Mitch Gann’s

I am planning to post at least twice a week, once on the weekend and once in mid-week. The topics will be things of interest to me as a mature adult (or, as my darling daughters like to put it, a really old person). The topics may include

1. Memories of days gone by while I still  have some
2. Health news for folks over 50
3. Baby Boomers in the news who set a good example
4. Baby Boomers in the news who set a bad example
5. Death (the typical result of an excess of aging)
6. Sex (see #1 above)
7. Tech / web stuff of possible use to grown-ups
8. Politics and the economy from a Boomer perspective

I won’t write about my professional interests here (rhetoric, composition, teaching, higher education) except when they intersect with the topics above and might interest a general audience.  Same with my personal life. I have or will have other places for that kind of thing.

OK, it’s time to start writing again. Like the French, I took off most of August.

I discovered something new in the world of micro-blogging yesterday. Everyone knows about Twitter and its 140 character posts.  But some open-source developers have created a platform called “Laconica” that can be installed on any server to create custom micro-blogs. They also feature a 140 character limit to posts.  The great thing about Laconica (and any similar open source systems that might come along) is that the micro-blogs will be able to communicate with each other. You can establish an identity on one micro-blog site, and use it on others.  Right now, online communities tend to be “silos” unto themselves.

At the same time, a micro-blog could have its own special focus and specialized audience.  For instance, I have joined Leo Laporte’s micro-blog on his “This Week in Technology (TWiT)” site.  He just set it up a couple days ago, using Laconica, for the community that watches his video-casts at twitlive. Laporte calls his micro-blog “the Twit Army Canteen.” The community is mostly male and all technology junkie.  All Twits, in other words.

I nearly did a spit-take with my morning coffee when the gang on ABC’s “This Week” began discussing how Mitch I. Gann will vote in the presidential election.

While this blog has been steadily gaining in readership, I never expected to get a mention in the mainstream media this soon.

One of the panelists — it was either Sam Donaldson or Cokie Roberts — asserted that John McCain has a good shot at taking the Mitch I. Gann vote, despite an economic situation that ought to send Mitch I. Gann securely into the Democratic camp.

First, let me say that I am doing OK economically.  True, my potential inheritance of GM stock is looking shaky.  But I never counted much on an inheritance.  The Ganns have a long history of taking it with them.

Now, as for how I will vote this fall, as any reader of this blog can tell, I am not crazy about either of the major party candidates.  Still, I can’t see wasting my ballot on some third or fourth party loon.  I think we should go with one of the loons who has a chance of being elected.

Let me list the obvious strengths of Obama and McCain:

Obama’s Strong Points

1. Democrat
2. Not another boring white guy
3. Younger than I am
4. Speaks well, and in English

McCain’s Strong Points

1. Not popular with the Christian Right
2. Strong on defense
3. Older than I am
4. Determined to win in Vietnam

As you can see, it is pretty much a toss-up. The candidate who has the courage and common sense to suspend all TV advertising until October will have an edge with me.  Failing that test, as I’m sure both will, I’ll have no choice but to study the white papers, spending hours comparing the candidates’ positions.  However, the fall is busy for me, so it may come down to the usual coin flip.

I want to make one thing clear: Mitch I. Gann cannot be bought. Rented cheaply, perhaps.  In that regard, there is plenty of ad space available on this highly influential, nationally known blog and I am running a special to November 5th  — three muckrakers for the price of two.

If you’re looking to do some mobile blogging, or just blogging via email post, check out the brand new Posterous web site.

You can create a Posterous blog just by sending an email to this address: post@posterous.com with the email subject line as the post title and the email message as the post body.

Then you will get an instant response telling you that your blog has been created, its address, and how to create a password.  Creating a password also allows you to adjust your address if needed. I got “Mitch” right off the bat.

My Posterous blog is at http://mitch.posterous.com. I don’t have much there now, just an old photo of Niagara Falls.  I may just post photos there — old or new, but mostly old.  Random shots from my life. Why not? It’s free.

You can post video, too, if you want to.  Or just plain old words. To post, you just send an email to post@posterous.com, with your media files attached. Or without media files.  It’s easy.

Greg Rappleye (Sonnets at 4 a.m.) has an amusing post about words he could live without. For instance, he could live without hearing “stakeholders” as it is used in social services circles, commenting that the word “should not be used outside of the cast list of a vampire movie.”

There are entire phrases I could live without. One that especially bugs me is “I would like to/ We would like to” as in “We would like to thank you for your participation.” If your intention is to thank the reader or listener, then just do it: “Thank you for your participation.” Telling what you would like to do is not the same as doing it. After all, the “I would like to” clause can always be followed by one starting with “but.”

I would like to give you a raise . . . but you don’t deserve one.

I would like to thank you for your participation . . . but it was pathetic.

I would like to give you an example . . . but I can’t think of one.

My friend, colleague and fellow blogger Macy Swain (Night Blind) has noted a recent outbreak of slow-driving in our community, and speculates that the other drivers “are driving slowly to save gas. Nobody ever goes the speed limit on Court Street; people usually dart from lane to lane, shooting ahead if anybody dares to dawdle, honking, gesturing, giving the stink eye. Not today. I think my mates on Court are maximizing every drop” (The Go-Slow Club).

I have slowed down some myself. On a recent trip to Ann Arbor and back, I kept the speedometer between 62 and 65. Or tried to. It wasn’t easy with behemoths flying up behind me and swerving at the last instant to pass. How much gas does an SUV suck down at 80+ mph? A lot more than my mini-van was putt-putting along. By going slower, I get 27 mpg on the X-way, an increase of five miles per gallon. It adds up. The next step is to get rid of the mini-van.

I love new tech. By that I mean, tech that is new to me. So I am playing around now with Windows Live Writer, which allows you to write and publish blog posts from your desktop. It has a slick interface. Took longer to install, though, than a 5 MB download ought to and tried to get me to install several other programs with it. But it didn’t try too hard. (Here’s the WikiPedia article on WLW.)

Did I mention that WLW is free? That’s the new tech I most love, the free stuff. When I was a kid, way before Al Gore invented the Internet, you didn’t have a lot of companies giving away technology. It’s a helluva business model.

The thing I most want to test is uploading an image. Let’s see, what picture should I include here? Something from another decade, I think. How about the 1980s?

When we were young.

I don’t know why I am starting another one of these. Like my typical day, they always start well and then peter out.

Maybe this will be the one. This time I have my name in the title. More pressure.

If you can’t tell, I have nothing to say. But I say it anyway. That’s the Mitch Gann way.

Maybe I’ll write about the weather.