This reminds me of that scene in "Star Trek The Wrath of Khan" (I saw those eyes roll) where Bones, after learning that project Genesis can instantly transform a dead planet into one bursting with life says, "According to myth, the Earth was created in six days. Now, watch out! Here comes Genesis! We'll do it for you in six minutes!" It's quicker, less complicated...but is it better? Old schoolers like me might see Google Wave as a way to discard the need to ever meet anyone in person again. Not a bad idea, sometimes, but there's something to be said for face-to-face interaction. Ever wonder whether these people who create programs like these ever leave their homes? Do they have human friends? Ok, I'll concede that I prefer using a Wiki over trying to coordinate schedules of a dozen people to get together in person to work on a project. I have used Wikis and it saves a lot of time and effort, not to mention there's the cool factor. Google Wave seems like a good way to get folks together and interact each in his/or own time frame. I think, however, that using one to plan something as prosaic as a BBQ might be an exercise in laziness. And I'm guessing that that's all the exercise this planner ever gets. C'mon... planning a party without ever talking to the participants? Makes you wonder if the actual BBQ has guests sit down at laptops and interact with each other via a chat room. Google Buzz is like an alternative to Facebook. And with all the negative publicity Facebook has gotten lately regarding privacy issues, is it time to switch? The only trouble is you need G-Mail to use it and apparently, there's a privacy flaw in Google Buzz as well. Sharing is good when you're a kid and the item shared is a toy or a cookie but nobody wants their personal "cookies" (if you get my drift) out there being shared with strangers without our permission. Facebook and others like them are going to have to fix this or risk losing participants. One alternative getting some good publicity out there is Diaspora, dubbed the "Anti-Facebook" where you have your own server (called a "seed," spora...get it?) and you control the information you share - thus, your privacy. It's still in development but if it works, I'd drop Facebook like a hot potato. Google apps for mobile devices is a new concept for me. I recently purchased a smart phone despite my son's implied comment that I'd never use one. I said, "Am I not smart enough for a smart phone?" "No," he replied, "You're not young enough." Hmphh. Regardless, I'm practicing using the web via my mobile device, although I prefer to access the web via my p.c. I accept the fact that Google (like Microsoft before them) is taking over our lives. I'll allow myself to be dragged off, but I retain the right to kick and scream while doing so.
This sign is one of many funny, quirky notes posted all over New York City for a few years by writer Todd Lamb. It's supposed to be an experimental art project called "Notes from Chris" to make you think, much in the same way Craig's List posters leave peculiar stream of consciousness thoughts. No, not *those* thoughts! Eyuuu... Some are very funny, some are social commentary and some are just plain weird. Most of them ask for the interested reader to meet him someplace (keep in mind that "Chris" is fictional) and most ask the person to bring junk food. The project is so popular that it has inspired copycat posters as far away as Australia. Personally, I'd never buy that excuse. Who cares about a dead cat? What? Did you mention the words, "Krispy Kreme"?? Where's my waive wand?
Ever feel like you just want to read a newspaper article or a blog entry without someone watching? Google Reader is SO organized, I feel like someone's keeping an eye on what I'm interested in and assembling other data to drop in my lap in case I MIGHT be interested in reading that too. I like the idea of feed readers in general. When iHCPL first introduced us to Bloglines, I went nuts subscribing to my favorite feeds. After awhile, you realize that there's only so much information you can take in a day without getting a blinding headache so now I've whittled my list to something more manageable. When you first sign up on Google Reader, there's "bundles" of feeds to choose from to get you started. If you like food blogs then perhaps you'd like these 14 other blogs too. Makes me nervous. There's also a "Like" button if you like that particular feed but you should know that if you click it, everyone on the internet will be able to view your name as someone who was interested in that story. Do I want everyone to know that I regularly view Animals With Lightsabers? So what if I do? You can sort your feeds by "newest," "oldest" or something called "sort by magic." Huh? I clicked on it and it only meant that your RSS feeds are sorted by relative content based on what you've viewed before, liked before, commented on previously. Cute. I took the tour and signed up but for now, I think I'll stick with Bloglines, which I do view daily. I don't need so many ways to organize what I'm viewing and neither do I want to share all my strange idiosyncrasies with everyone I know. That's what this blog is for.
I'm not going to pretend to understand why we're suddenly being inundated with zombies, vampires and werewolves in our bookstores. When I first saw Pride and Prejudice...and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith, I was almost offended. Isn't Jane Austen's original story good enough with out being embellished by the the supernatural? I haven't read it, but I did just finish reading Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter by the same author and I'm almost ashamed to confess that it was a very fun read. Now, some folks may be disgusted by the idea that our beloved 16th president could possibly be a vampire hunter but, just relax. This novel, although written as though it's historically accurate, is completely fang in cheek. Oh, calm down. The premise goes that vampires, tired of being hunted in Europe, immigrated to the U.S. where people in the fairly new country were less organized and frankly, had other things to worry about than the undead. Slavery, and part of the country's reliance on it in order to thrive, became an enticement to pose as wealthy plantation owners just purchasing "equipment" for the farm. In actuality, slaves were (according to this scenario) bought and bred as food for vampires. As if enslaving fellow humans wasn't horrifying enough! Fearful that the ever-powerful Southern vampires would soon move from Negroes to Whites, and eventually to ALL Americans (gasp!), the Union (Union of Northern vampire hunters, including some vampires who wished to live in relative peace and not take over the U.S.) trained and subsidized Abraham Lincoln and others to kill as many vampires as possible. To encourage the illusion, real photos are included showing zoomed-in closeups of previously described vampires with blacked out eyes (or wearing sunglasses to hide them) or real Civil War wet-plate photographs with one individual pointed out to be "obviously a vampire." There's even one where a soldier poses by some skulls, one sporting fangs. See? They were everywhere back then! Thank goodness for Honest Abe who, using his famous axe, cut down a good many of them bef
ore ascending to the White House and vowing to rid the country of every vampire he can find. There's some motivational background about Abe's mother being sacrificed as debt payment when his father defaults on a loan from a vampire. Obviously, the metaphors about evil bankers, blood-sucking slave owners (or vice versa) abound. In the midst of all the blood and gore, I had to laugh out loud when Abe corners a suspected vampire who turns out to be Edgar Allen Poe (in real life born within weeks of Lincoln but with different upbringings), a fellow vampire hunter. Literary guffaw!! There's a surprise ending after Abraham Lincoln is assassinated (spoiler alert!) as his immortal mentor, Henry, seeks a replacement for his trained vampire hunter almost a hundred years later. Someone who is inherently good and also lives for the betterment of his country and who - grab your hats, folks - "has a Dream." Offensive? Possibly. Weird? Definitely. Suspension of disbelief? Are you kidding? Great read? Absolutely, positively something to sink your teeth into. No apologies. Bite me. mwuhahaha...cough, ack...thud.
I keep a paper calendar by my computer at home and also on my desk at work. Both are cluttered with pencil scratchings and post-it notes and beautifully decorated with coffee cup ring stains. They are also no help to me whatsoever. So to ask me to log in to a website, remember one of many super secret passwords, then figure out how to get to - what month is this? - may be an impossible request. I've always relied on this old fashioned thing...what's it called? Oh yeah...my BRAIN to remember what day it is and what I'm supposed to be doing. I wear a watch (why doesn't anyone do that anymore?) to keep me on schedule and I always seem to get up on time even if there's a power outage and the alarm clock goes haywire. I don't know why that is, but it must be an internal thing acquired after almost fifty years of existence. Primitive humans listened better to their internal clocks and knew instinctively when to do things. Maybe that's it. My lovingly sarcastic (where did he get that?) son, Tristan, would interject, "So...you knew back then when to come out of the cave?" Why you little....! But seriously, using an online calendar like Google Calendar is a total waste of time for me. I did go to the website and played around with the features and I'm sure if I had a more complex life, it would be handy, as would sharing this top secret info with other interested parties. However, "Go to Work," "Come home" and "Start crockpot" would probably be of little interest to most evolved human beings, so I think I'll pass. I also have a calendar on my new Blackberry phone, which I will probably never use either. More money well spent in order to be cool. *sigh* Google Docs as an web based document tool is a great idea, especially now that Microsoft doesn't bundle Word with new computers any more. Before I got Microsoft Office on my new computer, I was forced to use an online document application. At the time, I used Zoho, which is similar but without all the bells and whistles afforded a Google affiliation. Maybe it's more advanced now but Google Docs has added drawing, translations, faster spreadsheets and easier attachments as well as the common feature of being able to share and edit documents before publishing. Group contribution while never leaving home is a wonderful ability for students or work projects requiring collaborative effort. I created a document and uploaded it with relative ease. I wish this had been around when I was a student for group projects. My sarcastic son Tristan would probably say, "Two people couldn't scratch in the dirt with sticks back then?" Ah...I'm proud of you, Young Grasshopper.
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