mose's posterous

Yep I hate SPAM as much as anyone.

So working at my desk here right now and up pops an email - subject line "coffee news." from "coffee girl". I happen to be sitting here with a coffee in my hand.

The email is plain text, nothing flashy. Says simply, "I was having coffee with a friend, it tasted great. I really like my coffee. The girl asked her friend what kind it was - He said it was "Acid Free Coffee"... Google it. I think it is called Tylers, or something.

So I did.

Now some mitigating circumstances ...

Two of my buddies are completely off coffee on Doctor's orders. I like coffee, doesn't seem to affect me, but have read and heard about too much etc etc

So, I Google Acid Free coffee and find this.

http://www.tylerscoffees.com/

Nice site, rather low key sales pitch ....

SPAM or no SPAM ... I would try this if I can get it. certainly if I was in the States I would order it right now.

Weird, eh? When SPAM works.

Just got back from the garage.

I needed to replace a tire. I thought I t was a slow leak, but the sidewall was damaged so out with the newish damaged tire - in with a brand new one. Life is like that.

The garage I chose - had to be close, as I was losing air rapidly -  was down the street, Queensway Auto Body. Big place that does collision work and repairs including a large bay for steering and tires.

The guy who greeted me was great - ordered a replacement tire, did all the right stuff and was not that expensive. Probably could have shopped around for a cheaper tire, but this was neither the right time nor place for that! What do you do when you go to a place to have a tire repaired and find it is not repairable. OK, put it back on I will have this towed to a cheaper place? No. They did not gouge me that is for sure, but it certainly was not the "deal of the day."

He then called me over "Hey, you are leaking oil under here.

That's never good.

He put the car on the hoist and went underneath. The diagnosis was that the oil drain plug on the oil pan was leaking. We both figured it was simply loose. No, it was not loose. It was completely stripped.

Having done a bit of DIY mechanic work I knew what could be involved. 

Now, I had just recently had an oil change.  Here is where the problem started. I will couch that and say "probably" or "may" have started.

A month ago I went to one of those local, fast, oil-change places. I am not naming names here because there is no proof they are at fault. But, prior to getting that oil change - everything was fine avec da wheels.

The mechanic today, while I watched him, surveyed the situation. The oil plug was completely stripped and in trying to take off the oil filter - it was not threaded on right. It was jammed.

To remedy the situation there were two possibilities. The first would be to get a new oil pan. Not cheap. The second, would be to try to repair the oil filter area and then re-tap the oil plug socket and put in a larger size oil pan plug.

I asked him his recommendation. He said lets try the second, but was concerned about the oil pan being too damaged. He said however, if it does not work, we will have to go for the new oil pan, but promised that if he cannot fix it he will not charge me for the first attempt and only charge me for the new oil pan work. Fair enough I said - have at it.

I really enjoy watching someone who knows what they are doing. He finally got the oil filter off. A complete mess. And dug out the oil pan plug. He cleaned the filter area thoroughly and re tapped the drain to accept a bigger plug.

Both of us satisfied with this - he proceeded to do an oil change.

The quick service oil change place, although attractive at it's price was ultimately the cause of an unnecessary cost - assuming they, the fast place, did this.

Having done a bunch of oil changes myself, on old cars that I once had, I did not think twice about going to a fast oil change place. How tough can it be?

Well, perhaps, too tough for the guys I went to. Seemingly, according to the mechanic today - they stripped the oil plug screw, probably using a hydraulic drill to secure the bolt, resulting in a leak, and did not screw on the oil filter properly - they just jammed it on - more than likely in haste. They are a fast oil change place, no? 

I park on gravel and never noticed the leak. Had this guy not caught it - he said I had lost a lot of oil to date, that would have been a blown engine ...  in excess of two grand.

The bitter taste of poor quality lingers long after the sweet smell of cheap price has long gone.

Price vs cost. Here endeth the lesson.

By Peter Mosley

The top searched for words last year.

Every year I look for this as I like to include it in lectures and speaches.

Hang on!!!! These are not "searched for" words? These are words people typed into "their Googley!"

They meant to type these it into their Navigation Bar. But, I betcha, if you asked 10 folks on PCs, more than half do not know what it is. And, furthermore, I will put this test out there ...

"Ask 10 people what browser they use on their PC?"

I am not talking the small percentage of us that inhabit the Net on a regular (Meaning: round-the-clock) basis. So don't ask one of your Netizen or Geek friends - ask some real folks. You can tell real folks they do NOT have a Twitter account!

I have done this!!!  Way more than half say they use Google as their broweser. I ask them if that means they have the Chrome browser ... no my sceen is black, they tell me. Ok then ...

Now, I am not talking about Yokels, nor Seniors who are just discovering the online world, or for that matter, computers in general, I am talking about well-educated folks that have no clue. These same folks use computers at work on a daily basis. I bet there are millions and millions of them. I run into them all the time. Mostly on Facebook.

I have been so fortunate to have been a Mac user since day one, which was 1985 in Canada. Most folks I know use PCs. And the vast majority of those folks have missed out on experiencing the joy of the relationship with a computer, namely a Mac, and inherently the relationship with the Net. Oh, and sadly Alice, the Net is not Facebook.

In the early 90s, "AOL" was today's Facebook. Those folks who did not know what a URL was, nor where their browser's Navigation Bar was, nor how to copy and paste, nor scroll ... God it goes on and on doesn't it? They all went to AOL. It was easy and shiny. Today they go to Facebook.

I was reading an article recently and the writer said he gets way more information from Facebook and Twitter than from Google. Oy! Son, you need to go outside and play for a bit. Both literally and figuratively. In itself, that is probably the dumbest thing I have ever heard. It also is the laziest.

"Oh and on your way outside, CLEAN UP YOUR ROOM!"

How can you do your work if you cannot use the tools?

Ask these same ten folks, mentioned above, about bookmarking?

First, they probably do not know the term. Oh? You mean my favorites? Yep. Then, ask them if their "favorites" have sub folders? Are the favorites sorted? Oh, do you use a social bookmark site? Do you use a favorite toolbar?

This is why Facebook has become so popular. Just like AOL did in the 90s and as witnessed by your friends, who online for the first time, sent you a thousand jokes ... old jokes, the same old jokes that you saw 15 years ago ...

It will stop. Trust me.

I have faith in us humans. I really do.  Eventually, we will get sick and tired of all this drivel.

I was looking at a "Year in Review" type article, or predictions or NY Resolutions. But instead I want to share some hope.

I got sick and tired of TV, that was 15+ years ago. Last year, I made a Creative Manifesto for myself to follow. My resolution, my dream and my hope of hopes is that all we will see on the Net is each other's creative moments. Nothing more, nothing less.

Peace

I have never made New Year's Resolutions. I am not that type. But, right now, sitting here I think I have just made one.

I don't know if I will be able to do it, live up to, nor maintain it into 2012 and beyond.

BUT, BY GOD, I THINK IT IS A GREAT IDEA.

Social media is everywhere. And it has turned a wee bit sour for me. Now, whatever you folks do is quite alright, carry on, but I am planning something different.

I will no longer post anything that I did not create. Call it my Creative Manifesto.

The idea of RTing, or finding that great meme, or reposting the funny shot of the kitten (God forbid!) seems like, well, so anti-Cluetrain.

It says in da book … "Once we get tired of hearing ourselves speak, then we will find the power of the internet." I think it should read … "When we get tired of repurposing, something that someone else posted, that someone else posted, of someone doing something creative, then we will find the power of the internet."

I am going to try and find the purpose of this thing we call the Intertubes.

I am not a videographer. If I happen to see something that is life changing I could capture it and post it. But I probably will not. There is something that bugs me about the plethora of video. TV minds. TV modality. If I was that enamoured with TV I would have one. I do not. It bugs me. I think it does stuff to us when we watch TV. I have done some research over the years and I simply do not like what I hear, and have never heard a single doctor or psychologist say "TV is great we should all watch more!"

I am a photographer, if I see something interesting, I will capture it and perhaps post it somewhere. (The pic at the top I shot in San Francisco a while back.) I am a writer, if I have a thought, or something I want to say I might post that too. I am a musician, I might post stuff I write, record or play.

Not that I do not appreciate all of the wonderful things that float around in these here Intertubes, I just do not want to subscribe to the laziness I feel is inherent in the social web. I have never been lazy. Why should I be lazy here?

Let me take you back to the early 80s. A hand coupler modem, where you placed the handset of a phone in it. It squawked and squeaked and after much prodding a command line came up on my old PC "Hi Pete!"  it said. I then typed … "Hi Al!" This was my first experience in the digital world. Two guys - one in his office way downtown, me in my apartment communicating to each other on our computers. You have no idea how hip that moment was!

The next foray was the BBS - I fell in love. MAGIC, BMUG, The Well, Atavachron, TVO and on and on … serious, heady shit. That was real exploring from the mid 80s till the early 90s. Then the web. Weird, when I first saw it? A thing called a browser - Mosaic - the first ever web page my friend at MAGIC pulled up for us was the Rolling Stones site (Well, we didn't call it a site then, did we?) It was a strange experience. New things always are.

From there it all went along with the flow. From cybermalls, to e-zines, to storefronts, to MLM, to email marketing, SPAM, databases, Flash and so forth. And then I went personally to building sites, to running internet firms, to blogging, to portals, to The Cluetrain, to social media.

And all of a sdden (Although some of us saw it coming) video hit. Hit big time. A tsunami of epic proportions that has drowned us.

I feel sometimes that I am that weird guy standing on the overpass with the flimsy sign that says "THE END IS NEAR!"

And, much like that guy, my voice is not heard as I am drowned out by the steady whoosh of traffic below, the occasional yell from a car - similar to the Loogans who drive by a farmers field and scream "Moo" at the cattle. Or the highly-evolved types who drive by goof courses and yell, "Four!" (They are so stupid they jeers are misspelled!) but, no heed.

Sorry, je digress …

So the Intertubes are now becoming nothing more than cheap TV. And again the Cluetrain states quite eloquently that, "The more the internet is like TV, the less we will need it."

I have believed the power in these here Intertubes are in the utility and tools they provide us. Productivity, delivery, customization, SEARCH and the data that can talk to other data. Remind me of events, hold things for me have your data talk to my data. The best explanation I have for what social media is:

"Up until SM we put word docs online. Now we can put up Excel! docs. Data interacting with data!"

Sadly most online video is like PowerPoint. And don't get me started on that!

Seeing someones video, which is more than likely a shitty, low quality recording of some tune with a static picture, or a kitten vid or the latest viral piece of shit, or the multitudes of self proclaimed video celebs, does nothing for me. It would be like having a last meal and asking for a Big Mac. No thanks. I will have the rack of lamb, please ... and a bottle of somethingred from the 12th century!

Now there are videos that are beautiful. Of course. Old clips of artists, athletes, thinkers and pure genius that was captured and preserved - no doubt about it. But when the web started we all knew it was 90% garbage. You had to search for the sites that were gems. With video the stats are:

• 82.5% of the U.S. Internet audience viewed a video online.
• By 2013, 90% of Internet traffic will be video.
• 48 hours of video are uploaded every minute, resulting in nearly 8 years of content uploaded every day
• Over 3 billion videos are viewed a day
• Users upload the equivalent of 240,000 full-length films every week
• More video is uploaded to YouTube in one month than the 3 major US networks created in 60 years
• 70% of YouTube traffic comes from outside the US
• YouTube's demographic is broad: 18-54 years old
• YouTube reached over 700 billion playbacks in 2010
• 800M unique users visit YouTube each month

My question is how much searching does one have to do to get to that 10%? And more importantly, how much fucking time is being wasted!

Mind blowing!

If you have a chance to do something, should you not try and do your best? Experience the best? Be the best?

That requires effort. Social media to me is the antithesis of effort. It is too easy.

My challenge for myself is to make an effort - it is going to be very very tough. I probably will have to post a video on one of my blogs, I probably will RT something I care about, and I will no doubt find something so damn funny I will share it.

But I will try and do what I think is necessary - and that is be original.