Brain Enema of a Savage Mind

Buzz off!

So Google has unleashed its latest “we want to own all your data” demon in to the wild.  Google Buzz is Google embracing the social media madness.  It’s not terribly surprising that Google is entering this arena.  With the popularity of both Twitter and Facebook it’s hard to ignore to potential for generating a lot of traffic to your site (and by site I mean to the people who advertise on your site).  I know I’m not a fan of Google, and I don’t like the idea of them having huge amounts of my data.  While my few Twitter posts aren’t exactly private or important (same goes for anything I’ve ever put on Facebook), I like less watching one company becoming the soul gateway to all things internet.  No, they haven’t done anything where I can point to and say “See, they’re evil!”.  I don’t necessarily think they plan on doing something horrendous that violates the privacy of millions.  I’m more wary of the massive potential for them (or someone obtaining access to their systems) to essentially control the flow of a great amount of personal information.

While some I know have initially been favorable towards Buzz, I find myself looking at it in a different light.  Of course I have to admit that I am not much fun of “social media” or most of the things with the “Web 2.0″ label.  My involvement with them is mostly limited – checking and posting occasionally merely because a great many people I know use them frequently, and in some cases short of calling them is the only way I have to contact them.  With Twitter I never go to the website if I can avoid it.  It’s hideous, and has already had incidents of being compromised.  I use a Twitter client that is nice, uncluttered, and sits in the background until I’m bored enough to skim it.  Facebook, another site with history of compromises, seemingly changes their layout, privacy controls, and way you interact with it on a weekly basis.  I look at it once or twice a week, but damn I wish it’s popularity amongst the people I knew would wain.  All of this basically goes to say that Google Buzz, from the get go, is not likely to be my cup of tea.  It also should be pointed out that I haven’t touched it at all yet.  I’ve never liked webmail (I find it handy to have at some times), so I deal with all my e-mail via a client.  I can’t remember the last time I logged in to my GMail account via the web.  To be fair I probably should try it, but I’m not one to falsely claim that anything I write here is “Fair and Balanced”.  Generally it’s more “Biased and Obscene”.

Somehow what was meant to be a skeptical look at the idea of Google Buzz turned more in to a rant of my loathing of social media.  I like long rambling posts.  I like actually taking the time to read things.  The short form “thought bursts” or more colloquially “tweets” or “status updates” are fine and well but there is no substance and often times I find myself yearning for me.  Perhaps it’s my background in English literature, but I prefer substance to form, rambling to quips, and long diatribes to a simple pronouncement like: “Social Media Sucks”.

Big Brother is Watching from Mountain View

People trust Google.  Or perhaps it isn’t trust, perhaps people are willing to set aside trust in order to obtain ease of use and convenience.  I’ll admit, I fall in to that camp in regards to certain things.  I make use of GMail.  I use their calendaring to sync up my calendar between my different devices.  I’ve stayed away from Google Reader, but that has more to do with the fact that I really like the NewsFire™ app that I use on my MacBook.  Let’s face it, Google is everywhere, and even if you only casually use the internet, it’s likely that you make use of their services – even if only their search engine.  They make it easy by providing so many resources for free.  Well, they don’t cost the user any money, but they do have a price: information.

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I’ve Got a Sudden Craving for a Pepsi

When it comes down to the Cola wars I was always in the Coke camp.  Pepsi just has the kind of sweetness to it that hits my palette the wrong way.  However I’ve always loved Wild Cherry Pepsi and I’m of course a Mountain Dew fanatic.  Why is any of this relevant?  Well after seeing this website I got the strongest craving for anything made by Pepsi.

I am sick and tired of groups that try to regulate morality.  It’s right up there with those people who want to tax fattening foods.  If I want to eat unhealthy that’s my own choice, not something the government needs to put their sticky little mitts all over.  The same goes for morality – and of course the top of that subject has always been homosexuality.  Apparently the American Family Association is upping the ante in intolerance and bigotry by calling for a boycott of all Pepsi products.  The reason for this?  Pepsi refuses to “remain neutral in the culture war”.  Culture war?  Really?  I didn’t realize the gays and straights had taken up arms to promote their agendas.  Because we know if there’s a gay in your neighborhood they are going to do everything possible to  subvert your heterosexuality.  Yes, these people are part of the nutbag coalition that is fracturing this country by polarizing political camps and creating the us versus them mentality.  No compromise.  Winner take all.

My favorite moment from their lunacy was this gem:

PepsiCo, while promoting the homosexual agenda, refuses to give one penny to help those trapped in this destructive and unhealthy lifestyle.

Personally i’ve always felt the destructive and unhealthy lifestyle is one where we preach hate and intolerance.  If you feel strongly about homosexuality that is certainly your right.  But to then try and force your will upon other people is just plain wrong.  We can disagree about things, but to believe in the absolute truth and rightness of your position, that there is no middle ground, well look over to the Middle East for a great example of where that will get you.  Centuries of intolerance have led to bloodshed and wholesale slaughter.  I’d like to think the average person of the 21st century is capable of raising themselves above such petty behavior.

So I say to everyone who reads this, when you’re finished, go out and buy a Pepsi.

Media obsessions.

Apparently nothing is going on in the world other than people mourning the passing of a pop star they spent the last decade bashing.  It was once fashionable to make fun of the fading star who had destroyed both his physical and mental health through cosmetic surgery, high pressure since being a small child, drugs (legal or otherwise depending on who you ask) – he made it easy to slam him and people enjoyed doing just that.  Now he’s passed on and the media who often enjoyed pointing out all his failings is now acting like an Angel has fallen from the heavens.  There is a lot of tragedy to his life, that is for certain, and there was a lot of dumb things he brought upon himself.  Still it drives me up the wall how the media covers passing’s like this as if everything else in the world takes a back seat.  Every day since the news broke that Michael Jackson passed away it’s been the majority of links and articles on the CNN main page.  In fact the other day it was even several links in the technology section of CNN.  Personally I think things like North Korea’s continued missile testing, or even the judge acquitting of the Myspace Bullying convictions.

The irony is due to my utter lack of anything else to post I’m only being a part of that mass media obsession.

Why can’t we just start the month on the 2nd?

I’ve never much been a fan of April’s fools.  Tons of corny jokes, the fact that any internet site I read for entertainment is generally filled with so much made up crap (and most of it not overly clever) that it makes it unreadable.  You can’t trust people.  Not that I’m big on trust to begin with, but today only makes it worse.

Worse still when something relevant actually happens you’re not sure if you should believe it.  Friends getting spontaneously married, or another friends house burning to the ground.  Yes, both of these things have happened to people I know on April 1.  Of course you are on gaurd and figure maybe they are just trying to pull something over on you.  Personally I think the whole tradition is rubish, we should abolish the 1st and just start April on the 2nd instead.