Mr. Spock’s IDIC

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[This Commentary originally appeared in the April 13, 1989 issue of The Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel.]

CarosaCommentaryNewLogo_259IDIC, to paraphrase the Star Trek Concordance (Bjo Trimble, 1976), represents the fundamental Vulcan philosophy of nurturing diversity to produce synergistic good. IDIC – short for Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations – sets Vulcans apart from other species by elevating their demeanor. Essentially, these green blooded people, by the very way they live their lives, demonstrate a courage unique to their race – they not only tolerate diversity, they recognize its advantages and readily seek it out. Spock, in the episode “In Truth There is No Beauty,” explains “diverse things come together to create truth and beauty” and “the glory of creation lies in its infinite diversity and meanings.”

Fine, so what does this mean to the average person, i.e., one who can’t tell the Science Officer of the USS Enterprise from a baby doctor?

Continue Reading “Mr. Spock’s IDIC”

What’s With The Duke of Earl?

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[This Commentary originally appeared in the April 6, 1989 issue of The Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel.]

CarosaCommentaryOldLogo_300Like any typical driver, I listen to the radio a lot. In fact, I generally listen to only one type of station – the one that plays the most Beatles songs in an hour. (Every once in a while, though, I switch to the one which plays the most Frank Sinatra songs in an hour.) In either case, I limit my listening to “oldies” or “classic hits.”

I’ve begun to notice a disturbing tendency – people younger than me are requesting songs just slightly before my time! It’s acceptable, I guess, for kids born after Paul McCartney’s last number one hit (and well after the break-up of the Beatles) to request Beatles songs. I figure they like the Beatles for the same reason I like Sinatra. Even though I wasn’t around at the peak of his popularity, I know of his historical impact and, besides, I really like his music. Yet, I have trouble with these kids who think Apple is a computer, not a recording company (and apparently so does the recording company).

I am really irked, though, by obvious prepubescents calling in to request such songs as Continue Reading “What’s With The Duke of Earl?”

Rumors Resolved

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[This Commentary originally appeared in the March 30, 1989 issue of The Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel.]

CarosaCommentaryOldLogo_300Why did we pick Easter week as our first week of publishing the Sentinel? Rumor has it we chose last week, which also happened to fall on the first week of Spring, because of the symbolism of rebirth and resurrection. Sure, the Sentinel represents both – a revitalization in the tradition of local hometown newspapers. This explanation makes a great story, but, unfortunately, it fails the truth test. Perhaps the best way to describe how we came up with our starting date is by showing why we didn’t choose other dates.

The week of March 16th would have been an ideal starting date with the Village elections coming up and all. As luck would have it, I found myself away on business that week, and, besides, we saw no reason to place undue pressure on ourselves. We selected March 23rd primarily for this reason, and because we definitely did not want to Continue Reading “Rumors Resolved”

Only Heels Can Be Heroes

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[This Commentary originally appeared in the March 23, 1989 issue of The Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel.]

CarosaCommentaryOldLogo_300This flows in the same vein as “No Guts, No Glory.”

Essentially, Heels and Heroes come from the same stuff. Only the outcome of their deeds differs (or at least we view them differently). Ultimately, the critical factor leading to labeling a man (or a woman) may result from nothing more than mere luck.

Today’s essay, however, does not concern what distinguishes Heels from Heroes. Rather, it will focus on the fundamental traits shared by, indeed vital to, the soul of both. You see, only Heroes can be Heels and only Heels can be Heroes.

Within us lies a drive from the moment of our very birth. Each of us has an innate desire Continue Reading “Only Heels Can Be Heroes”

Day 29 – December 12, 2009 (Sat): Find Followers on Your New Timeline

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Start of Day Twitter Stats: Follow: 165 Followers: 160 Listed: 10

Missed yesterday? Go here to read what happened on Day 28 – December 11, 2009 (Fri): Create a Second Timeline

twitter_power_joel_comm_150Here we sit with less than 48 hours to go in this experiment. We (my daughters and I) started a new timeline – @MightyMovie, a classic movie quote Twitter account meant to direct followers to my daughter’s classic movie teen review site. Cesidia takes care of the reviews and Catarina takes care of the quotes. I did this most of the day with my daughters. The going was slow at first, but I think I created a monster in Catarina.

And then @mikegastin asks me something that takes me back to my newspaper days:

@ChrisCarosa Did you break the @chrisbrogan story?

Continue Reading “Day 29 – December 12, 2009 (Sat): Find Followers on Your New Timeline”

Day 22 – December 5, 2009 (Sat): Combine Your Social Media Tools

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Start of Day Twitter Stats: Follow: 129 Followers: 110 Listed: 6

Missed yesterday? Go here to read what happened on Day 21 – December 4, 2009 (Fri): Do Some Off-Twitter Marketing

twitter_power_joel_comm_150I must admit, I actually started doing this a few days before in anticipation of robotics consuming my day today. That’s correct, gentle reader, no sooner had I completed one major event, but it was smack dab right into another. Talk about jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire!  Come to think of it, fire does have a mesmerizing ability. Perhaps you’d first like a glimpse at the fire before returning to the experiment.

Continue Reading “Day 22 – December 5, 2009 (Sat): Combine Your Social Media Tools”

Day 1 – November 14, 2009 (Sat): Sign Up and Settle In

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Start of Day Twitter Stats: Follow: 0 Followers: 0 Listed: 0

What’s this all about?

Here’s what I did. I actually tried to start a new Twitter using my name. “ChristopherCarosa” had too many characters, so I had to go with “ChrisCarosa” as my username. Having read Joel Comm’s book Twitter Power, I carefully filled out all my profile information.

twitter_power_joel_comm_150Name: Chris Carosa

For my name, I kept “Chris Carosa” just to avoid confusing people. As far as I tell in my internet search, Of all the three-hundred thousand Americans, only three of them can be called “Chris Carosa.” I met the other two – when I was a kid. One is another “Christopher” and the other is a “Christine.” They don’t appear to reside on Twitter.

Location: Mendon, New York

Now the location caused me to think a bit. Most web surfers will have never heard of my town. Still, I am proud of my municipality, having once (hopefully ably) served on its Town Board, so I thought I’d identify it. Furthermore, I figured, since I had the room anyway, I’d spell out the full name of the state. I never served in any elective office for New York State (which probably explains why I still have friends), but I nonetheless have an affinity for the Empire State.

Web: https://chriscarosa.com

It turns out this Twitter username limit helped me avoid a major mistake. My web-site (which I added to Twitter) is “ChrisCarosa.com” and if I had used my full name, my Twitter User Name would not have matched my web-site name. Bewilderment averted.

Bio: Author, speaker, entrepreneur who likes connecting with family, friends and the future and loves Western New York.

My one-line bio proved a bit of a challenge. I’m used to a standard elevator pitch for my business, but this Twitter account isn’t about my business. In fact, being in a highly regulated industry, I’m bending over backward to separate my business activities from my social media activities. So I used a variation on a theme (specifically, Joel Comm’s theme of three). It started as a three and three – what I am and who I want to connect to. I added the “and loves Western New York” when I realized searchers might not know Mendon exists in that region of the state.

Lastly, I added the account to TweetDeck and CoTweet (but not SocialOomph, which I’m determining whether I should continue using.

How many followers do you think I’ll have after 30 days? Click here to enter your guess on my Survey Monkey survey “Chris Carosa’s 30-Day Plan to Dominate Twitter Experiment.” There’s no prize, but the fan who guesses the closest correct number the earliest will “win” and I’ll mention you if you want me to.

Find out today’s results on Day 2 – November 15, 2009 (Sun): Create Your Background Image

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