Last week I issued a challenge to friends, readers, and folks who generally lurk in the shadows.  the responses were, themselves, interesting and pretty consistent when it came to explaining why someone may or may not comment on sites or blogs that they read:

• The point was already made (don’t want to be redundant), and tied to that:
• Nothing new to add except “I agree”
• Folks who use RSS readers like Google Reader, find clicking through to the site to comment impedes their likelihood of commenting (though a few comments did mention the different scripts and applications that allow for commenting straight from a reader)
• It’s time consuming, and tied to that:
• Marking a post to return to later to pay closer attention to the response often leaves starred items forgotten until much later, if at all
• Too much time has passed to feel like a comment would be relevant
• And the most surprising was the number of folks who voiced a fear of sounding less witty, informed, or “intelligent” than the post warranted.

I hope those of you who took on this challenge were able to better estimate your reasons for not commenting, and I hope that by forcing yourself to comment, you were able to expand your own boundaries and shoo away some of those fears! 

So…. How did it go?  What did you learn about commenting or your pattern for commenting in the process? What was the experience like? And, perhaps most importantly, will you continue?

As you can tell from my previous post, I was excited to go.  Thrilled, in fact.  But by now, you also know that I did not, in fact, get to go back to Pittsburgh for this year’s sold out PCPGH4.  Without going in to the gory details, let’s just say that digestive distress in cats is no joking matter, and it’s one hell of an expensive problem to have. Couple that with the fact that symptoms usually show up too late for any intervention and the need to visit Vet Emergency Hospitals, and you have a very hysterical Dawn worried about her cat and graduate school companion dying because they wanted to hospitalize him for $2500.  At least.  Long story short, we took him home, and complied with the required monitoring of him for 48 hours, and made him as comfortable as possible.  Hell, Jack even went out and bought him a water fountain in the hopes that it would make him feel better and help his water consumption.  ~*sniffle*~

So yeah.  No Podcamp for us.  I’m sad.  I miss YinzTeam as it is, and the opportunity to meet new folks and have discussions that open doors on so many levels come so infrequently anymore that it was just heartbreaking to be sidelined.  Because the crew organizing Podcamp this year was on the ball, I was able to watch a good number of sessions remotely.  But one thing that I noticed almost immediately on Saturday, was that the comments and chat system for the live streaming video stopped working.  I was struck with a whole new level of frustration.  The sessions are inspiring and informative, sure, but Podcamp happens (most innovation and idea hatching, for that matter) during the conversations.  The questions and answers. The discussions.  The panels and debates.  I’ve said it before, and I firmly believe, that Podcamp happens in the hallways.  And here I was completely shut off from the hallway conversations and even from the conversations in the actual sessions!

This all has a point. 

Trust me.  See, one of the things I planned on talking about at PCPGH4 was the culture of commenting.  It’s disappearing.  It’s no longer dwindling; it’s flat out dying.  It ages me to say this, I know, but I remember a time when blogs didn’t come with comment functions (~*gasp*~ I knnnnooowww!!).  And when some coder started passing out free code to insert comment features it exploded the entire notion of what websites and “blogs” were, and of the potential they had.  Suddenly people had interaction on a whole new level! Suddenly, you could rant about just about anything and have your friends and random passers by leave notes of agreement or rebuttal.  You could have a dialogue.

But that’s going the way of the Dodo now, and I think that’s a terrible mistake.  As blogs become more common place, and more and more people post whatever they want whenever they want, they’ve taken the dialogue out of the conversation, and when you do that you no longer have a blog.  You have a basement printed broadside that no one can discuss with you.** 

What happens when no one comments?  Comments and discussion fuel the conversation and development of ideas.  It becomes a tidal wave of thought!  So you may have tons of email responses, or comments on your site.  That’s grand.  But how many comments do you leave on other sites?  Are you closing off your fishbowl by only fostering the culture of commenting on your own site?  Look, I’m as guilty as the rest of you.  I have, sitting in my Google Reader, the dreaded (1000+) unread blog posts.  Some are from news feeds, but a good many of them are blogs just like this one.  I read daily, or weekly, and rarely leave a comment.  Why? 

You tell me. 

Why do you read (and I know you do.  I see you….)  and not leave comments?  Not just here, but elsewhere?

I’ll make a deal with you.  For one week, starting today, see if you can leave a comment on each blog you read.  It doesn’t have to be every post, but at least leave a thoughtful response indicating that you engaged the post.  Can you do that?  For a week?

I know @BurghBaby is in over at TheBurghBaby.com, and if a working mommy blogger who posts at least once a day, takes care of a zoo, a new house, and a family can do it, can’t you? 

Let me know how it goes.  Remember, we’re all watching. 

~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

** I’ve never agreed with closing off comments on blogs.  That’s what makes a blog a blog.  I’ve also never agreed with News sites opening comments on fact based articles.  The news is the news.  It’s not up for debate.  Editorials are for debate.  Letters to the Editor are for debate.  Once you make factual articles something to debate, you undermine their validity and turn your entire news organization into a blog of editorial opinion by the masses and moderated by journalists. News sites are not for discussing ideas and hashing out positions and opinions.  Leave that job to the blogs and message boards.

PocampPittsburgh.com

It’s that time of year again folks!  Podcamp Pittsburgh 4 is ready to kick off tomorrow night from 6 pm - 8:30 pm at the AlphaLab for the Meet-n-Greet, and then officially begin Saturday morning (9 am - 4 pm) at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. 

This year I’ll be speaking in two sessions:

Saturday, 10/10/09, 1 PM:

Intellectual Property: What Are Your Ideas Worth?

In this era of “free” Internet content, copyright infringement and rampant plagiarism, who really “owns” an idea? And if you *do* have an idea, is it actually worth anything? Devil’s advocate John Carman moderates this debate about intellectual property changing business models between anti-IP advocates Nick Pinkston & Steve Klabnik and pro-authorship devotees Justin Kownacki & Dawn Papuga.

…and…

Sunday, 10/11/09, 3 PM:

Comments & Criticism: The central nervous system of consumerism

Dawn Papuga of Lyrique Tragedy Reviews (And Reality 101) examines the importance of comments, criticism, and reviews as a means/tool for finding out about topics/books/issues you are interested in but have no idea where to start.

The second listing isn’t as descriptive as I would like, but the development of the topic came a little late.  Originally I was planning on doing a fun session on “2009 in MEMEs” but that was waylaid for something more “useful.”  (Not that I disagree!)  I plan to discuss the culture of commenting and its importance to the social media machine, criticism & reviews as a way of expanding your comfort zone through trusted reviewers, and how quality interaction encourages the medium (and us) to grow.

Anthony, over at Bricks and Boxes has been posting wonderful Podcamp Pittsburgh Appetizers featuring some of the speakers, topics, and sessions that will be bouncing around this weekend, and if you have some time before hand, be sure to go check them out!  He put up an Appetizer featuring my second session, and one by Kathleen Danielson.  Go check it out!

I hope to see you there!  Don’t forget to join the PCPGH Flickr group, and tag your content for the weekend as PCPGH4 (or, #PCPGH4). 

Yesterday the FTC announced that, “beginning on Dec. 1, bloggers who review products must disclose any connection with advertisers, including, in most cases, the receipt of free products and whether or not they were paid in any way by advertisers, as occurs frequently.”  Immediately bloggers, Twitterers, and Message board trolls whipped themselves into a fervor over the regulations announced by the FTC. 

I don’t get it.

Do people not read anymore? Has it really come to a point where people take a headline and run with their anti-whatever mentality without actually reading the issue/article/ruling/judgment for themselves to see if they even disagree?  Just because you may sit on one side of the political pyramid doesn’t mean that you automatically agree or disagree with a statement or ruling based on whether something is said by a governing body or not.  We rail against people who don’t think before they vote, or who don’t bother to get the facts when it comes to an election, so why is it any different when it comes to regulations?  We’ve become a country of knee jerk reactionists who want everything to fall in line with our personal ideologies, and if it doesn’t, regardless of the inherent value of the idea, it’s wrong and bad, and it will cause your children to grow up godless and destitute—or worse yet, as humanitarians or socialists!  FOR SHAME!

I honestly expected more from the Social Media community.  Maybe I was naive.

First, read the damn ruling. 

The first three sections review the commission’s examination of the guides, the comments on proposed revisions by interested representative parties, and then gives a description of each change to proposed guides published in 2008.  The comments (section II) are worth reading.  The revised Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising are section IV.  They start on page 55. READ THEM.

Second, establish whether your argument is based on puffed up political ego for the sake of making a point, or on the actual issue of deceitful practices.  If you just want to grandstand about a political viewpoint, please move along… nothing left for you to see here… If you have a blog, if you’ve ever reviewed something that was sent to you by a company, if you aren’t sure where you stand because you don’t know how it effects you, then please continue reading.

Where do you fall?  Why does it matter?  What is the purpose of your blog?  Is reviewing X Product/s the primary purpose of the blog? Do you consistently receive products (in my case, books) to review?  Is the editorial independence of your blog clear if you are not endorsing a company/product? Are reviews likely to be negative as well as positive?

Are you a blogger who has joined a pay-per-post community?  Are you part of a “group” that is compensated by companies to endorse (speak highly of their product regardless of perceived value/quality) their product?  Do you receive “gifts” because you are part of a blogging network or community in the hopes that you’ll tell your readers how wonderful a product is (i.e. free advertisement and “word of mouth” endorsement based on your perceived trust level with your readers)?  Do you routinely review products from the same company positively in order to continue receiving comp products in exchange for your visible approval of their company/product?  Do your readers know that the car you just got, or the phone you’re raving about was given to you with the understanding that you would tell them how glorious it was whether you felt that way or not?

Like it or not, the FTC is forcing companies and bloggers to be ethical in their interactions with their consumers.  It’s not about censorship or telling bloggers what to say or what not to say.  It’s about fair practice and ethics.  The government isn’t dictating what you can or can’t say on your blog.  Anyone who sees that clearly isn’t reading the document.  It’s about fair business and advertising practice.  It’s about stopping companies and individual bloggers who are profiting off of their readership & consumer base through deceitful means.  If you receive “gifts” or “comps” from companies to review and your review is as likely to be negative as it is positive, and your readership is aware of this, that’s one thing.  If your blog is a personal blog dedicated to the life of your prize beagle, and Alpo begins sending you products for free with the understanding that you will continue receiving these products as long as you speak highly of the company, and you never disclose that relationship or business transaction (and it IS a business transaction) to your audience then you are misleading them.  Would your readers think differently of the value of your opinion on those products if they knew of your arrangement? 

Look, if you want to shill for a company, that’s fine.  If you want to play in the Pay-Per-Post pool, that’s fine too.  But do NOT make waves about being considered a BRAND and then balk when you’re expected to follow the same ethics and standards that businesses are expected to follow.  If you have nothing to hide, then why the big fuss about the disclaimer?  Well… if you receive a car, or a computer, or a trip around the world and then rave about the magnificence of the car, computer, and travel company and you never disclose it as a “gift”…  or as a “business transaction,” well then, it’s not just your audience that you have to worry about, now is it? 

IRS anyone?

Susannah, A Lawyer (Cover)

Susannah, A Lawyer: From Tragedy to Triumph

 by Ruth Rymer

Langdon Street Press
212 3rd Avenue North
Suite 290
Minneapolis, MN 55401
325 pages
978-1934938416
$ 14.95

Rape.  Sexual Harassment.  Deeply ingrained, gender-based social mores.  Victim blaming.  The Denial of a woman’s identity.  Trafficking in women (daughters) for social and economic advancement.  Any one of these topics could be the subject of a lengthy body of work, but Ruth Rymer manages to draw all of the most common challenges facing women in the 19th century into Susannah’s journey from the halls of Mount Holyoke to the defendant’s chair, to a seat in one of the top firms in Chicago to read law before taking the bar exam.   In Susannah, A Lawyer, Ruth Rymer manages to bring to life the complex world of intelligent women in a time where attending college was for meeting husbands, not for building careers. 

One challenge of writing historical fiction is establishing the time and social climate in a period that is not in an unimaginable past in a relatable, clear manner.  Conveying the differences between current social perspectives and perspectives from the past is a challenge for any historical fiction author.   Add to that the need to unveil similarities between past and present social issues (sexual harassment, for example) that may seem simplified and “solved,” and you have a task that few authors are capable of negotiating effectively.  At first glance, the layer upon layer of circumstantial bad luck that Susannah encounters from the first chapter to the last seems to be an almost over-saturation of political and social points.  But when taken in conjunction with the period in which Susannah, A Lawyer is set, and the impact that historical fact plays on the pursuit of a law degree by a woman, her obstacles, and the strategies she employs in overcoming those obstacles, the laundry list of assaults by friends, family, and society all become representative of the struggles women of the 19th century faced collectively.  In this respect, Rymer’s juggling of controversial issues (both in the 19th century and now) with historical accuracy and engaging dialogue makes the comparison between Susannah and the reader inevitable. 

Don’t mistake Rymer’s accessible writing for lack of sophistication.  Susannah is full of well researched detail of language, social mores, apparel, and customs of diverse groups of people.  Rymer’s experience in law is immediately evident but not intimidating, and through the voice of Susannah, readers are able to encounter reading law with the same confidence she does.  Rymer creates a cast of memorable and three dimensional characters that are fallible and real.  Few are absolutely despicable.  Few are completely lovable.  Because of the range of experiences and actions of her characters, Susannah becomes more realistic, and the end of this novel leaves the reader expecting to hear the next installment over tea in the salon tomorrow rather than waiting for a sequel.  Susannah becomes a character readers grow frustrated with because of her naivete in social situations that modern readers are all too familiar with, but at the same time the audience can’t help but root for her to stand up for herself, to challenge barriers and to be the path blazing woman the title promises.

About Ruth Rymer (From the Author’s website):

An early women’s rights scholar, Ruth Rymer practiced Family Law and lectured on “Women and the Law” in California before retiring to write. She holds a Ph.D. in Human and Organizational Systems from The Fielding Institute and wrote her dissertation on the historical, sociological, and psychological aspects of divorce.

Dr. Rymer, listed in Best Lawyers in America 1988-2000, is Past President of both Queen’s Bench (Bay Area women attorneys) and the Northern California Chapter of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.

The author lives in the Bay Area with her husband.  Susannah is her second book.

Ruth Rymer

Dawn:  Why historical fiction?  Did you develop the legal and social issues you wanted to address first, or did you choose the time period and then extrapolate issues based on the period?

Ruth:  Both.  I like the time period.  I know something about my great grandmother who was born at the same time and same place as Susannah.  I am fascinated by the period thirty years after the first women’s rights conference, as women timidly began to shatter their chains.  And finally, as a lawyer, I wanted to explore how hard it was for women to become attorneys initially.  I’d read and taught about Myra Bradwell, the first woman lawyer in America, and wanted to bring her in as a mentor to my protagonist. 

Dawn:  Susannah is a very modern thinking character.  How did you balance historical accuracy with modern notions of women?  Was any aspect more difficult than another? 

Ruth: Where women are concerned, there is always a first–the first woman lawyer, the first woman doctor, dentist, Congresswoman, Governor.   No woman breaks out of the women’s sphere prison without “modern thinking.”  To me, it is survival thinking–living one’s life by relying on oneself.

I loved the research and the writing.  Editing and birthing the book were difficult.

Dawn:   Do you consider Susannah, A Lawyer a feminist novel?

Ruth:  I could argue that both ways, but in general I find feminism more shrill than it should be to bring women into full partnership in society with men.  I tried to avoid lacing Susannah with feminist anger.  That’s for the reader, if she would like, or not.

Dawn:  You tackle domestic violence, rape and stigmatization of the victim, divorce, social and legal boundaries for women, and the right to independence and education of women in Susannah, A Lawyer (to name just a few).  Why include all of these issues in one novel? 

Ruth:  I wanted to present a slice of life from 1877 to 1880.  Any woman living during that period would encounter at least some of the issues presented in the novel, and a woman lawyer would deal with all of them in her quest to bring justice to her clients.   

Dawn:   Susannah, A Lawyer is historical fiction, but your protagonist and her struggles are anything but incidental.  What do you want readers to walk away with once they finish reading?

Ruth:  I think I’d like readers to miss Susannah after finishing the book.  I’d like readers to appreciate the freedom we have now and to understand how much better we control our destinies than women did in 1880.  Most of all, I hope readers will find Susannah a really good read!

Thank you, Ruth, for taking the time to answer my questions and to address some topics for discussion.  Readers can get the book at Amazon and Ruth’s website (among other places).  And read an excerpt of Susannah, A Lawyer on the book site, so go check it out and get reading.  I promise it will leave you with plenty to talk about!

I want to write a book that is banned with long stretching arms of censorship for a catalogue of reasons as a rationale.

I want to write something that readers will instantly recognize as insightful, or that makes people take stock of their own environment, fishbowl, or personal perspectives and invisible but ingrained biases.

I want to write something that causes people to ask questions to those who hold power over them.  I want young people to read it and allow themselves to throw away the nonsense idea that questioning a thought or concept is blasphemous simply because it’s in print or in a textbook.  I want thought leaders to read it and question whether or not they’re the antagonist or the protagonist.

I want to write something that upsets people enough to take action.  I want to stir the pots of cooking frogs and force them to leap out of their apathetic, slow burning pots.

I want to write something that shocks institutions because it challenges their authority over thought and information.

I want to write something that makes men in robes uncomfortable because it encourages questioning centuries-long authority based on “that’s how it has always been” and “it is not our place to question the divine.”  I want people to voice the questions they were always afraid to ask and not settle for “mystery” because no one has a logical, or reasonable answer.

I want to write something that makes people ask themselves if they treat their friends or family members with the respect they deserve.  Something that makes locker room comedy an embarrassment to everyone, not just the target of the joke, something that drives offenders to perhaps uncomfortable self assessment and evaluation.

I want to write something that will become outdated and irrelevant, and remembered only because of the impact it made on society and those who read it rather than because the issues will continue to be issues in the future.

I want to write something that people can burn ceremoniously because the challenges have been overcome.

Banned Books

It’s Banned Books Week, and I would be remiss if I didn’t point you to a list of some of the greatest works pulled from shelves for challenging ideologies, “values,” and social norms.  Go do yourself a favor.  Read a banned book.  Then give it to someone you want to inspire.

• BannedBooksWeek.org
• Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read (ALA.org)
• Banned Books Online (Great list and explanations on The Online Book Page)
• Wikipedia’s list of Banned Books
• Books that were banned or challenged in 2007-2008 (by Robert Doyle)
• Map of Book Bans and Challenges (2007-2009)

Dynamic Forces

Remember that cool news I mentioned a few times?  Remember how I didn’t want to jinx it?  Well, today kicked off my contributions to the Dynamic Forces site where I’ll be blogging about and reviewing Comic Books and issues in the Comic Book world.  There will be blog posts and articles and even a section where we weigh in on a few comics collectively.  It’s exciting!  Dynamic Forces is the distribution arm of the Dynamite publishing house, and if you want something signed, original art, statues, posters… pretty much anything, you won’t find a better place to get it from than Dynamic Forces.  They’re the comic book and collectible industry’s top producer of limited edition and autographed memorabilia (unless, of course, you know the amazing writer or artist and they give it to you because you’re awesome… in which case… why aren’t we friends yet?).  The guys over there are great, and smart too! 

You can find Dynamic Forces on Twitter  and of course, on Facebook, so tell ‘em I sent ya. 

In the meantime, check out my inaugural post there: “You Should Be Reading: Gotham City Sirens” and let me know, tell your friends, pass it along, or run around in circles and bounce around like you’re as pumped as I am!

So amidst all the summits and meetings, my mother and grandmother visiting, and us making the trip to Bedford to spend the weekend with Jack’s family, we managed to decide on the townhouse we wanted and met with the realtor and applied.  This morning, when we were on the way to the doctor for some of my tests, we received the news that we were approved, and the townhouse is ours for the taking!!!

Needless to say, we’re off the chart excited.  The only bad news is that we might not be able to make it back to Pittsburgh for Podcamp on the 10th & 11th.  The plan is to move the weekend before Halloween, if possible (mostly to avoid paying for two places).  The problem there is that it only leaves us a scant few days to get everything packed up and ready to move in to the new place.  We’re working on how to make that happen, so the trip to Podcamp isn’t off just yet.  I just have to be creative. 

In the mean time, check out some of my favorite parts of the new digs! 

Kitchen

View of dining room and kitchen from the living room

Laundry Room / Mudroom leading to patio

Patio

Fireplace and stained glass in living room

Soaking Jacuzzi tub in master bath

Yeah, so that tub happens to be my favorite room in the house… :)  Just off of the right of the picture is the glass door shower, and it’s connected to the master bedroom, so I totally win.  WOO!  The kitchen is actually much larger than those pictures can depict.  in fact, it might be the largest room in the place (which, in Baltimore terms, isn’t hard to do).  I love the sink and dishwasher on the island, and I’m pretty sure there are more cabinets than we’ll know what to do with.  The little garden spot in the corner of the patio is what I’m looking forward to as well… I miss my rose bushes, and maybe I can plant a creeper… who knows.  But how exciting! 

More updates when I know them (about moving, podcamp, and whether there’s an alien creature growing on my spine…Dun dun DUN….).  Now I’m off to read and try and write a few reviews.  Ciao for now!

Yeah. It’s like that.

So my mind is all over the place, and rightfully so I suppose.  I’m busy.  Crazy  busy.  I’d rather be busy than not, but I prefer to ease in to major change and that’s just not happening.  So, in short, my mind is constantly running on multiple tracks, and the strange paths that the trains take are oftentimes as much as surprise to me as they’d be to you.  And the trains run super fast, y’all.  Here’s just an example of my train/s of thought this morning between home and work.  Gather and surmise:

What would the world be like without the snooze button?  I’d likely get better sleep.  I’d stop being lazy and laying in bed only to continually hit the damned snooze button three, four, maybe even five times.  I wonder how many accidents are caused by people who hit the Snooze button one too many times leaving them in a mad state of hurry to get wherever they’re going.  I wonder how many Snooze button addicts have to drag themselves out of bed only to be lazy for the rest of the day, and miserable because the “snooze” sleep they’re getting isn’t as good or restful as real sleep.  You know those are the people with road rage (ahem). You know those are the people who are irritable when the drive thru attendant screws up their order, even though they’ve been going there for well over 6 months ordering relatively the same thing.  I wonder how my quality of live would improve if I got rid of the snooze button.  I need to adopt one of these bad boys:

Clocky Alarm Clock on Wheels

This little guy can jump 3 feet (I don’t know if “jump” is the right word) from your nightstand and roll around the room “looking for a place to hide,” thus you are forced to get your lazy ass out of bed to find it and shut it off.  I have a feeling the sound of wheels and motors would stop me from falling back to sleep, but hey. 

If I hear “Death Panel” fear-mongering in my presence, someone’s getting slapped in the mouth.  I’m currently waiting to hear from my doctor about whether or not my insurance (very good, very expensive insurance) will cover an MRI of the golf ball sized lump on the back of my neck (the doctor kindly worded it as “Posterior Neck Tumor”… quaint, no?).  It’s not calloused or growing arms or a face or anything, but what I thought was a bulging disc, or a muscle knot is apparently neither.  The fact is, the doctor doesn’t know exactly what it is and she seemed concerned about it because it’s directly over my spine on the back of my neck (a suspicious location and size).  That didn’t make me feel better.  Neither did she when she told me that we’d have to wait to see if my insurance would cover the MRI.  Apparently it’s not enough for a doctor to suggest a test (or series of tests).  The business men sitting on the other side of my insurance card with a checklist of possible payment loopholes gets to decide whether or not it’s “medically necessary.”  Insurance is a business and businesses exist to make money, not to hand it out (a.k.a. pay for tests that may or may not be “medically necessary,”  something only determined by businessmen  whose interest is in their business.  GET IT?  Death Panels my ass.  Open your damn eyes.

The left lane is the passing lane, not the “fast” lane.  If you’re driving in the left lane, and you’re being passed on the right, other drivers should be able to shoot out your tires, egg your car as they pass you, or pull you aside for a stern talking-to.  How do people not know this?  If you’re afraid to go faster than the cars around you, get in the other lane!  You shouldn’t be in the passing lane to begin with!  I wish there were technology where every car were equipped with a screen, and every license plate had its own Twitter account, and that screen showed (in real time) comments from other drivers around you.  Think about the joy that could bring.  (I’m intentionally ignoring the negative, though we all know it’s there).  It could be useful — @GRB 4229 Your gas tank is open.  @1337 GRL Your skirt is stuck in the door and collecting mud.  See?  Useful.

I’m glad I’m not in Pittsburgh for the G20 Summit.  I’m glad my mother and grandmother are coming to visit during that period.  I’m not glad that my dad has to stay holed up at Mellon Institute (CMU) for those days because of what they’re expecting.  It’s scary stuff.  He’s been through it all before, but the G20 is something that raises the hackles of everyone within a 10 mile proximity.  I am honestly more concerned with Pittsburghers stepping out into neighborhoods and mobbing the protesters or “Anarchists” (yes, that’s in quotes.  Yes it’s intentional.  Yes the quotes are necessary.) through vigilante style means of “law & order bringing.”  I’ve seen it before.  I hope everything remains calm and I hope that protesters remain peaceful and respectful (though what protest, in theory, respects anything, I wonder).  I wish they could all be like this amazing Flash Mob at Point Park.  Now if that’s the way these groups are going to protest you could monetize that thing to death! (Ha… get it?)

I am pleased that my experiment of mixing Cheerios in yogurt in the morning (instead of milk) was a success. It’s a magnificent breakfast that eliminates the need to dump a pound of sugar into the bowl!  And it’s more filling!  Score!

Blackest Night #3 disappointed me.  Review to be posted.  (And news along with it — WOO!)

BBL, y’all…