By John Y. Brown III, on Wed Jun 27, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET  “Abs”
No, not abs that I have now….or abs I’m comitting to have in the future.. I am at a point in my life where I will likely never talk about abs in the present or future tense ever again.
The best I can do is mention abs as an occurence in the past—something that existed years ago and, for a period of time, I was proud of. A reflection. A reminescence of something positive t can still recall and remind people about–form once upon a time, A sweet memory.
And one more thing.
What was it? Oh yeah!
“Brains”
By John Y. Brown III, on Tue Jun 26, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET Right of Passage or reason for passing out?
We just received our first child’s first college tuition bill.
It’s a proud moment, to be sure. I smiled inwardly as I knelt down on the ground to steady myself and decided to stay down until the faint feeling and nausea subsided.
It’s a feeling I won’t ever forget. Mixed with great parental pride was the initial thought that passed through my head like a loud chugging locomotive that could be heard over a mile away, “We’re going to have to sell the house!”
Of course, I caught myself up, chuckled, and reminded myself of an age-old trick that always helped in situations like this, “Let it sink in before reacting” and then I knelt back down into a sitting position as the faint feeling and nausea came rushing back.
So, I waited several minutes. In fact about 30 minutes and decided to reflect calmly on this momentous occasion. My second–calmer and more reflective reaction–was we need to sell the house and I’m going to have to pick up a second job delivering pizzas for the next 4 years.
Phew!! Feeling much better now.
By John Y. Brown III, on Mon Jun 25, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET Movie etiquette.
When your beloved wife rents a movie for you to watch together and says, “I got this movie because the couple reminds me of us” be prepared.
1) Do not criticize the wife’s character
2) Praise the wife’s character
3) Accept that the “similarities” you have with thehusband’s character will be, shall we say, traits you possess that provide “opportunities for improvement.”
4) The “movie” you are about to watch is really more of a “training film.”
5) Tomorrow night is NOT your turn to pick out a movie.
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UPDATE. (Comments)
THE RP: John, you need to be a little more subtle in the description. It is obvious that the movie is Shrek. And I’m Donkey
REBECCA BROWN (Mrs. JYB3): Jonathan, Shrek was a slow learner but once he got the hang of what to do, he had a real knack for making Fiona feel special and loved in the end….also, it is hard to be critical of Fiona after that locked up in a castle as an ogre issue…..another great movie for us!
JOHN Y: I had no idea Shrek was about relationships. I just thought it was a funny movie about Ogres. I need the Cliff Notes.
REBECCA:…As for Fiona’s characterization, I think she used the locked up in a castle card for sympathy too much and also could have made fun of herself more to draw the donkey and Shrek into feeling more comfortable around her right off the bat. Instead, they felt they had to show that they felt sorry for her and it set the next few scenes up for constant tension. I don’t think I have ever given this much thought to a Disney movie…thanks Jonathan!
THE RP: To be honest, Rebecca, I think I fell asleep when I watched Shrek with the girls. I was just making the surface comment that John looks like Shrek, you look like Fiona, and I look like Donkey.
By John Y. Brown III, on Fri Jun 22, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET Facebook will slowly undermine the effectiveness of negative political advertising.
Oh, you think I jest?
Seriously, I believe there’s a connection–and that over time Facebook will slowly erode the shock impact—and therefore the political and electoral impact that political campaigns have relied on for decades by using political attack ads to help defeat opponents.
Really. I do.
Why?
Not because people will be on Facebook instead of watching political ads on TV or because the ads will somehow run on Facebook or that voters will start getting political information on Facebook—none of that. Rather, I think Facebook is facilitating an overdue cultural correction in America. Namely, making us less prudish, secretive and judgmental (of ourselves and others).
Remember Mrs Crabtree from Bewitched? The nosy neighbor always shocked at any behavior she’d spy that wasn’t befitting a model 1950s imaginary TV family? We voters have been a little like that the past 40 years–even though we would hate the think of ourselves as “Nosy Neighbor Voters” (to make up a new voting block moniker, like “Soccer Moms.”)
But I think it’s true. Don’t you–at least to some extent?
A good deal has been written about how Facebook encourages narcissism. Perhaps a little. But not nearly as much as it has fostered more open and honest sharing about how we daily think and act in all too human ways.
I mean, think about it. What would Mrs. Crabtree share about herself on Facebook? A recipe or two?
 Facebook. Facilitating, one "like" at a time, the end of an era. What's on your mind, Mrs Crabtree? It's OK, we won't tell the neighbors. Maybe over time she’d chill out and admit she’s a voyeur and getting help with weekly therapy and medication. For now, though, the Mrs. Crabtrees of the world are simply watching what others write on Facebook and telling others who increasingly couldn’t care less. And although there are all sorts of personal abuses and overshares on Facebook, in the end, Mrs. Crabtree will lose.
And when the minor faults of political candidates are overtaking the airwaves again a few years hence, instead of acting “Shocked. Shocked!” We’ll be more likely to shrug and say, “Yeah, that actually happened to me a couple of years ago. Not a big deal. In fact, I posted on Facebook yesterday about how glad I was to have that behind me.”
By Zack Adams, RP Staff, on Thu Jun 21, 2012 at 1:30 PM ET The Politics of Laughter
Quack Quack [LoadingArtist]
Music humor [picture]
This one cracks me up. [picture]
OK Dad, so the pool is hot lava and I have to get across. You watchin’? [gif]
C4!C4!C4! [picture]
By John Y. Brown III, on Thu Jun 21, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET Now there’s a summer blockbuster!!
On vacation this week I’ve seen 3 movies.
Dictator, That’s My Boy, and Think Like a Man (a topic stretched to nearly 2 hours that could have easily been handled in less than 2 minutes)
There were fresh and hilarious lines in all 3 movies–but probably only enough for one really good movie.
So….I guess what I’m saying is I wish someone had combined the three movies and made one really good movie about a short-sighted, shallow and cadish guy who as a teenager has a son out of wedlock (with his hot high school teacher) and after becoming a dictator in a Middle Eastern country works to resolve that relationship by getting drunk and going to strip joints with his formerly estranged son.
By RP Staff, on Wed Jun 20, 2012 at 1:30 PM ET Picture Courtesy of LEO Weekly
In recent months, the Commonwealth of Kentucky has received some criticism for the $43 million in tax incentives it is providing for “Ark Encounter” — a theme park offering a full-size recreation of Noah’s Ark developed by Answers in Genesis, a “Young Earth” fundamentalist Christian group that also hosts the “Creation Museum” — dedicated to the proposition that the Earth is less than 6000 years old.
Joe Sonka, a local liberal blogger, now with Louisville’s LEO Weekly alternative magazine, has been perhaps Ark Encounter’s loudest, most vociferous, and downright funniest critic. Click here and here and here to read some of his columns.
In this week’s “Fake Issue” of LEOWeekly, Sonka writes about a new project coming to Kentucky, Koran Kountry:
MUHLENBERG COUNTY, KY — Gov. Steve Beshear attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday for the opening of Koran Kountry, the radical Islamic theme park that could receive up to $75 million in tax incentives from the state.
“We are excited to be here for the grand opening of Koran Kountry,” Beshear said. “This park will bring almost 1,000 jobs to this region and give a vital boost to our economy, with millions of tourists visiting the commonwealth.”
The controversial park is the creation of Answers in Koran, LLC, who seek to bring visitors to the “family-friendly attraction that celebrates the truth of the Koran, and the power of the global jihadist movement to liberate Muslims from the oppression of the infidels and Jews. We also have roller coasters.”
The $300 million park, built on top of a reclaimed surface mining site in Muhlenberg County, was constructed with the help of unnamed international investors from Pakistan and Iran. Their feasibility study projects millions of tourists from the Middle East and South Asia will come to the park in its first three years of operation.
“This day would not be possible without the great help we received from the Beshear administration,” said Kenwal Hamza, CEO of Answers in Koran. “Muhlenberg County is now truly the closest thing to Paradise on Earth.”
In addition to potentially $75 million in tax rebates from the state if the park meets its attendance projections, the state also spent $27 million on infrastructure improvements to the Wendell Ford Parkway and the Muhlenberg County Airport to accommodate the influx of tourists.
Koran Kountry contains a dozen thrill rides, including the Dead Sea Water Safari and the “Paradise Sling Shot,” which flings riders 400-feet straight up into the air, “recreating the ascension of the prophet Muhammad into the heavens.” There are also carnival-type games, including one in which people throw rocks at a female mannequin wearing a bikini in order to win a prize. The park also contains several high-tech multimedia shows in the “Martyrs Exhibit Hall,” celebrating the history of such groups as Hamas and Hezbollah, and attacking “the Zionist and Christian crusaders who occupy our homeland.”
Click here to read further. WARNING — It gets to be spit-take funny.
By John Y. Brown III, on Wed Jun 20, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
Got Clout? I mean the other kind–with a “K”
I’m fascinated with analytics.
Not in how they work. I don’t really understand that.
But how they can be used as a tool for better assessment and prediction purposes. And, of course, better decision making.
But analytics may be the new statistics–in the sense of being a mysterious new numbers logic that because of its air of inaccessibility to lay people carries with it an air of irrefutably.
It won’t be long until some says “There are 4 kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, statistics, and analytics.”
OK. I guess technically speaking someone just did…but that’s beside the point.
My recent questioning of exuberant uses of analytic tools is with the website Klout. I’m sure they are on to something…but have a long way to go. True, you must find a way to measure something to fully understand it. But some things are more amendable to metrics than human relationships. Workflow processes, controlling inventory and related business tasks come to mind. How trustworthy, reliable, persuasive, likeable, etc a person is within a functional network is much harder to measure with numbers.
It’s still worth a try….but we have to realize the results are more of a fun sideshow compared to more serious analytics work.
I see it like the difference between standing on a scale for weight data versus putting on a mood ring to measure my “mood.” Sure, it’s something…but not enough to bother too much with. Otherwise eHarmony and other such metric driven dating sites would be called “marriage tools” instead of a dating tool. They may help recommend a first date…but don’t base an important decision on it.
Analytics are incredibly useful where they are truly applicable.
And by the way, Klout has so far helped me in only two measurable, concrete outcomes. It caused me to waste several hours trying to understand the new vanity meansure. And it’s provided a topic for this Facebook status update. A really useful analytics tool would have predicted that outcome in advance and saved me the trouble. ; )
By John Y. Brown III, on Mon Jun 18, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
We all say this almost weekly when describing to others what it’s like to live in Louisville.
“It’s a great place to live and raise a family” I’ve said over 3000 times. And meant it each time.
Sure, it’s not “edgiest… city”, or “fastest growing city” or “fastest dying city” or any of the other more thrilling adjectives that would be more conducive to a burst of adrenaline.
But Louisville isn’t where people move to for an adrenaline rush. It’s where people move to after the they’ve tried the “adrenaline rush” cities and found them wanting.
They’ve learned the hard way that a uniquely “livable city” was what they were really looking for all along…and just didn’t know it. At least that’s my story. And I know it’s a common one.
Louisville is not a city full of cheap external thrills. Rather it is a city that allows us to become our better selves internally.
Congrats Louisville. On being great –in fact, the best–at being a good place to live.
I’d put it this way: LA, NY, Chicago, Dallas, New Orleans, Philly, Cindy, Indy, Atlanta and Nashville are all fun cities to date. But Louisville is the city that you are going to want to marry.
By John Y. Brown III, on Fri Jun 15, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET They’re baaaack…..
Like all consumer savvy Americans, I love a bargain…and up to a point enjoy hunting for good bargains.
But –on Sunday’s especially–I sometimes feel stuck in a labyrinth of coupons, rebates, sky miles, reward points, and special seasonal sales.
All I know is that all those Wall Street financail hot shots who had a role in causing the financial crises (and market meltdown) in 2008 had to turn up again somewhere after many lost their jobs.
I believe they now run the rebate/coupon programs for our leading merchandise chains and are employing the same financial slight of hand to my coupon/rebate decisions.
It’s just a gut feeling. But a pretty strong one.
Maybe there is a new service that can shop for those of us too dumb to figure out what deals are really good ones and which ones aren’t. Or at least please put out a new Dummies book on how to take advantage of these great deals. I just hate that it’s got so complicated to buy good products at competitive prices. It’s more about scissors, mailing addresses and online comparative shopping than feeling a melon for bruises at the grocery. I miss the old fashioned tangible stuff.
Can’t you financial wizards find something else to do. ; )
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