Reliable/Unreliable
Encouraging/Offensive
Good Joke/Bad Joke
Thoughtful/Inane

I created this poster last night for fun. I’m not a part of the Occupy movement, but if I were, this is the poster I would be carrying. It’s a parody of the famous poster created by Shephard Fairey

I was shocked to hear that something like 60% of protestors would vote for Obama in a general election. That stat kind of highlighted how they didn’t seem to understand the issues they were upset about. Barack Obama in 2012 will effectively be running for George W. Bush’s fourth term.

President Obama has continued or expanded all of the preferential treatments that banking institutions received from the Bush administration. No criminal action or further regulations were proposed by Obama, even when he had complete control of Congress. The President promised greater transparency and less access for lobbyist and didn’t follow through.

It seemed an image of Obama turning his back on his supporters was appropriate. As Matt Damon said “I no longer hope for audacity”.

If you click on the image you can see a larger version of the poster. Of you would like a vector PDF, you can find that here.

Click the image on the left to see the full size. You may have to click again once the image pops up to see it at 100% (browser dependent).

Below are the individual worldview illustrations. Feel free to use them in presentations, just don’t remove the copyright and contact me for permission before publishing them.

20. Plastic Man

19. Having To Pay Double at The Arcade for After Burner

18. That Kid on “Small Wonder”

17. Montgomery Ward

16. Sunscreen

15. The Uniforms for the Houston Astros and Chicago White Sox

14. Not Hearing My Name at the End of Romper Room

13. Socks for Christmas

12. Noticing the Differences between Donkey Kong on Atari and Colecovision

11. Wax Lips

10. The Wonder Twins

9. The Kids Who Committed Suicide After Playing Dungeons & Dragons

8. My Brother Unplugging the Atari as I Was About to Roll the Score on Asteroids

7. Dropping My Snow Cone in Front of a Bully After a T-Ball Game

6. Jimmy Carter

5. My First Piano Lesson

4. Going to Bed Early Because of the End of Daylight Saving Time and Missing “The Barbara Mandrell Show”

3. E.T. The Video Game for Atari

2. Carrot-Raisin Salad

1. Scrappy Doo

“If the US Government was a family, they would be making $58,000 a year, they spend $75,000 a year, & are $327,000 in credit card debt. They are currently proposing BIG spending cuts to reduce their spending to $72,000 a year. These are the actual proportions of the federal budget & debt, reduced to a level that we can understand.” – Dave Ramsey

Then I became more skeptical when I saw this on Facebook.

If the US Government were a family & their household income was $55,000 per year, they’d actually be spending $96,500—$41,500 more than they made! That means they’re spending 175% of their annual income! So, in 2011 they’d add $41,500 of debt to their current credit card debt of $366,000! – Dave Ramsey

Two different sets of numbers starts to qualify it as an urban legend. Does anyone know the source of the stats? Did Dave Ramsey provide either of them? I looked on Snopes.com but they didn’t have anything about it. At least it’s not being attributed to Albert Einstein.

Competition

Facebook has a legitimate competitor now. They’ve had a good run of dominance but now they need to be careful. Google+ is very similar to Facebook. In fact the Android App looks almost identical in many ways. Facebook has a history of making changes that are usually for the best, but the user base always resists them and complains (I still think the font size is 1pt. too small). Now Zuckerberg and company will need to think twice about a major change without user input and/or flexibility.  I don’t think people would have any problem moving over to Google+ in a mass defection.

Circles

Google+ groups your contacts into “Circles”.  Facebook does this with “Lists”.  But Google+ makes it much easier to put people into “Circles” and much easier to designate which of your “Circles”can see your posts and pictures.  I would feel much more confident about making sure only my family can see a picture of my 7 year old in her bathing suit on Google+ than on Facebook.  But Facebook has everything in place to make “Lists” as easy to use as “Circles” so I wouldn’t be surprised to see a change very soon on Facebook.

Instant Upload

Google+ has a default feature that automatically uploads your cell phone pictures to a private web album and waits for you to choose which “Circle” to expose show your picture to.  I think Rep. Anthony Weiner has proven why this is a bad idea.  I am absolutely certain that this will get someone in trouble.  I immediately turned the function off as soon as I could figure out how.  I don’t take pictures of anything that I’d be worried about anybody finding, but I can’t even fathom the idea of all of my pictures being immediately posted to the internet.  I wouldn’t be surprised that most people using Google+ will be unaware that this is happening.  Expect negative fallout from this feature.

Non-Users

My mom is an extreme-early-adopter of social media. Her kids live all over the country and she knows this is the best way to stay in touch with us. Right away she started adding people to her “Circles” that were not yet using Google+, including me.  I discovered that even though we weren’t on Google+ we were still seeing all of her posts because Google+ was emailing them to us.  This is both kind of cool and kind of annoying.  Imagine if it was someone other than my mom. Granted I still occasionally get non-Snopes approved conspiracy emails from distant acquaintances, but there’s something that seems more powerful about those emails being sent from a social networking site.

Conclusion

The main thing Facebook has got going for it over Google+ is the user base.  Everyone you might want to connect with is already on Facebook, if not, it’s unlikely you’ll be finding them on Google+.  But given how simple and similar Google+ is, that could change.  Competition is a good thing and if I were Mark Zuckerberg I would be just a little scared and a lot excited for how this will push Facebook.

For instance just in the last month I’ve heard someone say “Albert Einstein said ‘The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.’” I’ve also heard someone say “Albert Einstein said ‘The only constant is change.’” A Greek Philosopher named Heraclitus came up with that one and the insanity quote was delivered by Rita Mae Brown. The problem is no one knows who Rita Mae Brown is and Heraclitus is quickly being forgotten. With Biblical literacy dropping at an all time rate I expect we will soon see people saying “Albert Einstein said ‘If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.’” Shakespeare probably has his wisdom stolen more often than anyone but fortunately for him Albert Einstein said “Revenge is a dish best served cold.”

Einstein’s Folly works like this:

The more well-known a quote, the less likely that quote will be attributed to its original author, in turn the more likely that quote will be attributed to Albert Einstein.

Here’s my advice; next time you hear some one say “Albert Einstein said. . . ” just assume that Albert Einstein didn’t actually say it. Don’t bother doing an internet search because you don’t have to be an Einstein to set up a website that tells people that Albert Einsten said “The only thing to fear is fear itself.” Just do a quick translation. “Albert Einstein” means “someone smart but I don’t know who.”

I’m thinking of using Einstein’s Folly to my advantage.  Any time I come up with something clever, I’m going to tell people that I got it from Albert Einstein just to help it gain popularity. So when you start hearing people say “Albert Einstein said, ‘Puns are like wine, they’re great unless they’re cheap or overused,’”  you’ll know how brilliant I really am.

Of course Einstein’s Folly is not really Einstein’s fault. But since it is all about people falsely giving Einstein credit for things he didn’t say, it’s only right for it to be named after him. After all Albert Einstein once said, “When you’re known for being intelligent, people give you credit for everything.”

10. The Cheerleaders

Yes, cheerleaders who can’t help it that they’ve got so much school spirit are funny. For at least a year and a half this was the only thing SNL had that was any good and they made sure to over do it.

9. Mango

Funny catch phrase, but we’re so lucky they didn’t make a movie out of it.

8. The Antonio Banderas Show

NO! NO! Antonio! Too sexy! Too sexy. . . .Ahhh but I must.

7. Debbie Downer

I’m still making the sound effect. Eventually what became the best part of the sketch was watching Rachel Dratch try not to break character.

6. Roxbury Guys

The first time they did this with Jim Carey it was really funny and we were all relieved they weren’t running two cheerleader sketches in one night. But really Lorne Michaels, you’re going to make a movie out of a couple of guys bopping their heads? REALLY? SNL doesn’t even put these characters on their own website.

5. Mary Katherine Gallagher

Molly Shannon is funny, but you’re going to make a movie out of a girl falling on a stack of chairs and showing her underwear? Check out Jeanie Darcy while you’re at it.

4. Richmesiter – Makin Copies

No videos exist of this one, but we all know it. It’s been burned into our brains. I think this entire list could have been made up of Chris Kattan and Rob Schneider videos

3. Kaitlin

RICK! RICK! RICK! RICK! I still love it

2. Nooni and Nuni

Couldn’t find much on this but there’s just something funny about weird European accents and the subtleties of the word “Nuni” If only there was more to it.

1. Pat

The joke was very funny, but you knew the entire punchline in the promo video.

Be sure to check out my other post Top 10 Saturday Night Live Recurring Characters of All Time

10. Hanz and Franz

Millions of Arnold Schwarzeneggar impersonations owe their lives to Hanz and Franz

9. Stuart Smalley

People are still saying it.

8. Celebrity Jeopardy

Will Ferrell plays the straight man and Darrell Hammond gets all the laughs

7. Church Lady

Dana Carvey saves SNL from permanent cancellation, isn’t that special.

6. Samurai warrior

The first reoccuring character belongs to John Belushi

5. Coffee Talk

Mike Myers imitates his mother-in-law and it’s like buhta.

4. George and Yortunk Festrund

Steve Martin and Dan Aykroyd deliver the first SNL catch phrase that caught national attention.

3. Buckwheat

This character made Eddie Murphy a star.

2. Wayne’s World

I will always love Mike Myers for this.

1. Matt Foley

Chris Farley at his very best

Be sure to check out my other list of “Top Ten Saturday Night Live Characters That Were Only Funny Once“

I changed my profile pic to a cartoon from my childhood. The goal? To not see a human face on facebook until Monday the 6th of December. Join the fight against child abuse and invite your friends to do the same!

So how exactly does this stop child abuse? It doesn’t. This movement is the very definition of “slacktivism”. That’s a term I learned from my friend Jack. It describes online activity that gives all the appearance of being concerned and active for a cause without actually doing anything tangible for it.

Some will say that changing your profile picture to that of a cartoon helps raise awareness. But I’m skeptical that it actually raises any awareness. Stopping-child-abuse is something that’s easy to get behind. No one is actually in favor of child abuse. It’s like taking a courageous stance against cancer. The fact is, that for many people, this is a way to think about their favorite childhood cartoon and share it with their friends. I guarantee that in the last week much more thought has gone into finding pictures of cartoon characters than actually finding ways to stop child abuse. People don’t want to think about child abuse, but thinking about childhood cartoons is fun.

I’m not opposed to memes. I think they’re fun. But I was discouraged to see this one trying to piggy-back off of an issue I care a lot about. So I decided to try to make the meme meaningful. Every time I saw someone change their profile picture I posted this comment on their Facebook wall:

I noticed you changed your profile pic to show your support against child abuse. Would you consider donating to Olive Crest? I really believe in their work. I’ll match your donation up to $5. Just let me know. http://bit.ly/g1pk5Z

Olive Crest is the foster agency that my wife and I partner with. I know that they actually do something real and tangible to help stop child abuse. So if there was any way that I could get people to put their money where their mouth is I wanted to take it and funnel it towards Olive Crest.

So far I’ve had 6 people tell me they made a donation. That’s out of the approximately 40 people I contacted. According to Bit.ly I generated at least 129 clicks in 3 days. But it’s six people that weren’t already donating to Olive Crest and 6 people that wouldn’t have done it unless had they changed their profile pic to a cartoon character. So maybe the meme worked after all.