So, I’d like to do a mid-year check-in on my January “8 things that need to go away in 2009″ post, and see how much progress we’ve made as a culture. To that end, go review the original. I’ll wait and meet you back here.
- The Global Gag Rule | Yeah!! Go, Obama!!
- Vera Bradley | A bit lower on my list of priorities, to be perfectly honest. Far less prevalent/visible/annoying than last year. But, like diamonds, they are still tacky to wear before you’re 40.
- Fertility Treatments | Um, Octo-mom. FAIL. I didn’t predict it, but truly she is the logical conclusion of my darkest fears on this issue.
- Misogyny in Advertising | Nope, still there. But bless the Progressive girl for making dorky the new sexy.
- Diamonds and DeBeers | As I predicted, ads are way down post the New Year’s/Valentine’s/Mother’s Day blitzkrieg.
- Flip-Flops | Sightings surprisingly and pleasantly rare, possibly a side-effect of a gray June.
- American Anti-intellectual Conservatism | Sarah Palin is still making a spectacle of herself. Ditto Michelle Bachman. Ditto Cheney & Cheney. Grumble.
- Internet Explorer | This situation has actually worsened, with the news that Outlook 2010 will continue using its degraded Word engine to produce and read HTML, and that neither Word nor Outlook will generate or process standards-compliant HTML. This means that all of the gorgeous perfectly-formed and poetically, beautifully correct code that I create will look like shit if someone is viewing it in Outlook, which is the most popular email client in the world for enterprise. For more details on why this is a big deal, and why it really grinds my gears, visit email-standards.org or fixoutlook.org. Boo Microsoft!
Also, I have had my fabulous iPhone for slightly under a week, and will be posting up a review on it and some favorite—so far!—apps shortly. That review will be posted soon.
