Girls, Guns and Gimmicks

What a world we’re living in.  Teenage girls by the hundreds are gathering in online groups to support Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in an attempt to get him freed. (Good luck with that, kids.)  As The New York Post reports, the Free Jahar (his nickname) movement includes writing the slogan on their flesh with magic marker and one particularly smitten kid opting for a tattoo. 

My favourite (and least favourite) comment on that particular topic has to be from one teen who Tweeted, “I know he’s innocent. He’s far too beautiful.”  That, of course, is the same perspective that allowed serial killer Ted Bundy to lure so many women to their deaths. Teenage girls have a right to be stupid.  I know I did. But parents or other adults simply have to intervene and shut this movement down. This isn’t whether or not a rock band’s lyrics are sinful and need to be suppressed.  There is no grey area here.

One area that seems to draw a lot of differing opinions developed last week when a gun made by a 3-D printer was fired.  This has never happened before. Proponents say what’s the big deal? Guns are meant to kill and this is a gun that’s simply made a different way.  It’s called The Liberator and the technology that made it is fascinating.  Although it’s called printing, it’s actually a manufacturing process that’s never been done before.  And because the gun is plastic, it won’t get picked up by metal detectors. The technology was developed to create human organs for transplant and other positive purposes however, because it’s being used in America, a gun is the thing they seem to have wanted most. And of course the NRA thinks it’s great and they’d love for everyone to have a gun whether they want one or not.

Authorities have enough trouble keeping a lid on guns getting into the wrong hands. Some might say it can’t be done.  Just last week a five-year-old boy used his first gun, bought for him by his parents, to shoot and kill his 2-year-old sister. Anything can be had for money. How long until a drug-fueled gang buys one of these printers to arm its members with guns that detectors can’t detect? And this gun’s inventor is a self-described anarchist.  Where this will go is anybody’s guess but the smart money says it’s not going to end up in sweetness and light.

Are you familiar with Yesware? If you’re in sales, Yesware wants you to buy and install its software. It will track whether your emails get opened, when and on what type of device and whether a link embedded in that email gets a click.  Then you, in sales, can follow up with those most interested people first and try to close the deal.

There are programs that do this type of thing with their newsletters sent on your behalf. MailChimp, for one, and Constant Contact. But for regular business email, when you don’t even know that it’s installed at the other end and taking notes every time you click your mouse?  Enough already!  I’m sure it’s a valuable sales tool and makes time management more effective but, sheesh, all of this tracking and watching is getting way out of hand.  And it’s confusing to casual Internet users.  Facebook already tracks everything you like, comment on and view so it can show you targeted advertising.  For goodness sake if I happened to click and link and look at a widget and its sales rep called in the next few minutes, I think I’d get a little freaked out.  Wouldn’t you?