I started writing a serious blog post on changes in lifestyle over the last twenty-five years – then said “meh”, hit save, and wrote about random odd things, instead.

• How does talking about bra color raise awareness of breast cancer? Is it an attempt to outsmart cancer by figuring out which color it doesn’t like? (Thanks, Eric!)

• How does a failed terrorist attack by a Nigerian, screened and boarding his plane in Amsterdam, demonstrate a systemic failure of the US TSA system?
• Why are baristas in bikinis still a source of headline news and community outrage? I know, it must be the inhumane, winter cold working conditions for the exploited women.
• How long before we won’t be able to buy groceries at all without bringing our own bags or other containers at some politically correct stores?
• Washington state has been debating the parameters of allowing convicted felons to vote. The latest ruling supports voting from prison, based upon civil rights concerns. If I recall my long-ago civics class, didn’t a felony conviction once cost a citizen the privilege of voting?
• Why do teen boys never manage to pack toothbrushes when they travel? And does this change with maturity?
• Does this headline annoy the snot out of anyone else? “Day One For Obama’s Transgender Technologist” How about “Day One for Highly Qualified Test Pilot/Technologist”, instead?
• Speaking of technology, do you care about the upcoming Mac tablet computer? Personally, I’m ambivalent – Apple does shiny well, but is about as closed source as a vendor can get.
• Why do Joan Osborne’s blues make me happy, not sad?
• What would it take to make Sarah Palin go away? And don’t you think we could raise the price of her silence, whatever the total?

Are there any other random things you think about in the oh-dark-thirty hours of the night? Share them, please!

I am a minor league social media whore. I blog, tweet regularly and have an active facebook account. I comment on other blogs, post in online forums (fora?) and participate in organized online activities like NaNoWriMo, Blog Action Day, International Shutdown day, etc. I belong to two informal online communities, formed around common interests and kindred spirits.

Really, though, I use social media as an augment to my real world social life. I have some 150+ Facebook friends, slightly more than the average but nowhere near the numbers of some of the true online socialites out there. Every one of those friends is a real life friend. They are all folks I know, would have lunch with, can call, email or talk professional questions through with.

I simply don’t accept friend requests from people I don’t know. It doesn’t matter that they’re a friend of a friend – I’m not using it to network broadly and make new friends. It’s not that I share a lot of really personal information on Facebook – but I don’t have time to wade through updates, app requests and quiz results from folks that are not friends. (And *ugh* on the stupid quizzes, can’t we demote them to a separate feed or something already?)

Anyway, I saw a news article today about a service, uSocial, that enables you to *buy* new friends on Facebook. (Because, yeah, that’s what true relationships are made of!)

Not surprisingly, Facebook itself doesn’t like it and considers it a violation of the terms of service. Conceptually, it “detracts from Facebook’s efforts to create a culture of authenticity.” You think?

I can’t imagine being so caught up in the world of online popularity that you would think that buying friends (or fans) would be a worthwhile investment. It’s a sad world out there where that type of service can be a viable business model.

I have been battling perplexing and annoying Internet connectivity problems for nearly a month. Occasionally my digital local line drops out, and quite frequently, my Internet access has high latency or comes screeching to a full stop. For those that are into such things, a description of the problem and initial troubleshooting is below the cut.

Today, during a particularly bad patch of connectivity when I was trying to participate in a conference call & webcast, I got annoyed and managed to send a note out via twitter:

Nasty internet connection latency plus repeated digital phone service crashes means yet another call to Comcast. Isn’t telecom fun?

Much to my surprise, a Comcast technician replied to my tweet within 15 minutes with an offer to help.

This could have seemed a “big brother” type response, but the technician made both a non-intrusive open-ended offer to help and her twitter account was set up with obvious care – her name, a picture and a profile that indicated she was a real person.

Through @replies and DMs, she did proceed to help, rather successfully. It appears she provides support through this model all day long and is rather pretty darn effective at it.

By the end of the day, I had a call from a Tier 4 local plant technician who looked at my stats and records and agreed that there was indeed a problem with my Comcast connection. (Darn it, I wasn’t taping…) I will be getting a call from a field supervisor to set up an onsite trouble call early next week.

What Comcast didn’t know is that I work in call center technology for a similar Alaskan company, and am always interested in effective use of alternate support channels.

This is a nice model, a positive application of Twitter and the near-real time capabilities of the Internet, and I’d love to see our company adopt something similar in its technical support center.

Nicely done, Comcast!

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Need tape to mend something that needs to last through the next apocalypse? Then 3M has a product for you.

3M™ Performance Plus Nuclear Duct Tape 8979N Slate Blue, 96 mm x 54.8 m

8979N provides clean removal with little or no sticky adhesive residue for up to 6 months. Sunlight/UV and Water Resistant. Lasts 1 year without degrading. Tape construction consists of high tensile cloth and aggressive adhesive. Designed for permanent and temporary applications. Certified for low leachable halogens and sulfur.

8979N provides clean removal with little or no sticky adhesive residue from most opaque surfaces up to 6 months after application. It offers sunlight UV resistance for up to 1-Year without the backing deteriorating or delaminating. 8979N is designed for both permanent and temporary applications both indoors and outdoors. Typical physical and performance characteristics include; thickness: 13 mils, adhesion to steel: 55 oz. in. width, tensile strength: 36 lbs. in. width, elongation at break: 21%, clean removal indoors and outdoors for 6 months; temperature use range: Up to 200° F (93 deg) C Color: Slate Blue; 60 yard Roll Meets Nuclear Specifications ASME NQA-1. Certified for low leachable halogens and sulfur.

What would you use your nuclear duct tape for?

H/T to Bill (who really needs to start a blog) for the product heads up.

I have been unhappy with my cell service & phone for some time now – there is some a great deal of irony in that – and last last week splurged on a very cool new smartphone and different service.

I acquired the new BlackBerry Storm 9530, and have been slowly learning to navigate the new interface.

The Storm has gotten mixed reviews as a brand new device playing on the Apple iPhone’s playing field. It does have its strengths and weaknesses, but so far (three days) I’ve been happy with mine.

The main reason for my choice (Storm vs. iPhone) is that the Blackberry is primarily a messaging device and phone, and does those two things very, very well, and the media capabilities are adequate but not spectacular. The iPhone is primary a media device, and the phone and messaging are secondary functions.

I also went and played with both for a good period of time, messing around with the user interface and using their touch keyboards to enter text. The Storm’s interface was a bit easier for me to use. I did like the click technology better than I thought I would.

I’m looking forward to finishing its configuration, setting up Outlook and learning to really use it.

Pros so far:
Crisp, clear display screen
Much improved web browser
Physical lock/unlock button

Cons so far:
Battery life isn’t the greatest – about 28 hours
Verizon provided me with *no* activation instructions – I had to google it

Jury’s still out:
Ease of outlook setup
Ease of text entry/interface use
Camera quality (not that it’s a primary camera, but useful in a pinch)

If I have anything substantive to add, I may write a 30-day review.