Category: friends

Rockin’s sea monkey poem

On By Rick McIn friends1 Comment

Looking for symbolism
in my pet sea monkeys
what a joke
there isn’t any
they’re just animals
they live
and die
i tried picking one up
to look at it and crushed it
they are small
all the same
the package said
they were amazing
that i could train them
feed them
the pictures on the package
i got them in
made them look
almost human
they didn’t look
like the sea monkeys
at all
they drew them like that
just so people
would buy them

ron shewchuk

click for larger version

Ron’s first published writing. It’s from a 1973-74 Language Arts option at Viscount Bennett High School. Teacher Ms Gloria Dalton.

Sea-Monkeys is the brand name for brine shrimp sold in hatching kits as novelty aquarium pets in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom since 1960. …

They are sold under the title “The Amazing Live Sea-Monkeys Ocean-Zoo”. …

related – Sea Monkey Mania

Rockin’s Barbecue Museum

On By Rick McIn friends2 Comments

Rockin’ Ronnie had a looonnnnngggggg day.

On the up side, the police didn’t actually arrest him after midnight on a lonely country road.

Here he is at Amo’s house, finally retrieving his Barbecues and accessories so she can sell the place.

… he’s about 3hrs late, at this point in the evening.

Here he is stuck in the snow and mud, transferring barbecues to Victor’s farm pick-up. The IDEA is to store the hoard in Victor’s farm Quonset hut, dubbed ‘Rockin’s Barbecue Museum’ by Rocco.

… he’s maybe 4hrs behind schedule at this point.

Here he is end of day, finally finding a service station with Diesel open at 1:30am.

No doubt this escapade will be bantered in the soon-to-be-launched Rocco and Rockin’ Comedy Hour audiocast.

I can hardly wait.

are YOU distracted by devices?

On By Rick McIn friends, internet, product complaints1 Comment

Clifford Nass is a professor of communications at Stanford University and a renowned authority on Human Computer Interaction.

I was quite alarmed by a radio interview with him on CBC Spark.

Are you wondering why you can‘t seem to get the important things in your life done?

… “Chronic multitaskers are suckers for irrelevancy. Everything distracts them. They can’t ignore things, can’t remember as well, and have weaker self-control,” writes Stanford University communications professor Clifford Nass in a report that’s not well received in nearby Silicon Valley where buildings are full of computer experts who get lost in cyberspace. …

Technology pushing new multitasking apps, while experts say it’s too much

I consider myself a fair average multi-tasker. One of the few people who doesn’t seem to have some sort of ADD.

… But social networking has gone too far for me.

How are kids handling the new reality?

Young people, readers of Discovery Girls Magazine, are online 6.9hrs / day.

Yet they report feeling ‘better’ when face-to-face with friends, rather than on Facebook or texting them.

Here’s a good article on the topic – Multitasking and the Brain: The War on Productivity

THAT”S IT. As Oprah commands … No mobile phone for me.

I don’t trust myself to manage that distraction.

If you MUST have a mobile phone, schedule OFF time.