A Better Me.

As part of my ongoing project to be better today than I was yesterday:

I posted in February I was regularly shunning the internet  to be more available to my family. Specifically, I stay away from major online activities nightly after dinner until wakeup the next AM. Occasionally I hop on, when I feel compelled to comment on a post I had read earlier in the day. Sometimes I write a post to stay close to my goal of posting 4-5 times a week when contract work will send me out early in the morning. Without a doubt, unplugging at night has a negative impact on growing my blog and expanding my social media presence. Still, when it comes time to write my eulogy my kids won't say, "He was a cranky jerk who never had time for us, but at least he was a social media ace." My decision to spend evenings attending to my family instead of growing my Twitterverse has been a good one.

I posted in January about adding regular walking to my routine for better overall health. In conjunction with the (not so) regular walking I added a nutrition tacking app to my smartphone last week. The app took some basic statistics and put me on a program to lose some weight. Well actually, a lot of weight. 50+ lbs in 11 months. If successful, I will weigh less than I have since college (perhaps my only fond memory of the Carter presidency). The app has already had the effect of making me think about my food choices as well as actively looking to include physical activity in my daily routine.

What changes have you made recently (or not so recently) to be a better you? Is there anything you would like to reincorporate into your daily routine?

Old Business Revisited.

Are You Ready?

I posted in September about the national embarrassment of a local Green Bay affiliate not covering President Obama's speech to a joint session of Congress in lieu of the pregame coverage of the opening game of the NFL season. In order to avoid the same "schedule conflict" the NFL and the Democratic National Committee have put their heads together (I fear without the resounding loud crack that would have been so satisfying). The NFL will begin the 2012 championship season on Wednesday, September 5, 2012 to avoid President Obama's to the Democratic National Convention on Thursday, September 6, 2012. The fact that this shift is even news is troubling. Still a small victory is a victory nonetheless.

No 'Bots About It.

I posted in mid-February about the plethora of pornbots on Twitter and Tabitha Fung's campaign to get pornbots banned from Twitter. The pornbots have adapted. The latest generation have an account with tweets containing an innocuous quote, but the link in the description is always porn. If you haven't signed the petition yet, please lend your support.

Stretching My Legs.

I posted in January about my commitment to Illinois Governor Pat Quinn's "Walk Across Illinois" program. It became apparent immediately that my normal day to day walking would complete this challenge by August. Not only isn't that much of a challenge, it doesn't really do anything additional for my good health. As so often happens, life circumstances provide an answer.

We found out from Little Suzy's pediatrician that Little Suzy's weight was out of ratio with her height, enough to require action. So now, when Suzy comes home from  school we go for a walk, weather and schedule permitting. Suzy has even joined the"Walk Across Illinois" challenge with me. So far, we've walked 5 miles together, leaving 162 miles to complete the challenge. That's not a lot of miles walked, but it's still winter in the Midwest.

Thank You.

Thanks for spending to take some time to read my little blog. Let me know what you think and have a great weekend.

The One Must-Have Twitter Tool.

Way, way back in November, 2009 (Nov. 30th to be exact) I joined Twitter. Early on, I realized Twitter was a very powerful tool, a tool that I would need some help in harnessing. In January, 2010 I purchased two books about Twitter. The first, "Twitter Marketing An Hour A Day" by Hollis Thomases was a tremendous help and led me to my 1st tribe, the HTArmy. The other book was the pocket version of "Twitter for Dummies".

One of the authors of "Twitter for Dummies" is Laura Fitton. I'm sure there are people that know Laura as Laura, but I know Laura by perhaps the best Twitter handle ever, @pistachio. My connection with @pistachio led me to her start-up, oneforty.com.

oneforty.com was an indispensable tool. The catalog of Twitter apps (with reviews) helped me pick and choose the tools that directed my Twitter account. I must have only scratched the surface of oneforty.com because oneforty.com was purchased by Hubspot in mid-2011. Hubspot had synergies with oneforty.com but decided to not invest resources in the Twitter apps compilation. What's a Twitterphile to do?

Not to worry. With the support of Hubspot and in the spirit of @pistachio and her oneforty.com team, Socdir is here to fill the void.  When you have a chance, check out Socdir. Want to fine tune your Twitter experience? Check out Socdir. Take a moment and bookmark Socdir. It's the one must-have Twitter tool.

A Puzzlement.

Driving around on Tuesday, I was listening to WSCR-AM, the Chicagoland sports talker.  Each time the hosts mentioned Twitter, they followed with "I mean a social network". The hosts indicated they would explain these corrections later.

source: Wikipedia

I also happened to be listening when the hosts cleared up the "Twitter, I mean social network" statement. CBS which owns WSCR-AM (among other outlets) sent out a memo directing on-air talent to not reference their Twitter handle. Quoting the memo, the hosts relayed "Twitter is the pipeline, our content is the product" or translated "Only reference the station website to avoid building any brand other than CBS and sponsors".

Ignoring the potential social media marketing disaster (experts can break that down better than me) I am still left with a question. I don't think corporations make decisions based on stupidity, I think corporations make decisions based on greed (I mean decisions based on maximizing shareholder wealth). Therefore, I don't understand the directive to not mention Twitter. What could make a corporation  happier than a cadre of on-air talent building the company brand even when the talent isn't on air? That's free labor, and corporations love free labor. So why the Twitter ban? I think either CBS is concerned about complaints from sponsors (why do we pay for advertising and Twitter doesn't) or CBS is scared the talent will build a loyal following that is portable. A portable and dedicated audience for the talent means the non-compete clause that keeps radio hosts off air between jobs means less. That transfers power (and $$$) to the hired help and corporations hate that.

So was the "no Twitter mentions" directive driven by sponsor complaints, management anxiety or my need for a topic? Have you encountered other examples of insecurity driving bad policy? How did that make you feel?

Sign On, Please.

Over the past six weeks I have acquired a number of unwanted Twitter followers. These followers share similar characteristics:

• The avatar includes a provocative, well endowed women. Sometimes the avatar includes two similar women. Sometimes these two women are embracing.
• The @handle includes and 'X' in the middle.
• The account rarely has any followers and often hasn't tweeted.
• The account description is often NSFW.

These accounts are pornbots.

source: change.org

When I encounter these accounts (usually multiple times daily) I curse and tag these accounts as spam. But now someone is doing something.

Tabitha Fung has started a petition at change.org. The petition asks Twitter to ban pornbots. Please be aware the request is not about bots, that's another discussion. The ban is also not about porn because that too is another discussion. The petition is to keep Twitter users (including children) from having multiple, daily, automated porn related followers. It really is that simple. So please take a moment to sign the petition and maybe even pass the petition to your friends. Thanks for your help.

Disable Autosend.

I was out and about Monday afternoon to pick up my wife's Valentine's Day gift. While in the car I was listening to the Chicago sports talk station.  The topic was Jeremy Lin, or more specifically tweets about Jeremy Lin. In short order these tweets were shared and dissected:

source: Wikipedia

• Pat Fitzgerald (or someone representing Pat Fitzgerald), Northwestern U. football coach tweeted that at last there was someone in the NBA that plays hard and says the right thing.
• Floyd Mayweather tweeted that Lin was a good player but his success/publicity was because he wasn't black.
• Jason Whitlock tweeted a thinly veiled reference to penis size. Whitlock's tweet was meant to be humorous and Whitlock failed to be funny.

I have always found one of the best features of social media was the ability to review my thought before expressing myself by hitting send.  I wonder what Lin, a Harvard, graduates thinks about the tweets listed above?

Have you ever posted something online that didn't turn out the way you had intended? Do you find e-communication simpler or more complicated than "live" communication?

Why Google+?

To say there are more social networks than you can shake a stick at is an understatement. Frankly, shake a stick in any direction and a social network will likely spring up immediately. Given that nuisance limit of 24 hours in a day, it doesn't matter how many "gotta be on" social networks exist. Like the cable conundrum where the number of channels increase and the stuff worth watching decreases (okay, disappears), at a certain point it will not be possible to be on all the social networks* one must be on.

New Year, New Challenge.

I made Google+ a priority for 2012. Wanting to break in on Google+ with friends, I asked via Facebook status, "Anyone want to connect on Google+?". I made some connections. My friend Yvonne (a great advocate and activist) aka @stopfox indicated that she had more social networks than either time or money. Yvonne asked (not directly) "Why another network?"  Her query caused me to think, "Why Google+?".

Indeed, "Why Google+?" is a good question. Although Google+'s circles organization is very practical, any unique strength of a social network is usually co-opted  by other social networks (it is maddening for a medium that encourages individuality to play follow the leader in this manner). Google+'s integration with the Android platform and everything else Googley is nice, but I'm sure Google+ works equally well with other platforms. My reason for involvement with Google+ is merely mundane.

No One Will Ever Read The Newspaper On Their Computer.

Like the horseless carriage, the television, the Betamax and the MP3 player before it, social networking is here to stay. The format may change and today's mega-monsters of Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter may or may not continue for decades but platform driven e-networking will continue as long as their are humans and computers.  From all appearances Google's business model appears flexible enough to withstand the roller coaster turbulence of today's marketplace. So that is "Why Google+". I'm not leaving Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and the cast of thousands but I will actively add Google+ to the mix.

How do you feel about the plethora of social networks? Any networks (currently in existence) you will be adding or subtracting from your mix? Would you rather return to carrying a pocket full of change to make a necessary call from a payphone?



*The social networks on which I currently have accounts include: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Triberr, HubPages, examiner.com,unemployedworkers, Blogger, examiner.com, Mashable, Huffington Post, StumbleUpon, Quora, Plaxo, Google+, connect.me, Branch Out, Klout and some Yahoo groups. I also have inactive accounts with Wordpress and MySpace. This doesn't count the blogs where I am an occasional commenter. These blogs also have the elements of a social network, but I don't want to include them in my list for fear of appearing obsessed with social networks.

Triberr #BookburningChat Monday 9 PM EST

Triberr doesn't really have a book burning chat on Twitter, as far as I know. I don't participate in any book burning chats. But now I have your attention...

Triberr.

For those unfamiliar with Triberr, Triberr is a mutual tweeting collective designed to provide increased exposure for bloggers. Tribes are organized by loose (or stronger or looser) parameters. Tribal chiefs invite bloggers to join the tribe(s) based on fit. All tribe members agree to tweet links to blog posts by tribe members, thereby exposing the blog to many other potential readers. 

source: morgueFile.com

Meeting Standards.

My first week in Triberr (back in the good old days when Triberr had an autotweet option) I was taken aback when a tribe member referenced reviewing posts for suitability. I was invited and accepted into my tribe, Passionate Parents, based on parameters. The chief felt I met tribe requirements and by accepting the invite I had agreed to blog within the general parameters. Since blogs are about ideas there is an acknowledgment that posts could vary from tribe criteria. Common sense should direct bloggers to self-limit variations from tribal norms. I reject the notion my post requires review a priori. The concept that a tribal colleague should assume my post pass a litmus test is a bit offensive. As a new tribe member, I held my tongue. I'm glad I did. The tribe member I mentioned has since left the tribe having not enough time to review all tribe posts for fitness. My views are way up. Triberr is performing for me.

source: morgueFile

You Must Agree.

As chief of my own tribe, Renaissance Roundtable, I often troll the #Triberr hashtag looking for potential tribe members. I saw a tweet about reviewing posts  to tweet "what I agree with". I'm not sure what I find more troubling: the idea a Twitter following thinks with one mind; the idea a Twitter following is so fragile as to wilt should they encounter a contrary idea; or the idea that a Twitter following is hypercritical of a tweeted link.

The best way to approach the concept of "disagreeable posts" is to tweet the link, note your thoughts in the comments and let your Twitter following do the same. Protecting a following from a contrarian idea is to allow that opposing opinion to flourish. Revealing and then challenging a disagreeable thought allows that disagreeable concept to be debunked. So protecting your following in fact does the opposite.

Feel free to do as you wish, but I think blogging is about ideas. The only fear of differing opinions is that your opinion might not hold up.

Happy Twitterversary To Me.

I joined Twitter on November 30, 2009. My primary reason for joining Twitter was to test my belief that Twitter was an ideal tool to drive demand during off-peak hours in a B2C environment. That test has long since ended. My hypothesis was proven wrong, but that was due to lack of participation from the business owners not a Twitter deficiency. By the time the great experiment was over, I was hooked on Twitter.

source: Wikipedia

Firsts.

The first three Twitter accounts I followed were Ana Marie Cox, Rachel Maddow and Zach Zaidman. Zach answered a tweet I sent about the Chicago Bears the first week I followed him. I'm still following Rachel. I had to whack Ana Marie after a year due to a following/follower imbalance with the Twitter API, but I just refollowed Ana Marie while getting the link for this post.

My first follower was Sima Dahl and if you're not following Sima, what are you waiting for? Sima returns each and every one of my tweets, FB posts and email. I'm both proud and grateful of building a friendship with someone I have yet to meet face to face.  Enough about Sima, I'm sending her a thank you email today.

Today.

I'm following over 3500 and have approximately the same number of followers. The following has been built one at a time, no 'bots. I have fallen in with a bunch of Social Media denizens: novices, enthusiasts and experts (real experts, not self proclaimed experts). I have met and connected with numerous activists/advocates. I have been adopted into and joined multiple tribes. I have also developed relationships with a ton of fine fun people. I am not listing names for fear of accidentally excluding someone.

So to everyone I treasure on Twitter (you know who you are): Thanks for the support, exchanges and RT's. I look forward to another great 12 months and thanks for being in my life.

Look At Me. I'm Important.

I've seen a recent pattern in some of the Twitter bios. "RT's/follow do not indicate endorsement". Thanks for sharing. You get 160 characters (not letters; characters include spaces and punctuation) to tell the Twitterverse about yourself.  You choose to share who you might not endorse? Let me offer the not-necessarily an endorser a tip: NO ONE CARES!

Similar behavior occurs in businesses and PTA's across the country. "Can you believe (s)he didn't take my advice?" "Why wasn't I selected for the project group?" "My opinion was ignored,  yet again."

• You were ignored or not selected for a reason. The reason my be meritorious or petty but the decision maker doesn't care and those around you care even less. 
• Your advice wasn't put into play. Maybe the advice was bad. Perhaps you were asked merely as a courtesy. Yammering on incredulously about the lunacy of choosing a path other than the path you advised turns you from irrelevant to boring.

Along these lines, please refrain from beginning a sentence, "If you want my opinion..." If your opinion was wanted, your opinion would have been requested. If your opinion isn't requested, why offer your opinion? Irrelevant (skip boring) to boorish. As I conclude this rant, it's not that people shouldn't speak up or speak out when appropriate. Be judicious in deeming appropriateness. Everyone will be a bit happier.

Triberr, Spam and Fertilizer.

I've been a "Passionate Parent" on Triberr for under two weeks and I'm now ready to take a stand: Triberr either is or isn't spam. Wow! What a relief to finally admit that! Perhaps some context might help.

Triberr Primer.

Triberr's primary purpose is to help bloggers seek out and expand readership. Triberr accomplishes this through an algorithm that automates tweets about blogposts. Triberr is exclusive by invite to a specific tribe(s). Tribe members agree to mutually publicize each members post's via the Triberr algorithm. Tribe size, frequency of tribe member posting and quantity of tribes joined affects the number of Triberr tweets that go into a tribe member's Twitterfeed. There exists the possibility that a very popular Triberree (ex: a member of many large tribes with very active bloggers) can have a noisy Triberr-driven Twitterfeed, which creates a noisy Triberr-driven Twitterfeed for followers of the aforementioned Triberree.

Twitterfeed Purity: My Story

I respect the desire to keep a Twitterfeed free of excessive meaningless tweets. My first 18 months on Twitter I was SMS only(text, no internet) when mobile. There was some motormouth kid from Malaysia clogging my Twitterfeed. Even though motormouth was following me, I whacked the kid. Kid's name was Aaron Lee.  Yup, I whacked Aaron Lee.  Well, ya live (hopefully) and learn (hopefully).

source: Wikipedia

Putting aside my personal aside, at a certain point the argument about unclogged Twitterfeed falls apart. Once you are following 200/500/1000 the Twitterfeed becomes unmanageable on a one to one basis. At that point, what's another 20/40/100 tweets per hour?

Missionaries and Irony.

One of the beauties of Twitter is the open exchange. Got an opinion? Phrase your opinion in less than 140 and tweet. Want to target a specific group? Add a hashtag. So I ask the "Triberr is spam crowd" why do you add the #Triberr tag when you complain that Triberr is spam? Do you think someone cares? Are you trying to convert the Tribe(rr) natives to your more evolved religion? As you crusade about spam, how much spam are you creating on the #Triberr hashtag?

Don't Go Away Mad...

Any Triberr member understands the potential pitfalls and accepts those challenges for the broadcast benefits Triberr creates. For those that find Triberr to be spam, hey it's your opinion and your Twitterfeed, duly noted. Now please, shut up. Or use another hashtag, like #Triberrisspam. Or better yet, shut up.

How I Scored A Triberr Invite.

Increase Your Reach.

I first heard about Triberr in April via a post from Gini Dietrich. You could say that Gini's shtick makes for clicks that stick. Or not. The fact is when Gini says investigate, I click. I saw all this stuff about Tribes and Invites and Chiefs and Bones and Bonfires and again realized why I wouldn't join a fraternity. Frankly, it was more than I wanted to assimilate at the time so I went on to something else.

Triberr, Again?

Within the last 10 days the name Triberr appeared on my radar again. I clicked and the whole "reach multiplier, invite required" showed up. I went onto the blog (Bonfires) and looked for some back door way to get an invite. No such luck. I read a post about getting an invite and set a standing search on Seesmic for #Triberr. That's right, I was going to cyberstalk.

If You Can't Say Something Nice...

The first thing I noticed on the #Triberr search was the large amount of people pissing and moaning about how Triberr is spam. That's right, complaining about the application on the hashtag for devotees of said application. Great, I thought, another future blog topic for free.

Desperately Seeking Triberr Invite.

Within a day I saw tribal chieftains scouring the hashtag for potential members.

• "Seeking German Opera Blogger"-no, not me.
• "Looking for left handed auto mechanics with a passion for writing"-still not me.
• "Do you hate social media, especially blogging? Come join my tribe." -ironic, but not for me.
• From @erinswallace: "Have a tribe Passionate Parents, looking for bloggers, tweet me". - well not really my portfolio, there's always tomorrow.

Be Patient, Collect Reward.

The next day I saw a Chief looking to fill a writing tribe. Again, not really me but I asked via tweet "How tightly are you defining writing?" Well, @erinswallace responded to my tweet and asked if I was interested in joining her tribe of Passionate Parents. I'm as passionate a parent as there is with a deep seated hatred and total mistrust for my kids (These are qualities of being a good parent, trust me). @erinswallace and I exchanged a few tweets about fit with both of us asking questions. I received an official invite code, joined the Passionate Parents tribes Saturday night and had my first parenting post up well before kickoff on Sunday.

My Plan Can Work For You.

That's it. A little time, some honesty and I got my Triberr invite in under a week. It didn't hurt that I am new to Triberr and my blog doesn't look like a NASCAR race car. If you're looking for an opportunity to join Triberr, I just gave you a 3 day roadmap. If you're not looking to join Triberr, why are you still reading?

Social Media: Hurricane Irene, Givvy and Mashable

I jumped on Twitter (and Facebook, for that matter) November 30, 2009.  Family and friends immediately asked "Twitter? Do you really care what Ashton Kutcher has for lunch?" I had something else in mind. I wanted to test my hypothesis about using Twitter to drive B2C demand (specifically prepared food) during offpeak hours. I thought using twitter to drive demand was possible and in fact it's being done in L.A. The experiment failed in my laboratory of choice. I came out a big winner, though. I made friends with Twitter and in so doing connected with many wonderful mentors and friends along the way. I still don't care what Ashton Kutcher has for lunch, but that's social media. It can be a wonderful tool or an irrelevant doodad. This point was driven home Saturday, as Hurricane Irene began it's New England coastal tour.

Source: Mashable

I found two post on Mashable that caused immediate response. One post got a bravo, the other post a "so?" but it was the juxtaposition of the post that is my source of commentary. The bravo went to a post about Foursquare being used to find evacuation centers in New York during Hurricane Irene. Social media to save lives, yeah! The "so?" went to a post that included a write-up about Givvy, a Facebook gift finding application. Social media for giving cool gifts, okay?

Source: morgueFile.com

Genie Says, "You Only Get Three."

There's nothing wrong with using social media to find great gifts. There's nothing wrong with using social media to follow Aston Kutcher's lunch menu. It's just that it's like using one of three genie wishes to get ahead in line at McDonald's. I am taken aback at using such a powerful tool for something so mundane. Friends, there is simply more to life.

Find Your Comfort Zone.

Social media can be used to do many good things or it can be used to accomplish nothing at all. And if I wanted to be a heavy handed yutz, I would say "Social Media is an excellent metaphor for life.", but I left my sledgehammer at my other laptop. It's always going to be about striking a balance between the sacred (finding a shelter in a hurricane) and the profane (finding a wall salmon that sings Puccini for an opera loving fishing afficionado). Oh and if you want to know what I'm having for lunch don't follow me on Twitter. That's what Google+ is for.

What uses of social media do you find amazing? Silly? A great big waste?

ROL: Take A Moment To Make Someone's Day.

ROL (Return On Life) is about engaging in small incremental changes that can have a large positive impact on living life. It is a non-quantitative adaptation of the financial measure ROI (return on investment). This week's ROL is about how small amounts of time can really add up.

Mark E. Andersen, Posted on Daily Kos

August 9, 2011 was the date of 6 recall elections in Wisconsin.

It was also the the 37th anniversary of Richard Nixon's resignation.

And the 52nd anniversary of my appearance on this planet.



When I opened my computer August 9th, I had 6 birthday shouts on my Facebook wall. By the time I had given each one a short thank you, there were three more "Happy Birthdays". I made up my mind to answer those three and then close the computer.

Later that day, there were a few more birthday hellos on Facebook. My @mentions on Twitter also had multiple birthday messages, many generated via the most incredible connector,  Sima Dahl (Twitterphobes, please skip the rest of this sentence) tweeting my birthday status to my wonderful friends in the #HT Army. At this point in the day, I decided to hold off answering until later that night.

I finally got the kids off to bed and spent some time with Gracie the wonder beagle. I made a cup of green tea and sat down to acknowledge the birthday wishers. Over an hour later, with 1/2 hour left to my birthday I closed my computer and went to bed. In all I had responded to 30 birthday greetings via Facebook and Twitter.

I was floored. My Facebook friends number less than 100, yet I had spent almost 2 hours that day thanking people for remembering me on my birthday. I got shouts from family, new friends (some that I've never met) and old friends going back to kindergarten. I heard from both coasts, got three messages from friends in Israel and even heard from my 1st crush.

I realize Facebook makes it very easy to remember birthdays. I also know it doesn't take very long to say "Greetings and Birthday Wishes" in it's many variations. Still, these little wishes helped me remember all the people that have made my life special and the good times we have shared. And yes, since it was my birthday it made me feel ... significant. Yup, I felt great and it didn't take more than a minute or two from my friends. See what a minute can do.

Has anyone made you feel great with just a moment of your time? Have you been the precipitator of good feelings with little effort on your part? How can these examples be incorporated into daily life?

Uncle Sam Wants You.

to BUY AMERICAN!

I received a chain email over the weekend, urging me to buy American from August 1-August 31. The email cites a Diane Sawyer special report  about the economic benefits of buying American made products. The email specifically targets Wal-Mart and China. The email also suggests that that if 200 million Americans declined to purchase merely $20 of goods made in China, that single joint activity would reverse a billion dollar trade imbalance. The email concludes asking for a commitment to celebrate Made in America from August 1- September 1, specifically seeking out American made options for routine purchases. I think it's an idea worth improving, don't you?

START NOW.

Some ground rules: No more targets or bogeymen. China isn't inherently evil, neither are any of the Super Big Box Marts. The fact is our economy is struggling and it is both simple and patriotic to seek out products that provide the biggest bang for the buck to the US economy. The job you save could be your neighbor's...or your own.

HONOR THE AMERICAN WORKER.

The first Labor Day celebration was held in Boston in 1878. Labor Day was rushed through Congress in 1894 to begin the healing after the violent Pullman strike. Although there hasn't been recent violence today's economy is certainly painful for many. America faces an ongoing trade imbalance and budget deficit. You or I can't fix it ourselves but working together we can help close the gap.  Is there a better way to honor the American worker than buying American?

BUY AMERICAN!

Labor Day is celebrated annually the 1st Monday in September. This year Labor Day will be September 5, roughly 5 weeks from today. For the next 5 weeks pick 1 staple and find a way to substitute an American made product. Starting in September find 1 purchase a month to exchange for a product made in America. Pass the idea to your friends. Sit back and imagine how much nicer Labor Day, 2012 can be with a small change in awareness and buying behavior.

SHARE THE WEALTH.

Don't do this quietly. Tell your friends and neighbors. Post your product exchanges as a comment or via "Crowdsourcing A Good Life" either on the site or Facebook page. Have an entrepreneurial spirit? Contact me via FB, Twitter or LinkedIn and let's set up a Facebook site together. We can make a difference, all it takes is action.

Ralph Waldo Emerson Trust 30 Challenge: Everyone is an Expert at Something.

This Trust30 prompt is from Jen Louden. This prompt is an understated warning to beware the expert. The internet provides unlimited access to unlimited information but search engines neither vet the purveyor of said information nor guarantee results should you follow the advice you find.

When looking for help on the internet, it's challenging differentiating good information from invented information. The wiki is now perverted by contributors adding "information" to enhance a specific POV. Google is helping with +1 as is Bing with it's collaboration with Facebook. As for me, I have some additional advice.

Since jumping on Twitter I have gained an even greater disdain for self anointed gurus, ninjas, sherpas, experts, secret agents and freemasons (OK, I made the last one up). For years I have steadfastly avoided eateries that felt a need to place the words "Good Food" on the sign. I'm paying someone else to cook and they need to tell me in advance it's good? Are they afraid I'll have a different opinion? It's the same with self anointed experts: For goodness sake, let me decide on the level of your expertise!

Everyone is a expert at something. In that light, I put up a sight designed to pay homage to the expert in everyone. "Crowdsourcing A Good Life" is a forum to share information on life's burning questions and collectively quench that fire.  Please stop by and add your $2 (indexed for inflation) worth.

How about you? How do you guard yourself from experts that may not be such experts?

Pictures, Twitter and Anthony Weiner.

In case you've been under a rock, Rep. Anthony Weiner finds himself in the middle of a kerfuffle of his own doing. Had he just remembered to DM the photo instead of tweeting (Non-Twitterers, this is the only Twitter lingo reference in the whole post)  no one would be any the wiser. You'd think a Congressman could keep that straight, right?

Soure: Buzzfeed

I think Rep. Weiner should resign, but not for these reasons:

• The picture. Lewd photo? A Calvin Klein add shows more business.
• He sent the picture. Two consenting adults. Period. If she (or any other recipient) is non-consenting, that's potential sexual harassment and grounds for possible criminal charges.
• He's married. Still between two consenting adults and stay's between the two consenting adults.

Why do I think Rep. Weiner should resign? Simple.

• As one of my favorite liberal firebrands, he has chosen to walk the moral high ground. The fact that David Vitter, Tom Coburn and others are raging hypocrites has no bearing. If a politician uses righteous indignation as a tool, he must remain righteous. Was Weiner unrighteous?
• Sending a half dressed picture via a public forum is stupid. Email or texting (sex+texting=sexting) are marginally better, until the recipient goes public. Is this immoral? No, but a Representative in a representative democracy needs to use better discretion.
• The primary reason Rep. Anthony Weiner must resign is he lied. When asked about the picture, he said he didn't send the picture of a tightly wrapped (you say it, I can't) hoping it will wind up between a bun (OK, I did worse). He didn't lie for national security or to protect someone's life. He lied to avoid being embarrassed. He lied to protect his reputation (oops). He didn't say what he said yesterday. When faced with an extremely uncomfortable personal humiliation his first instinct was to LIE. I expect more from an elected representative. I will miss his passion but he must resign.

Sometimes telling the truth really sucks but lying will bite in the butt every single time.

What do you think? Can you make a case for Anthony Weiner to stay in public office? Please take a moment and share your opinion.