Political Humor?

Politically, I am becoming more of a real independent these days. As both of the major political parties are leaning towards their extremes, we are in a quagmire, and I am standing in the middle scoffing at both sides. Nonetheless, I found the following political joke to be fairly clever.

A woman in a hot air balloon realized she was lost. She lowered her altitude and spotted a man in a boat below. She shouted to him, "Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I am."

The man consulted his portable GPS and replied, "You're in a hot air balloon, approximately 30 feet above ground elevation of 2,346 feet above sea level. You are at 31 degrees, 14.97 minutes north latitude and 100 degrees, 49.09 minutes west longitude.

She rolled her eyes and said, "You must be a Democrat."

"I am," replied the man. "How did you know?" 

"Well," answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is technically correct. But I have no idea what to do with your information, and I'm still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help to me."

The man smiled and responded, "You must be a Republican."

"I am," replied the balloonist. "How did you know?"

"Well," said the man, "you don't know where you are -- or where you are going. You've risen to where you are due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. You're in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but somehow, now it's MY fault."


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Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Old Fogie?

A year or so ago I read an article about microblogging on the MSNBC blog site. The writer talked about how "old people" don't understand the concept of microblogging. She states:

I’m betting the majority of all these Twitter-hatin’ cranks are war-torn veterans of Web 1.0. They’ve been through the bubble and bust. They experienced the unbridled excitement of wicked-cool technology with all it promises … and they got burned. Bearing all the cynicism that typifies Generation X, these Twitter-haters sneer at un-jaded Generation Y with anticipatory schadenfreude and jealousy. Yes, jealously. Admit it or not, inability to immediately embrace Twitter means you’re old.

As a direct assault on my ego, I took this as a challenge and have been trying to "like" Twitter...with not much success... since then. I admit, I don't get it. Ultimately the author also states, "Twitter, then, is the latest evidence of the Paris Hiltoning of America." God help us.

The other thing I don't get is Second Life and the whole gaming thing. Yes, I was a "junior exploder" as a youth but born way before the age when little boys were given GameBoys for their first birthday. We got Erector Sets. I apparently missed that critical period of gameboy development or "D&D" indoctrination and never have been able to find any value in having an avatar or a magic sword. 

The latest assault on my ego comes in the form of a political commentary blog which has been tearing up the blogosphere in the last two days. From someone calling themselves Hedgehog and using LiveJournal, they have created what is apparently a comical faux IM transcript between and among the presidential candidates of the 2008 election cycle. It is written in the venacular of gamers and using an IM scripting model. I didn't get this either. I am sure there are people out there who understand "I rift in from Sigil!  I'm a Chaotic Neutral Tiefling Barbarian/Monk/Rogue!" - but not me. 

I'm betting none of the presidential characters mentioned in this piece understand it either. Should we be concerned? 

May the Force be With You.

~j