Special thanks to Leontine from Leontine's Book Realm for the super header.


Sunday, January 23, 2011

Random Thoughts

Actually getting back in the reading groove, but a few things have been floating in my head that I'd just throw out there for discussion.

At some point I signed an on-line petition at change.org. I don't remember for what but now I get regular e-mails from them about different human rights issues, not only GLBT but women's issues as well and they often want you to go and sign an on-line petition in support of X.

My thought is great, easy for me to show my support, but seriously, does that newspaper in Dallas that refuses to print the gay couples wedding announcement really give a damn if 2 million people sign a petition? It's not like we are their target audience. I'm never going to buy an ad in their paper anyway. Does the Ohio government care that someone from Canada or Europe or South America signs a petition demanding equal marriage rights? We can't vote and really, politicians only care about who can keep them in power. I have no power there so does it matter? I'm not sure if it does or not but I just have a feeling it makes us feel better but the people in question only care how many people in Dallas or Ohio will act, not the rest of the world. Your thoughts welcome.

On the other hand, what if I died this afternoon? Would I be turning over in my grave when my family cleaned out my stuff? No, I don't have a cardboard box full of toys, but what about stuff on the computer? I know if someone in my family died I'd have to go through their computer and find the websites that need to have things canceled, what about that porn site membership that Kassa made me buy so I could watch porn star boyfriends have sex? Someone has to cancel that. Really, I'd rather it be my teenager than my mom. The kid likely wouldn't be surprised, otherwise we might have to have a double funeral. How do people deal with that? Just figure you're dead you can't be embarrassed?

Is this not the cutest commercial ever? Thanks to Mikey at Cocky & Rude who posted it. Made me smile.



The end. Just weird stuff in my head this weekend. Back to the office for 5 days this week. Ugh. Not fun.

25 comments:

wren boudreau said...

Hi Tam! Loved the commercial!

Petitions - I always worry that I'm setting myself up for some nefarious online plot to steal my identity or my soul or something.

Regarding my online life...every now and then I think I should at least write a few things down for whoever has the bad luck to clean up after me!

Tam said...

Hmmm. Maybe you have a point there, although this organization seems pretty legit as opposed to random stuff. Still, I just don't think they are going to have much effect unless it's in my own city.

My instructions - go through all my bookmarks, post I'm dead then delete accounts. LOL

wren boudreau said...

I agree that signatures aren't likely to matter unless they're local to the cause.

What about the sites you need a password for?

Tam said...

Well, most of my sites have automatic log-in, but that's a good point. Might be worthwhile someday to go through and write them all down.

Nastassia said...

I have signed petitions on change.org,I actually got an email from the business that a petition was sent to, the email explained their actions and the changes they made because of the petition. This business was somewhere in New Zealand and I'm from Jamaica,it made me feel good. I don't know if my signing made any difference though.

That is cute commercial.

Tam said...

Wow. Okay, you give me hope Nastassia. :-) Although I'm sure many just don't care, but I suppose even one small change is worth it.

Chris said...

That commercial is awesome! Also, probably not ever shown in the US. *sigh*

Um. Gizmodo or Lifehacker have had posts about how to prepare for closing up your online life should your real life cease to be. I'll try to remember to find one for you.

Tam said...

Not likely, that commercial is far too racy for North America. *eye roll*

I figure since I have all my sites set to permanently "on" it wouldn't be that hard for anyone to get into them all. Also you'd know my e-mail so you could do the "forgot password" thing for most of them. Some would probably just sit dormant and be deleted eventually I presume.

Lily said...

Loved the commercial!!

Sometimes I think that my signing those petitions isn't going to do much but then I figure it does more than if I don't sign them.

Average Reader said...

Great commercial! Too funny. :)

Ingrid said...

My dad had to do a retrieval of all his pics when he messed up his computer after installing windows 7. He got 16,000 picture files returned. That included all the pics from sites he had visited.

Imagine doing that on my computer?!?

Tam said...

Good point Lily. I suppose even if the "bad guy" in question doesn't listen it lets those who are campaigning know that people agree with them.

It was cute Val.

Eeek. I think I'd just leave all the pics out there. I suppose there are likely companies who specialize in that kind of thing. I'd never even thought of that.

K. Z. Snow said...

Oh, gah, my filthy soul was bared to a freakin' local dude when my hard drive had to be purged last July ("local" meaning we have a number of mutual friends). He was an older, ex-military, possibly church-going guy with an elementary-school-teacher wife, and after he worked on my machine, I had to endure lectures on the evils of the Internet. I was actually more resentful than ashamed, but it was still a humiliating experience.

I can only imagine what he was thinking if he delved into some of my files. They must've made his toes curl!

Tam said...

Yeah, that would have pissed me off KZ. How dare you judge my internet use? But really, not fun. If he was snooping then he deserved to be shocked. It's not like you had snuff porn (I presume LOL) or kiddie porn. People need to mind their own business.

Sweet Vernal Zephyr said...

I love that commercial!

And I live to get under my parent's skin, guess I might as well keep it up after too.

Janna said...

That commercial is too cute! :)

Sometimes I wake up with a shock in the middle of the night, bading in sweat, thinking of what people might find at my computer when I'm dead. ;D

Hubs has some instructions which all include the word 'destroy', lol. When he dies with me, maybe our parents think all the filth was his and he was a closeted gay or something, heh.

Tam said...

Ah Miranda, always the touble maker. :-)

Too funny Janna. Blame the dead husband. I suppose we won't be embarrassed if we are dead, I'd just hate to be the cause of a heart attack. :-)

Ingrid said...

Tam, the point was to retrieve his personal pictures. Instead he got all. Poor thing, he had to manually shift through all those files to select the right ones and delete the others.

Good thing to do Janna. I keep telling myself that I should make a list with usernames and paswords

Anonymous said...

My best friend has instructions to clean out all my naughty books and destroy my computer if something happens to me. It's not that I'd be embarrassed. Heck, I'd be dead. However, I know that it would devastate my parents to seen some of the things I've looked at/read online. Bless their conservative little hearts.

One thing I've always thought about when it comes to my online life and friends is that most of us don't have a clue about each other's real names, etc. I keep my online life completely separated from my real life. No one in RL knows I have a blog, twitter, tumblr. If something happened to me or to one of my online friends, it would be like we just disappeared. I would hate not knowing what happened to someone who just vanished like that. I've often though of doing an "I guess I kicked the bucket" post and scheduling it in the future. Then, when the date came, I could just reschedule it before it posted. I guess that's pretty morbid. I get that way sometimes.

Ingrid said...

Eyre that is what I think too sometimes. If I die tomorrow no one will know from my online friends what happened and I simply disappear...

Tam said...

Don't bet on it you guys. I have Ingrid's mailing address. If you disappeared I'd be sending letters which your family would likely get and they would hopefully tell me what happened and I'd spread the word. LOL You'd be surprised who would try to track you down if you just vanished. :-)

My daughter knows enough of my on-line life. She'd contact the appropriate one or two within each of my circles who would be responsible for passing on the message. One for the Puntabugang, one for m/m and one for my Mom group. That would cover all the bases. :-)

She just told me she'll burn my computer. Although knowing her she'll probably enjoy what's on there. She's read some m/m YA. LOL

Erotic Horizon said...

Love this post - very pleased to see someone else thinks about these things as well..

I am with Lily on the petition, I do sign a whole lot - get disappointed when some don't make a difference - but share in the joy when some do get resolved.... worth it for me...

All my major stuff like bank and email and such have all been dealt with - sister and mom....

The questionable stuff - magnets in the door frame - only hope someone remember to go pass the PC through the doors frame... a bit overkill, but I think my stepdad is more worried about his reputation than mine if my PC ever get looked at..

:)

Tam said...

Ha! Magnets. It's all those little things you don't think about. And I could make a list of passwords and stuff but it's likely obsolete about a week later. Lots of stuff would just expire I assume.

Angelo Ventura said...

Petitions: well, they count for something. Obviously, the fact that an Italian or Japanese signed a petition on a local matter in Ohio means little, but still, i's a message.
As for cleaning up...hey,when I'm dead it'll be their business what they'll think, OK?

Tam said...

I did receive an e-mail from change.org just this week claiming that they received replies from several companies who claimed to be making changes because of it. I tend to be a bit of a cynic and think they are just saying that to get them off their back, but you never know and if even one is successful then it's a success.