Yippee!!! We have contact!

Amazing old buildings.

Perth is a lovely town, dating from 1861.




We're having heavy rain warnings, but they finished up just in time. Then, I had to climb the ladder to fill in the woodpecker hole, started last week.

Finally emptied enough boxes to go outdoors and fix things up there, as well as do shopping.

First they check for a signal

We have satellite for the TV (NOT Bell!) and wireless for the Internet (NOT Bell!) and I am glad to be back in blog world!

Down with the antenna. How old school!

Does his momma know he does this?!

Up she goes.

We love our new location. What a nice town. Anyone need an old antenna?!

Internet fun - I love Lunch!

I have crusaded for people to check what they read. Check 3 sources for verification. They say that the Internet is the Garbage Sale in cyberspace. You really have to check the source of anything you read. I had been teaching 25 years as the 'net made its way into our classrooms. I found students were willing to believe everything they read.

For example, for medical info ensure the writer has qualifications, or is connected to a university. The big thing now is targeting seniors, who are surprisingly active on the 'net.
There was a discussion, written by a US doctor, and their issues with universal health care has spawned some awful lies out there. Musings of a Distractible Mind. He has some interesting ideas, and a view of America that spawns interesting reader's comments.

This same Dr. has now hosted a haiku contest, but it isn't true haiku! It's really bad...
That said, there are some clever people who are marketing their products quite well. The group, Improv Everywhere, are having a grand time: webpage, book, Facebook Fan page, you name it!
Do you love lunch? They do! This is posted for fun!

Internet privacy vs. free speech

Here are the headlines:

Model's Suit Exposes 'Cyberbully' Blogger; Will Blogging Be Changed?

"Why should anybody let it go?" model Liskula Cohen told ABC-TV's Good Morning America today when asked why she went to court to learn the identity of an abusive blogger instead of just ignoring the hateful words

In a monumental case Google is being told to open up user info regarding this defamation and libel. I think it a great idea.

If you cannot go on other media and defame one's character, the why should you be able to tell lies on the Internet?

In a Globe & Mail (Toronto) article, (the model is a Canadian, working in the US), they cite a brilliant ruling:

"Mr. Wagner said one of the most important things in the case is that Madam Justice Joan Madden of the Supreme Court of the State of New York used established law and did not distinguish between the online and offline worlds for judging both defamation and free speech."

This makes sense to me. There are many sites that concern me:

• Rate My Teacher
• Rate My Professors.com
• Rate Your Doctor
• Rate your dentist
• Rate your lawyer

These sites are unreliable, appalling and may steer a patient, student, client away from a perfectly good service provider. There are governing bodies with information on these people, and word of mouth is a good way to find lawyers, realtors, and the like.

Any self-proclaimed expert can post information, and it is up to the user to weed out reliable sources. I post my personal info (B.A., B.Ed., M.Ed.) on my site, not for any other reason than demonstrating that I have good credentials and a background in research. I find that some media outlets present and post articles that are not based in research, but in gossip and innuendo. Some are not factual, either.

I would tell my students to look for facts from those affiliated with universities, governments, medical establishments, and well-established institutions. I have warned, on my Senior's Health Blog in a previous blog: I am increasingly appalled by the number, the extent and the range of advertising and propaganda, and blatant manipulation of seniors as businesses, and website managers, try to earn a buck. They take advantage of those who are ill, and frail.

Reliable information is getting more difficult to find.

marketing strategies & target audiences

I wrote a little bit about this issue, as well as target audiences, as it relates to seniors. However, I think it requires some reflection here. The fact that I used the article to the left in my work life is a key to my age and stage.

I think I will pass on the "Blog Party" - 5 minutes for mom! The site is sponsored by a company. I prefer hanging out with bloggers who are there for fun, not profit. There are many of us who do so in pursuit of cheap fun and virtual travel. I find that more and more companies are sponsoring blogs, and you don't know whether they are giving you accurate and valuable information or not.

Blogs, however, are the least of the ageism issue. We are affected by bias in marketing, health care, and assumptions about who we are perpetuated by those in decision making positions who do not know the statistics.

We are living in the land of retirees. There are many of us who cannot simply retire, travel, and play. Many are fighting poverty, rural access to services, transportation, home care, or health issues. What I hear continually on CBC is the assumption that all retirees are married, well-off, and able to make choices. I work part-time, in senior's health care, to supplement my income.

What enervates me are ads for shows like Spark, or other puerile programs that feature ads that assume that all listeners do not remember LPs, or that those who do are not their target audience. There is a lot of ageism in this society. Government supported corporations, like CBC, need to remember that we are a large, and growing, demographic. I am tired of thirty-something show hosts, producers and copy writers who assume that their target audience likes loud obnoxious ads, that mock 'ancient' technological inventions such as LPs, or 45s, and have no place in the media world. One ad says vinyl 'That's not YOUR generation." But is IS! We pioneered the integration of technology into the workplace. We are proud of what we have accomplished.

Give me and my generation, some of the respect that we deserve. We put girls and women into parliament, into the science programs, gave them excellent math skills, and produced a generation who allows individuals to make choices, to determine their fate based on choices not gender.