The Real Question

For me, both questions are answered.
For you?

RU OK Day?

The concept of feeling isolated and alone is alien for many of us and a constant companion for others.  R U OK? Day is a national day of action in Australia on the second Thursday of September (13 September 2012), dedicated to inspiring all people of all backgrounds to regularly ask each other ‘Are you ok?'

R U OK?’s mission is to help end suicide by empowering people to make a difference through open and honest conversation and to drive real connection.

The R U OK? Foundation aims to prevent isolation by empowering people to support each other through life's ups and downs.

What are you doing for RU OK Day this year?

My sister's funeral is today

Do I have to go?

Ironic that it is R U OK? day in Australia.

Thoughts on Automatiom

Discuss:

"People prefer automation over human contact, if it works well. "
The era of @ntisocial " -@rstephens founder of Geek Squad at #140conf12

World Suicide Prevention Day

Today is World Suicide Prevention Day, which is observed Sept. 10 each year to promote worldwide action to prevent suicides. This Christian song is dedicated to the memory of those who have taken their own life. I trust people from other faiths or none will find the song helpful. 

Sad

Grieving about he expected but unexpected death of my sister Tamsin aged 46 this evening

The Paralympian Rip Off

Evan George O'Hanlon is a triple gold medal winning Paralympic athlete from Australia, who competes mainly in category T38 sprint events. As of 2011, he is ranked first in the world. (Wikipedia). He holds a world record time. Last weekend, he took another Gold medal for the 100 metres last weekend in London.

At the same Paralympics, O'Hanlon is leading several other Paralympians in what Fairfax calls "a silent, heartfelt protest.". He has taping over the logos of the multinational sporting companies on his sporting gear that he feels have not helped enough to support athletes with disabilities. In fact the companies being blacked out have never supported the Paralympians.

 In the same week that O'Hanlon made his record time in the 100 metres, his request for sponsorship from a sporting goods company got this response ''We are aware of Evan as an outstanding athlete, however we are unable to support him.''   O'Hanlon has never been sponsored by any company although ASICS have paid for his uniform this Games so he is displaying the Asics name.  (I wear Asics so that has made me happy about my shoe choice).


Australian Paralympic team officials have advised they will not prevent athletes from covering the brand names of multinational companies that they believed had not helped enough to support athletes with disabilities. These multinational companiues get publicity from their logos on the gear but get this often the Paralympians have paid for their own uniforms.

Not good enough. O'Hanlon said: 'By covering it up, we're proving that we do have worth...It's what any Paralympian deserves.''

It feels to me, we already under resource the Paralympians. They get less media attention. And yet they are as brave and as dedicated as any able bodied athlete. The TV commentary I saw said of O Hanlon that he "owned the stadium" for his race.

I understand that the Olympic audience is far bigger than the Paralympians but lets treat these guys with some real respect.  

How can we change this without being tokenistic?  Could we pair up Olympic and Paralympic athletes so that a sponsor has to sponsor both? Could Olympians donate 10 per cent of their sponsorship funds to a Paralympian fund? In Australia, could Sports Australia ensure that all of our athletes (Olympic and Paralympic) are dressed? How can we help those Paralympians from a developing country? Could the world's sporting goods companies create a fund

Eastwooding

The internet showed how it morphs and forms itself this week.

It started with Clint Eastwood's appearance at the Republican National Convention where he talked to an empty chair as if it was Obama during his endorsement of presidential candidate Mitt Romney. The sequence starts at 3mins 25 secs...

The chat to the chair became an online craze almost immediately. The next step was images were photoshopped into the Chair including the Princess Leia hologram and scowling Olympian gymnast McKayla Maroney.

This spawned a whole lot of things including a Simpsons newspaper front page with Grandpa Simpson and the headline became "Old Man Yells at Chair" (originally it was:  "Old man yells at cloud")

Comedy site HUMORdy published a video of the chair's imagined response ("my record of providing excellent lumbar support is beyond reproach"). It is hilarious!!! Watch it here:

Then a @InvisibleObama appeared on Twitter.

Invisible Obama ‏@InvisibleObama

I'm the first to break through the glass ceiling. RT @mbierm:@InvisibleObama do you hang out with other invisible presidents?

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17hInvisible Obama ‏@InvisibleObama

.@mittromney is holding a "victory rally" in Cincinnati. "Mission Accomplished", Mitt. Was looking for the banner, but it must be invisible.

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31 AugInvisible Obama ‏@InvisibleObama

If I was a Droid, my name would be C-Thru-B-O.

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What was fascinating is that, according to Ohmygov in the 24 hours after the Convention, Romney gained 23 thousand new Twitter followers and Ryan gained 18 000 new followers but @InvisibleObama ended up with 42 000 new followers- more than Ryan and Romney combined.

After the final night of the convention, Robert Gehrke (@RobertGehrke) a reporter with the Salt Lake City Tribune, had a colleague take a picture of him pointing at a chair and tweeted it with the tag "Look its Eastwooding". Within hours they were joined by over 25,000 "Eastwooders" on Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, Tumblr and Instagram  all sharing pictures of themselves pointing at empty chairs.

This was followed by babies, cats and dogs staring at empty chairs.

Even the US President (or a clever adviser)  joined in the fun tweeting a photo of himself at the office in a chair marked "The president", with the comment "The seat's taken".

It is fascinating to see how Social Media can ru with something, develop and nurture it. If you want to see more of the Eastwooding pictures, check out my Pinterest board:

So True

"We are all different, there is no such thing as a standard or run-of-the-mill human being, but we share the same human spirit. What is important is that we have the ability to create… This creativity can take many forms, from physical achievement to theoretical physics… However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at.”

Stephen Hawking, 2012 Paralympics Opening Ceremony.

Happy Fathers Day Dads