Day: April 14, 2019

Athletics weekend

Yes, it was snowy outside, and I talked about my walking outside in the sloppy slush soup.

But Saturday I was treated to an unusual 9 inning game double header (sort of) when Bradley defeated Southern Illinois 14-4 (10 run mercy rule in the 7’th) and 7-1 an hour later, to complete the 3 game series sweep. The thing is that SIU is not that bad; BU was just outstanding.

The 14-4 game saw Bradley take a 3-0 lead on the strength of 3 hits, including 2 home runs. SIU came right back with 4 in the top of the second, but that was to be their total scoring. Bradley had 12 hits in 7 innings and scored 5 runs in the 6’th ans 2 in the 7’th to attain the 10 run lead.

My spouse went home in the hour between games (the second game was originally scheduled for Sunday) and I came back for the second, which was 7-1 win.

The few fans that remained for the second game flocked to the sunny areas; I chose a picnic table in the outfield for most of the game. It was more of the same: good pitching and defense by Bradley and a lot of hitting.

Then today, it was time for the Women’s Basketball Team Banquet.

That was well done and fun to attend.

Internet Privacy issues

Well, at one time I considered myself to be internet and social media savvy. But I suppose that I am really not.

I like social media because I can meet people I might not have otherwise met, and I’ve met new friends..people who became IRL friends, in this manner. I’ve also managed to spread the word about events (ball games, foot races, stadiums, books. even math ideas).

BUT, such a reach leads to a cost. In one instance, I ran afoul of a small band of NeoNazis who were attempting to harass a well known columnist. That lead to them spreading fliers in my neighborhood which denounced me (yes, that is free speech). That happened well over a decade ago. There are other instances that lead to my having to expend “in real life” (IRL) energy in ways that I did not want to.

And so, this WILL affect what I post. I will still talk about ideas, controversial or not. THAT is intellectual freedom. But I will make adjustments. Yes, this is vague, and I might…or might not, talk about these issues in greater detail at a later time.

But as as the new generation: they are growing up with such issues and are “adjusting” accordingly. Here is an NPR article about that. Roughly speaking: Employers expect to see an internet/social media history, but they also want to examine said history. So young people are setting up very vanilla to down right banal online profiles to provide the “right image” and then doing things like using fake profiles to actually converse, share more honestly, etc.

I suppose the lesson here is that, unless one is in a position where they can honestly not care about what others think, one has to be as guarded online as they are in real life..perhaps more so?

Off for a wet, sloppy walk outside.