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WIB Editor's Note: I asked Wesley to write a guest blog for me about the passing of Kurt Vonnegut, knowing that Vonnegut is one of his favorite authors. Wesley replied, "I can't remember the last time I had such difficulty writing something... because there is no author in my life that has impacted quite like Vonnegut. How do you find the words to some up a man that gave words and definition to your philosophy on life?" WIB presents guest blogger Wesley Magee.

“I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you different.” – Kurt Vonnegut

A friend of mine recently asked me what I intended to do with my future on this earth. At the time, I thought the answer was too complicated to be summed up in a short conversation. I was wrong.

With the passing of Kurt Vonnegut, one the most prolific American authors of the past century, we are provided with a greater opportunity to reflect on life the way he always did: through a very small window containing moments that take us from one person/place to the next. Nothing more. We scramble around in a world of information attempting to amass greater knowledge about the things that surround us with brains growing at a rate that will eventually destroy us (Galapagos), when the most important things we need to remember are the names of those that surround us and care.

Vonnegut lived every moment as an adventure in the hearts of others. As a man who has written 14 novels and countless short stories, essays, and plays, (many were best selling and eventually made into movies) he even approached the writing process with the same “simple,” “personal” attitude. Choosing to always send out his writings to be typed and refusing to buy multiple envelopes or stamps, he awarded himself the opportunity, at the end of every piece of writing, to take a walk down to the corner store. While most of us would have regarded this as an inefficient waste of time, he saw it as an opportunity to talk and be around people (it also didn’t hurt that he had a crush on the girl behind the counter). Just fart around. It’s what we do best.

For those of you out there wishing to emulate the life of a man who lived life by his rules, take his advice: "If you really want to disappoint your parents, and don't have the nerve to be gay, go into the arts.”

I will end my note honoring Vonnegut’s life by reflecting on his death the way he would have preferred. With the same numb understanding that death is a part of life we all must go through. Kurt, you will be missed. “So it goes.” (Slaughter House 5)

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Anna, my favorite journalism-school-chick-turned-hot-blonde-business-reporter emailed me today asking: Does your employer have an ethics policy? If so, does it address the issue of social networking and personal blogging? Good questions.

Anna is on the ethics committee at her newspaper, The Bend Bulletin, and the committee is revisiting its policies to address these questions and create rules to help reporters maintain objectivity in the eye of their audiences. Young journalists, like many entering the workforce, often maintain MySpace pages and/or personal blogs, which may threaten the unbiased profiles they must maintain. Anna actually chose to take her own blog down last year because she didn't want her personal opinions and beliefs to jeopardize her credibility and reputation as a journalist.

My PR firm absolutely maintains an ethics policy. There are statements about conflicts of interest with other occupations, activities, etc., but blogs and social networking are not called out specifically. I keep my MySpace profile private to the public but know plenty of coworkers who maintain public MySpace profiles. I, of course, maintain one of the world's most influential blogs on the Internet and now have an in-office readership, similar to the one I developed at PRWeb, which has led to no consequence. However, I also know that my firm does Google searches as part of employee background checks. I assume my bosses saw my blog before I walked in the door.

I don't think Anna's newspapers should rule out blogs entirely. Some people may keep family blogs, or non-editorial kinds of blogs, but any content that may risk objectivity should be a no-no. I say that these are OK but perhaps the committee should require employees to disclose the addresses of their personal blogs or Web sites. Guidelines defining inappropriate content, such as commenting on news, could help reporters determine the boundaries of their personal blogs, too.

MySpace is too socially prevalent to restrict, but the newspaper should require that employees keep their profiles private to the public. Some "party" pictures of a recent job applicant circulated around my office recently, which management found on MySpace. The applicant was hired regardless, which shouldn't come as a surprise if you've seen my pictures here. Everyone at the office likes to party.

Anna's newspaper should rewrite its ethics policy to include guidelines about appropriate blogging and social networking activity, but should not entirely dismiss its employees' ability to explore and utilize the online tools and resources that can enrich their lives without necessarily sacrificing their journalistic integrity.

Lastly, I advise Anna not to look too much further outside the journalism world for ethical guidelines. Why ask a guy about the ethics policies of a PR firm? We actually don't believe in ethics. We're supposed to be biased and sleezy, remember?

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iPod has several definitions:

  • Everything wrong with Western society contained within a small media player.
  • An Apple-branded mp3 player with a large capacity solid-state hard drive.
  • The most expensive way to listen to music.
  • The world's smallest form of penis compensation.

Call it what you want, but Apple just announced that it has sold 100 million iPods. Since the original product's launch in November 2001, Apple has introduced more than 10 new iPod models, including five generations of iPod, two generations of iPod mini, two generations of iPod nano and two generations of iPod shuffle.

The press release announcing the news contains quotes by Grammy Award winners John Mayer, Mary J. Blige and seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstong who all give favorable quotes basically talking about how the iPod saved democracy and keeps North Korea at bay. Subsequently, Steve Jobs is also elevated to being an honorary 13th disciple of Jesus Christ.