11:48 AM

Sharing IS Caring

Posted by JMT |

One of the things I love most in the world is food. I admit this; cooking it, sharing it, making an event of it is one of the best ways to have fun with anyone. As the adage goes, food brings people together. But what about when you ask a friend for some of her food? A few of my friends (including myself) basically growl at each other and then grudgingly allow the friend to take an it-better-be-small bite.

And when you ask people you have never seen before for a bite of their foodstuffs? You don't. It is not socially acceptable at all. It probably has a lot to do with sanitation reasons. That I didn't think about until after the taping of the clip below. If I die of some strange illness in the next week, you will know it was a result of the following clip. This is was just a tiny sample of the student population, a few of the people I asked were foreign-exchange students who all shared their food with me. Junior Katie Fritz from Australia said it didn't bother her at all when I asked for a fry because "everyone shares everything in Australia."
So perhaps this is partially an American phenomenon. The New America Foundation published a great article about American eating.

No matter, the clip I made this week takes place in fast-foodish restaurants and shows me asking strangers for food. Some of the people took a bit of convincing. While I think the video may not be as fun to watch as some of the others, it was the scariest to perform and in the end I was the most pleased with the results. I had never seen so many outwardly uncomfortable, sad people conceding to an individual's wishes. On a side note, I will probably die from this fast-food consumption if the disease doesn't kill me, the restaurant will.

9:30 AM

Leave it to the professionals

Posted by JMT |

Okay, so I admit I am traditionally not a huge computer person. I would rather be reading something I can touch and smell, and even spill some coffee on and know, every time I re-read this book, which I will probably do, that I was right here, spilling my coffee on page 26 last time I read the book.

This lack of computer savvy is probably why I have not considered the social norms that go along with social networking. It is true that these lines are incredibly blurry, but Forbes online offers some advice. And since the beginning of my online journalism class, a whole world has slowly opened itself to me that I hope I continue to explore after the quarter is over. After reading the article, I dread entering the world where a boss can ruin my one unabashed online love: Facebook.

Below are a few videos that really brightened up my day. They are staged by the group based out of New York City. They are a theater group that recruits many (thousands!) volunteers to help them put on MASSIVE pranks. While the majority of the stuff they do would be considered more prank than testing social norms, the group has done some mind-blowing stuff.

I do not aspire to freak people out in the same way this theater group does, but they have certainly given me ideas...

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