insert trendy buzzword here

Slacktivism

slacktivism: easy and painless acts that allow us to feel we are doing our part to make the world a better place with the least possible mental, physical, or financial exertion. While it’s encouraging to see so much creativity being put toward the myriad ways we can change the world without getting up off the couch, I strongly encourage everyone using “click to give” to remember China’s own Chairmen Mao’s quote: “It is necessary for intellectuals, students, soldiers and the average peasant to pay attention and involve themselves with political work. This is particularly true in wartime.” No place is this clearer than the Fulicheng area in Shuangjing.

The below definitions are taken directly from urbandictionary.com

1. slacktivism 1701 up, 280 down

The act of participating in obviously pointless activities as an expedient alternative to actually expending effort to fix a problem.

Signing an email petition to stop rampant crime is slacktivism. Want to really make your community safer? Get off your ass and start a neighborhood watch!

by 1Spectre4U Oct 21, 2003 share this

2. slacktivism 172 up, 24 down

The search for the ultimate feel-good that derives from having come to society’s rescue without having had to actually gets one’s hands dirty or open one’s wallet.

It’s slacktivism that prompts us to want a join a boycott of designated gas companies or eschew buying gasoline on a particular day rather than reduce our personal consumption of fossil fuels by driving less.

slacktivist
slactavism
activism
glurge
petition

by Dave — via snopes.com Feb 21, 2007 share this

3. slacktivism 10 up, 157 down

sing your little political song
buy your thought on a political bumper sticker
buy your thoughts on a political tshirt
state your political ideas on film
write a political related term on urban dictionary
rant politics in people’s ears
predict the future and speculate about political decisions
sit on the couch and watch the news to get pissed
sit on the internet ranting political statements
argue safely from your computer
spray paint some political propaganda on public restroom walls
go to weekly events to reinforce your beliefs
rant some more….
email political/religious propaganda to all your friends and tell them to forward it
write a political poem
don’t use money for any cause
hide your ideas in the metaphorical world
preach to your choir
curse at your enemies from your computer
make judgement and negative assumption about every group that is different
without having all the facts..
reinforce your thoughts in a small group of people whining about the opposition
tell everyone to vote for who your voting for
pass out political flyers in public
….bitch and whine, bitch and whine
….the odd shape of the land
spoon feeding pigeons
protest in the street with signs
nag and heckle in a crowd
heckle racist comments on youtube
don’t take any real action….
be passive aggressive

slacktivism is fun, easy, and builds self esteem in a cheap way.

politics
religion
propaganda
easy
lazy

by eazy-X Apr 25, 2008 share this

• Zhengyuan Fu, Autocratic Tradition and Chinese Politics, source for total number printed.
  
• Quotations from Mao Tse Tung, an English translation at Marxists.org.
  
• Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung, an English translation at Art-bin.com.
  
• (The Little Red Book), an English translation at terebess.hu.
  
• Chairman Mao’s World
  
• Shuangjing
  
• Fulicheng
  
• Beijing
  
• China
  

   

BUG is a collection of easy-to-use electronic modules that snap together to build any gadget you can imagine. Each BUGmodule represents a specific gadget function (ex: a camera, a keyboard, a video output, etc). You decide which functions to include and BUG takes care of the rest letting you try out different combinations quickly and easily. With BUG and the integrated programming environment/web community (BUGnet), anyone can build, program and share innovative devices and applications. We don’t define the final products – you do.

Blogged with Flock

“Which illustrates the next incontrovertible fact about game theory: In the foreboding world view of rational choice, everyone is a raging dirtbag. Bueno de Mesquita points to dictatorships to prove his point: “If you liberate people from the constraint of having to satisfy other people in order to advance themselves, people don’t do good things.”

A man and a plan; NYU professor Bueno De Mesquita has worked to successfully predict the future outcome of major political and business events through computer modeling with an powerful 97% accuracy. He may have had this quote right in his prediction of relieving the masses from the constraint of having to satisfy other people. Will the hemorrhaging profits of record labels finally force them to close up shop?

As the machine of churning out well known artists grinds to a halt and the publics tithing’s dry up we will see a death to big name record labels and artists as we know them. What would Mesquita predict about the music industry?

I believe he would say complete failure; and here’s why:

• Music just isn’t that valuable- We can all live with out the hypnotic strumming of a cello or the ear piercing grunts of the next door neighbor’s whammy bar laden Police cover songs. Music is not essential to life. Marilyn Manson had it right in his Rolling Stone interview on the future of music when he said “Things have become devalued to the point where people don’t realize the repercussions.” Yes arguable we have always had some form of music and thus are quintessential to some. But have we always passed out shillings for a take home version of the local lute playing vagabond? Only those who can afford to have the ability but often times lack the motivation. With the unwavering marketing messages being plucked for other wants turned necessities. According to the “The New Nostradamus” we will not pay when we can get it with out satisfying others and will even go out of our way not to satisfy others.
  

• Music has become commoditized- Don’t believe me? Turn on American Idol and get an ear full of McMusic in full force. Every musician is now interchangeable with the right digital gloss overs you would have never known Led Zeppelin broke up even Tupac is still breaking new releases. Marketing is the back bone of the industry today. The “who is hot” factor is largely based on who is in charge of their public relations, advertising, online presence, and marketing. Further evidence take one Joshua Bell musical genius auditorium selling out violinist add one $3.5 million dollar Stradivari violin and a twist of the D.C. Metro. End result; “Twenty-seven gave money, most of them on the run — for a total of $32 and change. That leaves the 1,070 people who hurried by, oblivious, many only three feet away, few even turning to look.” Honestly nobody cares who you are unless they know you, thus you are a faceless commodity plucking your violin. How do they get to know you? Brand differentiation through marketing, advertising, PR, etc. How do things like this happen in the real world? With everybody and their mother trying to leverage the “tipping point” word of mouth epidemic and the barrage of “grass roots” services cutting through the commodity clutter is more expensive in terms of time and money than ever.
  

   

• The future of bands is bleak- I sh*t you not. Get this in the 80’s people still paid for music still bought merchandise and we see sold out shows still today of the glam rocking bands. What bands from the early 90’s have a real fighting chance “The Spin Doctors,” “Hootie,” or “Ace of Base?” Bands today as much as we love our favorite hit of the week are not sustainable. Although I agree with Wyclef Jean in his thoughts on the future of the immediate future of the industry; “The strong will survive.” How strong can a band with a seemingly shorter and shorter 15 minutes of fame be? The encore career of a Britney Spears or Justin Timberlake is just not there. Sure they may still tour but they won’t be selling any records ten years from now. Furthermore the future is especially bleak for the lesser known bands that have yet to form a true “cult” following.
  

What do you think? What are you pretending not to know? What is the truth of the industry?

Lessons of the Square Watermelon

Japanese grocery stores had a problem. They are much smaller than their US counterparts and therefore don’t have room to waste. Watermelons, big and round, wasted a lot of space. Most people would simply tell the grocery stores that watermelons grow round and there is nothing that can be done about it. That is how I would assume the vast majority of people would respond. But some Japanese farmers took a different approach. If the supermarkets wanted a square watermelon, they asked themselves, “How can we provide one?” It wasn’t long before they invented the square watermelon.

The solution to the problem of round watermelons wasn’t nearly as difficult to solve for those who didn’t assume the problem was impossible to begin with and simply asked how it could be done. It turns out that all you need to do is place them into a square box when they are growing and the watermelon will take on the shape of the box.

This made the grocery stores happy and had the added benefit that it was much easier and cost effective to ship the watermelons. Consumers also loved them because they took less space in their refrigerators which are much smaller than those in the US meaning that the growers could charge a premium price for them.

What does this have do with anything besides square watermelons? There are a few lessons that can you can take away from this story which help you in all parts of your life. Here are a few of them:

Don’t Assume: The major problem was that most people had always seen round watermelons so they automatically assumed that square watermelons were impossible before even thinking about the question. Things that you have been doing a certain way your entire life have taken on the aura of the round watermelon and you likely don’t even take the time to consider if there is another way to do it. Breaking yourself from assuming this way can greatly improve your overall life as you are constantly looking for new and better ways to do things. This was one of the most difficult things for me to do because most of the assumptions I make, I don’t even realize that I’m making them. They seem perfectly logical on the surface, so I have to constantly make an effort to question them.

Question habits: The best way to tackle these assumptions is to question your habits. If you can make an effort to question the way you do things on a consistent basis, you will find that you can continually improve the way that you live your life. Forming habits when they have been well thought out is usually a positive thing, but most of us have adopted our habits from various people and places without even thinking about them. I have changed a large number of habits that I have had after taking the time to question them and continue to do so. Some of them I have know idea where they came from while others I can trace to certain people or instances in my life. It’s a never ending process, but by doing this, you can consistently strive toward making all aspects of your life more enjoyable instead of defaulting to what you have now.

Be creative: When faced with a problem, be creative in looking for a solution. This often requires thinking outside the box. Most people who viewed this question likely thought they were being asked how they could genetically alter water melons to grow square which would be a much more difficult process to accomplish. By looking at the question from an alternative perspective, however, the solution was quite simple. Being creative and looking at things in different ways in all portions of your live will help you find solutions to many problems where others can’t see them. I am not a creative person, but I’ve found that the more that you look at things from different perspectives, the more creative I have become. It’s a learned art and builds upon itself.

Look for a better way: The square watermelon question was simply seeking a better and more convenient way to do something. The stores had flagged a problem they were having and asked if a solution was possible. It’s impossible to find a better way if you are never asking the question in the first place. I try to ask if there is a better way of doing the things that I do and I constantly write down the things I wish I could do (but currently can’t) since these are usually hints about steps I need to change. Get into the habit of asking yourself, “Is there a better way I could be doing this?” and you will find there often is.

Impossibilities often aren’t: If you begin with the notion that something is impossible, then it obviously will be for you. If, on the other hand, you decide to see if something is possible or not, you will find out through trial and error. Many of the lessons above are what I used to create my online income. As I’ve said many times, it’s not easy, but it’s certainly not impossible. Even for those of us that are not A-List Bloggers, creating a full time online income is quite possible as I have shown.

Take away the lessons from the square watermelons and apply them to all areas in your life (work, finances, relationships, etc) and you will find that by consistently applying them, you will constantly be improving all aspects of your life.