Let it snow,let it snow,let it snow

[Jerry Oz]

We are the products of our environments. I'd take any my parents attributes with pride. I am creeped out by the prospect that I'm married to someone reminiscent of your mother, though...

[westgrandboulevard]

Don't let the age difference get to you...or the fact that she has passed away [[!)

It was just part of her nature, which was and remains timeless. She was loyal and constant, and her eyes always showed love.

I bet you have looked over someone's shoulder when they're at the computer. I know I have....

[Jerry Oz]

Maybe to see the site that they're on, but never to read what's being typed. I'm typically not a nosy person by nature, I guess. Not just that, but if they notice me looking, they're inclined to ask for my advice and I don't want to get roped into someone else's projects.

[westgrandboulevard]

Computers have a way of keeping other people quietly amused for hours.

In that respect alone, they carry great benefits.

[Jerry Oz]

This is truth. They also carry the ability to change social interaction immensely. I think we will see "leaders" arise in the future who would never have had a "voice" before because anybody with a resonant message can reach millions on the internet. Of course, that leads to a whole host of problems. How easily can someone steal an on-line personality and destroy the credibility that was carefully earned? Additionally, seeing as social media leads directly to verbal diarrhea, words once read cannot be taken back and that has already led to the downfall of otherwise powerful personalities. You have to be very careful.

[westgrandboulevard]

Yes....and the problem will undoubtedly increase.

We all look at the words we see on a screen as an extension of ourselves. A friend who doesn't really exist, except on our own terms.

If they continue to agree with us,we draw closer. If they disagree, the disappointment can be extremely distressing, at least to some. For them, it is like looking in the mirror and suddenly finding a stranger gazing back at them.

[Jerry Oz]

Have you seen social media embarrassments on your side of the ocean? Here, athletes, politicians, actors, and other personalities are constantly getting tripped up for letting their guard down on tweets and other social media accounts. They think that engaging their followers and "friends" is somehow intimate in a world when everybody is out to catch everybody else in order to get a few minutes of fame. People are posting things that they'd never say in an interview, not realizing that they can never let their guard down.

Employers here also engage companies that will research on-line profiles to see if the neat, well-spoken, nattily-dressed, smiling job applicant who presented himself for an interview isn't actually a drug-addled, foul-mouthed, misogynistic, neo-Nazi when he gets on line.

And that's to say nothing about all of the cell phone photos that are catching people in all manner of embarrassing situations.

[westgrandboulevard]

Oh yes, it's happens. I wonder if the day will need to return when certain formalities and protocol will become required, to protect ourselves...from ourselves...

[Jerry Oz]

It's crazy. Now, thieves are noticing when their Facebook friends are going on vacation and robbing them soon after they depart. They're also taking notice of when funerals are taking place so that they can rob the family members listed in their obituaries.

[144man]

They've been doing that from obituaries in newspapers for a long time.

[westgrandboulevard]

When I scan the obituary notices now, noting that the deceased was even just one year younger than me, I think "taken far too early...."

[Jerry Oz]

I only heard about it in the past couple of years. There are so many people willing to take advantage of an opportunity, you cannot be too careful with your information. How sad...

[westgrandboulevard]

I'm going to have a hologram of myself, wearing a most challenging expression, ready an waiting for any burglar who shows up at my homearound the time of my final service. [[which will be a thanksgiving, and you can take that how you wish...)

[Jerry Oz]

I'm cool with thanksgiving services. I have little patience for "home-going celebrations", however.

[westgrandboulevard]

At that point, it somehow seems a little late to start celebrating someone.....

[144man]

If I do a telephone survey, I never divulge when I'm going to be away on holiday.

[Jerry Oz]

"Hello! We're the Oz's and we're going to be taking vacation between August 2 and 9, during which time we will be visiting Italy and Greece and have absolutely no way of knowing that somebody came to see us. So, don't stop by because we won't be home! Feel free to leave a message!"

[[beep)

[westgrandboulevard]

I heard someone on a phone-in radio show ask that a researcher not phone them back at a certain time, because they wouldn't be there....

[Jerry Oz]

Some people actually post photos of their credit and debit cards on line. Here's a link to a story about how many seem to be doing it and a Twitter page that someone set up to re-Tweet all of the photos they find on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. If that won't make you shake your head, then nothing will... http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygree...to-shame-them/

[westgrandboulevard]

Unbelievable. Either they have absolutely zero funds and think "what the hell"...or a good current financial situation is tempting them into making a misjudgement in trying to tell us something about themselves....

[Jerry Oz]

I think they are mostly naive, believing that interchange with internet "friends" is no different than a good conversation with folks that you've known for years. There are people who would only take advantage in cases like that because the other person should expect someone to. It's what my dad refers to as"general principle". That's when you take advantage of someone who is stupid enough to allow you to.

[westgrandboulevard]

The individuals who most need someone to look out for them, must find it very hard to judge who they can trust.

Hiding behind anonymity must give them some sense of increased confidence...but almost always unjustified, which is concerning....

[Jerry Oz]

Well, I trust everyone that I meet on the interwebs, as I'm sure you do. By the way, I have a lottery ticket for $10 million that I would like to cash, but I don't have enough money to travel to the redemption office, which is located in Kingston, Jamaica. I have two more days to cash it in before it expires. If you send me a money-gram for $5,000, I'll gladly split the prize with you 50/50. What say you? We can both be rich by Thursday morning, but you have to act right away...

[Jerry Oz]

[westgrandboulevard]

I thought you lived in the Ohio area.

Just for a minute there, I had a distinct feeling you could be in Nigeria, as your message seemed so familiar....

[Jerry Oz]

Well, I needed a reason to need the money...

I'm amazed that people still fall for those very obvious schemes.

[westgrandboulevard]

As I am....but every time I get the feeling, I also feel a bit sorry for them....

[144man]

What I don't understand is that some people have fallen for that particular scam twice.

[westgrandboulevard]

..and they still keep contributing to Supremes "what if" threads....

[144man]

It was only once, m'lud.

[westgrandboulevard]

It was actually 27 times, but 26 of them were swiftly deleted.....

[144man]

I have the urge to post that quantum scientists think that there are an infinite number of alternate worlds In existence, and in some of them the Supremes must have been successful with Mary or Flo as lead singer. We just don't happen to live in any of those realities. So far I have resisted the temptation.

[westgrandboulevard]

Your supreme restraint is most admirable, and will keep you on the right path. Lead us not into Temptations....

[144man]

I was half-hoping you'd tell me to post it.

[westgrandboulevard]

And you were, of course, also half-hoping I'd tell you NOT to.......

There will be a good reason why you've not posted it...so your own judgement will be the best.

[Jerry Oz]

Do you suppose that somewhere in the multiverse, there's a world where Gordy cloned Ms. Ross to sing her own backup vocals and the group folded because nobody was willing to let someone else stand in front on the stage? I can also foresee where it'd be a problem with calling the group "Diana Rosses and the Supremes".

[westgrandboulevard]

Each time I read the threads on that subject [[and I do read them all) I am reminded of the huge gulf between, on one side, the fans and followers of the music and, on the other, the need to operate Motown as a business.

[Jerry Oz]

Yes. Personalities aside, you sell what the public desires and sometimes 51% of them want something and 49% want the other. It's hard for the 49% to accept that the best business plan may not be swayed by their sense of what is "good" or "fair". Regardless of their affection for Mary and Flo, nobody can deny that Diana was extremely marketable and became one of the iconic faces of Hitsville.

[westgrandboulevard]

I'd say, to people who represent the pop market, Diana became THE face of Motown for many years, and may even remain so, if only by historic association with the name.

On the soul/r&b market, she became, as you say, one of the iconic faces of Hitsville, if not fully representing the artistic scope of Motown.

[Jerry Oz]

And in the broad scope of things, her role indirectly influenced every other artist in the stable by strengthening the brand and opening formats. It must be terribly difficult for some to separate her contentious personality from the fact that she was ultimately quite important and powerful. Some of their favorite artists, who might not have been chart toppers, may not have had studio support if the company was not doing well.

[westgrandboulevard]

Exactly. For any of us, it is difficult to like someone when there's an overwhelming nagging feeling of truth inside, telling us that we may only go where they lead.

[Jerry Oz]

We are all snobs in one regard or the other and it serves our egos to believe that the opinions of the majority bears them out as idiots. What a boring world it would be if we saw eye-to-eye on everything. What a troubled world it would be if everyone who knew more than the decision makers was permitted [[even for one day) to make decisions.

[westgrandboulevard]

Viewing it as a troubled world would depend on which side you're on...LOL

[Jerry Oz]

Truth. But it's so easy to second guess. Who cannot look at a situation and determine how better it might have been handled? Talk radio is full of people who refuse to acknowledge that something is good when someone that they dislike did it. Words are more powerful than many want to acknowledge and there are some who know full-well that they can poison shallow minds by making them think that the bright light in the noonday sky is actually the moon, regardless of what the Prime Minister thinks.

[westgrandboulevard]

I'd take a little kindness over a lot of intelligence, any day.

[Jerry Oz]

It's best if the intelligent person is also kind. If given the choice, I'll take intelligence over naiveté, though.

[144man]

However intelligence needs to be tempered by a little bit of common sense.

[westgrandboulevard]

Common sense, empathy and intelligence, in that order, sounds good to me, based on the people I have encountered to date.....

[Jerry Oz]

Hmmm... And do you find appropriate levels of each [[or any) around here?

[westgrandboulevard]

I was meaning in real life. Now, this forum here is an 'imitation of life'. People can be just as strange here as elsewhere and, sometimes, even a little more so.

For instance, they contribute to a thread which becomes unruly and is deleted...so they set up a new thread, and just carry on talking about how strange it was that the original thread was deleted. So yes, 'imitation of life' does seem appropriate......