing that Clark Griswold remains committed to his idyllic vision of "how Christmas should be" through all the trials and tribulations of the movie. One of largest of his trials to overcome ... that's right ... FAMILY!

Now I've been a bit negative about family get togethers so far in this post, and it's really a bit unjust.

Truthfully I believe most people really do enjoy seeing their families, spending time with loved ones, and recounting the greatest memories of Christmas pasts. Maybe enjoying a little sledding, eating and drinking too much, and relaxing with those who know us the best (good and bad!) Quite frankly, given the alternative of a Christmas alone I believe most would gladly elect to be spending time with a house full of FAMILY and would elect it again and again each year.

But the travel, the possible family conflicts, the awkward sleeping arrangements, the I-can't-believe-he-got-me-this presents, and the quirks of our individual family members sometimes get blown out of proportion. Never more true than during the holidays.

So I'm taking a positive and optimistic approach to this year's family get togethers. Yes, the basis for them is a bit trying but I'm going to put my best foot forward. It's a fabulous time of year and I'm thankful. Thankful for the many blessings I have in my life. And one of those blessings I'm most thankful for is ... FAMILY!

Merry Christmas!

My new life

This morning after getting myself ready for work and waiting for Sasha to wake up, I decided to open and put away the stuff from our most recent diapers.com order. This tower of pee and poop sucking up materials represents the building blocks of life with a 2 year old and an infant. Wow.

Specs on the rotary girder...uh snowblower

As requested, the specs on my bad boy snowblower are...

179 cc/4 cycle engine (note: they don't rate snowblowers by horsepower, only CCs. This happens to be one of Dad's favorite rants, just ask him about it sometime and be ready to be entertained!)

2 stage, 8 speed (6 forward, 2 reverse). 24 inch wide path, 21 inch high intake. Electric start. 12 inch serrated auger and 12 inch impeller (they tell me that is to break up chunks of ice). 190 degree chute rotation, because you know 180 degrees just isn't good enough.

And the most important update of all...no accumulated snow since the purchase.

Marc: Not in the Club

Brad, you're a better man than me. I would have bought a snow blower the day I moved into your house. It's a corner lot (lots of sidewalk) and your driveway is almost big enough to host a college basketball game. I'm surprised that it took you this long to get one. But then again, I'm not so sure.

I don't know what it is, but I LOVE to shovel snow. I can't explain it and I don't have the slightest idea of how I might have acquired this sickness. I just love it.

You guys probably remember that we lived in a townhouse when we were here before and now we're in a similar situation. Our association includes snow removal, but after talking that over with my neighbors, "removal" must be used pretty loosely. They apparently don't do much of anything, but that's okay with me. When we were here before, I would often shovel my walk, my driveway, the sidewalks of my two neighbors, and a parking spot or two across the street (it was community parking). Admittedly, when you live in a townhouse, the length of your sidewalk added to that of three of your neighbors probably doesn't equal your sidewalk Brad. But considering the fact that my current neighbors are a couple in their 80's and two divorced women with two teenage daughters, I'll probably be doing a lot of shoveling here too. I bought a shovel a couple of weeks ago and I am ready to go!

There are also some good hills here near my house so I'm looking forward to some sledding this year. I have seldom done it in the last 5-10 years but i love it… still need to buy a sled though.

Ed on I'm in the Club

Congratulations Brad. I'm pleased to say that I'm NOT in the club.

There are a couple of reasons why I'm pleased to say that. (1) Of the three of us, I live the farthest South. Now I know KC isn't exactly San Antonio in December, but it is noticeably warmer and generally gets significantly less snowfall than Iowa or Maryland. Now who's the level headed one? (2) I need the exercise more than you two do! But I'm also getting old so a 2-4 inch snow fall a half dozen times a year is plenty for my workout regimen - and I use "workout regimen" very loosely. I'm possibly one of the youngest people I know that can be sore the next day from picking up a laundry basket full of clothes and carrying it up the stairs!

Brad, I'm interested in some more specs on your snow blower. Looks impressive whether it gets fired up or not! One of those enviable "tools" that men love to google over. It's a great conversation piece, you know "what's the horsepower, maximum throw distance, revolutions per minute, and gear ratio? Oh yeah!

And I appreciate you doing what you can to keep old man winter from dumping snow into the Midwest. I only hope you aren't sending it South. You'll be firing that bad boy up even if it doesn't snow just so the neighbors can hear the throaty, roaring, snow eating machine. Only one catch ... instead of doing just your driveway and walk, you'll be doing two or three times that. After all, you're the one who has the machine and have been talking all winter about "wanting to get it out and use it!"

I'm in the club

2 horrendous Iowa winters and 2 small children later, I have officially joined the club...the snowblower owners club. When we built and moved into our new house 2 winters ago, I had the following set of thoughts: 1 - I need to exercise. 2 - I need to clear the snow. Why not kill two birds with one stone.

Then we built a house with 320 feet of sidewalk and a long, wide driveway...

Then we had two kids...

Then we had two of the largest snowfall accumulations in recorded history...

So I suffered my way through the last two winters saying that when the snowblowers went on clearance in the spring I would buy one. I'd debate the options of a single stage, dual stage, or blade for my lawn tractor with my father, my friend Nathan, and my wife. I'd come to a tentative conclusion on the best choice for me.

Then Spring would arrive. My back would feel better and I'd look at pricesof a snowblower and decide it wasn't necessary. After all I made it through this winter right?!?!

Then winter would arrive and I'd go through another season of grumbling about a sore back and all the snow I have to move. (Side note: I do realize that you can buy a snowblower at other times of the year, and as such you could file this story under "Dumb Things We Do".)

So now I have purchased a snowblower just like the one pictured. And much like purchasing a snowmobile, by buying a snowblower I have virtually guaranteed low/no snowfalls for the foreseeable future. Dad says that is money well spent!