or, the unofficial authorized blog for oneword.com™
Congratulations to our new best friend, @blueperez, who just became the 10,000th registered oneword™ user.
We are now competing with Facebook at .01% of their 500 million. And going strong.
Following in the footsteps of another .01% peer, Apple, we thought it only fitting to award number ten-thousand with a big, fat $100 gift card from our friends at Amazon.
We just hope it's not sitting in your spam folder.
Today my friend told me that when he used an em dash (—) in a text message on his iPhone, the message wouldn't go through—at all—on his friend's Android phone. This isn't surprising as the search giant still employs double-hyphens on its own interior pages. Then I noted that we were probably the only people on earth texting with em dashes.
Even so, there are those times when I really want to text someone something to the exact effect of:
I'm only available Tues–Thurs. I've already blocked myself out in iCal™
Note that I'm using an en dash to indicate "through" here and the ever handy trademark symbol. Two things that aren't available on my iPhone or iPad.
Or are they?
I came upon this little treasure called Glyphboard:
(note: the link only works with iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch.)
And other people can put hearts on everything and be just plain annoying.
So there you have it. Just think twice before you drop a skull-and-crossbones symbol to one of your Android buddies, lest their phone explode.
We tried Google Adsense, but when the word-of-the-day was rain, the ads-of-the-day were for rain gutters and umbrellas. When all we care about is writing—and, well, not rain gutters.
Enter Amazon.
I follow Roger Ebert on Twitter, who tweets Amazon links to various products relevant (usually) to what he's on about. He wrote an explanation for this on his Sun-Times blog, and it sounded like a good idea, so I went to Amazon and signed up for an Associates Account. A few clicks and I was in.
Rather than incessantly tweeting links, I decided to create an Amazon store. This allows us to offer word-uppers handy books on writing and screenwriting (yes, those are totally different), the Kindle for reading, even iPads and Macbooks for writing (yes, please). And, for good measure, music that we listen to (or wish we listened to).
Are we selling out? Totally. At least enough to pay for server fees and a limo driver.
The good news is that you can buy stuff you were probably gonna buy anyway for the same price you would pay anyway—while at the same time making a small (okay, really small) donation to oneword. It's like donating to you and us simultaneously.
One used to have to seek out movie and music reviews, or ask your friends if they know a good mechanic. Of course, there were silver linings to those clouds, like, say, going outside now and again, and talking with your mouth to other people here and there.
Social Media has revolutionized the Service Industry. Everyone and their grandma has a smartphone locked and loaded, just waiting for someone to screw up. Or do something right.
Just a few years ago, there was a very small chance that people in the Czech Republic would have ever heard about 1,547 birds suddenly dropping from the Milwaukee sky. Now, someone gets a pube in their Egg McMuffin and I'm probably gonna hear about it whether I like it or not.
The good news is, I don't eat at McDonald's. And pubic hair is pretty much organic dental floss. The other good news is that there is an ever-increasing transparency in the Service Industry, as more and more people continue typing with their thumbs on tiny keyboards. (The bad news is that our thumbs are probably going to de-evolve.)
Never again will I take my car to a two- or even three-star mechanic, or eat at a restaurant with more than two $$'s on a Tuesday night. Now, instead of my stoned neighbor's opinion on all the [subtle] rage in indie music—or even a single professional music critic's opinion—I can get it from a bunch of (also stoned) Silver Lake residents.
What will ultimately happen is the one- and two-star companies will die. And though more will inevitably come, they won't last more than a few Yelp-lashings; leaving us with passionate, honest people that are truly competing for our business.
A word to the wise: if you're in any sort of business that involves interacting with, or providing any sort of service for, other human beings: step up. Because the wool is getting preeeetty thin.
The word of the day is service, and social media is putting it back in the Service Industry.
(Please rate this five stars.)
I saw a huge billboard on Cahuenga at the 101 Freeway in Hollywood tonight. It's prime advertising real estate with no less than a $20,000US monthly price tag.
The headline reads:
Everyday is Valentine's Day
This translates loosely to:
Ordinary is Valentine's Day
Maybe. However, I'm guessing that what they meant was: "Every day is Valentine's Day"
"Everyday" is an adjective meaning: commonplace, run-of-the-mill, routine.
The question heavy on my mind was: how did this get approved?
Then I noticed the company advertising—Hustler. That made sense. What more could be expected from a company that has made hardcore porn "everyday"?
I'm a designer. What do I do?
Or, if you're not a tweeter, twitterer, or just hate birds altogether, send a jpg of your design to:
drytshirt [at] oneword.com
Are there rules or a style guide?
What do I win?
Does the fun ever end?
Thou shalt not kill.
This is from the Holy Bible. It's one of the ten commandments allegedly given to the prophet, Moses, straight from God. It doesn't say:
Thou shalt not kill. Well, unless it's for your country. Oh, or if you're hungry.
God, not being Schizophrenic, kept it simple, as I can only imagine infinite intelligence would.
As clear and succinct as God was; people just weren't getting it. So he sent his son—Jewish carpenter, public speaker extraordinaire, savior—Jesus Christ.
Jesus told many parables and performed countless miracles, wowing crowds across the Middle East. Still, the Shepherd, then as now, and as his father before him, eventually discovered that he was playing to the cheap seats. His impeccable eloquence and master storytelling techniques weren't working. The sheep were confused.
So Jesus prayed. He prayed hard. And then it hit him. How could he have missed something so simple?
He gathered the masses and proclaimed:
Love one another.
That's it. "By this shall men know ye are my disciples: if ye have loved one to another."
Jesus went so far as to call it "The New Commandment." In other words, "Forget about the other ten—this new commandment says it all." He used his gift for brevity to cut the number of commandments down by 90% in one fell swoop.
How we got from "love one another" to "friendly fire"; from "turn the other cheek" to "holy war"; from "love thy neighbor as thyself" to "gay bashing"; and from "thou shalt not kill" to "Veal Parmesan"—is a mystery.
I think Jesus was right on with the whole "love one another" bit, still I'm not Christian. There are myriad others that have said the same thing throughout the ages. Why play favorites?
The word of the year is love. It's simple. It's cliché. It's the answer to every question.
