Day: August 1, 2014

Life Hack #WTF: Uh, What is a Hashtag?

Hashtags.  #wtf are they?  Why is searching for #puppies different than searching for puppies?  And why is my blog asking for search terms in addition to tags?  I’m not stupid, but every article explaining hashtags is like a million pages long and P.S. people–using the word “metadata” to explain them is like, thank you for nothing.  Admittedly, I’ve been lazy wrapping my mind around it, but only because I don’t have a lot of free time and want to spend it doing things I enjoy.  Although I really did not want to think about hashtags on a Friday (#thisisunfortunate), to eat, one must learn how to chew (#questionableanalogies).

This morning, I asked my good friend/hashtag guru to explain it to me for the 10th time.  And then, the revelation.  In general,

—>hastags flag a topic.<—

Essentially, searching for puppies will bring up anything that contains the word/variations of the word puppies.  #puppies will return anything flagged as relevant to the topic of puppies.  This is kind of life changing as I have been throwing #s around like candy from a detonating pinata, and skimping on search terms like they’re haunted.

Some interesting trends have been reported (June 2013):

  1. Twitter–
    1. tweets with hashtags get 2xs more engagement than tweets without;
    2. tweets with 1 or more hashtags are 55 percent more likely to be retweeted;
    3. when you use more than 2 hashtags, your engagement actually drops by about 17%.
  2. Instagram–
    1. posts with 11+ hashtags get the most interaction.
  3. Facebook–
    1.  Less is more.  Too many hashtags = less interactions.
  4.  Google+–
    1. I will try to understand this on another day.

Recommended sites to find hashtags:

Free at last,

BTB

Thought of the Day: Suing the President is Such a Good Idea, Said No One Ever

It’s official.  The House of Representatives has voted that Speaker John Boehner (not to be confused with sext offender, former US Representative Anthony Weiner) can sue President Obama.  Although Boehner asserts “[t]his isn’t about Republicans and Democrats…,” he is, of course, wrong.  The 225-201 vote on Wednesday was down party lines.  Only 5 Republicans had the sense to side with the Dems.

Speaker John "Side-Eye" Bohner and President Obama

House Speaker “Side-Eye” Boehner & President “Stop Hating All the Time” Obama

This particular hot mess is over executive orders, essentially where the president writes something down that has the force of the law.  Roosevelt issued 3,522 orders and George W. Bush issued 291.  Obama is at 183, which is actually fewer per year than any president since Grover Cleveland in the late 80s.  Hey Congress, you gridlocked?  How about a little executive order in your face?  Republicans are not on board with any of it.  Some orders, such as the negotiating with terrorists one, are toughies.  However, Republicans are focusing on the President’s “unilateral changes to the Affordable Care Act, known (now ironically) as Obamacare.”

Republicans, I get it, you’re caught up in the moment.  With a country so divided, it’s tough to jump off the party boat.  But, you’re losing me on this whole Obama is bad enough to sue but not bad enough to impeach action plan (uh but I also don’t think you should impeach Obama).  What are you hoping to happen?  That Obama learns his lesson and stops making executive orders?  Spoiler alert: he won’t.  And hold up.  Does Obama’s salary come from taxpayer money?  Are you using my money to sue me for more of my money?  #wtf.

472ecf32b6dfa1d7d5f6868fffce6786a6bb30d312401a5b4cfce04b60bf4378

Setting aside any opinion about the war in Gaza (pray for #peaceinthemiddleeast), I’m going to offer a solid quote by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu “…a society is tested not by the extreme fringes of that society, but how it takes care of them.”  To clarify, moving towards the fringes is frowned upon.

Republicans, your move to sue Obama, real fringy.  FYI–when people call you fanatics and/or fringy, it is not a compliment and it is not because they are jealous of you.  Our President isn’t perfect.  He is, after all, just a man.  But 99% of you are probably lawyers or have sued someone or have been sued.  Or at least read the news or watch TV.  You know how much money and time lawsuits consume.  Appeal the orders, negotiate, there are other options–we’ve resolved more and less serious issues without this lukewarm resource-wasting lawsuit junk.

Tea-Party-3

Especially with everything going on in the world, you’re doing exactly what you are trying to prevent.  When thinking about the oaths you took–57% of Americans do not agree with what you are doing–and this is something totally in your control.  It’s hard to believe that at any time in the future, any one will look back to reflect, wow, that move to sue President Obama…really outstanding, so tremendous.  Think about that Republicans.  You can still do the right thing.

#dotherightthing,

BTB

P.S. To cheer you up….a mom took the most adorable photos of her 10-month-old baby and their rescue dog:

Screen Shot 2014-08-01 at 1.32.52 AM