American Cliche #238
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I had an amazing day this past Saturday. I spent the afternoon at the beach in Santa Barbara with my friend Manny at the California Wine Festival. The ocean was 40 feet away on one side, and the mountains and palm trees were on the other. Besides the amazing weather, there was great wine, food and conversation. Despite going through a rough patch over the last 9 months, it’s days like that where you appreciate the little things in life. I hope you have one of those days soon.
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On the show:
* BP’s “Static Kill” Really a Way to Hide Oil Flow?
* John Punch on Facebook Etiquette
* Andrew Breitbart Plays the Race Card. Badly.
* Maggots Fall From an Overhead Bin on a U.S. Airways Flight
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7 Comments, Comment or Ping
Martin
Regarding the Shirley Sherrod story: What I want to know is who is sticking up for the poor oppressed white male?
I’m joking, of course. Tea Partiers, go and cry to your mothers.
Jul 22nd, 2010
Antonio S.
Somewhat related to the Facebook comment on the show…
I got a suggestion from Facebook to get in touch with two of my friends with whom I haven’t talked to in a while… It was disturbing because they have been dead for some time now.
I think if FB is smart enough to know I haven’t interacted with some of my friends, it should know what it means when my friends haven’t posted anything or logged-in for 6 months and that the last 100-200 comments on their wall are from people saying things like “We’ll miss you”, etc.
Jul 22nd, 2010
jonathan k.
great episode!…..its awesome that you go out sometimes on your own with just a book or your iphone and get a nice meal or a drink. i love doing that, too….never know who you’ll meet, plus its just great personal time spent outta the home. everyone should do a little more of that…
Jul 22nd, 2010
Scott
Martin – Agreed, as a poor oppressed white male, I understand what it’s like.
Antonio – Agreed, that is awkward and unfortunate. I think these are the types of things that social networks will get better at as their algorithms improve and a sort of social tact and awareness seeps in.
Jonathan – Agreed. Life is too short to not enjoy good food and drink and see the world – even if we have to do it solo sometimes.
Thanks for the comments all. So appreciative to have you as part of this silly little community.
-S
Jul 22nd, 2010
George
This is my first time listening to your recording and I am already loving it!!
I am still trying to figure out the song that you played at the beginning of the show. It’s called “Drive”? And what’s the band’s name again? I can’t spell it…
Thx! And again I love your show!
Jul 30th, 2010
evanderfunk
Hey Scott, about the facebook thing as well…
I completely agree with you on how to manage something like that, and I understand how some people find it impersonal. On the other hand, I think no one that was actually (still) close to the deceased found out that way, so it shouldn’t be taken in any sort of offensive way.
About Antonio S.’s comment, I can imagine what it’s like to get a friend recommendation to contact someone that has already passed away, and how you would expect Facebook to be able to determine if someone’s lack of activity is due to any of these circumstances. I do believe such functions will be improved in time.
However, we shouldn’t forget the fact that keeping that person’s profile (for instance) allows friends and family to have a place to share their thoughts, to grieve and connect with others going through the same process
Several years ago, I lost a close friend, and even after a year, his family kept paying his cell phone contract, just so everyone that knew him could dial and listen to his voice in the voicemail. We didn’t have facebook back then, but we were all part of an organization with mailing lists, and we took advantage of that to share our thoughts and support each other, so I think that this kind of technology has a good side, even when it comes to such situations.
Anyway, just a little opinion.
Great show!
Aug 3rd, 2010
Scott
George – thanks for the kind words about the show. The artist at the top of this week’s program is Ed Kowalczyk. He was the singer of the band “Live” and now has a solo album.
Evenaderfunk – Great take on this. The cell phone story was pretty touching. I can see how that would be comforting to family and friends to hear their voices – even if it’s recorded. Who knows, maybe someday – hopefully a long ways from now – Emma will be able to look back on all these episodes of the show and feel a connection to who I was and what I was about. That’s kind of a cool thing to think about.
-S
Aug 3rd, 2010
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