Category Archives: My Word
Meaningless Messages
I know I’ve mentioned this before so pardon me for repeating myself. I must comment on the ridiculousness of Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and the like. While all of these tools can present useful and helpful ways for groups of people to stay connected, I find that the power these sites offer is greatly overqualified for the people using them. It’s like using a bazooka to unlock a locked door. Sure, it’ll open the door, but the power of the tool being used far outweighs the need.
Sites like Twitter have amazing potential to be used as real-time connections to people and devices. It allows simple, short, and precise messages to be broadcast to groups of people or even a single recipient. The problem though is that while Twitter is a monumentally powerful tool, the people’s hands this tool is used in most frequently use it to broadcast nothing more interesting than the frequency of their bowel movements. I guess the biggest flaw with social networking sites isn’t the technology, but the people who are using said technology.
People feel the need to say anything, anytime, to anyone, regardless of importance, relevance, or even accuracy. They just type in anything. I don’t expect everyone to live an exciting life full of intrigue and drama, but be mindful of who you are sending these messages out to; the entire world.
“Well, my friends care!”
That is a statement I hear quite often when I bring up my complaints about social networking sites. Well, let’s focus on this for a moment. Let’s pretend for a moment that this is true and your friends really do have empty enough lives to hang on your every word in the hopes of living vicariously through you. What you don’t understand is, in respect to Twitter, if you are posting to the global timeline, more than just your friends are seeing this message. Effectively what you are doing is causing internet pollution with your senseless drivel to ~25 people. Not only is that horribly inefficient, it’s a misuse of the technology. A simple mass email to those ~25 people would be the appropriate action. You wouldn’t put up a billboard on a busy highway to let your friends know you got a new puppy, would you? Sure, you could if you so desired, but like above it would be a gross waste of resources and far too inefficient.
People should just start using the technology for what it is designed to do. Email, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, are all viable forms of technology each with their own use. Use them for what they were designed to do and stop polluting the Internet as if it was your own personal diary. Unless your fame rises to international status, every post you make will probably only be seen by <1% of your intended targets.
Facebook, a site designed around the notion of bringing people who might have lost contact with each other back into each others’ lives now has more to do with fire-and-forget posts than anything else; Post and ignore. Occasionally you might see a conversation going on a post someone made, but unless you are taking the time to praise someone’s pictures of their kids or “liking” their post, nothing much will come from it. Facebook, in a sense, is a massive waste of time with little to no output.
Social Networking means being social and networking with people. If neither of these things are a product of a site, it fails to meet any level of usefulness if that is what the site if trying to achieve. Oddly enough, one-on-one messaging is still far more effective and efficient than mass-messaging in the hopes your intended audience actually sees it.
iPadding
This thing is a true test to consumer stupidity.
When Steve Jobs comes out and says something akin to this being the notebook killer, he is insinuating that this thing is a computer. Technically, a calculator is a computer, so let’s be clear here.
This is tech-bling, plain and simple. This is that device you pull out of your backpack at the Bistro in downtown Manhattan while you sip your gourmet coffee and tap away on your sheet of glass you call a tablet. Yes, you are sure to attract the attention of passersby as you feign interest in some NY Times article you’re reading on your iPad while you passively adjust your turtleneck ever so slightly for maximum neck coverage.
It’s a toy. That’s all. An over-priced toy. I think people just have a fascination with moving colorful icons around on a piece of dark reflective glass.
I’m sorry Mr. Jobs, while I thought the iPhone was a cool idea, this time you’re just insulting my intelligence. I never did like Apple, and while my opinion of them might have started to change slightly, once I saw the iPad and Macbook Air, my opinion was locked down. I’ll stick to using real computers, Mr. Jobs.
Sundered
Foundations solidified by a blistering time, sand driven deep by winds of tempest speed make not a crumbling shift, but a mass unmoved by gods nor the very time to which birth rites are doled. Not third but first the stars that shine do compete for the crown deserved by whom is seated, not so arrogantly, but humbly upon a throne shaped from generosity; a monarchy only befitting the traits of virtuous souls seated in pairs.
But to what is unmoved may be changed, not by time, but by truth. A truth challenged where generosity thrived shakes ground upon those who are seated, moving violently and mercilessly, sundering that which bore witness to eternity first hand. Forever, such is changed but irreversible and cursed, incapable of regressing to safer times, prohibited from progressing past, trapped and broken.
Now two, breaking the harmony which permitted its existence, smaller and meeker facing the pestilence of time, will not erode, but will outlast the sanity of men, standing as a reminder, incessantly screeching a song of madness. A perversion of perfection, sullied, sundered, does not go unpunished; a sin beyond the reach of redemption.
Silencing the Opinion
I’m going to go off on a small tangeant than my normal context for this site for just a moment. I’ve been noticing another hideous trend in the social fabric of the United States and, frankly, it’s getting a little tiresome. Well, actually, there are a few trends, but they seem to intersect on some level so I’ll bring up each one seperately.
First, there is this notion that people have the right not to be offended. I know this isn’t anything new, but this is just getting out of hand lately. Someone please tell me where in the Constitution does it say you have the right to not be offended. I looked. I couldn’t find anything. People have this crazy sense that somehow it’s legally wrong for someone else to make them feel bad. It isnt! Is it rude? Sure. But no one has any legal protection from having their feelings hurt. For example, if I said something like, “All Mexican people are stupid” I have the right to say that anywhere, anytime I want without regard to anyone’s feelings. Is it insanely ignorant and a gross generalization? Of course it is, but the last time I checked, being ignorant or rude is not illegal.
This leads to people having this false sense of entitlement. Whether through their upbringing or too used to having their hand held their whole life, self-important people seem to think that the only view point, opinion, or need that matters is their own. They are free to think that of course, but don’t be offended when I laugh in your face.
There’s also this perception that anyone who isn’t a democrat is a stupid redneck hick racist bigot. Of course, this perception largely comes from people on the left conveniently. Yet, these are the same people who will be the first to tell you that it’s wrong to generalize or use a stereotype for a group of people. What they really mean to say is that they don’t like it when you make fun of them, but it’s perfectly alright for them to make fun of you simply because, well, you’re not from the left and therefore stupid.
This double-standard has persisted for decades and in just the last five years has become a real problem. There is an arrogance about the left that I think even they can’t see anymore. They have a false sense of superiority over those who disagree with their views.
I’m not trying to stick up for the right here. It’s just that over the last five years the left has become much more vocal and have drawn far more attention to themselves and thus making themselves look like pompous asses. I don’t take kindly to anyone telling me what I should think, what I should do, or how I should do it, no matter which side of the fence they sit. If you try and talk down to me and wave your college diploma in my face as a trump card to the argument, I’ll wave a document much older, far more credible, and written by men far smarter of which no arguement you can ever make will win.
Gamers’ Rights
Recently, Activision Blizzard has taken a new stance on their character restoration policy in their number one game in the world; World of Warcraft. As with most MMO’s, account theft is a byproduct of carelessness on the part of the customer. Over the years, hundreds of thousands of people have had their accounts hacked or hijacked and were in need of a character restoration to recover whatever was lost from their accounts.
These restorations were completely avoidable, however, if the customer had only taken the time to follow some basic internet caveats: Don’t give your password out to anyone, don’t download strange programs, don’t click on suspicious links, etc. Of course, people follow instructions, even if for their own safety, as if they were somehow immune to any of the dangers that plague the internet. Of course, it’s not the consumer’s fault these dangers exist. But it’s common knowledge that you take responsibility for your actions.
Despite the frequent warnings, even from Blizzard themselves, people still found themselves with stripped characters. For these unfortunate people, Blizzard did character restorations which usually took one to three days to complete.
However, now Blizzard is telling it’s customer service representatives to dissuade people from getting character restorations and instead to take a care package to help them re-gear their characters. Of course, the customers are now outraged by Blizzards reluctance to restore their characters
A note from the author:
Here’s where I get a little pissed off. Blizzard does not have to do anything to help, not even to acknowledge you lost your gear in the first place. In fact, they could easily tell you to piss off and to not get hacked next time. The fact that they listen at all, not to mention do full restores for your stupidity, is a miracle. This over-entitled mentality running through most people has put a major strain on most companies. You pay a monthly fee to play the game, not for a personal ass licking from Blizzard (or any company for that matter) whenever you feel like you need a little rectal tickle. If you were to pay for a magazine subscription, the only thing that guarantees you is that a magazine will show up on the 15th of every month. It does not mean you can call up the editor and tell him what to print next month, how they should hold off on delivery until you get home from vacation, or to send you another because someone stole it out of your mailbox. Take some personal responsibility for a change and stop your fucking complaining.