What's not to like about Second Life?
This and other virtual worlds offer everything from creative self-expression to business opportunities to educational experiences. Second Life is really the logical culmination (so far) of the computer revolution, a major rebirth of the ego.
The things I don't like about Second Life are less intrinsic to the program and more a function of its newness. There are a million aspects to be refined and improved. The graphics can certainly become more realistic and HD. The avatars are unwieldy; I want mine to look just like me, for better or worse. I am sure security issues and even viruses will emerge if they haven't already. And the potential for pornography and malfeasance is unlimited. In its own way, I am sure Second Life and its ilk will be susceptible to most of the ills of First Life.
MACPA and its members could find in Second Life a whole new vehicle for business development, education and providing of services. Ironically, interpersonal relations and other soft skills will have a totally new application and CPA types might even feel more comfortable, and be even more effective, interacting this way.
For MACPA this is just one more medium to help us provide education and interact with a variety of communities. It can help us essentially conquer the twin obstacles of time and space.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Friday, October 19, 2007
Flickr than water
Flickr is fantastic. I had already received photos of weddings, babies, even a remodeled kitchen. This is the first time I ever used the application and some of its side effects.
You have to love the convenience, the instantaneousness, and the potential for sharing all kinds of photos. For families and friends it is a godsend. I love the ease of use and the quality of the photos.
Of course, the product is open to all kinds of abuses. I receive so many sets and collections that go on forever. Perhumps people will eventually learn to temper their enthusiasm and send only selections from the collection.
MACPA has already used Flickr for our blogs and for Web site pictures. This is invaluable for capturing a meeting or conference or other gathering. We can illustrate an association achievement or event with great immediacy for all our members. And there are playful uses too. With so many CPAs changing firms, it would be fun to have trading cards that firms could use--even put softball batting averages on the back!
You have to love the convenience, the instantaneousness, and the potential for sharing all kinds of photos. For families and friends it is a godsend. I love the ease of use and the quality of the photos.
Of course, the product is open to all kinds of abuses. I receive so many sets and collections that go on forever. Perhumps people will eventually learn to temper their enthusiasm and send only selections from the collection.
MACPA has already used Flickr for our blogs and for Web site pictures. This is invaluable for capturing a meeting or conference or other gathering. We can illustrate an association achievement or event with great immediacy for all our members. And there are playful uses too. With so many CPAs changing firms, it would be fun to have trading cards that firms could use--even put softball batting averages on the back!
My Friend Flickr
I have been experimenting with Flickr. I didn't have anything at hand to upload, so I grabbed a photo of the statue of my favorite writer, John O'Hara, that towers above the market square in Pottsville, PA. I journey to Pottsville every year to take part in the John O'Hara festival, which usually includes a dramatization of an O'Hara novel or story, a panel discussion, and a swell dinner at the local Schulkill County Country Club. There will be no event this year. Why?
Wanna see my fab photo? Go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/raisinhead/1638758138/
Wanna see my fab photo? Go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/raisinhead/1638758138/
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Blogs and Wikis, pros and cons
Blogs provide a relaxed and easy forum to open one's mind, exercise one's communications muscles, enter the world. As with letterwriting and journalkeeping you can express yourself at your own pace in your own voice--with the potential that someone, a friend, a rival, a complete stranger, may applaud your efforts, elaborate on your arguments, or assail your every word. Like James Thurber, the blogger is saying this is my world and welcome to it.
Wikis provide many of the pleasures of blogging with the added dimension of a community project. Yours can be a voice among many, presumably with one uniting goal. It's a perfect medium for collaborative research, brainstorming, a piecemeal process of cumulation with a built-in mechanism for correction and amplification.
As Internet phenomena, blogs and wikis are subject to the whims of an unpredictable public. I don't like it that cranks can monopolize and pervert a discussion, almost with impunity. There is the temptation to make the Internet one's only world and to lose appreciation for human contact; even email seems quaint and feeble compared with the power of blogs and wikis.
Blogs and wikis offer tremendous potential for MACPA, in terms of interaction with and between members. Time and distance present such obstacles to a vibrant and involved community and blogs can close those gaps. Better than any survey, we could obtain perspectives on an issue or program with qualitative detail. Especially as younger generations of CPAs become the majority of our members, blogs, wikis and other Internet tools should become instruments for keeping continually in touch without becoming intrusive.
Wikis provide many of the pleasures of blogging with the added dimension of a community project. Yours can be a voice among many, presumably with one uniting goal. It's a perfect medium for collaborative research, brainstorming, a piecemeal process of cumulation with a built-in mechanism for correction and amplification.
As Internet phenomena, blogs and wikis are subject to the whims of an unpredictable public. I don't like it that cranks can monopolize and pervert a discussion, almost with impunity. There is the temptation to make the Internet one's only world and to lose appreciation for human contact; even email seems quaint and feeble compared with the power of blogs and wikis.
Blogs and wikis offer tremendous potential for MACPA, in terms of interaction with and between members. Time and distance present such obstacles to a vibrant and involved community and blogs can close those gaps. Better than any survey, we could obtain perspectives on an issue or program with qualitative detail. Especially as younger generations of CPAs become the majority of our members, blogs, wikis and other Internet tools should become instruments for keeping continually in touch without becoming intrusive.
Monday, October 8, 2007
Wagging my tongue over taxes
Here's the URL for a comment I left on the MACPA's blog: http://www.cpasuccess.com/2007/10/tongues-are-wag.htm
Hairspray
Like dutiful husbands everywhere, I often accede to my wife's wishes when it comes to entertainment. Two classic examples from the past weekend: Hairspray and Desperate Housewives.
I had not cared for the original John Waters film, a typically sloppy one-joke enterprise; nor did the prospect of John Travolta in drag or an anorexic Michelle Pheiffer entice. But who can resist a discount neighborhood theater on a Saturday night, the fumes from the overdressed popcorn creating an aphrodisiacal aroma as I hold hands with my honey in the dark?
I enjoyed the music and dance in the film and I heartily endorse its predilection for ample female posteriors. But Travolta was a drag in drag; the music, albeit consistently lively, all sounded the same; the plot was ludicrous even for a musical; and the characters lacked the Waters edginess. Baltimore was barely suggested in an opening cityscape and Travolta's attempts at the local nasal. (Why was he the only one to assume that hideous accent?) At any rate, the 90+ minutes passed pleasantly and I had the satisfaction of pleasing my wife without punishing myself.
The next evening concluded, as many Sundays have, with the latest episode of Desperate Housewives. Nothing is sexier than a suburban housewife, though I have always balked at the sleek slender variety conjured by this show. The first few seasons displayed some cleverness and an unwonted sinister streak for a network series. It was an easy way to share some female humor with my wife while getting in touch with my non-existent feminine side.
However, the plots this season have ventured beyond the absurd, Bree's false pregnancy and Orson's newfound blandness are tiresome, Susan's true pregnancy is even more tiresome, and Dana Delany (whom I adore) is wasted in a role that is thin physically and emotionally. Poor Lynette, the best actress on the show, has been reduced to a cancer poster child. I do like the Edie-Gabby-Carlos triangle, which has some of the wicked eroticism of previous years.
I just don't know if I can sit through another hour (much of it commercials) of this inanity. Sorry, Marla.
I had not cared for the original John Waters film, a typically sloppy one-joke enterprise; nor did the prospect of John Travolta in drag or an anorexic Michelle Pheiffer entice. But who can resist a discount neighborhood theater on a Saturday night, the fumes from the overdressed popcorn creating an aphrodisiacal aroma as I hold hands with my honey in the dark?
I enjoyed the music and dance in the film and I heartily endorse its predilection for ample female posteriors. But Travolta was a drag in drag; the music, albeit consistently lively, all sounded the same; the plot was ludicrous even for a musical; and the characters lacked the Waters edginess. Baltimore was barely suggested in an opening cityscape and Travolta's attempts at the local nasal. (Why was he the only one to assume that hideous accent?) At any rate, the 90+ minutes passed pleasantly and I had the satisfaction of pleasing my wife without punishing myself.
The next evening concluded, as many Sundays have, with the latest episode of Desperate Housewives. Nothing is sexier than a suburban housewife, though I have always balked at the sleek slender variety conjured by this show. The first few seasons displayed some cleverness and an unwonted sinister streak for a network series. It was an easy way to share some female humor with my wife while getting in touch with my non-existent feminine side.
However, the plots this season have ventured beyond the absurd, Bree's false pregnancy and Orson's newfound blandness are tiresome, Susan's true pregnancy is even more tiresome, and Dana Delany (whom I adore) is wasted in a role that is thin physically and emotionally. Poor Lynette, the best actress on the show, has been reduced to a cancer poster child. I do like the Edie-Gabby-Carlos triangle, which has some of the wicked eroticism of previous years.
I just don't know if I can sit through another hour (much of it commercials) of this inanity. Sorry, Marla.
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