Be anything you want…on the web

Written by Shelley Plett Wednesday, 14 May 2008 09:55

“It seems there is something about anonymity which brings out the worst in us. If you doubt that, come with me into the often-weird world of Internet chat rooms and message boards.”

—Pat Sajak



The collective message of this graduation season will be something like “…and just remember that you can be anything you want to be.” And it’s not just true for the graduates. You too can be anything, or anyone, you want to be…on the Internet.

Total (unless the right software is installed) anonymity can transform introverts into extroverts, minors into adults, dogs into pigs, males into females, or the average person into a complete jerk.

Cyber bullying, which in my opinion is much more brutal than the classic and apparently...

Read more: Be anything you want…on the web

Less information is sometimes good

Written by Shelley Plett Wednesday, 23 April 2008 01:39

“Doctor to patient: I have good news and bad news. The good news is that you are not a hypochondriac.” —Unknown



Living in this age of technology, we can count on getting more information than is probably needed. I know there are fact hounds among us that seek the final answer to their question and will pick their way through every wrong explanation along the way to get there.

And all of those possible answers are there for the taking. We can no longer just give thanks to that one know-it-all who is happy to offer their enlightenment on every subject. (We all know one.) Now we have the glorious luxury of the Internet.

I constantly use search engines for work, research, entertainment and procrastination. But the one thing I...

Read more: Less information is sometimes good

Cure for chaos: coffee or oatmeal

Written by Shelley Plett Wednesday, 09 April 2008 09:47

“There is no hope for a civilization that starts each day to the sound of an alarm clock. —Author unknown



Can we all get this straight already? Men think women are confusing. Kids think parents are hopeless. Women think men are self-absorbed. And then we second guess that and wonder if it’s just us.

Of course if it’s just us, then couldn’t it be that they did something insensitive, thereby triggering our reaction causing a disturbance in the relationship that they couldn’t handle, leading them to pay a little more attention to the NBA playoffs in hopes that the problem would just go away?

No wonder we think they’re self-absorbed. I mean come on, could it be any clearer? I just don’t get the men/women gap sometimes...

Read more: Cure for chaos: coffee or oatmeal

Recognize the mothers of invention

Written by Shelley Plett Wednesday, 26 March 2008 09:27

“Modern invention has banished the spinning wheel, and the same law of progress makes the woman of today a different woman from her grandmother.” —Susan B. Anthony

In 1812, T. Babbitt, a sawmill worker, observed a couple of fellow laborers manufacturing lumber with the then standard two-man pit saw. Noticing that half of their energy was being wasted in the process, Babbitt designed and created the first circular saw ever used in a sawmill.

In 1903, after watching drivers in New York City lean out of their windows or stop and get out to clear their windshields of rain and snow, inventor M. Anderson designed a swinging arm with a rubber blade that was operated with a lever from inside the vehicle – the first windshield wiper...

Read more: Recognize the mothers of invention