Today I saw something on twitter about “apps for productivity”. Actually it was a book about apps for productivity—you know, a guide to help you get the most out of your apps that help you get the most out of your workday. It had a really nice retro-chic cover and I’m sure a lovely, intuitive, well-branded website to go with it.

The idea of an app for productivity strikes me as gross and smells like that feeling I used to get sitting in the office with my two computer screens in front of me, my mind churning, clicking about, opening spreadsheets, considering my career, my company’s trajectory, feeling into the internet and the thousands of people online all developing their brand or whatever, getting juiced and drinking coffee and feeling, briefly, like I was really getting something done. I remember, too how I felt at 4pm with an hour or two to go in the office, my body tired and my mind fried and wishing like hell I could go home, knowing that I’d squeezed from my self every last bit of creative juice and I wasn’t going to get a darn thing done for the rest of the day.

Today I sat and listened to a mockingbird and I noticed that the mockingbird was singing to the neighbor’s trees that had throughout the day been harshly cut back by chainsaws even though all their new branches had already begun to bud. The mockingbird was singing to the tree earnestly and with utter dedication, and he wasn’t concerned about keeping track of what he was doing or whether or not he was noticed. He was moving from branch to branch, landing on the sawed-off stubs of the tree and telling the tree that it still was beautiful to him and that everything was going to be OK.
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In yesterday’s Superbowl, Coca-Cola aired an ad with multicultural people singing “America the Beautiful” in a number of different languages. In response, a few rednecks tweeted racist things about how here in America we speak English.

Today, multiple major news sources are rattling off stories on the “controversial” ad that is inspiring “Racist Twitter Backlash”, while caring, sensible folks are jumping at the opportunity to prove they aren’t racist and decry these asinine comments.

It’s a brilliant marketing ploy by Coke. By stirring up a little good old boy patriotic fervor and setting off a barrage of articles and tweets and Facebook posts, they get the words “Coca Cola” to echo all across the internet, meanwhile snuggling down into that juicy “middle-left” section of the “American Political Spectrum” where almost everybody who still believes they are part of an “American Political System” resides.

All of which effectively distracts us from the real problem with this advertisement: Coca Cola using things that aren’t theirs, like America, American people, and the “American Spirit”, to sell their product.

CocaCola does not give a SHIT about “America”, much less people of color. Since when did my patriotism have anything to do with Coke? Since when did “America the Beautiful”, the American flag, and images of people achieving the “American Dream” become fair game for you to use to sell your death drink to children? Did this happen when Coke stopped sucking up all the ground water in rural India and selling back the toxic sludge their plants produce as bogus fertilizer to local farmers? Or when Coke stopped raping and murdering union activists in Guatemala? Or maybe when not a single one of the things listed on this Wikipedia page turned out to be true?

A little left vs. right social media battle is all we need to forget about the fact that what remains of our sentimental attachment to the idea of America is being squeezed into dollars for a multinational corporation that systematically exploits, pollutes, and depletes planet earth and its people.

Hello my dear friends, and happy February! Happy year of the horse! This month’s background features a photo from a beach near Smith River, CA—a little town about 10 miles south of the Oregon border. The coastline up there is dramatic, alive, fresh and powerful. I soaked up as much as I could, and hopefully this pic can bring a little of that energy to your desktop.

Click one of the following links to download the February 2014 wallpaper: 2880×1800, 2560×1600, 1920×1200, 1680×1050, 1440×900, 1280×800.