The Harder Question: At this point in American History, should we get rid of heritage months (e.g., Black History Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, Native American Heritage Month, etc.)?

(this question was submitted by @tclarkusa; thanks!)

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3. If your post is obviously irrelevant to the question at hand, it will be deleted. This is a tactic spammers use to simply show up on blogs.

4. Please keep your comments respectful. We can agree to disagree without attacking each other.

FYI: You may edit your comment for up to 30 minutes after posting. After 30 minutes, your comment can no longer be revised.

You’ve seen them on blogs. Several people leave comments for a post, and some have a personal picture next to their comment while others have nothing or a generic image.

How do they do that?

One way to get a personalized image to show up with all your posts is to have an gravatar on a blogging platform that is recognized by the WordPress application. When you comment, your gravatar is automatically “brought in” based on the email address you have attached to your own blog and your using the email address in conjunction with the comment you leave.

“Wait a minute,” you’re saying. “Gravatar? What’s a gravatar? I thought it was called an avatar?”

Let me explain.

An avatar is what you have on a social media site like Twitter and/or Facebook. It’s local to that application and doesn’t travel when you use the email address attached to your Twitter and/or Facebook account to post to another social media site.

A gravatar, however, is a globally-recognized (thus, the “GR”) avatar. When you use the email associated with the avatar to post to blogs, the image comes along with the email address.

So what if you don’t have an avatar on another blogging platform that the WordPress application recognizes, and you’re not on WordPress.com either where your avatar would be globally acknowledged as a gravatar? What then?

I’m glad you asked.

In 2007, the folks behind WordPress, Automattic, purchased a service called Gravatar, and Automattic integrated that service with WordPress, so anyone could obtain a globally-recognized avatar. You sign up with your email address, and then you attach the image that you want to appear when you comment on blogs, and that becomes your global image.

I personally have the same image attached to about three or four email addresses, because I use different email addresses for different purposes, and I have several blogs and websites. You can acutally attach different images to different email addresses, but I like to keep it simple.

Want your own gravatar?

Get started now by going to Gravatar.com. It’s quick, easy, and free!

My Question of the Day: This is your first, full weekend off in almost five months. No matter how hard you work during the week, you find that you have needed to come in on Saturdays, and sometimes Sundays, just to keep up with your assignments. Much of that has to do with recent layoffs. You got to keep your job, but you’re now doing the work of one and a half people. Not only have you been working weekends, but you’re not getting paid for it, because the work you’re coming in to do was supposed to be done during regular work hours.

This weekend, however, you’re caught up, and you’re ready to relax. You settle in to watch movies/sports/whatever, and the telephone rings. The caller ID shows the number of a close relative. Against your better judgment you decide to answer, just in case there’s some family emergency.

After the greetings, your close relative explains to you that s/he had several people lined up to help him/her move out of one apartment on your side of town to another apartment all the way across town from you. S/he can’t get in touch with anyone else, and s/he asks if you would help him/her.

What do you do?

My 2 Cents: You all can call me selfish or whatever, but under the above circumstances, I’d decline with a clear conscience. Rest is important, and I’m not going to do anything that I’ll resent doing the entire time I’m doing it.

I would, however, try to round up some other folks to help him/her, but I wouldn’t guarantee that I’d be able to provide anyone else on such short notice.

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Take a few moments to check out the tweets from Twitter on this subject:

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ManofCivility since it’s the full weekend I have off, I let him/her know I can help but only for a limited amt of time.

Mo_Rease I’d help that relative find those that promised to help.

womprat99 Serious consideration to helping family, but only if I am physically up to the task. Unsafe help is not good help.

BrighterthanB4 I would stress to the fam I’m exausted, and I am not available…I’m on vacation

BLKMGK I begrudgingly help her

JoshDamage I’d help out…that’s what family is for

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The commentary doesn’t have to end!

Please feel free to continue to add your comments below.

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RULES FOR COMMENTS

1. DO NOT include links in your post. There is a place for you to include one link when you’re filling out the Name/Email/Website information. Comments that include links will be deleted.

2. If your post is obviously irrelevant to the question at hand, it will be deleted. This is a tactic spammers use to simply show up on blogs.

3. Please keep your comments respectful. We can agree to disagree without attacking each other.

FYI: You may edit your comment for up to 30 minutes after posting. After 30 minutes, your comment can no longer be revised.

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