The Adventures of Wonk: Media Mashup for the week ending February 28

Every week, I consume massive amounts of media online. Most never make it into this blog, often because I can't figure out how to build an entire blog post around them. Seems such a waste. So I've decided to start a new feature: my media mashup for the week previous.

So without further ado, here's what I learned online last week:

Insurance companies will find any excuse to charge you more money.

If you're on their list of Top 10 Most Dangerous Drivers by Profession, expect higher premiums. The most accident prone: Lawyers (cue the Schadenfreude and ambulance-chaser jokes). Number six on the list: Dog Groomers. (Really? Are they subjecting canine passengers to the theme song for Law & Order? Because that song makes dogs howl, apparently.) The real culprit behind these stats: Multitasking. (Did you hear that, HR department--or whoever's responsible for including the same tired buzzwords in every single job listing? Can we all just go back to Singletasking now? No? Well, it didn't hurt to ask. Oh, it did? Damn.)

Are you one of these people who use Twitter or Facebook to inform others that you're going out of town? Well, stop it. Because that kind of behavior could lead to insurance hikes (not to mention a burgled home).

Who, really, is blogging and tweeting these days?

Unemployed print journalists. When people start tearing up antique books to make stylish "vintage-inspired" postcards (really, now...), you know print is truly dead. It's pretty much bits & bytes or bust, as a journalist. But for those with hopes of a career in Internet journalism, you should know: it doesn't pay. And the new media types in NYC are curmudgeons who want to pull the ladder up behind them.

"Old" people. (See yesterday's post.) I love the Millenials, I really do. As a Gen X-er, I love them the way a middle child loves the baby of the family. But sometimes, the baby says things... and then I wish Mom and Dad had stopped the baby-making sooner. By exactly one.

We're turning into a Culture of "Nice."

The internet is becoming a much nicer place, driven in large part by the Millenials, who have better social skills than Gen X, which is apparently too sarcastic for its own good. It's probably less about being "nice" per se, though, and more about the "favor economy" and "the generosity of a salesman toward a customer."

But we're still not that nice.

There's a new iPhone app called Bird Turd that lets you take a virtual "poop" on tweets you dislike. (But don't confuse that with Poop Tweets, a Twitter user with 700+ followers who tweets about--yes, you guessed it--poop.)

And as always, there are the Tea Partiers, who seem an awfully belligerent bunch to me.

I want to go to Cupcake Camp.

Maybe what the world needs now is a cupcake (cupcakes are nice with tea, aren't they?). The idea behind Cupcake Camp is simple: bring cupcakes, share cupcakes, eat cupcakes. Hundreds attend each of the events, which originated in San Francisco but have since spread to 15 other locations including Sydney and Montreal.

But more than eating them or attending Cupcake Camp, what I really want is to make cupcakes. Like these: