March 7, 2010

Not that I need another blog to read

...but this project sounds interesting. It is the 3six5 blog - 365 days told by 365 different people. There is one post each day of 2010, written by a different author each day. Some guidelines for the authors are.
  • First, include a timely piece of information in your post that helps the reader get a sense of what day it is. 
  • The second thing we ask is to make your post relatable to many people. When we say relatable, we don't mean you need to write something that others will agree with, we just mean that your writing includes something that people can understand. Feel free to talk about the unique things in your life, but explain them concisely and spend more time talking about why it matters to you that day.
  • Third, be personal. This project is part history book in the making, and part diary. If someone wanted to get a diary of 2010 based on facts they could just save CNN's homepage everyday for 365 days. We want you to talk about current events, but the important part is that you explain how they make YOU feel.
  • Keep self-promotion to a minimum.
  • 365 words maximum.

I only recently found this blog/project, so I have several entries to catch up on. At 365 words each, they should be a quick read though. There were a few open days in December when I first found it, but all the days were soon accounted for before I could throw my hat in the ring.

Below is the January 9th entry. Nothing profound, but it struck me as kind of funny. I am looking forward to hearing lots of different voices from around the world in bite-sized pieces.

I don’t care about 3-D televisions.

There, I said it.

I’m at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas today and I had to get it out. I keep hopping from conversation to conversation about the damn things and I’m yet to verbalize it. I’m not sure I can. Everyone else here seems to think they’re a big deal. Maybe it’s because I haven’t seen "Avatar" yet (another thing I’m not admitting here because—well, because then I’d get my nerd card revoked and I’m pretty sure it’s keeping me employed, and maybe even married). Maybe it’s because my fashion sense won’t accept colored glasses as an accessory, even around the house. Or maybe it’s just cuz real life is in 3-D and I might walk into the wall it’d be mounted on in my home. 

And you know what else? It doesn’t matter why I hate them. I just do. Turns out people are irrational. That sounds like blasphemy at CES, a celebration of human achievement in engineering. But it doesn’t matter how well applied your technical and scientific knowledge is. In the end, some guy can just say “I hate it” and not buy it. And when enough guys say it, the technology can be a bust, even if it shouldn’t be. I bet whoever invented Betamax is still coming to grips with that inconvenient truth. 

People make irrational choices. They buy things they don’t want. They do the same thing over and over but expect different results. They hit on hard 17 when the dealer’s showing a three (I’m looking at you, Hawaiian Shirt Guy, at The Palms). Sometimes, even at 31, they drink a little too much in Vegas and wake up early still a little bit drunk and lock themselves in the hallway getting a paper they weren’t going to read anyway wearing only their boxers only to deny it when their neighbor walks by and asks “are you locked out” even when they really could’ve used the help. 

Or something. 

Being irrational is kinda cool. It’s empowering. It’s also why I know I’m gonna have one of those damn TV’s in my house by year’s end.


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