Reflections along the way.
During Advent, I am focusing on the idea of surprise. And this quote spoke to me about that in some way. Thought someone might enjoy:
“The need for discipline is the same need for watchfulness, for readiness, as in the parable. The ones who wait for the Lord must have oil in their lamps and the lamps must be trimmed. …[Monastic discipline] implies cultivation of certain inner conditions of awareness, of openness, of readiness for the new and the unexpected.”
Thomas Merton
Not that I’m encouraging anyone to spend more money this season, but if you’re interested, Larry Chase sent out a list of interesting of shopping sites that you might want to check out. I think I’ve written about some of this before, but here are the highlights:
FruCall – One quick call tells you if an online price beats the store price. “Frucall not only reads back the best online prices to you, but it also allows you to buy items directly from online merchants while you’re on the phone!”
CyberMonday – Shop.org set up this site to show all the various deals online today.
Dealcatcher – Comprehensive list of online and offline deals.
Like.com – A shopping search engine. This is an interesting concept that captures photos of celebrities and allows you to search fashion items they are wearing and find similar items for sale.
Shop Local – Find all the deals in your neck o’ the woods.
Pronto – Named “”Best Online Price Comparison Site” in 2006 by Kiplinger’s, this site searches product reviews to create an overall product rating and then it connects you to various online merchants.
ThisNext – This a social shopping site that lets you connect with like-minded to find their recommendations on specific products.
Kaboodle – Another social shopping site that lets you organize your wish lists from various sites on the web.
Bidnearby – Find the closest ebay auctions to your zip code area and save or avoid shipping.
Google Checkout – It’s growing.
Move over Bill Graham, looks like latest greatest concert promoter could be the AARP! Apparantly the teen set are not the biggest market of music consumers. Instead, the RIAA suggests that the 45 and older group in the biggest, most reliable music consumer sgement. According to the NYT, “Last year fans 45 and older accounted for 25.5 percent of sales, while older teenagers (a group more prone to music piracy) represented less than 12 percent.”
Watching the growing graying trend in music appreciation, AARP promoted a Tony Bennet tour and may begin a whole series of promotions and other iniatives to target this group for potential AARP members.
This may have some interesting implications for other developments online including the future of online social networks. I still expect a hybrid to develop of online/offline networking groups that relate to the older groups. We’ll see.
NYT runs an interesting article today about the challenge of Netiquette in regards to e-mail sign-offs. It may be a bigger deal than you think:
What’s in an e-mail sign-off? A lot, apparently. Those final few words above your name are where relationships and hierarchies are established, and where what is written in the body of the message can be clarified or undermined.
Without the typical non-verbal contextualizers like tone of voice and facial/body gestures, e-mails for us to look for other signs that help contextualize and interpret the message.
“So many people are not clear communicators,” said Judith Kallos, creator of NetManners.com, a site dedicated to online etiquette, and author of “Because Netiquette Matters.” To be clear about what an e-mail message is trying to say, and about what is implied as well as what is stated, “the reader is left looking at everything from the greeting to the closing for clues,” she said.
Makes me think of I.A. Richards ideas on word meaning and word placement. According to NYT, ending an e-mail with “Best” is a clear indicator your cooling down the relationship (bordering on brush off) while “Warmest regards” is a positive move toward relationship.
Maybe we could simply stick with the cold and hot words:
Icely yours,
Frozen,
Windy but hopeful for sun,vs.
Blazing,
Volcanicly yours,
Hunk a hunk a hunk o burning love,
I guess I better go take a look at the way I am signing off on my emails.
Your smoldering inferno,
Doug
Here’s a good quote to keep in mind when you’re mixing with way too many folks during the holidays:
“If you put up with yourself, why not put up with everybody else?”
Guigi I, Meditations
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