Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
TWC Roundup 1 - Social Networking
This Week's Van Buren Boys
Stephanie - Washington D.C. mining industry fundraiser
Stephanie has lived in DC for several years now. She is a young Republican and represents the future of her party. When not working hard, she enjoys supporting mascot-like wildlife.
Dave - Philadelphia sports columnist
Dave has won numerous national awards for his craft, which he supports no matter what happens to the industry. He is a Penn graduate and loves his beshert very much (pictured here).
Ben - international spy
Ben spent several years in CT not far from yours truly. He loves the Beatles, Reagan and the Yankees. Little is known about his past.
Brett - Philadelphia-based venture capitalist
Brett has spent seven years in venture capital, primarily focused on early stage tech companies. He is also a Penn graduate and as such, has detailed knowledge of things our other panelists can only hope to comprehend. He resides in Philadelphia with his wife, dog and love of bagels.
Stephanie
You know, I have to admit, when the whole Facebook phenomenon started, I was really excited about it. It was a brand new idea in the world of social networking that seemed to be created specifically for those of us in the "Millenials" generation...and it was. I'd be lying if I said I didn't spend 8 hours of my first day as a member of "the Book" searching for anyone and everyone I knew and, of course, for the best picture of myself I could find.
It was a great way to be distracted as a sophomore in college from writing papers, studying for tests, and anything else I was supposed to be doing to better my education... until I realized how utterly creepy the website was. It's stalking! I started feeling like a stalker, thank God I learned how to use all those damn privacy settings. The only one I wish they had created was a AUTO-DECLINE for the times people were just trying to get as many people with the same last name as them as friends... seriously guys?
Anyway, over the past couple of years, I've learned that Facebook isn't such a bad thing if you use it for the right reasons and set up your page in a safe way. My job depends on social networking and with the ever developing privacy settings, I can use this site for work and to keep in touch with people I otherwise wouldn't, so I don't TOTALLY bash Faceook... but honestly, I don't need to hear that your favorite underwear still has the days of the week on it in 25 Random Things about you.
Now for these other sites... I'm not even going to touch MySpace... seriously, I'd have to get tested... and the other big one...Twitter. I was told that this "Twitter" phenomenon was the next big thing for fundraising (which is what I do) so I started an account. Now, maybe it's just because I can't use Twitter for fundraising yet (it's an association thing...) but I don't have the attention span to be constantly informing people (in 140 characters or less mind you) what I'm doing. Do they really care? And why do I want people knowing what I'm doing every second of my day anyway? In this mind set, I tried to deactivate my account... THEY WON'T LET ME! I'm roped in. They suckered me into it, and now there's no way out... I feel like a Cy Young Award winning pitcher in the Steinbrenner office...
Anyways, I get the whole idea of the social networking thing. I know I bashed a little, but I think when used in the right way, Facebook can be a great thing, Twitter... not so much. For God's sake it sounds like something women do in their spare time anyways... and yes fellas, we do... and if one of us tells you otherwise... they're lying.
Dave
Invariably, it's the old people, along with a few other undesirables, who are always posting unnecessary status updates about their five favorite athletes whose last names begin with S and have more than three children out of wedlock. But those updates are nothing compared to the ex-girlfriend of an old friend writing things like "I hate everything about my life" 37 seconds after writing "Today, I am going to the gym to feel better about myself!" ... or the random girl you think you might have gone on one J-date with writing how she wants to be more like Tina Fey.
I'm telling you, for every important post about a good friend's new job, there are about 1,000 posts that make you want to make you smash your brain against the side of your Desktop.
Ben
If there were two great things about Facebook it was the ability to look at hot girls' pictures and being friends with people who were in college and only college. Both are gone. I think Facebook went downhill once it opened itself up to the world and granted people the ability to choose who looks at their pictures (I mean, the nerve!). Maybe I didn’t have a problem with people over 18 having it but I think on the inside I’m an elitist and wanted a social network with college-educated people. It felt like an exclusive club and it was. Once my 14-year-old neighbor and her 84-year-old grandmother poked me on Facebook, it got weird. Now that I’m a few years out of college, Facebook has lost most of its appeal (aka reminders of last nights party). My desire or need to post on peoples walls has dropped and aside from party invites I really have no use for it.
I will say that it does bring people together, especially for the older generation. I know that many in my parents' generation have reconnected with friends who they haven't talked with since high school - but instead of putting up pictures of partying they put up pictures of their recent trip to Vermont to go antiquing.
Twitter I have, but I don’t fully understand why A) I have it and B) its here. It’s a status website. There are a few situations I see use for; being at a concert and updating setlists, sports updates, being held in a foreign country (Texas) against your will, or cracking jokes. It has its moments, but I try to stick to people who wont write about their day and provide me entertainment. If you can make me laugh then you got me 30 seconds closer to the end of the day. I maintain that it's worthless, yet i just checked to see if there were updates.
Brett
Evan
First off, I would like to thank the inaugural class of the Van Buren Boys. You did not disappoint, and any conversation that included the "contest," sports misery and fetusi is surely a sign of good things to come.
I have been a big Facebook addict for awhile. I never got into MySpace - while it seemed cool and original to be able to edit HTML on the page, this often led to tragic results (I think I once had a seizure from glitter and sparkles on someone's page, and it wasn't even ESPN).
The problem with Facebook is that it tried to copy Twitter by making everyone's status more prominent on the page. While everyone knows of a few friends that consistently make you laugh, the large majority involve a list of people's daily activities and whatever is making them sad.
Don't get me wrong - being able to reach people like this is useful, and a big way this site gets traffic. That said, I have some helpful notes:
- If we live in different states, do not invite me to your events. While you may think its easier to just invite all of your friends, I will be racked with guilt for the next week while I sit home. I'm Jewish.
- There are very few useful Facebook apps out there. I am obsessed with Mafia Wars, but other than that, if I wanted to play your game, I would join it. Given the world we live in now, when Facebook says I was attacked by pirates, it's entirely possible that it's real. I don't need that kind of stress.
- If you are truly upset at your ex girlfriend/boyfriend/circus instructor, either tell them to their face, or deal with your pain silently. When I see "B*tches should know when to shut their mouths...UGH whatever" on your wall, it makes me either want to hit you or get you a trashy reality show on VH1, likely involving a former member of Poison.
Thanks to our panel for participating and stay tuned next week for another installment of Three Word Chant Roundtables!
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Site News - Wednesday roundtables
To that end, we have formed a panel of
Credit and thanks to Stephanie, an original supporter of Three Word Chant, for naming the panel. Members shall henceforth be known as the Van Buren Boys, the perfect name for a group of lowlifes with highbrow interests. I award her no points, and may God have mercy on her soul.
Our topics can range from the serious to the absurd, but will hopefully always be entertaining. If you are interested in joining the panel, just email me at threewordchant.blog@gmail.com.
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Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Arlen Specter just got all (D-PA)
Assuming Al Franken prevails in his ongoing court battle, which appears likely, this would give the Dems a veto-proof majority, ensuring that Obama will not have to use the reconciliation procedure for healthcare, and there will be tax increases and lesbian marriages for all. Or something like that. Big day for Obama.
UPDATE: Specter's statement can be found here.
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ESPN.com attacked by unicorns
Although it has been taken down from the main page, go to this Google cache and type in the most famous password in history (up, up, down, down, left, right, left right, B, A, enter). Then hit any keys and
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Monday, April 27, 2009
Swine flu news you can use
1) Avoid Mexico
2) Do not attend St. Francis Preparatory
3) Avoid pork/attract Jews (see ironic photo to the left)
The only place that his been hit worse than Mexico is the media, which seems to be unable to report on anything else. Drudge is having a field day and CNN will likely have an iReporter on this in no time.
As per the laws of the internet, despite this being a tragedy, this hysteria has led to several swine flu jokes:
- "Will there be a mass outbreak of Human/Avian Swine flu? When pigs fly."
- "The only known cure for Swine Flu has been found to be the liberal application of oinkment."
My Jewish brethren, clever as always, have determined that the best way to avoid this disease is to not speak of it. Israel has decided to call this "Mexican flu" since ultra-religious leaders felt that even pronouncing pork would upset someone.
In honor of this cunning defense, below is a clip from Jimmy Kimmel regarding the Jets' response to the scheduling conflict with the Jewish holidays, which this blog covered.
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Elderly folk to take over the world
In Allentown, PA, 72-year-old Fred Glass is interviewed about his decades of weightlifting. Glass won an award as recently as last year, when he squatted 400 pounds in competition.
The moral of the story? Don't piss off your grandparents.
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Bill Nye the Atheist Guy
This reporter believes that clearly God would not want His light reflecting off His moon and commends the residents of Waco for indicating as much.
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Thursday, April 23, 2009
This post is not about misleading headlines
The only issue is that they are comparing both of them at the beginning of their term. This is a perfectly reasonable comparison, of course, as it would speak to how they got elected and what people think so far.
The only minor problem is that the headline attempts to make comparisons to the two men in general. Today. You would think a right-leaning publication would be aware of the consequences of parsing the word "is."
For what it's worth, Cheney left office with:
1) An failed pardon attempt for Scooter Libby
2) A man-sized secret safe
3) A 13% approval rating
Biden currently has:
1) Arguably no control over what he says
2) No idea how to spell the word "jobs"
3) A 51% apprvoal rating
That said, it worked, because I did click on their post. Tricky bastards.
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