Peace??

Today's question is: Why don't more people encourage peace??

Background: Last night I had the pleasure of attending a private showing of Matt Lamb's art at an event in St. Helena, CA in an effort to fund raise for Lamb Umbrellas for Peace.

It was a very small benefit, maybe 40 people, allowing me the opportunity to meet and speak with Matt Lamb at length. He is fascinating. He is determined. He is a riot. I had a fabulous time.

Matt Lamb is about spreading peace throughout the world, one person at a time. People waste so much time hating others that are different or think different then themselves. Peace is about overlooking those differences and making the choice to get along. No one has to agree with everyone, no one has to believe what everyone else believes, but we MUST be able to coexist, harmoniously.

I woke up today and I just can't help but wonder why everyone doesn't insist on peace? Wouldn't our world be such a greater place if we could just get along and learn to love?

I took this statement from Matt's website because I think it perfectly explains the umbrella project:
Lamb says, “The umbrella is a metaphor for protection - it does not discriminate, and all people – regardless of race, age, gender or country - are safe under its cover. The top of the umbrella is the shelter and represents our hopes, dreams and aspirations. The underside of the umbrella represents our concerns and fears, that which is often closest to us. ”

Boy do I wish more people in this world thought like Matt Lamb.

Name drop?

Today's question is: what's up with name dropping??

Background: It seems that I live in a world of name droppers. Well that's not entirely true, only a select few people I encounter are name droppers. But it's something I don't quite understand, at all.

What's with name dropping anyway? Why is the name of a person or product so incredibly important that anyone would need to use it?

ie: I went to this great party the other day and I hung out all night with <>.

I suppose people want to make themselves feel better about spending a small fortune on their name dropped item so they need to tell everyone about it. That's it right? It's all incredibly lost on me.

One day someone I know was carrying a purse. I said I liked it, because it was cute (I know you guys don't quite understand the cute purse thing, but for women purses can be cute). She told me it was a <> and that she was lucky enough to get it on sale for somewhere around $1400. I about choked.

$1400 for a purse? A purse? OMG (think of all the stuff you could buy with that money.)

I assume name dropping happens everywhere. Anyone have any good stories??

warnings?

Today's question is: why do some consumer products have obvious warning labels?

Background: I understand why products have warnings, I really do. I get that without the warning label they could be liable if someone actually did the very thing the warning label says not to do. Not that some people still don't find them liable even with the warning label.

Let's talk about some of the most ridiculous ones here.

Hair Dryer: it warns not to drop the dryer while plugged in, into a bath tub with a child in it. Electric Shock would be the result. Does anyone really not know this? Can you imagine someone actually dropping a hair dryer into a loaded bathtub? I simply can not.

Shredder: it warns not to insert your tie (while around your neck) into the shredder. It warns not to let your pony tail into the shredder. Can you imagine someone doing either of these things?

The list could go on and on.

I wonder though without these obvious warnings do people (litigious) actually sew and argue that they weren't warned not do do the obvious act? Like the person that gets choked when their tie goes into the shredder, does he say, "well nowhere did it say not to allow your tie in the shredder".

Who wouldn't know that it could choke you?

My dad once owned a convenience store. As most store owners would do, he shoveled the snow when he needed to to keep the walkways clear. One day someone slipped on his shoveled walk. Apparently, without warning, this person didn't realize that you could slip on a shoveled walk. He decided to sew my dad for slipping on the walk in front of his store. Makes me wonder if he had a big old sign that stated DO NOT WALK ON ICE, would he have avoided the lawsuit?

Do people really need this kind of warning to take responsibility for their own actions?

Sadly, I think so.

Can you think of any good warnings? Anything restating the obvious?