Facebook's Response to Google+?

Google was like, ha, Facebook! We're going to get some social networking competition up in here.
*Google introduces Google+*
Then Facebook goes, BOOYA, Google! Watch this. We're going to SHUT. YOU. UP.




I just read this Time article about the upcoming nth wave of changes Facebook is making to its site. Ok, so I know I'm kind of a Facebook whore in that I keep the page open right next to my email whenever I'm online. These changes are crazy. I don't mean bad crazy or good crazy, but if I were to use an analogy it's like Facebook is trying to make the internet revolve around it. I guess if I could draw a picture it would be Facebook in the middle, with all these nodes coming out of it connected to other parts of the world wide web.

I don't really like the idea of "frictionless" sharing. I like friction. There has to be something to stop me from knowing when this friend of a friend is going to bed for the night or is tired from work or is getting cramps from her period (yes, I have seen that one multiple times), or when so-and-so is using that stupid check-in app at McDonald's and just became mayor of blah blah blah (thank you, Foursquare. I like you almost as much as all those requests I used to get to play Farmville). Don't get me wrong, I like sharing. But please share interesting things, like insightful articles or things that will make me laugh. I'm ok with some integration. I integrate my Twitter and Yelp accounts with Facebook, which I think are kind of cool because I don't have to double-post articles I want to share. But the other day I linked my Spotify account with my Facebook account to see what it would do, and Facebook started posting each song I was listening to in real-time. That got a little too invasive. This is an example of the part in that video up above when it says when you link certain apps to your Facebook account, the system will automatically update your profile with your activity. Look at me, I'm cooking! I'm running! I'm watering my plants! I'm having sex!

I used to be ok with being kind of personal with my status updates, because I didn't feel that by doing that the whole world would know. But for me now, it's gotten to the point where I don't really feel like sharing anything personal on Facebook. Maybe I won't be careful enough with my filters and I'll share information or pictures I don't want certain people to see. And it's not so simple to just click and make some changes so some people will see while others won't. Besides, having to custom-create all these settings is pretty annoying.

For a short while I was entertaining the thought of moving my social networking over to Google+ because I liked the idea of circles. This made it a lot easier for me to post things I wanted some people to see, but not others, because much like real life, you don't act the same way with your co-workers as you do with your best friends. But I didn't because it would have been too much of a hassle to find everyone on the Google+ network, essentially re-add them, move my pictures over, and basically start from scratch. Now I'm thinking, if it was hard then, imagine now, when Facebook is rolling out a platform that may integrate every aspect of your life, virtual and physical, into its network. It's like a huge black hole that is setting out to capture every action you take (and if you're not careful, announce it to the rest of the world). Don't be surprised if you wake up one day and you can't tell if you're in the virtual or real world.

I think I liked Facebook best sometime when it rolled out its 'Like' button and still served as a useful tool for me to keep in contact with people while occasionally seeing what other people who I hadn't talked to in a while were up to. I will try this 'Timeline' thingamabob for a while. If it becomes too difficult to manage, or if I find it's taking more time for me to improve my online persona than myself as a real person, it may be time to go off the grid, so to speak.

Ta Da

I donated my hair to Locks of Love today. The stylist (who was gorgeous) tried using a pair of plain vanilla scissors to cut off my ponytail, but it was too thick. I almost burst out laughing when she pulled out an electric shaver. She told the new stylist shadowing her, 'in cases like this...you need the weed whacker.' Hahahaha. I was pretty proud of myself.

I kind of regretted not taking a before and after picture with my 10-inch nappy hair, but oh well. Hair grows back. Now it's so bouncy and I feel like shaking my head back and forth all day.

Toss toss toss.

I can't wash it for three days though. I'm sure by the end of the third day it'll be really gross and stuck to my head. I can't really sweat either, so that means no running or yoga. Blah.

The Incredible Shrinking Middle Class and Lost Gen-Ys

 

I saw these pictures on my FB newsfeed by two different friends.
 
I finished reading Robert Reich's Aftershock. The main issue he addresses in this book has been on my mind lately, as I watch what's been happening politically and economically in this country. It's a good read that provides an overlooked perspective on why the American economy sucks right now. I'm going to do the book a disservice by giving this overly simple summary, but basically the gist of the argument is that this economic mess was not created by Americans living beyond their means because they had unbridled access to credit (this part I might partially have to disagree with), but because of the widening socioeconomic inequality that has been going on in this country for the past few decades. For the average American worker, wages have increased little, even flatlining, while productivity in the workplace has increased due largely to improvements in technology. Increased productivity benefits CEOs and the companies they run, but not necessarily American workers for the reason stated above. In order to fulfill higher costs of living and counter stagnant wages, Americans spend more time working. Unchanging wages+higher costs of living=Americans saving less to buy a middle class lifestyle. Credit plays a role in this by making things seem more affordable and by creating an illusion of wealth. In 2008 when housing prices began to first level out, then decline, many Americans came to realize they were screwed because families had refinanced their homes in order to gain access to more credit. So now not only did they have mortgage debt, they had consumer debt. And for many people, the most valuable asset--their house--was now worth much, much less. But this entire dynamic is a symptom of the true root of our economic problems, and not the cause. The cause is a set of policies that have come to favor the rich while ignoring, even putting the middle and lower classes, at an economic disadvantage.

We seem to be a society favoring patterns of divergence, and by that I mean not only has our political system come under stress from two increasingly divided ideological camps that have less and less to agree on, our society is splitting off into two groups of haves and have-nots. We resemble an hourglass--the rich people at the top are becoming richer, the poor people at the bottom becoming poorer, and the middle class moving into one of these two categories. Unfortunately, moving downward seems to be a more likely scenario.

The American dream is a joke. I'm very disturbed to see how increasingly difficult it has become for people to make a decent living in this country. We work longer hours, but more and more people hate their jobs. It's almost an anomaly nowadays to find someone who can tolerate their job, let alone like it. We are an anti-middle class country. Look at all this backlash against the public sector and unions. Unions are organizations that are supposed to provide protection to the average working man, yet we allow politicians to dismantle them. Private sector employees shouldn't be looking at the public sector and complaining that people in this sector have overly robust benefits. The private sector should be demanding these types of benefits. We can't have what they have, so they shouldn't have it? Politicians are trying to eliminate social programs where the middle class are the largest group of recipients and prolonging regressive tax policies, like the estate tax, which benefit wealthy Americans. (Reich) Big companies like Procter and Gamble are beginning to develop products and marketing strategies aimed at the upper class because it realizes the middle class--traditionally the most voracious consumers of their products--cannot afford to spend anymore. I'm not lying. This was published in a Wall Street Journal special report, which I didn't read because I would have had to pay for it.

Doesn't this make you shake your head? I think it's wrong to think that as long as you're doing ok then you shouldn't be discontent. It's very dangerous to live in an inequitable society. Countries with high levels of inequality are often the most unstable and violent. This is not about altruism. Even thinking about it in the most self-interested terms, you can't enjoy your own wealth when you're constantly fearful about the angry poor. They will break down your doors, revolt, and cause massive instability. So even if you don't care about the have-nots--maybe you even feel they deserve to be where they are--be discontent. Be discontent that you live in a society where the poor are severely disenfranchised and downtrodden, and the rich live unflinchingly, unsympathetically, in their own little champagne and yacht-filled bubble. If you are the only one well off, then what does it matter? 

It's tough to be optimistic, living in a society like this. I try to tell myself it's not hard to be happy, but I guess you can only be happy if your own situation is good and you ignore much of whatever else is going on around you. I'm worried for my generation. We're lost on so many levels, and I think in the long run this economic downturn is going to hit us most adversely. When the debt piles up to a point where we can't not pay it back anymore. When we won't be able to access the sad safety net we call Social Security because we spent our tax dollars paying for the Baby Boomer generation to use it and have nothing left for ourselves. When living with our parents is no longer an option and we're dissatisfied with where we are in life, thinking we would be much bigger than what we've become.

I don't really know what the fix-all to all this is. There probably isn't one. But I can't stop thinking about it.

Halloween: Not My Favorite Holiday

I was taking an evening walk in my neighborhood when I passed a house that freaked the bejeezus out of me. I should have taken a picture. Talk about going all out for Halloween. There was a nun zombie, a witch, a dead bride, a man hanging from a tree, and a regular zombie all chilling out in the front yard.

I think I'm going to avoid walking down that street for a while.

Amy Shackleton's Painting Without a Painbrush

It is a slow Monday when I am watching Youtube videos like this. But pretty neat. Painting sans paintbrush? It's like eating yogurt without a spoon.

This Makes Me Want to Be Someone's Girlfriend

Really like the song, hate the video.

Gluttony Extreme: LA County Fair Edition

Being at the LA County Fair this weekend reminded me of why there is a frightful obesity problem in America. At one point while we were pigging out on funnel cake, Henry and me exchanged a look at each other because we both saw the "wide load" that graced our line of vision. I feel like America is designed for people to get fat. Staying fit in this country is really an uphill battle, I tell you. There's no opportunities for people to naturally build exercise into their daily routine. Walking from point A to point B is like walking from your doorstep to your car. That's why you need gyms, whereas people in places like Asia don't nearly have the same obesity problem we do. Too much going in, not enough going out. At the fair you can also rent those motorized scooter things and drive them around the fairground, in case you didn't get enough un-exercise. Did people watch Wall-E? And then people like my mom who are just weird and make no sense when she gets mad that I tell her I'm going on a hike with some minor scaling involved. I mean, what is wrong with you woman? Most parents can't be happier that their kids are getting exercise, and you're going blah blah blah you're going to break something and you're not strong enough and don't try to show off and then watch, you won't be able to start work? From a hike. Why is she so Asian??? I lack upper body strength anyway so it's good that there's some arm work involved.

Wow, ok, I really went off on a tangent. Talk about parent issues. Anyway, back to what I really wanted to blog about, which was the fair! I was kind of disappointed there was no deep fried butter. But maybe that was a good thing. I was already feeling pretty gross at the end of the day. I did see other things you could get deep fried, including deep fried oreos, deep fried zucchini, deep fried koolaid, deep fried watermelon, deep fried burgers, deep fried burritos, deep fried twinkies, and probably anything else you wanted they could deep fry or if not, dip in chocolate (pickles, anyone?). Good stuff.

Good thing I was sharing it or I would have eaten the whole thing.

Interspersed between stuffing our faces there were some carnival games and animal petting. Man, speaking of carnival games, it's way expensive! I don't remember if it's always been that way, but 5 dollars for 10 tickets? And then one play is usually 10 tickets, so you're paying 5 dollars to play a game where you probably won't win anything. I guess I shouldn't think about it in those terms. But there are definitely more satisfying ways to spend 5 dollars. Maybe if I were Yao Ming, buying those carnival tickets would be worth it. I would buy a few and then keep playing the basketball game.

We made Brandon pay $1 to see Hercules, a 3,000 lb horse. He looked smaller in the picture, but we'll take my brother's word for it that he was big.

The fair is kind of like Disneyland to me now. I guess I could go once a year and have some fun, but I'm perfectly fine skipping it most of the time.

Seriously though, I had fun. This expression says it all. That, or constipation.