Social Media

So, I realize that I am probably writing a blog post which will be read by absolutely no one other than myself (that's what happens when you posted sporadically over the course of seven years or so), but that's okay.  The internet is often nothing more than the collective voices of millions of people shouting at each other because they disagree politically, or over religion, sports, or because a misguided segment of the population mistakenly believes that the Kardashian family actually contributes something to Western society.  Whatever.

What I want to discuss is social media.  I have been on Facebook for over eight years now, and on Twitter for several years as well, though I "tweet" about as often as Donald Trump acknowledges his (many) limitations.  However, I recently deactivated my Facebook account.  Facebook can fill some voids in a person's life, but it cannot replace actual human contact, and if you are in a bad place mentally, it can often make things worse.  There's a phenomenon known as "The Fakebook Phenomenon", and essentially, what it means is that no one wants anyone "out there" to see that their life has problems, so what we often see out of Facebook is that people post nothing but happy photos of wonderful times when in fact their lives are far from that.  That's not to say that people don't have happy moments in their lives, or that they shouldn't post about them when they do, but there are studies which support the theory that Facebook and other social media outlets actually serve to make at least some people depressed, or more depressed, as the case may be.  For more on that see here and here and here and here and here.  People look at the news feeds of their "friends" enjoying a never-ending stream of parties, nights out, financial success, and then they look at their own lives and think, "What the hell am I doing wrong?  My life is NOTHING like that.  How did I screw up my life so badly?"

I have to be honest, I started feeling that way.  My life has hit some ruts (and then some) over the last couple of years.  I'm still standing, but it has not been easy.  In any event, I watched as my Facebook feed was constantly filled with people celebrating one glorious success after another, and it got to me. I just couldn't take it anymore.  I had to walk away.  So, I deactivated my account, and when you're as into social media as much as I am, this is a very, very difficult thing to do, but when you're not in a good place mentally, it is sometimes necessary to "disconnect".  I don't know how long I will stay away, I just know that for the time being, it is what I must do.  If nothing else, it will force me to focus on myself, and to concentrate on what I can control, as opposed to what I can't.  And (yes, I know that it's poor grammar to start a sentence with the word "And", but I'm going to do it, anyway) if I can step away, so can you................if you think that it will help you.  We get one crack at life.  I don't believe in heaven or hell, so in my view, this is our chance at enjoying existence.  It serves no purpose being unhappy because of things we cannot control, so if social media is causing you unhappiness, disconnect.

I began this post by acknowledging that it is likely that no one will ever read this post, but if someone browsing the internet finds it and something I wrote helps them, it has served a purpose.  I don't know if this post will represent any significant return by me to blogging--I very much doubt it, to be honest--but what I posted here was worth sharing, I thought.

I love my smartphone

That's the problem.  I love it to a fault.  I am one of those who is guilty of the annoying habit of immediately whipping the phone the second I feel it buzz.  It's rude and I wish that I could stop.  The flip side is, it is through that same phone that I am linked to my co-workers and my work e-mail so, as often as not, if it buzzes, it means that something important is happening.

What to do, what to do.........................

Better late than never

The FCC has finally gotten around to approving the proposed merger between XM and Sirius, the two satellite radio providers: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/25/AR2008072503026.html. It took much too long--there was no reason this could not have been done at some point in 2007 or earlier this year, but at least it's now been accomplished. As an XM subscriber, I'm excited about the possibility of listening to Howard Stern and getting my fix of NFL games when driving around on Sunday afternoons.....

Well, this is certainly scary

I am an admitted cancer freak. I had a scare with it myself, and have lost both parents, one aunt and one grandfather to the evil disease. So, it's fair to say that I have quite the phobia about it. Stories like this don't help: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080723/ap_on_he_me/cell_phone_warning. Of all the forms of cancer that freak me out, brain tumours and pancreatic cancer are the worst, because they are inevitably fatal. And, if you compound that by the fact that I use my cell phone more or less constantly as part of my job, well, that does not make me feel terribly good right now.

E-mail privacy

The biggest local story going right now is the case of two fired CBS news anchors, Larry Mendte and Alycia Lane. The story began months ago, when Lane was fired after a series of bizarre incidents in which she allegedly e-mailed former ESPN talking head Rich Eisen with provocative photos and was subsequently involved in an altercation with a New York City police officer. The story about the e-mails broke and was reported in both the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News. It was subsequently discovered that Mendte had been accessing Lane's work AND personal e-mail accounts and that he was (allegedly) feeding information to reporters: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_page/20080722_U_S___Mendte_a_tireless_spy.html. Mendte was then fired as well.

E-mail has become an indispensable part of our lives. We rely on it for work and for pleasure. I know that my firm has a strict policy about what can and cannot be sent out from the work e-mail account, and it is specifically provided that there is NO expectation of privacy in any e-mails we send out. That said, I can't help but think that one does not and should not expect our co-workers--especially those on an equal level with us--to hack into our e-mail. What Mendte did, ostensibly out of jealousy over the pay raise given to Lane two years ago, highlights how fragile that boundary between public and private is, and how easily it can be erased.

I guess that the long and the short of it, be careful about what you send out on your e-mail, and be aware that if you are using a computer in any place where others can access it, you face the risk of losing that privacy.

Is the net making us stupid?

It's a valid question, I think. We have so much information available to us, and so easily available at that. We no longer have to retain any memories, or not many of them, anyway. There is an excellent article in The Atlantic magazine titled, "Is Google making us stupid?", and it can be found here: http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google.

I wonder whether we as a society have lost our ability to research things, and to do basic "thinking". If we haven't we're not that far away from doing so..........

Just plain creepy

A company based in California (where else?) has managed to perfect a system to clone dogs: http://gmy.news.yahoo.com/v/7924569. I'm a dog owner, and while I love my dogs, I would never want them cloned. Each dog, like each person, is unique. It doesn't matter how much another dog may look like the ones I already have, it still won't be THAT dog.

Another question comes to mind. Once we start doing this, how far are we from cloning people? It can't be that far and you have to know that some company will try to do it, and soon. Not a good precedent, in my opinion............

Technically BDS.........but BDS nonetheless

Those suffering from BDS are all over the place. What's fascinating to me is that they simply can't help themselves, and ultimately, they always reveal themselves, such as the Washington Post's Tech Writer, Steve Gillmor: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051701285.html. Get a load of this comment, which is buried within an article WHICH IS SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT A DISPUTE BETWEEN SOCIAL NETWORKING SITE FACEBOOK AND GOOGLE. Here he is, discussing a Facebook explanation of the dispute:

"The tortured PRspeak rivals the current Bush Administration press officer's gyrations in denying our idiot president's appeasement charges are about Obama, while John McCain drives the Straight Talk Express over the Democratic nominee as he eats a hot dog on the campaign trail."

Pure BDS.......................

This is just sick

Hackers decided that it would be a good idea to hack into the Epilepsy Foundation's website and put on it flashing images which are known in certain cases to cause epileptic siezures in those who see them: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24510864/.

I want someone--ANYONE--to explain the mentality of the hacker who thought that this was a funny thing to do, or a good idea.

Spy wars of tomorrow

If anyone else read the book "Deception Point", by Dan Brown, they read in the beginning of the book about tiny robotic spy devices designed to look like flies, and which we were no bigger than insects. This technology is a lot closer to reality than one might have thought: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,345192,00.html.

What concerns me is that if we have this, our enemies will have it soon after. It goes both ways, you know...............

Anti-Semitism 2.0

The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs has a very long and detailed examination about how modern anti-Semitism is much more sophisticated than its predecessors: http://www.jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DRIT=3&DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=111&FID=253&PID=0&IID=2054&TTL=Online_Antisemitism_2.0._%22Social_Antisemitism%22_on_the_%22Social_Web%22*.

Most fascinating to me is its discussion of such websites as YouTube and Facebook, as I am a "member" of both sites. One of the things which scares me is that the web, for all of the good that it does, enables purveyors of hate to spread their malevolence around that much more quickly. Any Jew out there, such as myself, needs to be aware of the threat that this poses to us.

London to Sydney in less than five hours

It could happen one day, if the designers of a hypersonic plane have their way: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfordshire/7228341.stm. I admit, I am an incurable technology geek, and stuff like this really intrigues me. If the sound issues (sonic booms) could be resolved, could this plane be used over land? Could we be looking at a flight from New York City to Los Angeles which lasted only a half hour or so? Montreal to Moscow in two hours? The possibilites (and the daydreaming) are endless..............

What the future holds

Every now and then, I allow myself to diverge from my normal, "Humanity is going to kill itself off" mindset. When I do that, stories like this one really grab my attention: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/10/071005-space-race.html.

When I read articles such as this one, it makes me envious for what my children--or their children--may grow up to see. Space bases, a living colony on Mars, human exploration of the entire solar system. It all sounds so incredibly exciting and thrilling...............

Israeli Technology

While the Arabs count the billions they are raking in from oil revenue, Israelis are forced to scramble around looking for alternative fuel sources. Among the sources of energy that are being tapped is the sun. Read this story on how an Israeli scientist is leading the way in terms of harnessing solar energy: http://www.cbc.ca/news/reportsfromabroad/parry/20070815.html.

Speaking of our friends at the ACLU..........

..............now they are busy suing Boeing because its planes were used to transport terrorist-wannabes to holding areas: http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2007/ss_terror_06_01.asp. I hate to demonize any group, but for God's sake, does the ACLU EVER do anything that is in the best interests of the country? Does anyone at that organization EVER sit back and think, "Well, we could be endangering lives with what we are doing?"

Un--freaking--believable.

Ammo for Israel's Supporters

Here is a great website for those who wants facts and figures to back up their support of Israel: http://www.israel21c.org/bin/en.jsp?enPage=HomePage. Thanks to Bookworm for this one, and please, by all means, spread the word about it.