Sometimes, things going unsaid is best.
Then there are other times where being blunt is the only solution, awkward or not.
And then there are those times where trying to be tactful sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t.
Anyone feel me on this?
Just saying…
Opinions aren’t news. They should not be represented as news. And they sure as hell don’t belong in a “news feed.” Four of the five articles you are suggesting I read are opinion pieces – editorial, NOT news. This type of journalism doesn’t belong anywhere near the front page of a newspaper, let alone a news feed.
If I wanted someone’s opinion, I would seek it out. I don’t need it fed to me.
Dammit, Google, your “news feed” is really pissing me off, and I don’t mean the Piss & Moan kind of pissed off. That kind of pissed off is just a general, “Yeah, I’m irritated about it but not enough to do anything about it” but this crap right here, this is pushing me over the edge to something more. I’ve talked about problems with Goggle’s news feed before, but this just adds to my displeasure for this news source.
Something more…anyone remember the old Discount Tire commercial?
Yeah, I am starting to get that pissed. I just might walk up to Goggle’s front window and throw their news feed through it.
Anyone have any suggestions about a news feed that has a WIDE variety of sources and a WIDE perspective on the news? You know, like they actually report the news but don’t offer their opinions or commentary on it?
Photo by Riccardo Bresciani on Pexels.com
I keep seeing these videos on social media and its getting rather irritating because everyone knows they shouldn’t do it, but they do it anyway. What videos am I talking about?
I keep seeing videos of people driving. They are holding their phone (you can tell because the image “floats” and you can see the dashboard) while they drive and showing you the road, road conditions, night sky, etc. There may be music in the background or they are narrating something that happened. Whatever.
In a day and age where it is illegal (at least in my state) to have a phone in your hand while driving, you would think that people would not put themselves or others in danger by holding a phone while they drive.
It leads me to believe that they believe they are more important than everyone else. “I’m going to disregard the law and safe driving habits so that I can post a video of me driving on the road. Because, after all, everyone is interested in what I am doing and they should probably know the road conditions.”
Guess what? You ain’t that important!
I don’t care that you are on an open road, in the middle of the night, with no other traffic around you. I don’t care what the road conditions are. I don’t care that you need to tell your followers something. I don’t care that you have a song you want us all to hear.
I don’t care.
Get over yourself and drive safely. Period.
Photo by Javon Swaby on Pexels.com
As 2020 comes crashing in and we usher in a new day, month, year, and decade, I just wanted to pause for a moment and reflect.
Ok, not really. Why reflect? It will only bring back the things we weren’t successful with, the things that weren’t fair, the things that sucked, the things that were disappointing, and the things that just plain didn’t really need to happen.
CRAPPY NEW YEAR!
I jest, of course.
But as we raise a glass to a new year, may we be blessed with more things to Piss and Moan about.
I got a rather strange request in my inbox the other day. I am having a hard time trying to figure out if it was a legitimate request or if it was just someone trying to drum up traffic to their business site.
So, someone sent me an email asking if I had actual cups for sale like the Piss & Moan logo.
Hmmm…I had never considered merchandising since I didn’t figure there was much of a market for it. Honestly, I am leaning towards this not really being a legit request but it made me pause for a moment and wonder.
I emailed back that there weren’t any for sale and that I designed the logo myself so I hadn’t ever considered that others might want to buy it.
Has anyone else ever considered marketing or merchandising their blog? Did you find it a hassle? Did you find that it paid off or was it more of just a money sucker? I am curious what others have experienced.
For now, just so you all know, there is no merchandise. The only thing around here worth any money is my opinion and I give that away for free, so you can see the value in that. LOL
Photo by fauxels on Pexels.com
Transition is hard. Lots of people hate change and resist it when it happens. I am not really one for change for change’s sake and I don’t really fear it, but sometimes change just isn’t necessary. – especially when you have something that serves the purpose fine the way it is.
Software changes should make your life better (either more convenient, streamlined, or all encompassing). At the very least, it should make your life less complicated right off the top. At work, we are going in the wrong direction for ease and internal communication.
We are switching from Skype for Business to Microsoft Teams. Never heard of it? Yeah, me neither until now.
I am just learning about this new software and how to use it, but so far I am not all that impressed. It seems to have taken the social media approach to business communication. Teams doesn’t integrate Outlook with it, so not only do I have to have Teams open but I also have to have a separate program open for my calendar and email. How is that really streamlining things? It’s not. At least not yet.
Guess you could say I am not feeling much like a Teams player…
**Thank you, thank you…I’ll be here all week…**
Bad Gateway…as in, “You don’t have a subscription.”
The Washington Post once was a paper that would be trusted to give you the news without commentary. Not so much these days, well to be fair, for quite a while. Commentary is a staple of its reporting, but I wanted to call attention (again) to it’s motto, “Democracy Dies in Darkness.” *Sorry, it’s a little hard to read in the screenshot above.*
The story of how the motto was adopted can be found here, if you can get past the paywall. Many believe the motto was presumably adopted in response to Trump’s assertion that the media was an enemy of the people for their inaccurate and slanted reporting. The story refutes that presumption, though some still question the truth on that too.
To some degree, the motto is correct, though journalism and the media isn’t to only keeper of democracy. No, there are lots of sources from which information can be obtained these days. What there is a lack of, is accurate and fair journalism and media. Therein lies the death of democracy.
Media and journalists who report their bias, their slant, their take on the information “to inform” the public is killing democracy. In essence, the Washington Post is killing democracy in several ways all by itself.
First, there is, of course, the slanted and liberal bias the paper produces every day. This is not a debatable conclusion. It is fact. So let’s not quibble about this detail.
I would posit the next reason the “paper” (I say it that way because it isn’t a newspaper in the true sense any longer) is helping democracy die is that it has chosen to put its online content (or most of it) behind a paywall. I understand a paywall generates revenue, but doesn’t advertising do the same thing? The problem with the paywall is that it makes it so that only those who can afford to pay for a subscription have access the “the news.”
Is that really keeping everyone informed? Is that really making sure there is equal access to information? Is it equitable for all?
Access to information and access to sound, unbiased reporting is important. Hiding behind paywalls and having more journalism that is predominantly commentary, rather than facts (or a liberal spin on the facts), isn’t keeping democracy alive. It is actually killing it too.
Democracy certainly dies in darkness, but the darkness here is slanted journalism and a paywall.
Photo by Emre Can on Pexels.com
I am not sure if I have become jaded/cynical/pessimistic or just old. It’s likely that it is a combination of all of these things.
Anyone else feel like the word “love” is just another word these days? Like, people don’t actually know what it means and abuse the use of it all the time. Sure, they may technically be using the word correctly based on the definition, according to Webster, but just because the dictionary has put a definition to it doesn’t necessarily mean that people actually love. Splitting hairs here? Maybe. But I get really tired of hearing when it most likely isn’t really meant.
You hear it all the time but you probably don’t really pay attention to how it is used…because it is used all the time.
“I love this pie.” Do you really?
“I love the characters of this show/book/movie, etc.” No, no you don’t. Not really.
“I love that you work so hard at making a difference in the neighborhood.” Doubt it.
You get my point (or maybe you don’t). The abuse of the word is rampant. It’s irritating. Well, at least to me. It’s irritating to me.
Does anyone else find this even mildly irritating or am I alone in this?
I don’t love the use of the word love in common vernacular. It’s value is diminished when it is abused.
Photo by freestocks.org on Pexels.com
Babies are ugly.
There I said it.
Nearly all, and I do mean all, babies are ugly. There really is nothing cute about them.
No, I don’t want to see pictures of your baby. No, I don’t want to see pictures of your new grand-baby. No, I don’t wanna see pictures of any baby.
People, listen, no one really wants to see anything about a baby unless they ask you directly to see pictures of the baby. Otherwise, you are just annoying people needlessly with your gushing about a baby no one cares about but you.
Seriously.
I don’t want to read a blog about your babies. I don’t want to see video clips about your babies. I don’t want so hear stories about your babies.
Just knock it off already.
Good grief. Have you taken a look at your comment spam folder?
It’s kind of ridiculous how much comment spam gets generated! How do you even spam comments in the first place? There’s got to be a better way for WordPress to keep this from happening than just throwing them in a folder.
I guess I am glad they catch all this stuff instead of me having to wade through it every day; however, if there was a legitimate comment that actually gets caught in there, how would I ever find it? I know I have had it happen and luckily I caught it early enough before the folder exploded.
Why do people do this in the first place? How do companies combat this crap?
Piss and Moan 