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Today’s episode introduces “Practical Nerd News”, where I review a few headlines from the week, and then I talk about the overdramatic attitudes of people attached to their possessions, i.e., their TVs, gadgets, cable/satellite, etc. If nothing else, tune in for the opening song and the news.
As always, if you can’t see the “play” button at the top of the post, click on the title! Thanks for listening!
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Boy, do I hear this stuff a lot.
I’ve got friends and family who will ask about The Practical Nerd, and then they’ll spout off some reason why they don’t follow it and apologize to me. First, it’s not like I get offended for every person that doesn’t read what I have to say. My words aren’t for everybody (though, in most cases, they should be reading this stuff!). But as a blogger, you tend to thicken your skin towards that stuff. But the Cooler People of the world have an excuse for not reading a few blogs, and they think they need an excuse for everything. Just think of some of the long, drawn-out explanations you might hear for the following topics:
And the list goes on. Today, however, I want to go with the three reasons I hear most often for people who tell me they don’t follow The Practical Nerd, or blogs in general. Consider it my rebuttal to the Cooler People of the world.
Hey, back off! It’s only for nine months!
Yes, I have recently moved back in with my parents to save some dough before I get married and be a grown-up forever. But I want to list just a few types of people who have very successful blogs: brilliant marketers, people who have successfully morphed their lives into dream lives, sports commentators and pundits, best-selling authors, people who lost weight without having high-priced personal trainers scream in their ears while millions of people watch, and personal finance experts. These are not people who live in their parents’ basements. These are people who have changed lives and are darn good at what they do. They have valuable life experience and they share it with you. This leads to…
Bloggers do rant, there’s no doubt about that. But here are a few blogs I follow that have some ridiculously useful information:
That’s just the tiniest footprint of all the blogs out there. Sure, some are full of idiots who just want to complain about [insert topic here]. Some are celebrity rumor blogs like that piece of crap Perez Hilton. But some are honest, interesting people who are trying to teach and help. Those are the people I follow.
In addition, there are plenty that give you a good laugh after a long day, like 11 Points, Awkward Family Photos, Calvin and Hobbes (the best comic strip of all-time, every day).
This one is easily the most common one I get, and usually the word “life” is emphasized as a way to make me feel like some kind of loser.
Do you ever read a magazine? How about the newspaper? Ever watch anything on TV? Then you have time. It’s that simple.
What is the best use for your time? Is it watching another crappy fake “reality” show? These are shows with people who add nothing to society other than generally wanting a bunch of attention so that they can justify their giant contracts and sponsorships by playing to your emotions with overproduced crap. Why not experience the true reality of people’s lives and actually learn from and enjoy their experiences without corporate involvement? That’s what a blog does. The blog is the ultimate reality show. There are podcasts, video podcasts, and plain ol’ blogs that all exist for people to bare their lives. There are some captivating stories out there that would put the “I’m a single father with three kids and instead of getting a job I traveled all the way here to sing for you” stories to absolute shame. Put down the remote and belly-up to the monitor for a few minutes.
Newspapers and magazines are going by way of the dodo. Think you’re going to miss much? Most magazines have their articles on their websites, and most can be subscribed to. Same with newspapers. You can get your daily dose of news just about anywhere, and you can tailor it to just be news you’re interested in.
Then use an RSS subscriber like Google Reader to pull them in. Instead of searching through each individual website, it will highlight all the new content, pull it to the front, and you can move through it, skipping articles you don’t want to read and highlighting the ones you do. The other reason I use Google Reader is because it’s web-based, so I can access it on my work breaks or on my phone’s web browser, which is great for waiting rooms and other times where you just need to kill a little time. Plus you don’t have to carry around anything extra – you already have your phone! And finding that article from the past you were just thinking about is as easy and entering a few terms into the search box. All your sites are saved and past content can be searched in seconds.
The truth is, many blogs are written by respected, well-rounded people with inspirational and practical advice for you that can be read any time. You have the time. Start following a few blogs and see how your life will change for the better as a result. Or not. Then you can go back to sitting on the couch and watching Jersey Shore instead. I’m not here to judge.
It was one of the biggest games of the season. Any season, really. Any time my Green Bay Packers are dueling with the Chicago Bears, it is must-see television. Regardless of standings and divisions, the Packers-Bears rivalry is fierce. And to be honest, it was bigger than usual, because the Packers are trying to push their way into the playoffs. Every win counts.
At my church, we were having a pot-luck lunch. I was eating a little shredded beef and watching Ryan Grant take it to the house on the first Packer play of the game. We were having fun, and the Packers were winning.
Then I had to go to work.
I sat in the car at the office parking lot while listening to the last precious few minutes of the game that I could hear. I didn’t have a radio at work, so this would be it. After this, it was going to be word-of-mouth.
Thank God for Google.
My computer at work blocks just about everything: email, Twitter, Facebook, ESPN, whatever. But it doesn’t block Google, and I can’t think of a workplace that would. So, when I want to keep up with a game, I type the team name in the search box, and the first result on Google’s results page is a scoreboard with a game clock. I just hit “refresh” every time I check in to see the score, and I’m okay.
This game was different, though, as the Packers were up 13-0 when I left the car. After a few refreshes, it was 14-13, Bears. I was stunned. I had no idea what was going on; who was in? Who wasn’t in? Did anybody get hurt? Did we give up a big play? WHAT?!?
Then I saw a little box that was updating with Twitter results down the page. It wasn’t blocked because it was google.com, not twitter.com! I moved to the options section (see above picture) and clicked “Updates”. Up came a scrolling, constantly-updating commentary on the game from the Twitter universe.
There’s no game on as I write this, so you’ll have to imagine it.
It was beautiful. I could just keep checking, and any big play was commented on by plenty of people! It was like having a crowdsourced play-by-play of the game (and the Pack won, too!). I could see when somebody missed a field goal, when Jay Cutler threw an interception (or two), or any big defensive stand.
If you’re at work and you want to keep track of the big game, just search for the team name on Google and click “Updates”. Then you can see what the world is talking about as it happens.
This has other great implications, too:
Anything you can search Twitter for, you can use this for. Obviously, you want to work hard and make sure you’re getting things done, too. But if you can’t miss the big news or game, Google’s new real-time search is a killer way to do it quickly and easily.
This month’s issue of Men’s Health magazine featured a list entitled “17 Things That Waste Your Time”. It had a lot of great stuff in it, and as I read it, I thought about a bunch of things in this world that just flat-out need to go. The beauty of this list is that it’s all stuff we have the power to change. So here are things that I believe we all need to kick to the curb and rid our lives of:
1. Your massive ego. Pride is great. Confidence is great. But back those things up with your actions. And if you think you’re awesome, you stop learning and growing. Stay humble and keep on learning. You need it.
2. Men’s “marriage is a trap” attitude. A real man knows when he finds the woman he wants to be with for the rest of his life. Today’s “man” likes to say that staying married to the same person is like being in a jail cell. The hippies of the world like to say that free love and lots of wild, “free” sex is the way to go. I can’t think of anything more manly than respecting the love of your life and committing yourself to her forever. And in that same vein…
3. Meaningless marriages and constant divorces. Marriage is a contract. It is a public statement that you will be faithful to your spouse until death. When you get divorced, you are telling everyone around you that you are a liar. Plain and simple. Love is a great part of a relationship, but it needs to be balanced out with logic: can you spend the rest of your life with him/her as he/she is, right now, every day, morning-noon-and-night? Realistically answer that question before you pop the other question.
4. Paying bloated prices on anything. Think you can’t get it cheaper? Think again. Television shows, music, movies, weddings, cars, homes, you name it. We live in a world today where you can get anything on a budget that will last a long time with proper care and attention. Instead of just getting the eye candy or the “hip” new thing, figure out what you need and pay for that.
5. A Sloppy appearance. I say time and again that I was born in the wrong decade. There was a time when a man was a man when he was in a suit, and a woman was a woman when she was in a skirt (or a nice pair of slacks – I’m not a sexist or anything). I walk around and I see baggy pants with boxers hanging out, shirts that reveal “tramp stamps”, boobs hanging half out of shirts, and various vulgarities plastered across t-shirts and the butts of sweatpants. Take some pride in your appearance: cut your hair – or at least wash it, trim your facial hair (if you’ve got it), wash your clothes, and for the love of Pete, bathe properly. Brush your teeth. Wear clothes that fit. Limit your tattoos and your piercings. You’re not a kid anymore, start looking like an adult.
6. Rudeness to strangers. I was going to put “lousy customer service” here, but it goes farther than that. When you make eye contact with someone – anyone – shoot them a quick smile, a nod, or even a “Hi”. It makes their day pleasant, and it makes your day a little more pleasant too.
7. Texting language. Too many abbreviations. I’ll tell you right now, I judge your intellect based on your online behavior. You are in front of a full keyboard, and you must have taken some sort of typing class (and spelling classes) in your lifetime. Spell out the words and use proper grammar already.
8. Getting drunk every time you touch a beer (or drink). Some of the best times I’ve had with my best buddy is when we go out to a bar, have two good beers, and then call it a night. What is this fascination with getting ripped every night? You feel like garbage in the morning, you look like garbage in the morning, and you lose a crapload of money that you could have spent on something more important. It’s stupid. Have a little respect for yourself and know when to quit.
9. Escaping reality. From spending hours upon hours playing video games to smoking weed or the aforementioned getting plastered all the time, what are you running from? Live life. Put your money towards reality. If you are just looking for an escape, try looking for a real escape – identify the problems in your life and the steps you can take to change them. It’s in your hands, not anyone else’s.
10. “Reality” TV. The bulk of reality shows on television are heavily edited and acted to manipulate your emotions. Instead of watching the trials and tribulations of somebody else and their personal lives, get your butt off the couch and go have some experiences of your own. You know why executives put these shows on TV? They’re cheap. That’s it. They’re cheap, and they know that a bunch of lazy people will sit around and watch it, crying or getting upset, while they rake in the cash.
“Did you see what happened last night on ‘America’s Fattest Fatties’? A 900-pound woman lost a pound and a half and then cried for 20 minutes!”
11. Whining. Take a strong look at how much of your day you spend complaining. Do you forward a bunch of emails that tend to start with “I can’t believe Bush/Obama/Palin did [insert something horrible here]…” Is it important to remain informed and educated about the goings-on of the world? Absolutely. It’s your duty to. But stop spending so much time telling others about how much it bugs you. Have something else to talk about.
12. The personal lives and political leanings of celebrities. Alec Baldwin and George Clooney are rabid Democrats. I’m a conservative man. And guess what? I still think Baldwin’s hilarious (even though I don’t care for 30 Rock) and I want to see The Men Who Stare At Goats. Their personal lives have no effect on me. I have my own life. Those guys exist to entertain me. That’s their job, regardless of what they think. Remember Jon and Kate Gosselin? I don’t care that they’re divorced. It doesn’t change anything for me. And guess what? It really doesn’t change anything for you either.
13. Your sense of entitlement. I learned something a long, long time ago: I don’t deserve crap. I ran a marketing business for two years, but I don’t deserve more clients or a good position at a marketing firm somewhere. I have a college degree, but that doesn’t give me the right to a job. I’ve put up with a lot of hardships in my life and made a lot of sacrifices, but that doesn’t mean I deserve a good life now. I have to work at it. You only get somewhere in life by the sweat of your brow. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and learn from your experiences. That will make you infinitely more dangerous, and you will ultimately succeed.
14. The “I can’t live without my ________” attitude. Yes, you can. Sorry, iPod lovers. There was actually a time when you didn’t have access to all of your music at all times. You had to walk down the street and listen to – *gasp* – nothing! And all you DVR-addicts, you used to have to set a VCR, or even watch it LIVE! Bathroom breaks only during commercials? Oh, the horror! And take care of yourself by eating right and exercising, and you’ll have more energy that you can fit into that “must-have” morning cup of coffee.
15. Accepting your lot in life. You don’t deserve better, but you can certainly have better. But it’s up to you. It ain’t gonna fall in your lap.
16. Constant cursing. Curse words exist for impact. A well-placed one can stop a conversation dead in its tracks. That’s what they’re there for. Censor yourself and use it only when necessary. Not only that, have some respect for the people around you. Not everybody wants to hear your barrage of filth. And hey, since when did “free speech” turn into the right to be a jackass to everybody around you? And yes, I’m aware of what word I just used.
17. Cheap beer. Busch Light, Natty Light, Milwaukee’s Best, and God help me, Pabst Blue Ribbon. Have some respect for yourself and your liver. Put something quality in there. Find some awesome local brews in your area. Yeah, it’ll cost a couple more bucks, but you’ll be drinking with a little more dignity (and besides, remember #8? It’s not like you’ll be drinking 18 of them anyway!).
18. Paper. I’m a strong advocate for paperless offices, and it’s not because it’s better for the environment or anything. It’s because it works better, it’s more secure, and it’s more organized. People complain about the reliability of computers and networks, but that’s because they haven’t taken the proper steps to secure them. Using Evernote in your every day life and combining it with the myriad of services that Google offers, and you have nothing to worry about, whether you are online or offline.
19. The “everybody is right” philosophy. If everybody is right, then nobody is right. There’s a strong movement in this world that you need to believe that everyone’s religious beliefs are right for them. You know what that means? That means that it doesn’t matter, and we’re all screwed. I’m a Christian. It is my fundamental belief that a lot of people’s beliefs are wrong. Guess what? That’s okay. That’s what gives my faith meaning – if I’m right, certain people in this world have to be wrong. That doesn’t mean you are better than them. It just means you are putting stock in something. Along those same lines…
20. Blind faith. A lot of fundamental Christians believe in God because they were raised that way. They don’t have a single intelligent argument for anybody else’s belief systems. They just rely on the “you’re going to hell” argument. If you’ve got faith in something, take time every day to continually educate yourself on that faith and the beliefs of others. Intelligent debate still exists, it’s just that people don’t take the time to do it anymore. Don’t just fall into insults (like many commenters on this post will undoubtedly do).
21. Money as a status symbol. You are not your stuff. You are what you do. You are what you believe. You are what people perceive you to be. Instead of spending all that energy on accumulating more crap, work on how you treat your fellow man/woman. Focus on doing things for your loved ones and show that you appreciate them. Have some pride in whatever work you do. Respect yourself and the world around you. That’s the key to being well-liked and respected. Give and you shall receive.
Those are all the ones I came up with. What stuff in this world do you think needs to go? Share them with us in the comments! Let’s talk!
I’ve had it.
Mainstream media has long been a gigantic pet peeve of mine. Journalism is now about ratings and ad revenue. News is now about entertaining people, and that’s a big problem. Instead of a journalist standing by their principles to report the truth honestly, we see how behind-the-scenes politics run the major news media outlets.
In addition, we hear more about the entertainment world than anything else. Case in point: the Michael Jackson death. Now, I would be a hypocrite to sit here and complain about the news coverage entirely, because I was glued to a lot of it for the first few days, like many people. And rightfully so: his death was a big cultural moment in our generation, whether you liked him or not. But after the first day or two of his name dominating the headlines, coverage should have been exclusively to the “Entertainment” section of every news website. But it stayed on top – MSN.com and CNN.com continues to run “legacy” stories and headlines theorizing on the cause of death.
But it doesn’t stop there – headlines about Lindsay Lohan breaking up with her “girlfriend”, a DJ nobody knows dying of a drug overdose, a couple with 24 kids getting a divorce because of their TV show about them being a couple with 24 kids – the entertainment world continues to take over “news” and get everybody’s attention.
Pictured (L-R): Serious journalism, earth-shattering impacts, and life-changing information.
Now, relationships are something you should care about, and deaths should not be undermined. However: those are things that are incredibly important to the people involved, not you. Instead of studying the personal lives of everyone else, why not go out and enjoy your own personal life? Guess what – we each have one!
It spills over into the political world, too. Media is swarming around the wrong things, like the President getting a dog.
Pictured: The issues affecting our nation.
MSN.com has been my main news site for some time now. And I’m not alone – those who use Windows’ default Web browser (Internet Explorer) will see that page more than any other, as it is the default start page for IE. If you’re not technically savvy, you might think that this is the home page of the entire internet, or they don’t know how to change it. MSN was fine for what it was, but its latest creation has gotten on my last nerve: The Wonderwall.
Apparently those at MSN felt we needed a ridiculously confusing interface that slides you through news stories and endless pictures. Yup, this is great for people with halfway-average computers that take a bit to render all this garbage. I “love” having to decide whether I want to read more story or see more photos of the person in question. Give me a break! I finally got to the point where I deleted the MSN bookmark from my Google Bookmarks.
Why you should do the same:
So I’m not on MSN. I’m not on CNN. I’m actually not on any mainstream news website anymore. So how do I get late-breaking news of real importance? I’ve got a few approaches that, when working together, don’t allow me to miss a beat:
I subscribe to blogs based on my interests. That means that when big news hits that is covered by one of those topics, chances are somebody will blog about it. As long as I’m up-to-date in Google Reader, I’m up-to-date on most of the news that is actually relevant to me.
If something important happens, it’ll pop up on Twitter. In fact, in most cases, word is going to spread about the event on Twitter much faster than it would on MSN. Michael Jackson’s trip to the hospital and subsequent death? I learned about all of it on Twitter about 20 minutes before it hit any major news outlets. If something is shocking, people will talk about it. So I just watch for news from the people I’m following. Done and done.
So nobody I’m following is talking about anything on Twitter. Then I look at the “Trending Topics”. You’ll find this on Twitter’s search, or in my case (and the screenshot to the left), the search box in HootSuite.
Twitter tracks what people are talking about. All you have to do is click on the trend and you’ll see what everybody’s saying. Guaranteed that, if it’s news, you’ll find several links to news sources about whatever happened. Today, you can see people are talking about Jay-Z for his MTV outburst of jackassery, as well as the new trailer for New Moon. They are also discussing Tila Tequila’s altercation with Shawne Merriman.
These stories aren’t always going to be big-time events. It could just be entertainment news. But it’s easier to ignore the term rather than have to ignore a giant headline, stupid picture, and everything else hogging your space.
Patrick Swayze died yesterday. I didn’t hear about it on MSN. I didn’t even hear about it on Twitter. I got a text message from my brother. If you’ve got friends and family who know about what you are interested in, you’ll probably hear news from them. Heck, you could even just check out Facebook status updates, which would also clue you in to what’s going on.
Doggone it, Google! You keep getting cooler and cooler! I, like many others, am familiar with Google News for when I am looking for a certain topic. For example, when I heard rumblings that my old quarterback, Brett Favre, was going to sign with the hated rivals, the Minnesota Vikings, I typed “favre” into a Google search, and then clicked “News” at the top of the page and I could look through all the real developments from media outlets all over the nation. But I found Google News yesterday, and it looks to finally be a solid replacement for MSN to check out headlines. Here’s why:
This is what I see when I open Google News: top stories at the top. Plus, they are updated incredibly frequently. On the far left side, I can sort through my news topics. If I just want to see the latest entertainment headlines, I can click “Entertainment” and that’s all I’ll see. Or, I can scroll down, as the sections are laid out very clearly and simply. In the middle-left, I see the latest headlines and accompanying pictures. On the right side, I can view the most popular articles currently, and towards the bottom I can see what names are dominating headlines. It doesn’t take an hour and a half to render the page because, like everything Google, it’s simple and clean, optimized for any computer.
When you click “Edit this page”, a drop-down box appears that will allow you to organize your news topics in any order you’d like on the page, just by dragging and dropping. When I rearranged mine, I was able to put Entertainment news at the bottom, so I only have to look at it when I want to.
In addition, you can edit how many stories are shown in each section, and you can add and remove sections at will.
I like to see a news story once in a while, and any news story that has an accompanying video has a little YouTube icon in it. Clicking on it brings up the video right there in the page. It doesn’t interrupt, and you still get your news.
Underneath every news article, you see the option to drill down and read the news from specific, high-profile sites, or I can list all the news articles talking about it. This makes it easy to view the topic from different perspectives, allowing you to develop your own opinions, as well as gather every fact you can from every source you can.
If you have a Google account, you can tell Google News where you’re from, and they will add a tab related to your city’s news, with all the features that other topics get. This simplifies the news-gathering process for me. Plus, it can recommend news articles for me based on my search history. I could care less if Google wants to know about my searches about the Green Bay Packers and Wordpress templates. They can have that information.
Instead of copying-and-pasting the URL to the story into a new email to share with somebody, just click “Email this story”. Easy, and it encourages finding out news from friends rather than websites.
We all need to keep tabs on the news, but the newspeople aren’t interested in keeping us informed anymore. They want us entertained. Fight back – ditch your MSNs, your CNNs, and other corporate news sites. Get the news you want, when you want it, and when you need it. Do you have any tips for getting real news? Share them with us in the comments!
