Tag: societal-questions

Musing on Makeovers

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Society today seems to have a penchant for makeovers. Here are three makeovers into today’s news that seem to be quite telling about our society:

  • From the “Sunny day. Everything’s A-OK.” Department: It’s the 40th birthday of Sesame Street, and everyone, including the NY Times and CNN, have articles on it. Both comment on how the street has changed, but the CNN article captures it best. It notes how the original brownstone was dirty and grungy, how Cookie Monster was fanatical about his cookies… and smoked, how Oscar the Grouch is just plain nasty, children are seen riding their bikes without helmets, and Gordon, the loving adult man, can be seen approaching a little girl on the street, taking her by the hand and bringing her into his house for milk and cookies. Nowadays, the street is clean, no one smokes, Oscar is lovable, and Cookie Monster has cookies in moderation. We’ve cleaned it up to prevent the bad ideas (better, I guess, that children get them from real life).
  • From the “M-I-C-K-E-Y T-H-U-G-E” Department: Going the other direction, Disney is giving lovable, innocent Mickey Mouse a makeover. Concerned that Mickey has become more of a corporate symbol than a beloved character for recent generations of young people, Disney is taking the risky step of re-imagining him: a new video game, Epic Mickey, changes the formerly squeaky clean mouse into a cantankerous and cunning character, as well as heroic, as he traverses a forbidding wasteland. Mickey can be naughty and nasty (and, as the article notes, this returns him to his mischeivious roots). Again: Is this a reflection of society? Is clean out and nasty in?
  • From the “A Portal on Life” Department: Our last makeover comes courtesy of Microsoft, which is remaking the MSN home page and the butterfly logo. With its new look, the MSN home page has been simplified, with about half as many links as the previous incarnation, focusing instead on a few categories, such as video, news, shopping, and search. Could this reflect the changes in society, which has moved to the short-attention-span era, as reflected in the move from long blogs to Facebook status to 140-character max tweets (a move satirized quite well in this week’s Pearls Before Swine).
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Tuesday New Chum: Twitter, Hidden Meanings, Blue M&Ms, and Practical Majors

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Some interesting news articles, gleaned from recent lunchtime skimming of the papers:

  • From the “Tweet, Tweet” Department: More and more interesting uses for Twitter are arising. The New York Times reported last week that more and more small businesses are using Twitter to promote themselves (one need only look at the roving restaurant scene in LA to see this). The Daily Breeze reported that another service allows people to send tweets to the Western Wall in Jerusalem, where they will be printed and inserted in the wall. We see more and more newspapers advertising themselves on Twitter (and Facebook). So it’s growing… but is anyone listening? The Los Angeles Times is reporting on a recent study that showed most people don’t even know what Twitter is (of course, it is interesting to see that next to the ad about the LA Times on Twitter). BTW, I also wonder about the corporate impact of these companies being on Twitter and Facebook: it means that corporate firewalls will likely be opened to allow access to those sites, as they are now legitimate news sites. Once that door is open, oh the time that will be wasted.
  • From the “Find the Hidden Meaning” Department: Newspapers often run contests to collect reader photos. A few current contest have caught my eye. The New York Times is collecting photos of reader’s dogs. On the other coast, the San Francisco Chronicle is collecting photos of pregnant women’s bellies. I’m trying to figure out the hidden meaning in this. Any ideas?
  • From the “Green M&Ms” Department: Growing up, we all heard the rumors about green M&Ms. Well, CNN brings us a story about the health effects of blue M&Ms: they supposedly help your back. Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center found that when they injected the compound Brilliant Blue G (BBG) into rats suffering spinal cord injuries, the rodents were able to walk again, albeit with a limp. The same blue food dye is found in M&Ms and Gatorade. The only side effect was that the treated mice temporarily turned blue. Hmm, medicine that turns something blue… that brings a poem to mind. All together now…

    I did not sow, I did not spin,
    And thanks to pills I did not sin.
    I loved the crowds, the stink, the noise.
    And when I peed, I peed turquoise

  • From the “Practical People” Department: The Ventura County Star has an interesting report on college students and their majors. It seems in these days of frugality and economic turmoil, students are forgoing their dream majors, instead opting for majors that will bring them a well-paying job… and trying to get that degree in less time. Actually, this isn’t much of a surprise, but it is starting to affect the programs offered by universities to attract students.
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Humpday Chum

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

A late lunch today, but I still have a few gleanings for you:

  • From the “A Dolls Life” Department: The economy appears to have claimed yet another victim. The Raggedy Ann & Andy Museum in Arcola IL is closing. Blame a downturn on tourism and member support… as well as the fact that fewer kids know from Raggedy Ann & Andy. After all, they have no electronics.
  • From the “Let’s Dine Out” Department: Yet another effect of the economy: fast-food restaurants are broadening their menus. McDonalds is aping Starbucks. KFC steals items from El Pollo Loco. Basically, each chain is trying to cannibalize what sells for other chains to become one stop shops.
  • From the “Find the Hidden Message” Department: Three articles of celebrity news find me sensing a hidden message. First is an article from USA Today about yo-yo dieting, and how you often bounce back to larger than before. The article cites Kirstie Alley, who gained 83 lbs after first losing 75 lbs on Jenny Craig, leaving her at 228 lbs. Also cited is Oprah, who has also been fighting a similar battle. The CNN page highlighted an article from People, reporting how Melissa Joan Hart has revealed her 113 lb body, after losing a fair amount of pregnancy weight. Will she keep it off? Google News highlighted an article Us Magazine about Brooke Shields wishing she had lost her virginity earlier than 22… but what I found interesting was the line: “If she had sex earlier, “I think I wouldn’t have had issues with weight — I carried this protective 20 pounds [in college],” she says. “It was all connected. And to me, that’s a health regret.”” So what is the message here, and what images are we conveying to our daughters (as there is less pressure on men) about body image and body acceptance? I don’t think we’re conveying a good one.
  • From the “Crossover Error Rate” Department: How do you deal with fingerprint scanners when a person has no fingerprints?
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Thoughts About A Court Decision

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Everyone today is likely to be upset with the California Supreme Court. Folks will be saying they are ashamed to be Californians. I’m not, and let me explain why… but first I would like to point out that I believe the state should not be in the marriage business, but there should be a secular recognized family partnership equivalent, open to any form of couples, and perhaps even larger partnerships. Let the religious institutions deal with marriage.

Reading the LA Times history on what happened is telling:

  • 2004: Mayor Gavin Newsom in San Francisco spurns state law, and the city began issuing marriage licenses to gay couples.
  • Those gay couples who wed in San Francisco have their marriages later rescinded by the California Supreme Court, which ruled that a city could not single-handedly flout state law. But the court said supporters of marriage rights could challenge the ban in the lower courts.
  • In the San Francisco Superior Court, a judge struck down the marriage ban as unconstitutional.
  • A Court of Appeal in San Francisco later overturned that decision on a 2-1 vote.
  • The state high court eventually took up the case, which culminated in a May 15 ruling last year declaring gays could marry each other.
  • California voters, by vote, change the constitution to prohibit gay marriage.
  • Today, the State Supreme Court ruled that the process followed in the vote was a legal constitutional change. They didn’t rule on gay marriage itself, only on the voting process used.

So, what really happened here. The State Supreme Court interpreted the constitution to permit gay marriage. Sufficient voters in the state changed the constitution to prevent it, and the supreme court ruled the process valid per the law. That means in order to achieve equal marriage rights, either the state constitution needs to be changed again, or the Federal courts need to get involved, bringing in Federal law to trump state law. I’m sure there will be an initiative effort, and I hope it succeeds. The LA Times provides some interesting detail on what today’s ruling actually said.

So, am I ashamed to be a Californian? No. We have followed the legal process and given the sides consideration. We voted, and equal marriage lost. That happens in a democracy. Remember the words to “We Shall Overcome”: it may take time, but we will eventually succeed.

In fact, far from being ashamed, I’m proud to be a Californian. The LA Times article notes:

“Even with the court upholding Proposition 8, a key portion of the court’s May 15, 2008, decision remains intact. Sexual orientation will continue to receive the strongest constitutional protection possible when California courts consider cases of alleged discrimination. The California Supreme Court is the only state high court in the nation to have elevated sexual orientation to the status of race and gender in weighing discrimination claims.”

This is very significant. We’re the only state to consider sexual orientation in this way, and as we eliminate discrimination and bring equality about in other areas, marriage will follow. Just give it time, and keep fighting.

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Tuesday News Chum

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Today’s news brings some chum-worthy items:

  • From the “To The Dogs” Department: Never question a person’s intent. Especially if it was Leona Helmsley. According to the New York Times, Ms. Helmsley left a two-page mission statement for her trust that the entire trust, valued at $5 billion to $8 billion and amounting to virtually all her estate, be used for the care and welfare of dogs. This is a modified version of the mission statement. Originally, there were two goals: The first goal was to help indigent people, the second to provide for the care and welfare of dogs. A year after writing it, she deleted the first goal. Of course, these weren’t her only quirks. In her will, she ordered that her tomb, in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., be “acid-washed or steam-cleaned” once a year. She also made two of her grandchildren’s $10 million inheritance contingent on their visiting their father’s grave, requiring that a registration book be placed in the mausoleum to prove that they had shown up.
  • From the “Watch What You Say” Department: According to the NY Times, a production of “Ragtime” in suburban Chicago has been cancelled by the Wilmette Park District because passerby might hear the production use the word “Nigger”. What does the lyricist think of this? “I find this sad and also hilarious. It seems to sum up the blind ignorance of people who sit busily cherry-picking bad words, while not even bothering to read the script they are producing to understand its ideas or the context in which these words are spoken.”
  • From the “Pin the Tail on the Criminal” Department: Lastly, the NY Times is also reporting that computer criminals broke into Citibank’s network of ATMs inside 7-Eleven stores and stole customers’ PIN codes. The scam netted the alleged identity thieves millions of dollars. But it indicates criminals were able to access PINs by attacking the back-end computers responsible for approving the cash withdrawals. Scared yet? There’s worse. These criminals are targeting the ATM system’s infrastructure, which is increasingly built on Microsoft Corp.’s Windows operating system and allows machines to be remotely diagnosed and repaired over the Internet. And despite industry standards that call for protecting PINs with strong encryption — which means encoding them to cloak them to outsiders — some ATM operators apparently aren’t properly doing that. The PINs seem to be leaking while in transit between the automated teller machines and the computers that process the transactions.
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Swings of the Pendulum

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

An article on CNN has gotten me thinking about the swinging pendulum. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, it was the Swinging era. Everything was go, and folks let it all hang out. Few cared, perhaps because the lack of networks limited who could see. But now? I see us getting more puritanical. A judge has had to recuse himself from an obscenity case because he posted erotic pictures. Is this saying that the only judge that can hear the case is one against erotic displays? Isn’t that equally biased? A princess gets in trouble for frolicing naked at a college party? Isn’t that supposed to be part of the college experience? Don’t we expect kids to get their stupidity out of their system in college?

Is society swinging back to the puritanical? Have we gotten over judgemental?

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Do “Missing Child” Posts Work?

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Taking a quick look at the news while reviewing my document, I ran across this fascinating article. It appears that someone decided to test whether missing children posters work. They hired an 8-year-old actress, sat her in the mall along, next to a missing child poster with her picture. Her father sat a discrete distance away, just watching what the crowd did. Most people just ignored the poster and the girl. But at least no strange men approached her. The latter former is sad; the former latter is good.

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It takes a Community… but perhaps not the entire Community

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

When I was growing up, parents were parents. You addressed them with Mr. or Mrs. (there was no such thing as Ms.). If one parent disciplined a child, you supported them. You didn’t question the trust we had in our parents.

Nowadays, of course, we know that blindly trusting adults can be dangerous. It was probably wrong way back when, but we didn’t hear about it. But there’s another side to the story, especially for those of us who are fathers.

The Online WSJ has an excellent article about how men parenting kids need to be more careful these days, especially if you are alone with a child, and especially if that child is not your own. Statistics showing that most predators are men create the fear that any man alone with a child is “A Bad Thing”, and often prompt questions. You certainly don’t want to be a sole male chaperone for an activity, for an example. One complaint, true or not, and there goes your life and reputation.

It really is a fascinating article, and makes me wonder if our society has gone too far. Certainly, the days where we let our children just wander and explore are gone. As parents, we want to know where they are at all times, that they are safe from predators. We take the potential predators, and put them in isolated areas where we don’t see them (and corespondingly, don’t see what they are doing), in order to protect our kids. I know that things I did as a kid in the 1960s (just going off and riding my back for hours at end, wandering around the Ballona Wetlands, which we knew as the Gas Company Swamp) I would never let my daughter do these days.

Makes one think as to whether our society is overprotective, or were these problems always here, and we just didn’t know about them.

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