Category Society

Dreaming what to become

Michael 7 Comments

For the last couple weeks, I’ve been collecting some remarkable tidbits of wisdom (wisbits?) from of all places, the Internet. Someone said (and I’ll qualify this that it is a reputable somebody and was published somewhere reputable, but I’m comfortable in my chair and don’t feel like searching for the citation, but trust me, it’s a valid point) someone once said only 85% of what’s on the Internet is true, and nearly 100% of that is in legacy news sites, or traceable to same. Which if you’re even just decent at math means most of what we’re exposed to is crap. Or possibly plagiarized crap. But there is some interesting crap out there.

One of the non-cited things I saw, that I’m really tempted to believe, is that in the 1980s, A&W tried to compete with McDonald’s Quarter Pounder by releasing a 1/3 pound burger at a lower price, but it failed because people didn’t want the “smaller” burger, even if it was cheaper.

That might be what led Oxford University Press to declare “brain rot” as its 2024 word of the year. The term is defined as “mental decline caused by trivial material.” See, to me, that in itself is somewhat rotten. The mental decline isn’t caused by trivial material. That’s what we used to call recreation. “Let’s take time off and do something non-consequential, something trivial!” The mental decline we’re experiencing is caused by people accepting what they read as fact. But hold that thought.

A different word was selected word of the year for 2024 by that stalwart of unpublished publications, Dictionary.com. They named demure as this year’s word of the day. Of course demure took off this year when some Tik Tok celebrity (really?) started using it in a way that didn’t match the definition. Sort of like when someone wants to sound “educated” at a cocktail party (youngsters, ask your parents) and explain how the new red light at the corner will assuage traffic. Anyway, we now have a word of the day everyone thinks means very mindful when it means shy, modest often affectedly so, or coy, and its origin is a state of calmness at sea.

Remember that thought we held 2 paragraphs ago. That’s where I wrote that I read OUP selected Brain Rot as its word of the day. Plug in “brain rot” to your favorite search engine and it will say it’s the Oxford University Press 2024 word of the year. Now just for fun and giggles, do the same with “demure.” Yep, it will come back as the Oxford University Press 2024 word of the year. 85% right seems high. By the way, Merriam-Webster’s word of the year is polarization. That sounds right.

Leaving single words behind, here is a string of words from one of the Today Show social sites attributed to Michael J. Fox. “If you don’t think you have anything to be thankful for, keep looking. Because you don‘t just receive optimism. You can’t wait for things to be great then be grateful for that. You have to behave in a way that promotes that.” There’s an 85% chance he actually said that. Personally, I don’t care if that isn’t what he said, that’s a good thought.

I could end it with that but here’s something from a nondescript post that should be on all our walls. “We dream what we wish to become.” I wish we’d all become less brain rotted.

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Not everyone can be exceptional and have the word of the year culled from one of your TicToc posts, but everyone can take pride in the exceptional qualities they possess. Even the most average of people have the most remarkable moments.

We took an above average swipe at those who feel being average is no better than having failed in the latest Uplift, Life on the Curve. You can read it on average in about 3 minutes.

But before you go look, have you still not thought about joining the ROAMcare community and have the weekly Uplift blog delivered to your email as soon as it hits the website? In addition to an Uplift release every Wednesday, you will also receive weekly a Monday Moment of Motivation, and our email exclusive Friday Flashback repost of one of our most loved publications. All free and available now at  ROAMcare.org.

On Average

Michael 3 Comments

Not everyone can be exceptional but everyone can take pride in the exceptional qualities they possess. Even the most average of people have the most remarkable moments.

Being “average” is misunderstood, helped along by social media where curated perfection is prevalent. Embracing average allows us to recognize our strengths and weaknesses, celebrate our achievements, and find contentment in our everyday lives.

We took an above average swipe at those who feel being average is no better than having failed in the latest Uplift, Life on the Curve. You can read it on average in about 3 minutes.

After you finish that, consider joining the ROAMcare community and have Uplift delivered to your email as soon as it hits the website. In addition to an Uplift release every Wednesday, you will also receive weekly our Monday Moment of Motivation and the email exclusive Flashback Friday repost of one of our most loved publications every Friday. All free and available now at ROAMcare.org.

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Shhh…a real sneak peek

Michael 3 Comments

Here’s a treat for those who just can’t wait, like the people who open presents on Christmas Eve. Every Friday on the ROAMcare site we email a reintroduction to a previously published Uplift blog post or Moment of Motivation to our subscribers. I’m going to share with you today what we are re-releasing tomorrow.  Shhh. Okay, here it is: 

Tomorrow is December 7, a date most Americans associate with Hawaii, Pearl Harbor, and America’s entry into World War II. We noted last year in this blog that December 7 is also National Letter Writing Day, an event in the United States that dates to an earlier war, the American Civil War. Letter Writing Day is an unusual fun holiday in that it isn’t sponsored by a commercial interest …

Want to know what havens next? Okay, I’ll out a link in for you just this once. But don’t risk missing out in the future. consider joining the ROAMcare community and have Uplift delivered to your email as soon as it hits the website. In addition to an Uplift release every Wednesday, you will also receive weekly our Monday Moment of Motivation and the email exclusive Flashback Friday repost of one of our most loved publications every Friday. All free and available now at ROAMcare.org.

Now here’s the link to this week’s. I should make you wait a day but I’m just too nice for that. Click to read the rest of Every Letter is a Love Letter.

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Watchful Waiting

Michael 7 Comments

Throughout the western Christian world, Advent begins this week. A season often lost among the secular preps for the Christmas holidays. Advent is a time of watchful waiting with its own traditions and music, not unlike all the religions that I can think of that incorporate some sort of waiting for or ramping up to the “big” holiday. And like Advent, most often those periods are met with somewhat tepid responses.

Like most Americans, we’re probably waiting for Santa. And let’s face it, we’re not exactly great at waiting. Christmas decorations already are up everywhere, including office lobbies, restaurants, and airports. And I bet most of you reading this have your houses decked out too. Granted, there are only 25 days until Christmas, but I’d say over half of those decorations were put up more than a week ago.

We really don’t like to wait. I was out for Thanksgiving dinner. After the meal, our hostess asked if anyone wanting coffee. “I’ll warn you,” she said, “it’s from a Keurig so you’re going to have to wait for it.” Last time I checked, my Keurig spits out a cup of coffee in abut 30 seconds. Quelle horreur!

We complain about waiting in line and we complain about waiting on hold (but companies who insist on using robo-answerers instead of human operators deserve all the complaints you can throw at them). We look for the fastest route to wherever were driving and the shortest lines at the local mega-mart.

We can use a period like Advent to slow down and appreciate all the season has to offer. Imagine the calm you might experience if for each day in December you spend a quiet moment in meditation, solitude, prayer, or just staring out the window and enjoy a moment not spent in cleaning, decorating, baking, writing and mailing cards and packages, and complaining about where all the time goes. Doesn’t matter where, it just goes.

I think I’d take some of those moments for yourself before someone else gets to them.

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Time again for a shameless plug for the latest Uplift blog post. Even though Thanksgiving is over, it’s still a good read about how it’s a good time to celebrate our love and dysfunction. Yep, they really do go together. Despite life’s imperfections, it’s still a celebration worth being thankful for.

But before you go look, have you still not thought about joining the ROAMcare community and have the weekly Uplift blog delivered to your email as soon as it hits the website? In addition to an Uplift release every Wednesday, you will also receive weekly a Monday Moment of Motivation, and our email exclusive Friday Flashback repost of one of our most loved publications. All free and available now at  ROAMcare.org.

The silly side of serious

Michael 6 Comments

If you read yesterday’s Uplift post, you might have been wondering where we were going with our opening sentence. By the time you got to the second paragraph, you may had doubted that you were even on the right website. How often do you find a post digging into how we improve our lots in life by comparing it to a stereotypical American Thanksgiving dinner (less the pumpkin pie)?

We knew we wanted something relating to Thanksgiving but not necessarily about Thanksgiving. (We’ll do that next week.) We both have been busy working on improvements. Not the self-improvements you might think based on our string of self-helper posts. Physical improvements to things, Diem to her house, me to my little hobby car. It made us wonder, why do people bother to try new things. We like the idea of new ideas but what gives people the idea to try making those ideas ideals. We hit upon one unassailable fact. The old stuff wasn’t very good.

Nobody cares about a better mousetrap no matter how many get built. But come up with a mouse repellant that works and now it’s a different story. A whole different way to do something that nobody thought of before. Or was able to accomplish before. Those things that so changed the way we conduct life deserve at least a passing remark of thanks.

I remembered a post I wrote for Thanksgiving in 2014. I was only interested in one part of it. The part about the turkey, the stuffing, and the cranberry sauce. It turned out, It was a pretty good preface to yesterday’s sentiment, Give thanks for what is broken. Go ahead, give them a look.

While you are there, consider joining the ROAMcare community and have Uplift delivered to your email as soon as it hits the website. In addition to an Uplift release every Wednesday, you will also receive weekly our Monday Moment of Motivation and the email exclusive Blast from the Past repost of one of our most loved publications every Friday. All free and available now at ROAMcare.org.

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All the fits that’s new to print

Michael 7 Comments

I read an interesting article in the paper, as in newspaper, last week reporting on a survey conducted in May. It would have been nice to know this information sooner but I suppose there were more interesting events to report on between then and now. It was in a local paper so maybe it may the national news and I missed it but it seems to be the sort of thing that I would find if it was out there. Then I dug my way to the source and discovered the results were published just last month, so this might be the first I could have seen it.

It is a report of the News Literacy Project’s survey of teen’s interest in, sources of, and understanding of media, news not social. If you’d like to slog your way through all 101 pages, you can find it here. (Naturally I wondered if it got to that length naturally, or if it was padded or cut to make it work out to 101. But my brain works that way so naturally, I’d naturally wonder about that. Now I need my fellow old people to help me out with this, wasn’t there a cigarette that was 101mm in length and built an entire campaign on the silly little millimeter?) (Anyway…) If you don’t feel like slogging this early in the day, alloy me to summarize my slog of this report of a survey of 1,110 kiddies aged 13 to 18.

The conclusion: Kids don’t know crap but think they do.

More detail? Teens are exposed to misinformation (unintentional false information), disinformation (intentional false information), and conspiracy theories (whack job BS), in up to 1 or 5 of the post sources of “news” they consume. AND…81% believe the false information is true Their shared experiences added to their acceptance of the legitimacy of the source and the frequency and placement of the posts added to their reception validity and veracity of the information. (Those big words were mine, not theirs.)

In the above paragraph I added the quotes around news for two reasons. One, the type of information they are being presented, and the source of the information. Per the survey report, quoting a 2022 Reuters Institute study, teens distinguish between “news” and “the news.” It goes on to say, “The News” is narrow in scope and defines as mainly politics and current events. “News” is broadly anything that is happening in any walk of life including content presented by celebrities, podcast host, and social media influencers.

So that also explains the source of their “news.” Most teens get their “news” from social media, the specific site mentioned most was TicToc. When they consume news from “legitimate” news outlets, the most common sources mentioned were CNN and Fox News, the most biased of the major outlets. And that might explain why they are three times as likely to trust TikTok over their local newspaper, and nearly half of those surveyed said journalists do more harm to democracy than good and that news articles are no more trustworthy than other online content creators.

Now we get to the interested part of the report. These aren’t just young teens that may not have been exposed to much news (or to much of “the news”). The survey showed common results from all ages 13-18. Apparently, teens not only are not being exposed to much news but do not understand the purpose and process of news gathering and reporting.

Less than 40% of those surveyed had ever been presented with educational programs discussing news, the traditional news media, social media, and their differences and purposes. Of those who did, there was more willingness to accept legacy news sources as trustworthy and social media sources as entertainment.

Another interesting result of the survey is that of those who had not ever been presented with news-related educational programs, 94% said they would prefer such teaching and schools should be required to teach classes on media literacy.

What does that mean? To me it means these kids have some little inkling that what they are hearing may not be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, and as most young’uns are, are willing to suck up any information we can get to them so they can figure it out.

As far as us oldsters are concerned. We’re probably too far gone to be taught how to tell if a “news” story about people eating the pets is real or not.

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Time again to tell you about the latest Uplift blog post. It was a good one, maybe the best one yet. Certainly one of the best, featuring the exploits of Jingle, our favorite tri-pawed. He reminds us that the easiest way to a happy life is not found living in the present. It is found living in your present. Take a look.

But before you go look, have you still not thought about joining the ROAMcare community and have the weekly Uplift blog delivered to your email as soon as it hits the website? In addition to an Uplift release every Wednesday, you will also receive weekly a Monday Moment of Motivation, and our email exclusive Friday Flashback repost of one of our most loved publications. All free and available now at  ROAMcare.org.

Corrected: Take a peek – Heal Thyself

Michael 2 Comments

Darn, did it again  A bad kink in the first email  and I checked them too!

Hi dear readers. It’s time again to take a peek at the latest ROAMcare Uplift post, Heal Thyself.

When we suffer a scrape or cut our bodies heal themselves. When we suffer a disconnect from positive feelings and emotions, we can still heal ourselves.

Heal Thyself

Posted November 6, 2024
3 minute Read

The day after Election Day in the U.S. is probably a good time to talk about healing. No matter who won and lost, there will continue to be anxiety and divisiveness, and people will look to others for hope and healing. They will be looking in the wrong place.

True healing comes from within. We previously quoted Eleanor Roosevelt’s famous words, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” There is a corollary to that. No one can make you feel whole without your participation. …

Read the full blog at Heal Thyself, on Uplift at ROAMcare. As always there is no fee to read, nothing to join, no catches, no kidding.

While you are there, consider joining the ROAMcare community and have Uplift delivered to your email as soon as it hits the website. In addition to an Uplift release every Wednesday, you will also receive weekly our Monday Moment of Motivation and the email exclusive Blast from the Past repost of one of our most loved publications every Friday. All free and available now at ROAMcare.org.

A word of caution: Some physical injuries are too severe for our bodies to repair themselves and require the attention of healthcare professionals. If you are suffering significant emotional or psychological distress, please consult a mental health professional to help with your healing process.

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Take a peek – Heal Thyself

Michael Leave a comment

Hi dear readers. It’s time again to take a peek at the latest ROAMcare Uplift post, Heal Thyself.

When we suffer a scrape or cut our bodies heal themselves. When we suffer a disconnect from positive feelings and emotions, we can still heal ourselves.

Heal Thyself

Posted November 6, 2024
3 minute Read

The day after Election Day in the U.S. is probably a good time to talk about healing. No matter who won and lost, there will continue to be anxiety and divisiveness, and people will look to others for hope and healing. They will be looking in the wrong place.

True healing comes from within. We previously quoted Eleanor Roosevelt’s famous words, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” There is a corollary to that. No one can make you feel whole without your participation. …

Read the full blog at Heal Thyself, on Uplift at ROAMcare. As always there is no fee to read, nothing to join, no catches, no kidding.

While you are there, consider joining the ROAMcare community and have Uplift delivered to your email as soon as it hits the website. In addition to an Uplift release every Wednesday, you will also receive weekly our Monday Moment of Motivation and the email exclusive Blast from the Past repost of one of our most loved publications every Friday. All free and available now at ROAMcare.org.

A word of caution: Some physical injuries are too severe for our bodies to repair themselves and require the attention of healthcare professionals. If you are suffering significant emotional or psychological distress, please consult a mental health professional to help with your healing process.

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The very last, Last Minute Voting Guide

Michael 7 Comments

Greetings all. I see some of you out there are still undecided. How that can be I don’t know but all the major news media say there is still a chunk of folk who can’t decide for whom to vote. Here’s some help for you.

First – If you find reading sentences with the word “whom” in them difficult, please do not vote.  You are too stupid but may be suited to keep the line of intelligent voters straight and free of stragglers.

Second – If you find yourself saying, “I don’t know if I really like him/her/it,” remember, you are NOT voting for a best friend or someone to take you home after you made a fool of yourself at the local watering hole’s Halloween Party for Drunk Adults. You’re voting for the President of the United Frigging States of Goll Darn America. Act like it.

Second and a Half – If you find a political advertisement too outrageous to believe, don’t believe it. Remember, we’re voting for President. Leave creativity balloting to the Oscar and Emmy voters.

Third – The President’s job description includes important things. A clear understanding of and ability to articulate the issues is essential.

Fourth – If you find reading sentences with the word “articulate” in them difficult, please do not vote. You are marginally less stupid than those heretofore mentioned.

Fifth – If you find reading sentences with the word “heretofore” in them difficult, please do not even go out on Tuesday in case your stupidity rubs off on intelligent voters.

Bonus Tip – Please review this previous post. If the post reminded you of anyone, then you know what to do. If it made no impression on you at all, please do not vote. You are way too stupid. Period.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled commercial.

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Here we are again. That place where I say go look at the latest Uplift blog post. We’re confident you’ll like this post about self-confidence.

But before you go look, have you still not thought about joining the ROAMcare community and have the weekly Uplift blog delivered to your email as soon as it hits the website? In addition to an Uplift release every Wednesday, you will also receive weekly a Monday Moment of Motivation, and our email exclusive Friday Flashback repost of one of our most loved publications. All free and available now at  ROAMcare.org.

Animal Magnetism

Michael 7 Comments

For those wondering, Jingle seems to be adapting well to life as a tri-pawed. I could stop there but I also could get an entire post out of that thought. Let’s roll with it!

Animals adapt. That’s not an original thought. Animals adapt to their environment. We have not when we ought to have been.

Animals respond. Animals hear you. They may not always do what you want but they hear and they listen. We talk far too more often when we should be listening.

Animals love. It’s not unconditional as everyone would have you believe (try not feeding your pet this week and see how much they love you on Saturday), but it is constant.

Animals like. More important than loving each other, animals like even more. Treat an animal kindly and it will respond in kind. And in kindness.

Animals are honest. They always tell you exactly how they feel. You don’t hear a dog telling you the cat is dangerous while firmly clamping down on your hand with they teeth and jaws.

Animals think for themselves and got their own way. Enough said.

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Yes, we are at the place where you typically see a blurb about the latest Uplift blog post. That post is about how you can achieve wealth beyond your dreams, and it might surprise you how.

But before you go look, have you yet thought about joining the ROAMcare community and have the weekly Uplift blog delivered to your email as soon as it hits the website. In addition to an Uplift release every Wednesday, you will also receive weekly a Monday Moment of Motivation, and our email exclusive Blast from the Past repost of one of our most loved publications every Friday. All free and available now at  ROAMcare.org.