I sometimes wonder what it would be like if we were all so cavalier to introduce our grievances about topic X as soon as we learn about someone’s allegiance to said topic. Or how inappropriate it would be if we talked about a stranger’s recently deceased relatives the way we talk about their recently laid-off colleagues.
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It’s been a month and a few days since I moved to Boston. It’s a great city, with a golconda of opportunities. There’s an active arts community. The umpteen colleges and universities provide no end to the conversations I get to overhear on the bus and at coffee houses. And the Red Sox are discussed every day, even in the off-season.
But one thing trumps those things in the perception of Boston.
“Ya know it gets cold, right?”
I’ve long hated “Ya know (fill in the blank),” but now, I fight the urge to scream whenever I hear it. Because it gets cold here, ya know.
So, on Monday of this week, I got a Facebook message that one Roger Ebert posted one of my web comics on his Facebook page. It was the one where I took Jill Geisler’s 10 Reasons to Hire a Journalist and added some of my own personality.
I’ve gotten lots of feedback on that comic, and have been so humbled by it. But to get a living legend such as Roger Ebert to even see it, let alone re-post it, was pretty satisfying.
I still can’t tell if he liked it — all he wrote was, “This is not a joke. A trained newspaperman thinks a great many other people are not…real…sharp.” But hey, he posted it. So, thanks, Roger!
Special thanks to my friends Katie and Josh for tipping me off. If you’re looking for freelancers in New Orleans (or elsewhere), look up Katie Ide and Josh Crank. SEO, copy editing, writing, saving the world… they can do it all.
And, of course, Jill Geisler continues to be awesome. And really sweet and nice.
By now you’ve heard about the Facebook privacy breach in which certain apps had been transmitting user IDs to advertising and Internet-tracking companies. And by now you’ve probably heard that the cochairmen of the House Bipartisan Privacy Caucus have some questions for Facebook about said privacy breach.
In essence, though, for those of you who missed it:
…the 10 most popular applications on Facebook transmitted users’ IDs to outside companies. Advertisers and other companies could then use such information to build databases on the users and target advertisements to them or sell that information to a third party.
Even careful Facebook users who restricted access to their accounts were affected if they used these apps. It is unclear how long the problem has existed.
Got it? Good.
Happy St. Francis of Assisi Feast Day!
Who’s he, you ask? Well, he’s the patron saint of animals, of course! Every year on October 4 (or the weekend closest to it), many churches offer ceremonies to bless animals. At my parish growing up, people mainly brought dogs, but I’ve heard that other churches have people bringing cats, birds, iguanas, fish, turtles, frogs, wookiees and more. Perhaps a sarlacc or a rancor, even.
Anywho, in honor of those of you who have pets, I brushed off my very first web comic that I created in January but never posted. Until now, of course.
Additionally, I don’t have animals/aminals because:
When I settle down with someone, I imagine we’ll get a dog or something so our kids won’t hate us later. Until then, I’m without a pet.
A few weeks ago, one of the newsroom interns tallied the number of people who had wished him a happy birthday, breaking it down by medium. He had gotten phone calls, Tweets and e-mails, but the largest number of well wishes came from Facebook.
With that in mind, I kept a chart on my birthday last week to see if that trend would hold true for me. It did, and probably holds true for you, too. I have some theories as to why this is: Facebook reminds you of upcoming birthdays, and tells you when your friends have written on the walls of mutual friends for their birthdays. Regardless of why, it was much appreciated.
