Steve Fischer's Random Blog

Category: Culture

  • Understanding Social Media

    This is a really important thing. If you use your Twitter feed to try to promote your brand with a hashtag, you really need to consider how popular your brand is in the first place. Because there’s no rule that a hashtag has to be used the way you intended.

    This should be obvious.

    Jenny McCarthy asked a fairly innocuous question, “What is the most important personality trait you look for in a mate?”,  on Twitter and asked people to respond with the #JennyAsks hashtag. But she’s a notorious anti-vaccine person so most of the responses were like this:

     

     

    I guess the NYPD is equally clueless. They asked this:

     

    I’m generally a fan of the NYPD, but it’s not clear why they couldn’t see this coming

     

     

    Honestly folks, find someone in their 20s and ask them what could go wrong with your proposed hashtag. I’m old and I could see these coming…

  • Formulaic Linkbait

    This post from Seth Godin amused me because it is so true. All linkbait headlines:

    ([Integer between 5 and 10] WAYS to [action verb like avoid or stumble or demolish] [juicy adjective like stupid or embarrassing or proven] [noun].)

  • How is this Legal?

    Imagine what would happen if Google, Apple, Facebook, Twitter and Microsoft set a rule that they would not hire anyone over 50? Do you think the media would explode? Would people go ballistic over age discrimination?

    Of course they would, and rightly so.

    So why can’t an 18 year old play in the NBA? And now apparently the league wants to bump it so 19 year olds can’t either.

    How is this legal?

    A large number of employers colluding to prohibit employment of a certain class of people. Age discrimination is illegal in most states, (though not federally, except for older workers).

    It’s the most ridiculous thing ever. There’s no argument that they aren’t capable. Hello, Kobe? LeBron? Yeah, they were lame. Who’d want them?

    Again, how is this legal?

    Yes, the Players’ Union has agreed to it. Does that make it legal?

    I frankly don’t understand why the NBA wants this, unless the NCAA is bribing them. I get the NCAA’s interest. They have a total gravy train exploiting “student athletes”. Don’t rock that boat.

    But all the NBA is doing is risking injury to the next Kobe/LeBron before they join the league. I guess they get publicity from March Madness, but it’s hard to argue that LeBron had no publicity when he entered the league.

    Let’s look at the MVP awards recently. Say, since the 2007-8 season. Let’s assume that Kevin Durant wins this year. The list of winners would be:

    • Kobe (violates current rule)
    • LeBron (violates current rule)
    • Derrick Rose (would violate new rule)
    • Kevin Durant (would violate new rule)

    So the NBA is trying to exclude their ultimate best players.

    Again, how is this legal? Or smart?

    I guess it’s just that a kid out of high school is afraid of risking his potential career by biting the hand that will ultimately feed him. Kobe and LeBron are the exceptions and we haven’t had another one since the rule changed.

    So who cares if it’s legal? It’s convenient.

    I’m not a lawyer, so if anyone knows, please explain.

  • Morals

    This is an interesting set of charts. The one below surprised me in that:

    1) More Democrats think alcohol is morally unacceptable than Republicans. I do not know know any of these Democrats.

    2) I get the Muslim part of the world, but what’s up with Latin America? Over half consider alcohol morally unacceptable.

  • They Will Marry Your Girlfriends

    Via CollegeHumor:

  • NYC Nightlife According to Citi Bike

    Citi Bike recently released a ton of raw data for developers to run wild with. Someone wondered if you can infer late night activity based on Citi Bike usage. Yes, yes you can.

    Below is a map of percentage of Citi Bike departures between midnight and 4AM on weekends.

    If you don’t know NYC, the party winners are Williamsburg Brooklyn (big section on the right) and the Lower East Side (big section in the middle).

    I, being old, live in one of the lighter sections…

  • Paternity Leave? Really?

    So a Mets player’s wife went into labor early and the player missed opening day and the next game (span of 3 days). The latest MLB collective bargaining agreement entitles baseball players to 3 days of paternity leave. No big deal, right?

    Sports radio went crazy. For the record, when I used to drive more I listed to WFAN a lot and Mike Francesa is generally one of the top sports radio guys (yes, that’s a low bar). I enjoy listening to him a lot (not that I do much anymore). But the reaction from him didn’t really surprise me. Again, this is sports radio.

    To the Mets credit (full disclosure, I’m a Yankees fan), the manager stood by the player.

    First of all, if you’re accusing Dan Murphy of not wanting to play — this guy played 161 games last year. Wore himself out. Played with all sorts of discomfort. The man had his first child. He is allowed to be there. The rules state that he can be there, so he went. There is nothing against it. There’s nothing wrong with it.

    And to his even greater credit, the player himself just took the high road.

    And looking at the comments on the NY Daily News site, the fans are totally on the players side. The latest results of their poll for “Do you think Mike Francesa is over the line questioning Daniel Murphy’s paternity leave?” has Yes at 87%.

  • Don’t Try This At Home

    School science project + wife who likes to drink tea = SWAT team busting down your door.

    And they are out $25K for their troubles…

  • Aerial Yoga

    Yes, that is a thing. For my wife’s sister’s birthday, her daughter in law organized a group class here.

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    It looks something like this. Silks are hung and you can stretch, hang, flip, do all kinds of funky things. Needless to say, my girls loved it. Victoria learned to hang herself upside down.

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    Danielle learned all kinds of moves.

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    I did it too, but there is thankfully no photographic evidence…

  • Generic Brand Video

    The original copy came from here. Then these guys turned it into a video.