According to the NYTimes, You're Poor If You Use Twitter

Today I read an article in the New York Times entitled "Let Them Eat Tweets". It sounds like Alice returned to Wonderland with Easter Peeps for the Queen of Hearts. But, no. Sadly, it is author Virginia Heffernan's way of insulting both collectivist (think family-oriented, unified) societies and technogeeks by calling them- POOR.

"What?!" you may be thinking. Guess someone should tell Bill Gates and the King of Jordan that they can't buy pencils. The author goes with a quote from some idiot who made a speech and said that using Twitter and, as a result, becoming more conncected to people is what poor people do. According to the idiot and Heffernan, if you Twitter, you are poor. Oprah - guess you can't buy pencils either. Hey, Obama and H.Clinton, get to the back of the unemployment line - we were here first!

Below is my polite (but clearly fucking annoyed) response to the NY Times:

"Connectivity is poverty" is a theory that is both elitist and ethnocentric. Western societies tend to be, by nature, individualistic. However, individualistic societies make up only about 30% of the world. The other 60% of the world's population belong to collectivist societies, where the needs of the group are valued above and beyond the needs of the individual. My husband affectionately calls my Hispanic family "The Borg" (think Star Trek) for this reason.

Collectivists societies do not exist without a constant connection between members. The widespread use of Twitter to connect people can be seen as a move to less traditional, cold, puritanical Western ways of relating to others. However, Virginia Heffernan (the author) ponders whether collectivity is poverty.

When I read about the original speaker, I thought that his comment was racist and ethnocentric. Why is the image of a WASP alone in his library the only way to portray the wealthy?! There are many many many people in this world that are extremely wealthy that do belong to collectivist societies.

Abraham Maslow taught us that man cannot exist without love. Love of peers, family, society. Without love, people often become suicidal (even if they have money). So, why, when people are finally reaching out to know one another and to love thy neighbor (even if they are far away) do we see this as a codependant and clingy act? Perhaps Twitter made the world a little happier; made people feel a little more loved. A little connectivity goes a long way. And guess what, author and reader, I am connected, well-educated, wealthy, and proud to use Twitter.

Craigslist Killer

Have you heard about the Craigslist killer?

Unless you are offering "private dances", "massage services", or anything else I would have to put in quotations "", you have nothing to worry about.

But last Thursday night, in Rhode Island, a woman who offered "private dances" on Craigslist was held at gunpoint and tied up by a cord. (hmmm... so "private dances don't include S&M, I guess). The suspect fled when the woman's "husband" arrived.

Authorities aren't sure yet if this is the same guy who killed Julie Brissman in Boston on Tuesday night. She was shot at the Marriot Copley Place, which is a pretty upscale hotel.

Of course, the suspect, like most serial killers, appears to be white, in his 30s or 40s, with blonde hair and he dresses a little preppy. Which is what most serial killers look like - they're the neighbors that you never suspect.

I have been hit on before, and stalked, when trying to buy a birdcage from Craigslist. I strongly suggest that any woman who uses the site have a man pick up the item or accompany her when she does. It is just safer that way! There are a lot of evil people out there in the world.

So, the moral of the story is that if you are going to offer "services" you should work at a strip club or work for a high-end madam. That way instead of being held at gunpoint you will just bed Gov. Spitzer. Honestly, I don't know which is worse.

(source - USA Today)

Conficker Eye Chart

The dreaded Conficker worm is back to destroy innocent hard drives. This is the malware that was also known as the April Fools (April 1st) Virus. It was supposed to cripple the internet. Which all worms/viruses/trojans swear they will do. And, again, nothing big happened. HOWEVER, worms/viruses/trojans still can destory many many computers in a blink of an eye.
What does a worm, like Conficker, do? It allows Hackers to steal sensitive information from your computer. Like bank account information, usernames, passwords, credit card numbers. Well, you think you don't store that information on your computer. HA! Everytime you press a key and type information in, it is stored somewhere in your computer, if only for a little while.

This is why you MUST run firewall and antimalware programs. Conkicker, itself, actually exploits a hole in the Windows operating system, which was fixed in October. You may still have the holey-version, but with a quick download of the update from the Microsoft site, you are good to go.

How do you know if you have already been infected with the Conficker worm? Try the Conficker Eye Chart. If you can see all the images in the chart then your computer is probably clean with no viruses. If you are having trouble seeing some of them, I strongly recommend that you run a viurus scan.

If you are infected with the Conficker worm I suggest a few steps to take: 1) pray, 2) don't email me or anyone else until your computer is fixed, 3) turn off your computer. don't even check your email first, 4) call that nerdy guy you went to college with and cry until he fixes the problem.

Gender Confusing Dogs

So, why do people automatically assume that a dog is a boy? With a baby people at least ask the parents, "boy or girl"? But not with dogs. I totally get that a ship is supposed to be "she". But English is supposed to be a gender neutral language. So, when people see my dog sit at the curb, why do they say, "Good boy". No, you idiot. Just because she is big doesn't make her a boy. Just because she is a dog doesn't make her a boy.

I get that people are trying to be sweet. And I appreciate that. But today I was walking my large girl dog in the rain. And, because she hates the rain, she was wearing a pink camo raincoat. And some guy rode by on his bike and said, "hey there, hansome!" What?! Really?! Considering that I was wearing a very girly trench coat and I have long hair, I doubt that he was talking to me. So, was he really talking to my very female dog?! Sometimes I just don't understand people.

By the way - it annoys the crap out of me that people call reward training "bribery". Some businessman in midtown new york saw me ask my dog to sit. He said, "wow, she's good." I said that she definitely is, and I gave her a treat as a reward for good behavior. And, upon seeing this, he said, "oh, bribery!" and he looked disappointed as he walked away. I wanted to scream, "You get an end of the year bonus, don't you?! You get a salary every two weeks. Are those "bribery", too?!"All I can say is: YEESH.