Streaming

I have this new addiction. Storm Chasing. Now, if you know me at all, you're thinking, "Haley, you HATE storms!" But actually no, that's not true. I've always loved storms, Twister was one of my favorite movies when I was younger. But because I've always been interested in them, I've developed a very healthy respect for them. I know what damage they can cause and so when there's tornados predicted in my area, I try to seek shelter.

Recently though, because of Twitter, I've started watching streaming video from the storm chasers in the Plains States. I especially enjoy Michael Phelps, his audio commentary is always interesting and educational (he's a science teacher in real life, or so I'm told), and there's a chat feature so I can interact with other "home chasers."

It amuses me though, that I am able to stream video like this for hours at a time. I remember when videos and music first became available on line, my dad (the internet provider) would get so frustrated with us when we watched just a short clip online. I still hear his voice in my head every time I watch something. It's so unreal that technology now allows us to follow along live with chasers in Kansas, or watch a movie from Netflix, or have a "face to face" conversation with a soldier in Iraq. We can even do it on our phones now, which is just crazy. I'm in the generation that grew up with this stuff. I don't mean the teens now who grew up ALWAYS having a cell phone with text messaging. I mean we grew up right along side technology. I've really watched technology expand and grow. I remember playing Centipede (or snakes or something like that) on my dad's DOS. It was so awesome that he was able to get weather updates sent to his computer from who knows wear. now I have a live radar on my computer all the time and I can stream video and can SEE the weather! So incredible.

An Open Letter to IM Spammers

Dear aslgkajsdrioud@msn.com,

Please stop instant messaging me every 5 minutes. While I am impressed at your ability to create a new screen name for every message you send, it makes it impossible to block your annoying messages. No, qweoiytuodfkh@msn.com, I do not want to cum see your sexy naked pictures. I am trying to read my food blogs on Google Reader, and I'm Tweeting with my Bluffton friends. Every time I start to type, your IM box pops onto my screen and I end up Twittering half a message. Then, when I wake up in the morning to check my email, I find that you have sent me so many porn messages that my Digsby won't let me close it out.

So please xc,hgvasoefkdgb@msn.com, please stop sending me these messages. I will never click that link. You are wasting your time, and mine.

Thank you,

Haley

Networks

My fellow business students can attest to this: Today's world is all about networking. Almost every professor I've had tells us to start expanding our networks, and every time I get online, there is yet another social networking site to join. And I do, because I'm an addict and I can't help it. From Facebook to Twitter, from LinkedIn to Last.fm, everyone is meeting new people online. How many times a day do I get on and change my Twitter status? Some say way too many, but by using sites like Twitter, I am able to converse with people outside my small town Indiana network about cooking, housekeeping, beekilling, etc. I get questions answered from people all over the world. I have friends in Florida who cook, in Arizona who plumb. I have a friend in Ireland who worries about my health, and my "Twitter Mom" in Bluffton who looks after me too. I've met people with different experiences than I have had (for some reason I really like to follow moms on Twitter, as well as their blogs). For the most part, it's all in fun, and most of the conversations aren't serious. But sometimes, somebody's real life is touched by their online life. Who starts a blog about their family expecting it to be a door to crucial funding to save babies' lives? Or who would imagine that a celebrity would notice a regular joe's status update and help them get the psychological help they need? Just a few examples.

So whether you like to post your recipes on Blogger, or just use facebook to post pictures of your latest drunken excursion, take a moment to notice the people around you in your social networks. You may be touching their lives more than you know.

Stuff

We watched The Story of Stuff in my Life Management class today. If you haven't watched it yet, I encourage you to click the link and check it out. It's about 20 minutes long, but very fast paced and really interesting. It discusses how our materialistic world got started and how it's affecting our Earth.

This got me thinking. I have geek lust for the new Kindle 2. It's an electronic device that's about the size of a piece of paper, and the thickness of a pencil. It's a method of reading ebooks, newspapers, newsfeeds, etc. But my question is, which is worse for our environment, paper books, or electronic devices like the Kindle? On one hand, trees have to be chopped down to make the paper for old school, printed books. On the other, how many resources are used to make disposable plastic and silicone-based electronic devices?

Something that really stressed me out about this video is that 99% of the things we buy are thrown away within 6 months, because of planned and perceived obsolescence.

Just something to think about today.

hharnish05 is...

Those of you who frequent my actual blog may notice my Twitter feed at the top. Blame my lack of programming skills for the horrible formatting, but I can't figure out how to fix it.

Anyway, I love Twitter. I have it forwarded to my phone. I have it linked to my Facebook status. I have it on Digsby, and as previously mentioned, I have it added to my blog. Therefore, I love this mug. The only downside is that I can't update the status on it.

Another necessity at the Beechwood house...

...where every plug is occupied. Actually, this product would be good for ANY house really. Just be careful about blowing fuses!

What a mess!

In my family, we are laptop users. We always have them with us when we are at home, whether we are watching TV, doing homework, or eating dinner. The latter tends to get us in trouble with my father's technicians. They are always griping about the crumbs and debris they find under our keys. Maybe this nifty vacuum would help!

Cure for Cancer AND the Energy Crisis

I had to share this video with you guys. This is pretty awesome. I won't waste time explaining it. Just watch the video.

Suffering from Facebook Fatigue? by Anita Hamilton

It started innocently enough: last month a friend sent me a virtual lily plant on Facebook and invited me to create a (Lil) Green Patch, a digital garden that would grow on my profile page, and that any of my friends could help water, weed and plant. Sounds cute, right? Not if you've recently suffered through an overwhelming slew of requests to give a grain of rice, send good karma and rate your friends on everything including their hotness, creativity, fashion sense and intelligence. I wasn't merely skeptical — I was annoyed. But I didn't want to be a killjoy — and I love plants — so I went ahead and clicked "Accept."

That is the moment I became part of Facebook's fastest-growing problem: application overload, a.k.a. Facebook fatigue. Like thousands of users before me, I started spamming my friends with requests to grow Green Patches of their own. When they did, I bombarded them with more plants and decorations for their gardens. (Lil) Green Patch is one of the 15 most popular add-on applications on Facebook, according to Adonomics.com, and it has more than 350,000 active users. It's also just one of thousands of viral apps that require you to invite your friends to participate in order to make them useful — and fun. You've seen other apps like it, including Hug Me (send friends a virtual hug or tequila shot), Friends For Sale! (yes, you can actually sell your friends to the highest bidder) and Send Good Karma (swap "blessings," "goodness" and "happiness" with friends).

The backlash is well under way. David Diggs, a junior at Michigan State University who has some 300 Facebook friends, complains, "It's annoying to get about 70 invitations a day about taking some kind of quiz or adding an application." Diggs is one of more than a million people who have joined a Facebook group that is petitioning to ban the inviting of friends on applications. (Ironically, the group encourages members to invite their friends to join the cause.) In February, Facebook responded to users' outcries by allowing people to block application invitations individually, but petitioners are demanding the ability to block all requests with a single click. With more than 20,000 add-on apps for the site, it's nearly impossible to avoid the deluge. While most users won't go so far as to leave Facebook altogether, the increase in "junk" notifications is enough to leave them feeling peeved while they're logged on. (Is there a Send Bad Karma app?)

So why do people spam their friends even though most people hate it? I could claim I was motivated by altruism — proceeds from the ad revenue generated by the (Lil) Green Patch go toward saving the rainforest — but the truth is that I just wanted to grow my garden and see how many different kinds of plants I could send and receive. If I send 1,000 plants I earn a garden gnome. Cool! (By Green Patch's own statistics, the application has contributed a mere $15,650 toward its stated cause since launching in December.)

An even bigger nuisance with using Facebook apps is that it's not always clear how they work. Tina House of Combine, Tex., says she accidentally posted a Valentine's Day greeting that said "I love you," not just to her husband, but to all of her friends, while using the application Super Wall, because she did not realize that the program defaulted to sending the posting to everyone. "I still shudder over that one," she says. And because advertisements are slickly intertwined with the apps — they often use the exact same font and graphics — it's easy to inadvertently click one by mistake. David King, CEO of Green Patch in San Mateo, Calif., says about 5% of the hundred or so e-mails his company receives from users each day are from people who are "confused."

Other users are simply fed up. Shinique Smith, an artist in New York City, says she stopped using the viral apps not because they're confusing, but because they're intrusive. "Every time you do, you have to invite 20 people, and then the next thing you know, 20 other people have invited you to do it. People send me stuff all the time. It's annoying and overwhelming."

App creators insist that people actually enjoy the invitations. "It is something very positive," says Vikas Gupta, an Amazon.com alum who created both the popular Send Good Karma and Hug Me apps, and runs his start-up Jambool out of a spare bedroom in San Francisco's South of Market district. "It is a positive action that people like sending to their friends."

For all my guilt over spamming people who don't think imaginary heather bushes and paradise plants are gifts worth giving, I feel immediately vindicated as soon someone accepts and sends me one in return. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen too often: I've only got four plants now. Won't you send me a few more?

* Find this article at:
* http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1731516,00.html

Oh this reminds me of SO many people...

Do you ever find yourself watching someone cross the street while texting and wondering if they realize that there is a semi coming towards them? Apparently, I am not the only one who thinks this is a bit ridiculous.