Of all the times to pull a fever and sniffling, I have a cold. I no longer care if Internet searching is being bottlenecked by either my criteria or connection speed. I just know something is pending somewhere that is going to blow that whole network away. I spent six hours getting information that used to be instant. These days each search makes you wade through every con artist and his mother. You get tons of surface knowledge, most of it incorrect. To paraphrase Jed Clampett, Internet people are such liars they have to get somebody else to call their dog.My doctor client asked about Twitter last day, saying it was the newest thing busting out all over the net and television over the past three months. Nope, never heard of it, so I logged on today. It is little more than another “Facebook”, the program connived to convince the world all Americans are borderline retarded. Twitter grabs your address book (contact list) and attempts to display it for the world. It pauses to ask which names you want plastered on the Internet washroom wall. The gimmick is clear—unless your friends are paranoid, they won’t mind strangers asking for them (or their grandchildren) by name.
Twitter is nothing more than a stack. Whatever you add, usually your picture and comment, goes to the top of the list (stack) and shunts everything else down one notch. The 140 character limit ensures nothing meaningful will happen. Wish I’d known the public was so undemanding. Eventually, the host (good old Hotmail, a MicroSoft subsidiary) intends that you develop a mini-network of your on-line associates. Just how mini-networked, of course, depends primarily on what abbreviations your parents don’t understand.
Limewire (the free music site) has been curbed. Seriously. Like Napster before it, all enjoyment must be paid or sued for. My question is what site is taking its place? Just spell it out and save the copyright lecture for later. You can copy anything I publish but it won’t do you much good unless you have the brains to use it. Recorded music should align itself along the same principle.
I told you, this place is too large for one person. There is nobody to cook for, nobody to keep an eye on things, nobody poking around all day. I even got used to Pete the Rock crashing here. The cat has to search around for somebody to pay her attention. Nor is there any word from Wallace. He last said he can walk. Well, walk to the airport taxi and get down here where it is warm, quiet and there is plenty to do. Time shows we got the best deal in North America so why spend any rent elsewhere? Again, this place was the right move at the right time.
For example, the government just announced the tripling of property taxes, but only for people who outright own their homes. Did you get that? Those who are “lucky enough to own” must “pay their part” of the housing bailout. No, you cannot re-mortgage to get around it because you are already on file. You know, those files you told us were harmless government documents used only for statistical purposes and that only the paranoid would object. Yeah, those files, you know the ones I mean. There, there, it is not your fault, cough, cough, for what choice did you have? Choice? It was a thing that used to exist before totally complacent people took over this country, you know the ones I mean.
Thus, those who spent their entire lives obeying the rules now must pay for those who did not. And how was the government able to plan such a move? Easy, they had your life on file. How do you feel about that now? Possibly a little, er, paranoid? Good, because you ain’t seen nothing yet. The party is over, and woe to those who whooped it up with borrowed money. On the other hand, I don’t even know what a credit card statement looks like.
Don’t worry, I won’t leave you without some advice. How about this? Have you checked to see which is more expensive: paying for insurance on your car or the fines for being caught driving without insurance twice a year? I’m not saying break the law, I’m only asking if you have checked. That would be an excellent start toward your new lifestyle on choosing between “paranoia” and “broke”. Pardon me, I’m about to have a laughing fit here…
Then again, what if it is just a rumor?
