The Drawing Board

It's great to start over.  Every day is a new chance to excel.  Sometimes though, when you've had to reset, revamp, reconnoiter, re-evaluate and recommit several times, discouragement can set in.

Will I ever get a grasp on the basics of blogging?

Will I ever find the time to watch all those videos so I don't have to reinvent the wheel?

Will my kid EVER involve himself in this blog?  It's business, but it's business for him; to secure his future.

Fortunately for me, there's always THE DRAWING BOARD.  I've been thinking about the Drawing Board ever since I looked at a post from Colman Carpenter, and was overwhelmed with a desire to try his client's cheese!  Colman thinks he needs to go back to the drawing board, because I wanted to try his client's cheese more than I wanted to improve his site metrics, but to my way of thinking, Colman has hit a home run.  I cain't find Comte Cheese, so I'm going to his website to see where I can get it.  My point is this:
By putting his clients' interest first and foremost, Colman stimulated a higher impulse within me; which was to try their product.  He wanted me to admire his site and I do--so much so that I wanted to be able to indicate in my feedback to the Comte folks that the site led me to the cheese, and not the other way around!  http://www.comte-usa.com/

I'm no closer to making a hat that looks like SpongeBob, but I haven't given up on that, either!  I'm gonna keep going back to the Drawing Board until I get it right.  I've made some butt-ugly hats in the process, but when I started, I couldn't make anything more than an aggravatingly ruffled doily.  I despise doilies.  They remind me of the more unpleasant aspects of aging.  Hats are for active people.  I admire Meladora's Creations, because its origins arise from necessity--a woman who left her country for broader horizons.  She found a way to contribute to the family coffers based on an enjoyable hobby.  She is now a global entrepreneur.

When you watch her tutorial videos, you see where she went back to the Drawing Board as often as necessary; often as a result of some truly unkind thumbs-down type of feedback!  It illustrates the reason we have a love-hate relationship with the thing.  It takes courage to go back there, fortitude to stay there until improvement happens, and motivation to come away from there with something new, fresh and innovative!

I'm going to pop in on +Colman Carpenter and ask him about the lack of hashtags associated with his posts.  He may not have had time to acquaint himself with their awesome power.  I thought they were merely a nuisance until I started paying attention to the likes of Mark Vang, Craig Fifield, and John Kellden.  Now I know they are indispensable.  The trick is to employ them elegantly and unobtrusively.  That's the innovation I want to bring forward.



A lot of people think Tony Robbins is a New-Age shill, but I don't agree.  Some of us need to know how to stop fighting with ourselves.  If you are your own worst enemy, usually you are the last to know.  I saw a meme of a man with his nose just clearing a brick wall.  He was perched precariously upon a pile of ladders.

I don't always know how to make the best use of my resources.  I know that in the scheme of things, as an American I am not poor!  However, I believe I should be more able.  More able to provide my sons with the extracurricular stuff that will help them become resourceful, self-starting adults.  More able to travel.  More able to seek education regarding what interests me.  More able to stop fighting an uphill battle, and win a damn war once in a while.

Thanks for taking the time to read this blog.

#FriendsofMalachiMaxwellGlass

There are many great G+ primers out there.  This is one of them!
http://www.virante.org/blog/google-business-training/

Picture Day

WORLDVIEW 101

I am just coming to realize the essential visual quality of online engagement.  I have always loved to take pictures.  I enjoy seeing a moment in time memorialized forever.  The people who come after and look at my images have a point of view that is filtered through their own lives and experience, so photographs provide an ever-changing creative interaction.  I don't even have to be around for it to happen.  I am represented as the picture-maker; the one who set you up for this unique interaction with my world view.

 Reflections are a magical gift from God, as far as I'm concerned.  They let you know that nothing is as it seems.  Reflections often provide me with a creative spark. I realized that I could see myself, the fallow field behind me, the interior of the room, and the life beyond the door, and capture it all in a single frame.  Awesome.  When I consider this image with a creative mind, it tells me that much of life is illusory.  There are a myriad of options available to me at any given moment.  I just need to take the time to reframe them into something practical, beautiful and creative.  My perspective changes.  My attitude changes.  My life changes.  Excellent.

Life is made up of chores.  Things to do.  If you bring your native creativity to the most mundane of tasks, something happens.  You see beyond current circumstances, and take in a broader horizon.  This blog is supposed to be about my son.  He cannot see how it is going to help him get to Europe next summer, so there's very little of him in it, at present.  I'm looking beyond the current landscape.  In my mind's eye I see Malachi boarding that plane.  I see him boarding that plane when I'm about to fall asleep, turning ideas over in my mind for this blog and other fundraising efforts I am doing.  I see him boarding that plane when he is staring at me, obdurate and entitled, in spite of the fact that we really have nothing.  He looks like a spoiled rich kid.  Let me help him grow into that persona, at least a little.  Sometimes Malachi runs into situations with his more affluent friends.  He says, "My friend is jealous." "Jealous?" I am stupefied. I am confused.  The kid he refers to seems to have everything.  "You talk to me," my kid says simply.

Indeed I do.  Sometimes I wonder if it does much good.  But, there's no point in having children if you won't talk to them.  Everybody should spend time laughing with their kids.  It's how you see who they really are.

Art is everywhere, in everything.  When you find the art in things, no matter how ordinary they seem, you find the divinity inherent in all things.  Thanks for taking the time to read my blog.

#FriendsofMalachiMaxwellGlass

"Social Media" is an OXYMORON.

This is Google Search's definition of the word "media".  

me·di·a¹

ˈmēdēə/

noun

1. 1.

   plural form of medium.
2. 2.

   the main means of mass communication (esp. television, radio, newspapers, and the Internet) regarded collectively.

   "the campaign won media attention"

   synonyms:

   the press, the fourth estate, the news, the papers;

   
   

Webster's New World Dictionary, 2nd College Ed., published in 1974, defines the term "media" with a single word: middle.  It also recognizes the word as the plural form of "medium." (Is more than one Long Island-based mystic considered media? )  It references anatomy as well.  Surprisingly, this older definition does not even encompass the use of the word to indicate the type of paint an artist prefers to work with; nor does it speak to the materials of creators working in stone, metal, wood, or paper as their "media of choice".  The word media has undergone a substantive change in connotation, denotation, and general use in an astonishingly short time.

To say "media" to indicate the means of dissemination of popular culture to the masses is a relatively recent phenomenon. 

The phrase "social media" itself is a marvel of contextual connotation. It indicates the head-on collision of selling producers and striving consumers within the online milieu.  

There isn't anything social about it.  

'Milieu' is described by Webster's as, "a place or environment, especially a social or cultural setting." It may be a more apt descriptor of what the average person conceptualizes when thinking of "social media interaction." People who are on line reading articles, looking at photography and animations, or actually shopping know that they are being marketed.  It's almost like a store window on a busy city street.  Something might just catch your eye, you know?  To the consumer's mind, anything that shows itself appealing online is a bonus, especially if none of their social superiors (or equals, or inferiors, for that matter) is able to lay hands upon it.  

To the producer, finding new, unobtrusive ways to create that appeal is the order of the day.

so·cial

ˈsōSHəl/

adjective

1. 1.

   of or relating to society or its organization.

   "alcoholism is recognized as a major social problem"

   synonyms:

   communal, community, collective, group, general, popular, civil, public,societal More
2. 2.

   ZOOLOGY

   (of a bird) gregarious; breeding or nesting in colonies.

   synonyms:

   gregarious, interactional; More

noun

1. 1.

   an informal social gathering, esp. one organized by the members of a particular club or group.

   "a church social"

   synonyms:

   party, gathering, function, get-together, soirée; More

Now, the last definition is what most people conceptualize when they consider what they are doing on the internet as "social media."

It's not true.

I know a man who is highly motivated to sell a house.  I'm not a realtor.  I'm a blogger who cleans houses before they are listed for sale.  My social networking may do for free what an under-motivated agent is doing for a 6% commission.  
Let's find out.

No matter what the headline, tagline, lead-in, or cover blurb, mass communication has one goal.  To sell.  The editor, founder or publisher of a newspaper may want to change the world, but in order to do that, he or she must sell.  A magazine may want to broaden the horizons of a particular demographic segment.  It may want to educate and inform.  What it must do in order to meet this goal is sell.  A television network may want to create offerings that reflect the interests of the people it serves.  If advertisers don't place commercial content for sale during those shows, that network will fail.  A television network that wants to keep broadcasting must sell.  An author who wants to keep writing must sell.  A realtor who wants to keep eating must sell.  A photog who wants to see the world has got to do more than post pretty pics.  He or she has got to sell.

What have you got for sale?  Is it your ideas?  Your personality?  Your popularity?  Your indefinable charisma?

YOU HAVE COME TO THE RIGHT PLACE.

so·cial me·di·a

noun

1. 1.

   websites and applications used for social networking.

so·cial net·work·ing

noun

1. 1.

   the use of dedicated websites and applications to communicate informally with other users, or to find people with similar interests to oneself.

Not much to go on, is it?

With the sum of human knowledge at the tips of Google's fingers, one would think a more thorough and meaningful discussion of what these two terms truly represent would be a given.  Maybe not.  Maybe social media is whatever we say it is.  Whatever we think it is.  Maybe we don't actually know what the hell it is, consequently, less of an explanation of terms is more.  Really.  "Websites and applications used for social networking" could come from anywhere, including Hamas and the Taliban.  I'm not interested in that, not at all,.

The use of the word "informally" is nearly meaningless in this context.  You are reading my blog.  That's informal.  That's communicating.  Would you say the subject matter is "informal"?  Is my intent "informal"?  Do I have an "informal" desire to get a grasp on what I'm truly exchanging in the online marketplace of ideas?  What I'm giving?  What I'm getting?  What I'm leaving behind me forever, in perpetuity, on this here internet?  No, I would not call those matters informal.  Not in the least.

"Social Media" to me is like those Big Pharma adverts where they describe a "fatal event."  Possibly, I may be too literal, but events can and do happen more than once. Fatality is generally a one-time proposition.  Otherwise the circumstance is described as a "near-death experience," or a "miracle."  So maybe social media is not so outrageously oxymoronic as fatal events, but events could prove otherwise.  What are the corporations doing with all our social socializing and networking?

1. social media marketing

   Web definitions

   1. Social media marketing refers to the process of gaining website traffic or attention through social media sites. Social media marketing programs usually center on efforts to create content that attracts attention and encourages readers to share it with their social networks. ...
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social-media_marketing

   
   
2. Hmmm.  We could be here a while.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog.

#FriendsofMalachiMaxwellGlass

1. 
   

EchoMirrorManifest

I like reflections.  They are a form of alternate reality.  Reflections provide information you can't get anywhere else.  Try this:  the next time you walk down a city street, keep your eye on the reflection in any plate glass about a half a block ahead of you.  You'll never be mugged again.  I was a kid on Long Island, a city kid, sort of, and I picked up this little gem of a survival skill early.  A reflection is also a mirror.  A picture-within-a-picture.  The sky is behind me.  The open door is across the room, facing the church across the street.  This is an awesome metaphor for life itself.

The things you say and do; how you treat people, these are a reflection of yourself you will only catch in glimpses.

I am going to make this one for the books and pick up where I left off shortly.

Thanks for taking the time to read this blog.

#FriendsofMalachiMaxwellGlass

"I Am the Death of Real."

New Line Cinema owns everything 
about this movie!

Roger Ebert thought this movie could be better.

"I AM THE DEATH OF REAL."

So says S1m0ne, a digitized creation of producer Viktor Taransky, superbly acted by a frazzled, grizzled, overwhelmed Al Pacino.  Simone ("Simulation One") is a figment of Taransky's desperate imagination.  Wynona Ryder decides she does not want to be the star of his movie anymore.  Pacino's crazed Taransky comes into possession of  technology that makes her defection immaterial.  He morphs all the Hollywood greats into a single amalgam:  Simone.  Watch the movie.  It's eerie to see flashes of the future while enjoying an old film.  Pay attention to the arc of Taransky's integrity as the stakes become higher and higher.
Someone with real online clout could make you an offer you cain't refuse one day.  What will you do?
Is it a business decision?  A personal decision? Is it a question of loyalty?  Does ambition outweigh contractual obligation?  What if it's the chance of a lifetime?
As I become daily more involved in the life of "The Plus," it becomes increasingly apparent that there are shades of reality on the internet, ranging from outright lies to unbearable truth.  Roger Ebert touches upon this when he says, "...[I]n aiming for too wide an audience, Niccols (Peter Niccols, director of The Truman Show) has made too shallow a picture."  Every one of us faces this pitfall when we blog for an audience.  If we are not careful our quest for an ever-widening audience can cause us to become pointless and marginalized.  What do you bring to the table?  I want to write a post that makes a busy person exclaim, "I'm glad I read that!"

It is up to us to decide how authentic and dependable and reliable the online world becomes going forward.  The internet can obscure a multitude of problems.  As David Amerland writes in his excellent blog post, relationships function similarly on- and offline.  Online interaction is a sticky wicket. You could wind up on Catfish. Your ability to build relationships online is only as good as the tools you use.  Using faulty tools can destroy a relationship before it starts.  Use the right tools, and a wealth of possibilities open up to you.  Ask +ron tolbert !  He was minding his own business here on The Plus, and someone noticed him.  The rest is history waiting to be set down.

I am here to secure my offspring's online future.  When I say, "Stake Your Claim On The Global Domain!"  I mean it.  To my way of thinking, I'm no different than the pioneers of old.  I have struck out for Uncharted Territory.  I will carve out my niche, and I'll build it on a base of authenticity, integrity, and hard work.  That way, I'll create a safe space for my loved ones to be on the internet.  I am blazing a trail, and their are a myriad of snares for the unwary.  I've got sense enough to follow the leaders.  I am grateful that the G+ pioneers see something worthy in the things I say and do on The Plus.  I'm building an online doorway for my son Malachi to walk through to his future.  There's no reason I can't use it as well.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog.

#FriendsofMalachiMaxwellGlass

S1m0ne: Making Ms. Box Office

"SynChronDipity"

Suddenly, I'm hearing quite a bit about real-time market sampling!

So, it has always been my supposition that the most overlooked ability of The Powers That Be on the internet is the ability to do market sampling in real time.  If I see something I like on the internet, I'll most likely say so.  Here on G+, I can just plus it!  It seems to me that the difference between the plus and the thumbs up is a matter of motivation.  Maybe even semantics.  A thumbs up indicates agreement and approbation.  A "plus one" means, among other things:  "That's positive!"  "That's a plus."  "I like that."

Most importantly, what it means, in my estimation is: 

"ME TOO!"

Remember when this was an innovation?  

This is a picture of a tree.  I like it.

This is a picture of a dress.  I'd wear it.

This is a picture of a bespoke suit. I'd change out those flap pockets, my good man!

This is a picture of an SEO expert. I'd take his/her advice.

This is a picture of a house. I'd buy it.

This is a picture of a joke. I think it's funny.

This is a picture of a chef.  I like his online persona.  I'll follow him.

This is a picture of the site I just built for my client.  I think it's good.

This is a gif of a cat. I think I'll waste some valuable time watching it.

This is a topic. I put up this picture with it so you'll read what I have to say. I want to discuss it further.

What's synchrondipitous about all of this is how what I've been writing in this obscure, waaay off-topic (so far), unfashionable blogger blog is now front-page on The Plus.  The AdSense watchdog is now watching me.  Huzzah!  I must be doing something right!

You can always extrapolate new marketing tools out to the old way of doing things.  It's expensive, though.

Yes, it is important to understand how the "plus one" impacts search rankings.  In my unschooled opinion, what's more important is understanding "The Power of the Plus" in and of itself.  People are paying attention!  That proves my point.  Maybe someone else was thinking that The Plus is one gi-normous, global, 24-7/365 focus group, available in real time.  FOR FREE to marketers of every stripe.

I'm just the one who pointed out that you top-feeders are missing money by not exploiting that advantage!

Thanks for taking the time to read this blog!

#FriendsofMalachiMaxwellGlass

# hashfogged

There's more here than meets the eye.

I am trapped in an information bottleneck.  Caught between what I need to know, what I think I need to know, and what I have set out to accomplish (amid numerous other priorities), I am in real danger of becoming stuck on stupid.
   
Information overload, dead ahead.

Now, about these hashtags.

A hashtag is a means of assigning a smidge of information its own little place in the search engine universe.  A hashtag puts information in your electronic junk drawer. A thread is its container.  A bunch of other people's junk is in there too.  There's some hope of finding it later.  Really.  Your personally created hashtags contain a wealth of information about you and your habits.  If you create hashtags regularly, you are likely a profiler's dream.  Beware.  A search bot looks for hashtags in a much more systematic fashion than you or I.  It aggregates these bits into a Frankenstein Monster of living, breathing data.  On the internet, you are the sum total of your content.  If you lean more toward shoe shots and dizzy gifs, you can always adjust your content creation upward.

Ask yourself, "What is my data doing at any given moment?"  

LaShanda Henry, that question never gets old.

Data crawlers labor deep within the data mine, digging up marketing gold for the lucky few with a stake in the claim.  This aggregation of information will outlive each and every one of us.  What does that mean? Conversely, the internet lives and dies with the power grid.  No electricity, no internet.  What does that mean for those humans who do not live in the developed world?  In times of disaster?  For national security?

 As we chart our course on the frontier of the Fifth Dimension, let us be aware of the costs involved.

Currently, The Cloud is a Conundrum.  The Thing is Alive!

I took these pictures.  They are my intellectual property.  I am the self-proclaimed "Queen of Content."

Clouds are always there.  We take them for granted, until they collectivize themselves into a typhoon, super-size unto a hurricane, or twist and shout into a tornado.
Or unless there's a drought.  Then we do a rain dance.  Try to make it rain.  Pray for rain.

Fog is something else entirely.  Fog is often beautiful.  Beautiful and deadly. Fog itself obscures the way forward. Too much light on fog, and we are blinded.  Fog engenders pile-ups and carnage. Fog clouds judgement.  I am hashfogged.  I attend to the conversation in the Jungian jungle of John Kellden's intellectual

salon, and I am scared.  People well-versed in this stuff see a future you and I cannot see.  They are making their way through the hashfog, and I am mighty doggone glad that they have chosen to be a beacon lighting the way, rather than a wraith guarding the path.  (It seems that the word wraith has its origins in the Old Norse word for 'guardian,' according to Webster's New World Dictionary, 2nd College Ed.) There are many reasons to become cognizant of the implications engendered by our online lives.  You really cannot do that without a thorough grounding in SEO and social media psychology.  An entirely new group dynamic is arising out of the World Wide Web.  There are rules of etiquette, ranging from "ALL CAPS INDICATE SHOUTING," to "Be sure to uncheck 'Notify by email'!" There is a paradigm shift afoot, me hearties!  A new social order is evolving, and quickly.  Hashfog is obscuring the tip of a titanic data-berg.  Don't ignore the signals just because you're aboard a really big [Google] barge.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog.

#FriendsofMalachiMaxwellGlass

"SpogBlot? HashTastic!"

OR:  THIS IS A WORDY RAPPINGHOOD.

Tom Tom Club: Wordy Rappinghood

I am #hashfogged.

There is a real function for the lowly pound symbol [#] on the internet.  It relates to categorizing and quantifying words. Then those words can be further quantified in regard to their ability to make a buck. The hashtag has taken on a life and power that has far-reaching implication for the hashfogged.  I know I need to stay on top of this.  I just don't really know why.  Not yet.

One of the nicer things about engagement on the internet is that it favors people like me, who have a facility with words.

Those algorithm-spouting coders have their place in the food chain.  I have mine.  We need each other.

#FriendsofMalachiMaxwellGlass

Words are what separate humankind from the beasts of the field.  The hostile and insensitive among us are urged to "Use your words," instead of using your fists.  

Followers of Christ believe He is the Living Word.

 Google AdWords support entire careers. Semantic search is the next next thing.  Social Psychology is the new Pop Psyhcology. So what does it all mean?  Personally, I think that having every word weighed and weighted and assigned a monetary value is a terrifying concept.  What if you cain't spell?  What if you are given to expressing yourself in the vernacular of your life experience, just to spice things up?  Is cain't  destined to become a more valuable commodity than can't, just because I always use it to personalize my posts and my persona on this here internet?  If all sorts of people engage with my posts, is the way I turn a phrase a valuable commodity?  You betcha!  +John Kellden 's conversations convinced me of that.

I am destined to become an Information Entrepreneur.

Selfie shows are sprouting on The Plus like mushrooms after rain.  Followings are being built.  Credibility is being established and maintained.  Partnerships are forming.  Collaboration is happening.  Where do I fit in?  

How do I get in where I fit in?  

I must engage, like Jean-Luc Picard firing up the Enterprise--to go boldly where no Hamptons' house-sitter's child has gone before!  In order for my son to get where he needs to go, I have to blaze a trail out of my own limitations.  I have to look beyond what I have and what I know, and look forward to what I want and what I have yet to discover.

www.PeopleToPeople.com

You may be wondering why this blog has so little to do with Malachi, People To People, or Italy, Sicily, and Greece.  Well, 

BLOGGING IS ORGANIC!

Originally, a web log was something a techie updated at intervals to keep track of the health of the mainframe.  Now a blog is something that causes feckless twenty-somethings to make a boatload of money saying and doing things I cannot fathom, and capturing the output on devices I can only scroll past on The Plus.  I'm old-school.  A blog is an electronic diary.  As such, my humble musings will accumulate, and these, that have the least to do with my stated goal, will be at the bottom of the stack.  At present, my desire is to stay true to this facet of blogging.  This is a diary of the journey from hapless to helpless to happening!

There are innumerable distractions on the internet. There are distracting people.  There are distracting pictures of people and animals and landscapes and tourist attractions.  There are distracting issues, causes, videos, memes, jokes, podcasts and blogs.  

How does one speak above the cacophony?  One does not.  One cannot.  I know that I must patiently build relationships with people.  I need to be genuine.  I must conduct myself with integrity and always be authentic.  This is what is known in many circles as "keeping it real."  'Keeping it real' has quickly and irretrievably become a trite turn of phrase.  But like every other hackneyed expression, it expresses a complex concept succinctly.  I keep it real.  I know you need to get to know me.  You need to know that I am who and what I say I am.  If I'm here consistently, then you can begin to know what to expect from me.  It is always more beneficial to be worthy of trust than to be trustworthy.  Trustworthiness can be subject to shifting ethical perspectives--such as upon which side of the bread the butter resides.  Being worthy of trust is a constant that does not fluctuate over time.  If I am worthy of trust, raising the funds for Malachi's trip to Europe can be accomplished in short order.  What requires painstaking patience is establishing the online me that is a clear and transparent reflection of the flesh-and-blood me.

"A man's word is his bond."  This is one of the two concepts I believe that a woman can teach a boy about manhood.  the other is "Real men keep their commitments."  The only way to teach this is to be this.  Welcome to my world.  It's okay to be hashfogged.  At least you'll be in the right place when the sun breaks through.

Thank you for taking the time to read this blog.

#FriendsofMalachiMaxwellGlass

"I +1 the Sandbox!"

blogger vs wordpress = sandbox vs quicksand?

Blogging is tricky until you get a grasp on it.

I'm behind.  There's so much I need to learn in order to do what this blog purports to do!  I need to set aside time to look at all +martin shervington 's videos.  I find new experts who help me understand different aspects of the online arena from a myriad of differing perspectives every hour I am online. +Meloney Hall is someone I've just met.  +Christine DeGraff is another accomplished individual whom I'm pleased to meet.

WoRLDTraVeLeR 

Blogger makes name-dropping fun!

Good Day Google Episode 7

+ron tolbert and +O'Neil Godfrey are kinda like security.  I like seeing them every day.  +Dave Sutton  is my G+ chum.  +David Amerland is a mentor to so many.  +Mark Traphagen , +Eric Enge , +Craig Fifield and so many others are mapping the uncharted territory of The Fifth Dimension.

+Mari Thomas is a lot of fun.  She doesn't mind explaining stuff, and she knows what I mean when I say "What it do?" +Susanne Ramharter 's Daily Picture is always on my radar. My Electronic Muse has broadened my horizons!  I haven't seen it today, and that's unusual.  +R. Harlan Smith can't quite take me seriously...and that's ok.  I could go on.

Why shouldn't I stay in the Sandbox awhile longer?

What's wrong with Blogger?  Within thirty seconds of my first Soundcloud post to G+ from this here blog, somebody else had one up too.  I think someone noticed.  And for sure, I don't care if I am in the Sandbox, one good click-through deserves another.  Just because it's blogger does not mean you will not be edified by its content.  You might be pleasantly surprised, +Dustin W. Stout .

Despite the danger of kitties, I am going to sit in the blogspot Sandbox awhile longer, while Google figures out that it's a likely portal into the world of blogging for people with NO HTML, or any previous experience on the internet at all.  Everybody's gotta start somewhere.  Like I told a girl at community college: "These people were not born knowing this stuff!  Calm down and give yourself a chance to succeed!" 

I can sit right here and hone my chops while Google pays attention.  I am in a mutually beneficial learning curve with Google.  I don't mind being a koi in their pond, believe me.  How long would it take me to get the kind of exposure for my kid that I've gotten in these past weeks?  Maybe forever.

Google is at a point almost like Food Network.  It can  and does have a hand in germinating popular culture.  Google has a colossal advantage over television networks of any kind, however.  Google can test consumer preference in real time.  Not just with those asinine hashtags, but by simply asking a question, Google can gather an inestimable amount of demographic data, both statistical and sociological.  A G+ participant opts out by not engaging with a post.  Simple.

 Arising from the disparate people who read my blog, there are an exponential number of marketing possibilities.  If Google does something unique, and asks for input regarding brands Plussers indicate they enjoy in a laid-back and friendly way, then it instantly generates the best metrics in the world: user-initiated engagement with brands they are already purchasing--with a favorable view of that product going in.  Now, I could be wrong and uninformed, so,

Why should I get off the porch while I'm still just a chihuahua?   

It's a doggone conundrum!

Blogger needs some TLC, sure.  It's been a lonely little outlier, but we picked up right where we left off, didn't we?

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog.

#FriendsofMalachiMaxwellGlass

"Do Not Do Anything on the Internet That You Would Not Do in the Streets!"

"You Can Be A Butt Sometimes."

OR:  "Confessions of A Hothead"

http://www.uso.org/

Admit it: the World Wide Web is a Walk on the Wild Side.

I've been around social media in fits and starts since 1995.  I have gone from being witlessly afraid of computers to carrying conversations with friends I've met on the internet around in the front of my brain so that I can pick them up where we left off when I return to the Fifth Dimension.  As with any lively social exchange, somebody's always gotta bring the dip.

Yesterday was Veteran's Day.  The preceding day (or was it the day before that?) was Remembrance Day.  It was really patriotic, and patriotism is one of the things that is near the top of my bag.  I am a patriot.  I love my country.  I think it is the greatest place.  I don't want our nation to be left out of the Technological Revolution we started when we sent man to the moon.  I also don't want our precious freedoms leached away by the free-for-all that is the internet.  There is much uncharted territory being mapped here in the Fifth Dimension!  From the arcane to the mundane, the sum of human knowledge is being aggregated, calculated, disseminated, and evaluated.  It is also being hacked, cracked, jacked and gobsmacked.

SO DO NOT DO ANYTHING ON THE INTERNET THAT YOU WOULD NOT DO ON THE STREET.

Which brings me to the guy who wasted two minutes of my precious existence telling me why Veteran's Day is "stupid."  I vented, counted the few thousand or so human souls who saw my one-word-epithet post cognizant enough to realize that my characterization referred to him and not to me fortunate, and deleted it. When I was confronted with the same video as a reshare, I commented to his face what I had posted behind his back.  Now why did I not quietly uncircle this man?  Why did I respond to his oafish rant at all?

Don would be so proud!

http://www.uso.org/

Sgt. Donald M. Gordon, USAF 1968 - 1973

Because I am an American. I am a patriot. The man in this painting was a patriot. He instilled that quality in me without ever realizing it.
He wanted to fly.
Oh, how he wanted to fly!
Circumstances being what they were, he became instead the finest, bravest airplane mechanic any fly-boy could ask for.  He was known for fearlessness.  So well-known for it, in fact, that I have a clear memory of quiet man-talk; astonishing tales of his calm pre-flight checks, undertaken in a howling maelstrom of shrapnel and materiel debris.  The injuries he sustained included microscopic metal forced into his tear ducts.  This man returned stateside weeping blood for our nation.

Tiny needles of aluminum and steel riddled his body.  In a warm room, or if he became excited, ribbons of bright red blood would begin to well up, just bubble and spurt in random places on his person.  The more agitated he became, the worse it got.  This man also sweated blood for our country.  How can a being live like that?  He did not, not for long.  He died of a heart attack at 49.  Last month, I turned 49.  I never lay eyes on him again after that terrible afternoon in our living room on Long Island, the awful day I beheld with a child's eyes and psyche the true cost of war.  I was seven years old.

Freedom is not free.  Freedom of speech is not free.  Freedom of expression is not free.
Freedom of assembly is not free.

Liberty costs.

Somebody paid a heavy price so that you can exist dumb as a dirt sandwich in America, dude.
I ain't sorry I cussed you; not in the mood to falsely repent.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog.

#GodBlessAmerica

ChurchChasing

I don't go to church like I used to.
Photo Credit: SNL/NBC Networks

It is difficult to maintain spiritual equanimity on the internet.  When I see that guy who posted a black woman in a ball gag lauded for something else by an unsuspecting admirer, I want to place my religion in a back pocket--again.  Dude caused me to come out of my bag with a hashtag.

I do not like religion.  It does not address my soul.  It is superficial, and most likely will abandon you when you most need it.  I know a man who left work on Friday, drove all night, rested Saturday, took his aging father to the church 800 miles up the East Coast where he can "feel the spirit," and spent all day Sunday driving back home.  As an HVAC guy, he does not have the day off today.  We had a relationship-terminating row when I suggested that Dad might be "church-chasing." Some of you know what I'm talking about. If you've spent any time amidst the "So-Called Saints," you know that there are those who are addicted to the feeling they only get in church.  They may do "Christian works" with people in their own social circle, but don't you dare come to them with a problem!  They'll give you the bum's rush quicker than you can say, "Holy Ghost power!" or "Saved, sanctified, and fire baptized!"

Ran into so .jpg much devilment, I felt a need.

The Body of Christ is intact, as always, but the church is broken.  This same man's mother ignored my outstretched hand the first time I met her.  In church.  I did what I always do when someone snubs my handshake:  I raised a limp wrist to eye level and examined my right hand as if I had never seen it before either.  These people count themselves as staunch Christians, and I guess they are.  Unfortunately, a lifetime in church has turned their favorite child into a prevaricating, masquerading, weak-willed liar.  He discovered that the easiest way to maintain his place in the hierarchy of acceptance was simply to lie.  About everything.  Assuredly, God in His infinite wisdom permitted those lies to produce problems no one but He can solve.

My kids know all about this.  I do my best to keep things real with them on a spiritual level, so that they can know and understand the Holy Spirit as He works within their own lives. Sometimes things look a wreck when He is "working it out for you."  Many times (especially on the internet), a person who puts their trust in Christ will be jeered: as a believer in fairy tales; as a deluded member of a crumbling, non-tech proletariat; as a witless participant in meaningless ritual--and on, and on.  Consequently, I address my faith as "follower of Christ," because Christians are some of the meanest people I know. Quite a few hide small, shriveled hearts behind "shut-ins" and "Rainbow Teas."  Others go home to homes more debauched and dysfunctional than the life of Miley.  That girl used to go everywhere with a Bible.  Now look.  I have her on my PRAYDAR, bigtime.  When she comes back to reality, Christ will be there.  He has not left her.  He never will.  She has definitely checked out on Him for awhile, though.  I shudder to think what might bring her back, poor prodigal chile.

It is faith that makes me believe I can get my son to Europe next year.  I believe that GOD will provide the increase that will make this trip possible.  Does that mean I just piously sit somewhere while God-elves do my work for me?  Nope.  It means I dig deep to grow beyond my limitations.  It means that I come out of my comfort zone and onto the internet, where satan has a major head start.  It is surprising how many people who refuse to worship good will go all out to bow down to the evil one.  It means that I am learning anew what it means to "not be ashamed of the Gospel."  I don't attempt to downplay my faith on the internet.  Not at all.  I am here to tell gay folk that they have a right to the love of Christ, same as me. Sex is temporal, temporary, and something the Almighty designed to keep humans producing offspring in this vale of tears!  You did not need it when you came from God, and you will not need it when you go back.  Any person, straight or gay, can have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. If you can walk with Christ as a gay person, by all means, do so!  I know what the Bible says about it.  I'm not God, so I am not in a position to either pardon or condemn you.  If I have to be wrong, I will err on the side of acceptance and love.  As a dear friend once told me, "Gay people do far more damage in the closet than out of it."  My mother gave me the best formula for acceptance when she told a ten-year-old me, "If a person is gay, so what? You ain't gotta wake up next to 'em!"

I don't shun anyone who believes in a faith other than mine, either.  I want respect, so I give respect.  I am not here to convert anyone to anything.  I just want to let my little light shine.  Thank you for taking the time to read this blog.

#FriendsofMalachiMaxwellGlass