Looking Back at 2016

February 9, 2017August 14, 2017 / Sheila McIntrye Good, Author / 4 Comments

My mother once told me, the older you get, the faster time flies. She was right. The time between October 1st and the New Year gets shorter every year. It’s as if I blinked and we’re on the precipice of Valentine’s Day.

This is my first real post since taking a medical leave just after Thanksgiving. I owe big thanks to all my Cow Pasture Contributors and guest authors for helping to keep the conversations going while I was away. I hope you enjoyed their excellent posts.

I’m not at a hundred percent, but I’m getting there. In the meantime, I thought the best way to get back into the groove was to take a look back at 2016 in the Cow Pasture.

For the last couple of years, WordPress did a great job sending out an annual year-end review for WordPress bloggers. However, this year, they decided against it. So, I decided to do my own.

Mine isn’t as artistic as the one offered by WordPress, but it was definitely enlightening.

The Numbers:

In 2016, there were 167 posts published; growing the total archive of this blog to 480 posts. The most popular day for posting- Friday and the most popular time – 9:00 am.

Traffic to the Cow Pasture almost doubled with 10,086 views; 5,543 visitors. My longest streak was in the month of April when I participated in the A-Z Blogging Challenge – posting daily for 30 straight days. The busiest month of the year was July with 2062 views.

The most popular post was Dark Cloud Hovering, with the most views in one day, 341 and a whopping total 977 views. This post continues to be very popular with more than 1742 views on Stumbleupon. The post receiving the most comments: My Top Twenty Websites for Writers – 56 comments and 196 views.

How did they find Me? The top referring sites in 2016 were:

Reaching the World – One Word at a Time.

The Cow Pasture Chronicles reached more than 100 Countries and regions.

To all my readers, Thank you, and, particularly, those who took the time to comment, interact, and share. Feedback is the lifeblood of the blogging community. I encourage each of you when you read something helpful, inspirational, or thought-provoking- speak up, say something, comment and even debate. Communication, after all, is what brings us together.

Here’s to an even bigger and better year for all of us.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject. Join the conversation. Talk to me or tell me your story. I’m all ears.

Has Facebook Become Toxic?

February 3, 2017August 14, 2017 / Sheila McIntrye Good, Author / Leave a comment

Yes, I believe Facebook (FB) has become to relationships and society as a whole. I think it’s time for an honest evaluation of our social media. Before I get into why let’s look back at the origins of this social media conglomerate.

Origins

It may surprise you to know that the original idea behind Facebook was, shall I say, less than admirable. In fact, it was a bit self-serving. In 2003, Mark Zuckerberg thought it would be a great way to identify the “hottest” girls on campus. He fashioned this first attempt after a similar site, Hot or Not where users rated photos of women in terms of the most attractive. Nice, Zuckerberg! To generate the list, this enterprising entrepreneur hacked into the college system and stole the private, dormitory ID images of students. Called Facemash, the site had more than 22,000 photo views within the first four hours online. A couple of days later, the school shut it down.

Although, the site seemed like a good idea, at the time, Mr. Zuckerberg soon discovered stealing private information for the purpose starting a babe site had its drawbacks and consequences. Yet, in spite of the threat of expulsion and legal trouble, he was not to be dissuaded. Instead, he went back to the drawing board, wrote another program and in 2004, TheFacebook.com (later shortened to Facebook) was up and running. This time with a different or more expanded purpose — a place where the brilliant students of Harvard could connect and share notes (sure).

Initially, the program remained restricted to the Harvard campus, but soon expanded to all Ivy League schools. The site grew faster than kudzu in the South and By 2006, anyone over the age 13 could join, create a profile and start socializing — making “friends,” uploading pictures, videos, comment, and “liking” whatever suited their mood at the time.

The company went public in 2012 and in July of 2015, Standard & Poor’s 500 Index listed Facebook as the fastest growing social network in the world with a market cap, of $250 billion.

The Dark Side

There’s a dark side to Facebook that few want to acknowledge or discuss; but, with 1.65 billion active, monthly users, members have the ear of the world and little if any accountability.

What began as an avenue to share class notes, make new friends, and score a hot date, soon evolved into much more — a popularity contest of sorts. Young members started measuring their self-worth based on the number of friends, or likes they received. Pictures started pushing the boundaries with the express purpose of gaining more friends and “likes.” Bullies used it to wreck havoc on vulnerable teenager. Bullying had a new, secret and sinister avenue and pedophiles a picture gallery from which to choose and parents, far behind in technology, were clueless.

According to The Best Degrees, the seven most common FB crimes include: 1) Scams — enticing members to click on a link designed for the purpose of stealing private or financial information. 2) Cyberbullying — a particularly vicious crime against the youngest and most vulnerable with harmful and even deadly consequences. 3) Stalking — you know, repeatedly visiting ones profile, leaving or harassing messages, or threats often progressing to actual in person stalking and to the point the victim is terrorized. 4) Robbery — it never ceases to amaze me how often people on FB announce to the world they are going on vacation. With Google maps, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to locate your home address. 5) Identity theft — hackers are more proficient than you can imagine. Opening the wrong link can provide all your vital statistics necessary to steal your identity. “More than 600,000 Facebook accounts are compromised very day.” 6) Defamation– posting false information about a person or business that affects them negatively. It’s more difficult that you think to prove an untruth. 7) Harassment– persistent messages, inappropriate comments, or threats (a common FB occurrence).

Seeds of Division

What began as a bridge connecting people has, instead, driven a wedge between us. Status updates have become soapboxes for the latest cause, opinion, or outright voice of animosity. Language once frowned upon in civil society is now commonplace, as is name-calling and shaming. Labels like bigot, racist, homophobe, xenophobe are thrown at each other as easily as hello. Family, friends, and even strangers, routinely find themselves in pissing contests over someone’s status update or comment. Emotions, raw with exaggerated or misplaced passions expose skin so thin, we’re offended at the slightest word. Trust is at an all time low and fear of saying the wrong thing at an all time high. The rancor and animosity expressed on FB throughout the presidential campaign and still, have left friendships strained and users frustrated. According to the Pew Research Center,

“More than one-third of social media users are worn out by the amount of political content they encounter, and more than half describe their online interactions with those they disagree with politically as stressful and frustrating.”

Facebook has evolved from its questionable “hot babes” startup to come full circle as an instrument of misinformation, bias, hatred, and where crimes are now streamed live, including rape, murder, suicide, and acts of terror. Connections between people have become tenuous, eroded trust, and created confusion. We no longer know whom or what to believe or how to differentiate between truth and lies. We reached out to connect with others but are find ourselves further apart than ever.

Without the nuances of genuine face-to-face conversations (facial expressions, tone, body language) we lose true connections. Our words become more about being right than connecting. When we can hide behind a user name, or don’t have to face the confusion and hurt on another’s face, words come easy regardless of the consequences.

Yes, I believe Facebook has become toxic to each other, our kids and society. We’ve lost the thread of common decency, civility, the ability to disagree or demonstrate old-fashioned manners.

Personally, I think it’s time we did something — perhaps sign off, pick up a phone, invite someone to lunch and start connecting face to face, again.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject. Join the conversation. Talk to me or tell me your story. I’m all ears.

What’s Your IP Address?

January 26, 2017August 14, 2017 / Sheila McIntrye Good, Author / 22 Comments

One thing is for sure, when you’re in the midst of a long-term recovery, you will get bored out of your mind. Top these circumstances with 2-3 days of snow and ice – someone is going to break the rules. Did I mention – me? To say I’ve been stretching the doctor’s instructions bit is an understatement.
Pardon my digression; the squirrels are playing havoc with my brain.

Back to the point of this post. Do you know your IP address IP (Internet protocol)? It is a unique number for your computer and links to all of your online activity.

It’s how a Macy’s ad, with the very thing you’re shopping for, just happens to show up on Facebook or other sites you might visit. It’s how Google and other search engines track what you like – through algorithms and your IP address. And, it’s how hackers find us – not that we’ve heard much about hacking lately?

More to the point, it’s why a suspect’s computer is confiscated and turned over for a forensics examination, following a crime. “Your honor, may I present Exhibit C into evidence. This will show that the defendant completed a search on, how to choke someone, undetectable, poisons, how to break a person’s neck, and how to get away with murder, no less than 200 times.”

You get the idea, but why do you care? Well, knowing one’s IPA is also helpful when determining if your computer or the information within has been compromised. For example, in 2005 my identity was stolen online. The culprits were tracked through an IPA to Amsterdam – a mega site for stolen identities. And just today, I attempted to sign in to Facebook. A message appeared:

“Your account has been locked due to a suspicious login attempt.” They provided the time, IPA, and location (Charlotte) of the incident. “Was this you? “They asked.

I wasn’t certain, but it prompted me to investigate. I got things straightened out, not that being locked out of Facebook was of concern – it wasn’t, but that’s a subject for another day.

If you want to find out more on the topic, as well as your own IP Address, check out these resources:

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject. Join the conversation. Talk to me or tell me your story. I’m all ears.

Women on the March — You Do Not Speak for Me

January 22, 2017August 14, 2017 / Sheila McIntrye Good, Author / Leave a comment

You Do Not Speak for Me

Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

The March

Yesterday, women marched on our nation in “solidarity,” wearing pussy and vagina hats and carrying crude signs. Hollywood elite showed up in force, giving rage-filled speeches, stoking the crowd into a frenzy like throwing fuel on a fire.

Ashley Judd recited a poem written by a teenage girl, “I’m a N-a-s-t-y woman,” she screamed into the crowd.

America Ferrera yelled into the crowd, “We march today for the moral core of the nation, against which our new president is waging a war. Our dignity, our character, our rights have all been under attack, and a platform of hate and division assumed power yesterday.”

What I saw yesterday was the exact opposite of dignity, character, or a show of morals. Crude signs dotted the landscape. “Pussy power,” “Rape culture,” “Pussies in Formation,” “Riot Girl,” “Girl Power,” Weak Men Fear,” “Keep your hands off my body,” “I didn’t come from your rib, you came from my vagina.” I could go on and on, but you get the picture in 3-D and worldwide.

However, the most disheartening visions were the children, both boys and girls dragged into this fray of mass hysteria. One woman said she was marching mainly for her two boys, “I want them to see girls in their classrooms as equals and potential leaders…I want them to know I stood up for women and it’s important for them to stand up for women as well.”

One woman brought her 13-year-old twin daughters, “I Feel Power,” and another girl, not old enough to know what she was marching for, spoke on camera about how men could not tell them what to do. It was a sad moment in our history.

The irony of the message was not lost on me. It was crude, offensive, bigoted, and hateful. It was bra burning on steroids and filled with division affecting all of us. Your theatrical hysterics hurt a nation, yesterday.

All The Roar

The roar of unsubstantiated charges included the threat of women’s rights being under attack. Roe vs. Wade[i] was as going to overturned, health care for women eliminated, rape culture would run rampant, voting rights overturned; and, if you believed the hype, women were going to be returned to the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant. As if, all the progress made by women were going to be swept away in an instance. Give me a break!

Roe vs. Wade was passed into law more than 40 years ago. Since its passage, many attempts to overturn the landmark case have failed, even with additional conservative Supreme Court appointments. In spite of the fact that, “About half of Americans (49%) say that having an abortion is morally wrong,[ii] while 15% think it is morally acceptable and 23% say it is not a moral issue.” Gallup Poll Graph.[iii] For all your hysteria, overturning the law is unlikely to happen.[iv]

Women have come a long way

From where I sit, women have come a long way. Is there room for improvement? Absolutely. To act, however, as if all the progress we’ve made is going to be wiped out because of an election is hysterical, fictitious, and divisive. Let’s look a few facts. Just ask the Pew Research Center.[v]

• “As the 114th Congress gets underway, a record number of women (104) will be serving in the House and Senate. Today women make up 19% of the Congress, about double the share from 20 years ago.”

• “In 2013, over half of managerial and professional occupations in the U.S. (52.2%) were held by women, up from 30.6% in 1968.”

• “As of 2013, about one-in-six board members of Fortune 500 companies (17%) were women, up from 10% in 1995.”

• “Since the 1990s, women have outnumbered men in both college enrollment and college.”

As for the newly elected President, Donald Trump, which you do freely accuse with plans to strip you of your “rights,” are not borne out by facts. He has for decades, employed more women than men in upper echelons of his real estate empire, and in many cases paid them more than men.”[vi]

He has either appointed or selected, to date, six women to either cabinet positions or high positions within his administration. They include Nikki Haley, former SC Governor, the Ambassador to the UN; Elaine Chao, for Transportation Secretary; Seema Verma, as Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Betsy DeVos — Education Secretary; Linda McMahon — Small Business Administration; and, Kellyanne Conway as Counselor to the President.

So much for the President holding women back! Too bad, the facts don’t reflect your rhetoric. From where I sit, women have come a long way. Is there room for improvement? Absolutely, but, to act as if all the progress we’ve made is going to be wiped out because of an election is hysterical, fictitious, and divisive.

Marches have Consequences

Before you start patting yourselves on the back, let’s look at some of the destruction left in the wake of the “Women’s Movement,” most notably on the family unit.

According to Pew,[i] there is no longer a dominant family in the United States. Marriage is at an all time low.[ii] In the light of the hate-filled rhetoric toward men, yesterday, I’m guessing that’s not going to be getting better anytime soon.
“Fully four-in-ten births occur to women who are single or living with a non-marital partner.”
“The share of children living in a two-parent household is at the lowest point in more than half a century: 69% are in this type of family arrangement today, compared with 73% in 2000 and 87% in 1960.”
“In roughly three-in-ten of stay-at-home-mom families, either the father is not working, or the mother is single or cohabiting.”
In addition, the Center for American Progress[iii] — “42% of mothers were the sole or primary family breadwinner last year. An additional 22.4% were co-breadwinners, meaning that they were responsible for between 25 to 49% of total family earnings.”
With today’s, egg and sperm banks — women don’t need a man to have a child. In fact, the birth rate in the U.S. is steadily declining.[iv]
In its 2014–2015 annual report, Planned Parenthood states its affiliates around the country did 323,999 abortion procedures in the fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30, 2014, and that those affiliates received $553.7 million in “government health services grants and reimbursements” in the year that ended on June 30, 2015.

Maybe children aren’t on women’s agenda any longer. Congratulations on such “progress.”

Your “Solidarity”

Your “solidarity” weakened women yesterday. The very thing you condemned, you put on display for the entire world to see in all its vulgarity. You espoused “equality” yet, ostracize, condemn, and alienate those who disagree with you.[xi]

I am not less of a woman because I disagree with you. My life has not, now or ever, been hampered by being a woman. I am not a bigoted, racist, xenophobic, or a homophobic woman because I believe in different values or strong borders. As a woman, I consider the safety of my family of paramount importance.

I am not less because I am pro-life. I have seen up close, and personal the consequences of abortion and you did not sway anyone with your argument on abortion or the right “to choose” with your crude signs and verbiage.

I am a strong, well-educated woman. I took pride in my accomplishments and the example I was setting for my daughters. I raised my daughters to be strong and independent and hopefully, instilled in them the need for reasonable, careful consideration. Empowerment and strength comes from within. It cannot be forced or intimidated into reality.

Your march was not the face of democracy. The face of democracy was demonstrated on the 20th of January when our President was elected based on Constitutional principles. If you wanted so badly to have a different outcome, perhaps you should have voted.

You didn’t teach your daughters or sons respect. You normalized crude and degrading language, taught them how to be sore losers and how to throw a tantrum.

You and widened the gulf between men and women and put all men and your sons on notice. You replaced their loving images of mothers and sisters with snarling “pussy” images and rage-filled words about men. They will never look at you or their sisters in the same way, again. The words of contempt will forever ring in their ears. Good job mom!

You marched yesterday, but you did not display dignity, character, or leadership. You showed the world, your sons, daughters, and men, what a woman’s temper tantrum looks like in all its ugliness. For all the horror and outrage you expressed over vulgar words you filled the skies with your own. You did not create ”solidarity” yesterday. You weakened the fabric of decency and society. No, you are not the face of America, and you do not speak for me.

[i]. Roe vs. Wade — caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supremecourt/410/113.html

[ii]. http://www.pewforum.org/2013/08/15/abortion-viewed-in-moral-terms/

[iii]. http://www.gallup.com/poll/191834/americans-attitudes-toward-abortion-unchanged.aspx?g_source=ABORTION&g_medium=topic&g_campaign=tiles

[iv]. https://www.reproductiverights.org/

[v]. http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2015/01/14/women-and-leadership/

[vi]. http://dailycaller.com/2015/08/17/attorney-trump-companies-employ-more-female-execs-than-male-video/

[vii]. http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2015/12/17/1-the-american-family-today/

[viii]. http://www.bgsu.edu/content/dam/BGSU/college-of-arts-and-sciences/NCFMR/documents/FP/FP-13-13.pdf

[ix].https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/education/reports/2016/09/13/143412/the-big-difference-between-women-and-mens-earnings-after-college/

[x].http://http://www.forbes.com/sites/neilhowe/2015/01/28/u-s-birthrate-falls-again/#7dd813e83fdd

[xi]. http://www.usnews.com/opinion/op-ed/articles/2017-01-19/the-womens-march-on-washington-errs-in-excluding-pro-life-feminists