08.27.10
Posted in 2¢ at 4:20 by RjZ
I must get back to this blog. It’s been weeks, and that’s no way to engage an audience.
A moth is a no different than any other butterfly, except they fly at night. They usually have fuzzy antennae and a few other differences, but really there is little to distinguish them even if moths are considered uninteresting while butterflies are things of beauty.
The Moth Story hour is a radio program where people tell stories, live, without notes, in front of a live audience. Like real moths, story tellers find themselves “drawn to some bright light—of adventure, ambition, knowledge—but then find themselves burned or trapped, leaving them with some essential conflict to face before the story could reach its conclusion.”
They really know how to engage an audience. If you haven’t already heard of it, go check it out!
![]()
22 views Permalink
(2 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5)
Loading ...
07.22.10
Posted in 2¢ at 11:07 by RjZ
A faithful reader pointed out that the Traveling Hypothesis tagline “Travel places, look at things, think about them, write your thoughts down” is dumb. Um, yeah, you think? Like the blog’s title, it was a settings field I had to fill out in order to start publishing my stories. I should have given it more thought, but it’s not too late.
Essentially, this blog is about being a tourist. Not the annoying white socks and shrill voice type, but being a tourist with your eyes wide open to observe and learn about what you see, instead of complaining how it’s not better than home and wondering why you left in the first place. A lot of people hate tourism and want to be anything but a tourist. They’re probably in for a big disappointment, spending they’re wondering how much they stand out in a French beret (a lot) or in an Indian sari (even more, but the Indians will love you for it.) Quite a bit of this blog is defending the short trip, vacation trips that are the only kind the majority of us will ever get around to doing. Of course, you don’t always have to go very far to be a tourist, so there’s other nonsense in here too, but all of it is (hopefully) the kind of things I’d like to talk about with the people I meet while traveling.
So, can you help? What would be a better tagline for Traveling Hypothesis? Oh, the blog name is stupid too, but it’s probably too late to change that…! (Well, unless someone comes up with something great!) Please leave ideas in the comments! (Remember, I don’t save e-mails or use them in anyway whatsoever other than to weed out spam–don’t be shy, comment!)
![]()
70 views Permalink
(no ratings yet, click a square to vote)
Loading ...
Posted in 2¢ at 11:01 by RjZ
You know why you should be reading this blog? Because big news media outlets like CNN have clearly just run out of things to say. CNN is amazed that Facebook now has over half a billion users. “Who in the world isn’t on Facebook” the headline asks. The overwhelming majority of the planet and even plenty of people who own a computer, according to the statistics in the article.
I’m on Facebook, but don’t bother to look for me there. I’ve never updated my “status” and my pictures there link to flickr. I’ve nothing against Facebook and think it has quite a lot of value. Letting people know where I’m headed next week so they can give me tips or, even better, meet me there, sounds like fun (although I’ve never taken advantage of it; I just send an e-mail). Facebook has enabled me to actually have some fun while I am stuck in a tiny apartment in Frankfurt for work. I’ve met a few people through the groups hosted by Facebook and I am invited to ride my bicycle every Sunday through the hills of Hessen (if only I brought it to Europe with me…) I enjoy hearing many of the things my friends and acquaintances have to share and comment now and again on their pictures and links and I see pictures of my nephews and nieces there, which I only rarely received before.
I think the privacy concerns that many have are about as ridiculous as their need to share what they had for breakfast or what time they’re finally giving up and going to sleep. If people are honestly worried about privacy then, simply, don’t share! As for the rest, I have a blog and share photos regularly on a photo sharing sight; I am sure the online world gets more than enough of me.
Meanwhile, while paid and trained journalists whine about the death of journalism, this very blog and thousands like it (you know, the ones that were never the “what I had for breakfast” type have at least something to say. We may not be all that great (and some of us really ought to have better editors (I’m looking at my own reflection here)) but at least you didn’t come here expecting breaking news, so you’re far less likely to be disappointed.
![]()
54 views Permalink
(no ratings yet, click a square to vote)
Loading ...
05.20.10
Posted in 2¢ at 14:28 by RjZ
Is drawing a stick figure on the ground of a college campus and writing “Muhammed” next to it an expression of free speech? That’s certainly what people around the United States and likely further afield seem to think. Incitement to do so came from the drawmuhammedday website (which is offline at writing–that’s a google cache copy)[Link updated--here's a you-tube video discussing it] itself a response to some misplaced censorship of a South Park episode.
I haven’t had the pleasure to see any of these free-speech-motivated religious insults myself but I have been surprised at how vigorously people have defended it as justified behavior. Of course it’s your free speech right in the United States and elsewhere to be rude. Indeed, sometimes hearing what is necessary is painful for people. Would the enthusiastic chalk artists enjoy the comparison with the folks at Westboro Baptist Church? As far as they’re concerned, when they wave their “God Hates Fags” banners and U.S. military funerals—it’s their free speech right.
We have the right to say what’s on our mind, but it’s patently childish to do so when our words and actions have little further purpose than to offend a belief we do not share. Most U.S. Americans can’t understand why it’s wrong to label a stick figure Muhammed. Most Chinese are probably equally at a loss why Americans gather around a dead tree they brought into the house for a few weeks in December. Because we don’t understand why American muslims might be offended by something doesn’t justify shoving their faces in a mockery of their beliefs.
Mockery should be protected, even when it’s offensive. Art and music are often at their best when expressing opinions opposed to what other’s find sacred. Not for a moment am I suggesting that these protesters should be limited in their actions, any more than Piss Christ should be attacked because many find it offensive, or misunderstood.
Those participating in this prank claim a wide range of justifications such as protecting the rights of artists; and maybe they have a point, but one can’t help but wonder if they couldn’t have signed up to a more effective protest. We might even accept the offense as collateral damage in the battle to protect human rights if this response were a more than giant “so there!”
![]()
50 views Permalink
(no ratings yet, click a square to vote)
Loading ...
04.20.10
Posted in 2¢ at 15:23 by RjZ
Ooops. Sure, you are probably waiting with baited breath for more details of my, now not so recent, trip to China, and it’s about time I finished it too. However, I just noticed that I forgot my little notebook and if the volcano ash doesn’t divert my plane I am off to Frankfurt for a few weeks.
Meanwhile, on the last trip I pet lion cubs and was amazed at how well behaved Russian children are. Surely I can think of something. Any requests?
![]()
79 views Permalink
(no ratings yet, click a square to vote)
Loading ...
03.15.10
Posted in 2¢ at 15:16 by RjZ
One thing leads to another and you’re bound to sound absurd and stupid. At least that’s how slippery slope arguments go. Take former Rep. J.D. Hayworth, (R-Arizona) for example. He thinks folks might want to marry horses in Massachusetts.
By the way, sorry for the delay. Lot’s of stuff, including the last half of the China trip coming soon.
![]()
55 views Permalink
(no ratings yet, click a square to vote)
Loading ...
12.30.09
Posted in 2¢ at 11:34 by RjZ
I just played the lottery. I received a ticket in a holiday card from one of my employer’s vendors. I didn’t know what to do, but I logged onto the Colorado Lottery website and looked up the past draw dates for the numbers under 23 December 2009 on the ticket.
I didn’t get a single number.
It was oddly exciting.
I still subscribe to the idea that playing the lottery is a tax on people who can’t do math and I don’t plan on playing again in the future.
![]()
109 views Permalink
(no ratings yet, click a square to vote)
Loading ...
12.22.09
Posted in 2¢ at 9:54 by RjZ
I’m trying out Meebo which puts that disturbing bar down at the bottom of your browser for this site. I’ve noticed all the cool kids are on those “social networking” sites like faces book, and flicker, and that the hipsters like to tell their friends they dig something or stumbled on it. Oh, you kids today. With Meebo you can easily share links and point your friends to the humorous, insightful and interesting things I have to say. It’ll make you seem all connected and in the loop and stuff to point out this blog to people. I’m sure it will. You can even chat with online friends on the book of your faces there and discuss the clever things I’ve written. Oh, and maybe you’ll appear worldly or something. With your help, my readership might double from seven to maybe fourteen….or twelve,or whatever.
If you haven’t seen Meebo before, maybe try it out and let me know what you think.
![]()
109 views Permalink
(no ratings yet, click a square to vote)
Loading ...
12.16.09
Posted in 2¢ at 9:01 by RjZ
According John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, capitalism has done a bad job marketing itself. Looking at how pretty much everyone sees Wall Street and business everywhere, it’s easy to think he’s right.
If you ask the ordinary person what the purpose of a business is, they’ll say, “Well, it’s to make money.” Which is kind of a strange answer, because you don’t get that answer if you ask what the purpose of a doctor is or what the purpose of a teacher is or an architect or an engineer or any of the other professions, yet they all have to make money. To be a doctor, you can’t operate at a loss, at least not for very long.
Most entrepreneurs I’ve known—and I’ve known lots of them—none of them started their businesses primarily to make money. Instead, they were pursuing some type of dream, some type of passion. They wanted to make the world a different place…It’s not why I started Whole Foods Market, to make as much money as possible. It was to sell healthy food and help people earn a living, do something I felt good about. I was on fire about eating healthy food; I had passion about that.
He explains more in his interview at Reason. It’s definitely worth the read.
![]()
209 views Permalink
(no ratings yet, click a square to vote)
Loading ...
11.24.09
Posted in 2¢ at 17:49 by RjZ
It’s the anniversary of Darwin’s Origin of Species. Nothing else particularly exciting seems to have happened today, so CNN assembled some slightly dated videos and a few recent interviews with lightning rods of the evolution vs. religion debate.
“Pro-Darwin consensus doesn’t rule out intelligent design”
“Darwin and the case for ‘militant atheism‘”
and finally,
“Religion, evolution can live side by side”
Comparing and contrasting these three views, and perhaps, more so, what each doesn’t say, is pretty thought provoking. I hope after reading them you’ll come back here to let us know what your takeaway is.
![]()
109 views Permalink
(no ratings yet, click a square to vote)
Loading ...
« Previous entries Next Page » Next Page »