Instacart App Just Blew My Mind

My dear husband lives with a shrew. (I’ll not mention any names for politeness sake) Said shrew complained about her husband not getting home from the gym in time to get to the grocery store before dinner. (In the shrew’s defense, she’s been in bed for the last two days (sick don’t ya know) and awoke to a home that looked as if, well…as if she’d been in bed for two days instead of running the ship)

Anyway, the husband in this story (are you still paying attention?) pulled up something quite miraculous.

Duh duh duh….INSTACART!

The next thing the shrew knew Instacart was connected to the Whole Foods just down the way and items she knows and loves where being added to the shopping cart. Organic Fuji Apples, 6 please. Ground Allegro Breakfast Blend Coffee, mmmm yes. A fresh piece of salmon from the fish counter, why the heck not?

Two hours later a super nice woman carried the bags of groceries into the kitchen and like a fairy godmother, disappeared into the night. The bags by the way, are all reusable.

And then, to put some icing on the cake, we got an email later in the evening telling us that the dates we ordered had been out of stock (credit) and the broccoli had weighed just under 2 lbs (credit). So not only did we not have to ever leave the house, but the service rocked.

*it should be noted that said husband is telling me that grocery delivery services have existed for ages and i’m no better than a country bumpkin (uh oh, I think I hear that shrew back again)

CitizenFour

In the past few weeks I’ve read over a dozen fantastic books about privacy. Two of my favorites for those of you just starting to investigate post 9/11 America, the Patriot Act and how these both have affected our Constitutional rights (4th Amendment) to privacy can start with these:

• Lost Liberties by Cynthia Brown
• Dragnet Nation by Julia Angwin

And then there’s the provocative and obviously biased, but no less worrisome documentary Citizen Four. For those who read this and say, “But I have nothing to hide.” I ask you to stop and really think about what it means to lose liberty, freedom, protection from being tracked and monitored for no reason. To be unable to protest, to gather, to speak your mind without penalty…  can you still not care?

Food for thought I hope.