I invite you to skip this political rant

In a political sense, I’m what used to be called a “moderate”… a little left on some issues, a little right on others, but primarily concerned more about policy than ideology. Regardless of who’s talking and what they’re saying, I tend to listen… not only because politics is my favorite soap opera, but because I feel an obligation to remain an informed and engaged citizen of this country.

I watched President Obama’s State of the Union speech last night, as well as the GOP response afterwards. After hearing Gov. Mitch Daniels lay out his points, I was struck by how he went out of his way to wrap his arguments in some really emotionally-charged language. I pay a lot of attention to words… once a language nerd, always a language nerd, I guess.

After noticing the tone of his presentation, I posted this status update on Facebook… “I’m saddened by the ‘us vs. them’ political rhetoric in the GOP response.” I was surprised by a couple of the responses I got, but you know what? WTF, I’ll take a stand. Here’s the underlying philosophy behind that status update.

I’ve arrived at the conclusion that I don’t see one single benefit – to our country, our society, or our culture at large – that comes from the ideological polarization and legislative gridlock that is becoming the norm in our political process.

I fail to see a silver lining in the storm cloud of culture war being waged on talk shows, and I am not okay with how sane discourse about relevant policy has been hijacked and drowned out by shrieking heads from both ends of the political spectrum.

Simply put, I’ve had my fill of the partisan dumbf**kery that has been substituted for actual governance in Washington. I truly feel that every time we remain silent and allow fringe players cast politics as a Holy War, the only thing we’re really doing is being the distracted idiots that political power brokers are counting on us to be.

Our country has compromise and collaboration – not inflexible conflict – at its very foundational core. Doubt that for even a second? Look no further than the words that lead our Constitution… “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity…”

See how easily they did that? They lead off by putting focus on some remarkably clear concepts: domestic tranquility, a more perfect union, promoting the general welfare. The Beatles were right, all we really do need is love! Please notice that the founders didn’t start the party with “We the People are for sale to the loudest nutjob with the most SuperPAC money, who can turn us against each other by exploiting our fears and differences, so as to best promote Corporate Welfare and secure the blessings of liberty for those of our friends and lobbyists first in line at the trough…”.

What I'm beginning to fear is that by being okay with our electoral process being supplanted by zero-sum Super PAC politics, we’re actually being okay with developing a ruling caste of incumbent one-percenters, from both parties, who are more concerned with maintaining power for themselves than with governing for the benefit of all. Wealthy career politicians, focused on maintaining a roster of elitist entitlements, more interested in dividing hope and opportunity amongst themselves than with making sure those fundamentally American promises are available to my children, and to yours.

For the people who seem to worship at the ideological altars of Beck, Schultz, Limbaugh or Franken… what can I say? When I hear you repeat the talking points I’ve heard others say on TV, I have no response for you. We’re coming from such different places in political POV that I find myself with no ability to relate to the arguments you make, or – really – why you even seem so Hell-bent on wanting to make them in the first place.

For the life of me, I can’t understand how an ongoing culture war within our borders could possibly be a good thing for this country, and I don’t appreciate the toxicity that political holy warriors of every stripe seem so eager to bring to every conversation. I may be naïve, but I truly feel that people can disagree with each other and yet somehow maintain a mutual respect… or at least not hate each others’ guts.

So, there you have it, America. I’m a moderate, and I’m as mad as hell at the people who seem to be spending a great deal of money to make my fellow citizens as mad as hell.

I have a feeling that I'll get some flak on this post, but I felt I had to get it off my chest. Respond at will, but at least please be civil… my kids read this blog.

Requiem for an App

This post is just a quick little R.I.P. for the PostSecret iPhone app.

Before there were PostSecret books, fan pages, communities, apps and a traveling road show, there was the PostSecret blog. Simply put, PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard to a guy named Frank in Maryland, he picks 12 every Sunday, and then he posts them to the world. He's been at it for quite some time, and PostSecret is the largest advertisement-free Blog in the world -- so far, he's had over 500 million visitors.

One of those 500 million is me, and I've been reading the Sunday Secrets for a long time... maybe not from Day 1, but at least it was long before PS was a media empire. :-)

In August of this past year, Frank Warren decided to launch an iPhone application because, as he put it in the teaser trailer, "everybody has secrets."

What happened next was phenomenal... the app was downloaded by 250,000 people, hit the # 1 spot in the iTunes app store, and soon the user community had generated more than two million secrets.

Full disclosure: I was one of the people who dropped $1.99 on the app, mainly because I'm a fan of the site. Soon after launching it, I understood what I'd really purchased... a two dollar ticket to the Biggest... Emo... Party... Ever.

The secrets were pouring in from all over the world, the soul-baring confessions of loving moms & cheating wives, of cutters and dopers and lovers and friends, of self-centered whiners and body-mod junkies and -- most of all -- of people who seemed to feel so terribly alone.

Some were funny, some were sad, and a great number were simply not secrets of all, but statements (often pirated) that were posted to give comfort or amusement to whoever happened to stumble across them. Viewers were treated to a smorgasbord of TMI and NSFW confessions.

Yet amongst their kindred spirits, the people of the PS app forged a functional little community of proud dysfunction and seemed to do a decent job of policing each other. Every time a secret was posted by an individual, all other community members got a chance to "heart" it if they liked it or could relate, and all comers were given a chance to reply to the poster with a graphic secret of their own. Sure, there was less-than-civil behavior here and there but for the most part people posted secrets that mattered to them, and the responders were generally polite - even when in disagreement.

Then, unfortunately, the bottom dropped out.

First, there was an uptick in bullying behavior amongst the people responding to secrets -- name-calling like "attention whore" became a regular occurrence -- but the community seemed to soldier on. Then, however, things got worse.

A couple of idiots -- and really, it was literally just two individuals -- hijacked the app by taking it upon themselves to flood the newsfeed stream of incoming secrets with an apparently inexhaustible flood of scat porn pictures. Maybe they had been on the receiving of an unkind comment in response to a posted secret, or maybe they were just a couple of sucktards who were too dumb to entertain themselves in other ways. Regardless... it was juvenile, and it was vile, and it achieved exactly the desired effect: the community members swamped the PostSecret development team (and the facebook page) with an ocean of complaints.

After trying their best to police the app, the developers simply gave up. Seems like the decision to make the app truly anonymous so as to free people to feel empowered to share had backfired. There was no way to track and block the two idiots at the party who had decided to take a dump in the punch bowl.

By the end of December, PostSecret called it quits. Here is the press release that ran on their site January 1. 2012.

** ** **

The PostSecret iPhone App is Now Closed

It pains me to announce that the PostSecret App is now closed. In some ways, this is because of its success. It reached the top-selling spot in the App Store and users shared over 2 million creative secrets.

Like the PostSecret Blog, the App was designed so each secret was absolutely anonymous. Unfortunately, that absolute anonymity made it very challenging to permanently remove determined users with malicious intent.

99% of the secrets created were in the spirit of PostSecret. Unfortunately, the scale of secrets was so large that even 1% of bad content was overwhelming for our dedicated team of volunteer moderators who worked 24 hours a day 7 days a week removing content that was not just pornographic but also gruesome and at times threatening.

Bad content caused users to complain to me, Apple and the FBI. I was contacted by law enforcement about bad content on the App. Threats were made against users, moderators and my family. (Two specific threats were made that I am unable to talk about). As much as we tried, we were unable to maintain a bully-free environment. Weeks ago I had to remove the App from my daughter's phone.

Like many of you, I feel a great sense of loss from this decision but please know that we fought hard behind the scenes to find a permanent solution. We even tried prescreening 30,000 secrets a day. Deciding to remove the App from the App Store last week and holding back the release of the Android version cost us money but we feel it was the right thing to do.

To the vast majority of people who shared their earnest secrets and compassionate replies on the App, you inspired us with your honesty, humor and humanity. Even though this good faith experiment has come to an end what you shared lives on.

While the PostSecret App is now closed, PostSecret, and the PostSecret blog, are still very much open. Thanks for helping to keep the true spirit of PostSecret alive by mailing your secrets in 2012.

Sincerely,

-Frank Warren

** ** **

Soon after that post ran on the PostSecret blog, the user secrets started disappearing from the app, as if they were "expiring" as they each hit a one-week milestone in the newsfeed. I managed to capture some of them below, and put a larger gallery of full-sized images of individual secrets up on Webshots here if you're interested.

Some of the people in the user community seemed to be remarkably broken up about the closing of the app, and I feel for them. For some, maybe it was the first time in their lives they had truly felt they "belonged" somewhere. For me, I have to say the community was less of an emotional connection experience than a way to check out people's trainwreck-y secrets.

Nevertheless I'll miss it, and I think it's unfortunate that a couple of morons decided it was their job to screw things up for everyone.

So... on with the secrets. Click on any picture for a larger view.




Oh, and if you're wondering if I chose to put a secret up on the app myself? Yep, busted. In fact, I put up two... and they're among the 350 +/- posted in the Webshots gallery.


** ** **

Interested in more about this story? Check out these articles on The Washingtonian, Yahoo and The Washington Post. Looks like everybody shows up when the emo kids throw a party... :-)

Resolutions, 2011 edition

This post is going to be light on eye-candy, so I won't blame you if you pass it by and come back next year for something more visually interesting. Instead it's a story about resolutions, and how even a simple one can have an impact on your life.

Every year I try to make a promise to myself that I can use to help guide my decisions and actions throughout the coming twelve months. I try to shoot for something meaningful, repeatable and lasting rather than a one-shot resolution like "quit smoking"... my goal is to aim high and try to make foundational changes I can carry with me throughout my life. Oh, but just in case you're looking to quit smoking and want to know how I kicked a 25-year habit with out really trying, here's that story: easy way to quit smoking.

My resolution last year was Drive Less and Live More, and it worked out amazingly well... in short, I made some life changes and traded two hours a day in a car for a 30-minute daily commute. To this day, I can't overstate the positive impact that hard-and-yet-simple promise has made in my daily life.

Normally I keep my resolution a secret during the year -- not for any sinister purpose, but to help keep myself honest & ensure that I'm making choices based on inner expectations rather than on external pressures. Towards the end of last year though, my son asked me point blank if I'd made any resolutions for 2010. After I told him my story, he handed me my 2011 resolution... use my newly found 'free' time to Be More Active.

I tried to make good on that promise throughout the year in a bunch of small ways... more bike rides, shooting hoops at the rec with the kids, passing on the big TV I wanted & instead investing in an amazing ping pong table for summertime fun in the driveway, etc. But the main way I worked to keep my word came about unexpectedly, when the company I work for began a Wellness Walking Challenge in June of this year.

As it turns out, being an office worker might just be the most dangerous job in America -- at least in terms of general health. The average office worker walks about 3000-3500 steps every 24 hours, and leading that sedentary lifestyle carries all of the negative health impacts you'd imagine it would.

In any event, my company issued pedometers to anyone who wanted one and then challenged us to walk at least 6000 steps every day. They even set up a website where we could track our steps and keep stats. The first three days were a real challenge for me and, looking back in my log I was averaging about 4500 steps a day... or about 2.5 miles.

Since then, I really tried to commit myself to walking more - heading out for long walks on the warm summer evenings, walking laps around the warehouse at lunchtime during the week, etc. -- and I managed to get into a pretty solid routine. The long and short of it is that I've ended up kicking ass. Here's a look at my overall stats over the past 200 days:


So I pretty much walked from Cleveland to Grand Junction, Colorado... with about a hundred miles to spare. (If you've never been to Grand Junction, I'd suggest checking it out -- I've camped there a few times and it's actually pretty nice).

In addition to causing me to drop a pants size, getting into a walking routine has also had a positive impact on my BP (110/71) as well as my glucose & other blood stats... plus it's been a fairly painless routine to get into; it's about 2:00 in the afternoon as I write this, and I've already logged about 13,300 steps just by heading out for a good hike this morning.

So there you have it, my interwebz friends... another case study of how making one simple promise to yourself can indeed change your life for the better.

As for me, the last thing on my to-do list for this year was to write this post and I leave you with this simple wish: may your New Year be filled with all the things that bring you joy and wonder -- happy 2012, and thanks for reading.

Ken

(Son of) Son of Steampunk Junkie, 2011 Edition

As the end of the year draws closer, I once again find myself looking at Blogger stats to find a good crowd-pleasing topic to write about as I begin to wrap things up for 2011. For the second year in a row, it wasn't even close - my Steampunk posts are far and away the most popular in terms of page views and visits. (For those of you interested -- pure escapist bliss came in second place, with Remote Island Living leading the pack of my various island getaway fantasy posts).

So in the spirit of aiming to please, here is another installment of what seems to be turning into my annual end-of-year Giant Eye-Candy Steampunk Post... 2011 edition. (If you've missed previous editions, you can find them by clicking on any of these links: Steampunk Junkie, Son of Steampunk Junkie, and Steampunk Junkie Loft for Sale.)

Steampunk is a design movement that evolved out of a sub-genre of science fiction based on the writings of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. In most steampunk stories, the general assumption is that modern inventions and discoveries occurred at a much earlier time than they did in the timeline of actual history.


For 2011, I'd like to share with you some of the sites I've stumbled across in my random acts of interwebz browsing -- whenever possible I've tried to include the urls and people responsible for this eye candy, and I'd encourage you to go check out their creativity. As always, I find myself awed by the amazing imaginations that float around amongst us. If you're on a slow connection, please accept my apologies in advance -- I've included roughly one million images on this post.

In terms of a broad topic list, here's what captured my attention this year as I stumbled around the internet... steampunk accessories, ray guns, decor, jewelry, fashion, robots, tattoo designs and photography. In terms of a higher level theme, what I can tell you is that the sheer volume of steampunk-related sites and merchandise has skyrocketed over the past year. Hmmm... maybe I'm on to something? :-)

In any event, let's start with the cool & often affordable merch available at Brute Force Studios, an awesome little creative shop located in that apparent hotbed of steam design known as Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Feeling flush with cash? No worries... check out their special "You Can't Afford This" gallery. If you're someone of more modest means (like me), don't worry... this outfit offers everything you can imagine, including fun items like iPod & iPad covers. Here are a few of their more affordable & accessible items:

iPod Touch cover:

iPad cover:

iPod speaker / case:

Leather choker:

Bracelet:

Now if you've graduated beyond the need for semi-useful gadgetry and are totally into throwing money around like a drunken sailor, I have just two words for you: Dr. Gordbort's. Dr. Gordbort's Infallible Aether Oscillators shop ("Where Science meets Violence!") is the brainchild of artist Gregg Broadmore, a conceptual designer for productions like District 9 and The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe. He's pulled together a collection of limited edition ray guns that run anywhere from $300 to $800... as well as a poster that can be yours for a cool fourteen bucks. Here are a few of the designs from his shop:

Okay, now back to the affordable category - if you're looking for something small and gifty, just head for Etsy and search the word Steampunk. You'll be overwhelmed by the sheer number of results and the amount of interesting one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces that are available for relatively small coin. Below is a small sample of what I found - the first item shown is a little pair of radioactive cuff links.







Now instead of something available for purchase, perhaps you're just into visual stimulation for art's sake? I'd suggest you check out Allan Amato's "Boudoir Steampunk" blog. It's not always safe for work (tasteful nudes) but it is always visually stunning... check out some of the mood pieces below.







This next section comes to you courtesy of the folks at Steampuffin, a Victorian-focused studio in Boston. They're a shop specializing in Victorian home restoration & modern steampunk home design. In a bold act of putting their money (and imaginations) where there mouth is, they've pulled together a stunningly imagineered architectural showplace. A few of my favorite images are below, and I'd encourage you to go take the virtual tour for yourself.



One new trend I've seen appear this year is a real uptick in the variety and ubiquity of steampunk body mods, specifically tattoos. There doesn't seem to be a single site devoted to the art of steampunk tattoos yet, but samples abound when you search around. Here are a few of the designs that have caught my attention this past year.











Another fun new theme I've been seeing? Little handmade steampunk robots. I know it probably says something about my level of maturity, but these little creations crack me up. If you're looking for some examples you can buy, check out SpookyPop. Here are a few that made me smile.








Now if Blogger stats can be trusted, here's something I think you'll really like... a gigantic gallery of Steampunk fashion. Why do I think you'll like it? Mainly because it seems that fashion images are providing a major point of entry for visitors to my little blog. I won't get in the way of the eye candy, but would encourage you to check out sites like Organic Armor, Lilly's Workshop or Alice & Willow if you're interested in purchasing costumes like the ones below.














And last but not least, no steampunk eye-candy post would be complete without a few pictures of everybody's steampunk poster child Emilie Autumn:





So there you have it, interwebz... my 2011 Steampunk Junkie post. I'll check out my stats again in 2012, and who knows? If people keep pushing the theme to the top, maybe there will be another one next December. :-)