phyllostachys 63: Minute Tech 48 show transcript

48 - Mourning: What Are Your Customs?

Good morning, this is Alex Landefeld with episode 48 of the Minute Tech podcast -

coming to you for Tuesday, December 11th, 2007

On this tech podcast about the broader meanings of technology, we'll mention:

- Le Web launches Social Media in France
- Mourning: What Are Your Customs?
- and, Chris Brogan suggests paper cut-outs to educate.

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Minute Tech podcast is brought to you in part by:

Larry Tolbert's Sunday Morning Taiji - learning tai chi and qi gong 9:30 am every Sunday morning at the Dunamis Baptist Church, in Wilkinsburg, PA. "Move with the motion of the planet - move with Taiji" - e-mail leonardtolbert-[at]-hotmail-[dot]-com for more info.

And:

Ravelings, by Carol. Pittsburgh-region classes in needle-craft - encompassing crochet, embroidery, knitting, & tatting, as well as an associated lace collection. For more information, contact Carol at carolb207-[at]-alltel-[dot]-net.

Special Note for this morning: on the same day that my mother passed away, as I learned the next day, the mother of a good friend died. Please remember Barbara Ann Huey Schilling, wife of Fritz and mother of Tom, Anne, Jonathan and Kathryn. Simply sad that two awesome mothers should pass on the same day....but happiness prevails.

Tech News:

The French new media conference, Le Web, has launched in a Paris Suburb. Entrepreneur Loïc Le Meur, founder of web San Francisco start-up Seesmic, is co-hosting Le Web 3.0 Tuesday and Wednesday of this week with his wife, Geraldine. While intended to be a Web 2.0 conference, I've seen it described on Twitter as a tradeshow hosting 1800 people in three buildings - but that doesn't detract from it's importance as a communications tool for the European community: the issues in our modern society are many - the Internet and the excitement surrounding it's use must not obscure the issues, but rather make it easier to discuss and resolve them.

So, while reading yesterday's WSJ this morning, I was shocked and interested to see an article about Larry Bell and his Michigan Brewery, Bell's Brewery. At Thanksgiving in Cleveland, while shopping at a Wild Oats grocery store in Beachwood, I found a six-pack of Bell's Expedition Stout. The fact that I found this at a popular grocery store is a testament in part to what this WSJ article references...that small breweries are increasingly attempting to find distribution paths around the entanglement of the 1933 Prohibition laws that primarily restrict breweries to sell through distributors. Here in Pennsylvania, although the regulations are slowly giving way to reality, we still have to primarily purchase beer in cases of 24 cans or bottles at specific distributors stores, versus the relatively liberal policies of Ohio or West Virginia, where beer and liquor can be had at any (or most) grocery stores and convenience marts. Hopefully Pennsylvania will soon see the light - I'd love to see specialty beers like Bell's selling in the local Giant Eagle.

Tech Question:

Mourning: What are your customs?

Wikipedia has a decent overview of the primary global mourning customs, those for Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Hinduism, the world's primary religions. From what to wear, how many days/months are appropriate for mourning, whether to wail or not to wail, if you can perform religious duties or not during the period of mourning, whether you can re-marry or not within a particular time, what colors of dress are appropriate and how to handle the national flag.

Interestingly, in my immediate family cremation is the standard, and this is the standard for one of the worlds most populous nations, where space for burial is perhaps not quite as abundant as it is in the US. Also, apparently my mother liked the 23rd Psalm, which begins (and this was a psalm which I remember memorizing as a youth):

The Lord is my shepherd, I shal not want.
He maketh me to rest in grene pasture, & leadeth me by the stil waters.

Do you know what your customs are...or do you learn them as you go when a death occurs. I suspect that this is the case for most of us, as death customs are not an everyday subject of discussion....unless you happen to be an Egyptologist. But think about it - what are your customs? What do you feel comfortable with?

Podcasting - Blogging News:

Chris Brogan, podcamp co-founder and social media, at his self-named blog talks about new ways to introduce people to social media. For those of us not familiar with them, and I count myself in that group, Chris points us to educational video's by an organization called Common Craft. The outfit describes various concepts such as "Understanding blogs", "Understanding RSS" and "Social Media" using what they call "Paperworks" - essentially paper cut-outs animated through the video medium to illustrate somewhat complex or arcane ideas, in a way an average Josephine or Alex could understand.

Thats all for today on Minute Tech podcast.
you can reach me at minutetech@gmail.com -
and my blog is at minutetech.blogspot.com

"Move with the motion of the planet - move with Taiji"

- Le Web launches Social Media in France
- Mourning: What Are Your Customs?
- and, Chris Brogan suggests paper cut-outs to educate

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