Purveyor of Blue Pocohontas in the Skyrealms of Jorune is right. Won’t somebody please think of the dignity of highly profitable commodities?

That right there? Proper scathing, that is.

This evening, I’m planning on going to an event held at a restaurant specializing in Japanese cuisine, before meeting some friends afterwords at an Irish-themed pub.

There is literally no part of life that isn’t globalized.  And I’ll be damned if that isn’t one of the coolest things about living in the future.

A short course on surviving the web:

1. Everything’s amplified. Except subtlety.
2. Say things you believe are true.
3. No one understands; no one cares.
4. Never explain yourself.
5. Apologize less; think more.
6. Avatars aren’t people; people aren’t avatars; “friends” aren’t friends.
7. Everyone thinks you’re talking to them. Seriously.
8. Distinguish attacks against people from attacks against one person.
9. Assume everyone is alone, drunk, and a little heavier than they’d like.
10. Never argue in public. Fucking never.
11. When in doubt, take it offline.
12. Filter, filter.
13. Embrace “hypocrisy.” It drives critics crazy.
14. Remember who your (real) friends are.
15. Remember who you are.
16. Remember you can always stop. Anything. Any time.
17. Never make lists of rules.

(Link)

So.  Damned.  True.  And far better articulated than I ever could have managed.  We all need reminders like these sometimes.  The Internet is really damned amazing, but it’s not real life.  Things work differently here and I think it does us good (well, I know it does me good) to be reminded of that fact.  This world in here is supposed to be a tool to make life out there better.  I think we lose sight of that fact, sometimes. (Well, again, I know I do.)

On the phone with my mother.

Mom: So what are you up to?

Me: Oh, just walking home from work.

Mom: So what’s the music I hear in the background?

Me: That’s not music, that’s a car alarm.

Mom: Oh, it sounded like one of those indie bands . . .

“The beauty of the free market is that it doesn’t judge you. In most American cities you can–in one shopping trip–buy a shotgun, shells, a children’s swimming pool and enough tacos to fill it up, and nobody will raise an eyebrow as long as your card doesn’t reject the charges.”

- Susan H. over at Cracked.com

One shopping trip? Hell, roll into WalMart and you can get all that and more in one stop.  ‘Round these parts we call that “a good way to spend a Saturday.”

And while the day is chosen as a marker of the end of one war, please do spare a thought for the veterans and victims of all the conflicts of which we’ve been a part.  America’s veterans have fought conflicts that brought freedom and security to millions.  They’ve fought conflicts that served only as meat grinders for the young and courageous.  They’ve fought conflicts conceived on faulty logic and erroneous information and executed as the worst sort of political stunt.  But when asked, they have always stood up and fought, and they’ve done so with determination, skill, and valor.

So please, if you’re an American, please spare a thought for the US Service-men and -women who have fought, many laying down their lives, the conflicts that we, as a nation, have asked them to fight.  And remember always that we are a democracy.  When our government asks them to fight, it is We the People who are asking them to fight.  And we ought always be grateful that they do.

Thank you to all American Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines.  Past, Present, and Future.