Is This Really Better?
Posted by Andrew | Filed under Internet Culture
Is this really better? Something like this? What I mean to say, is it a good thing that I pay somebody money for hosting space and bandwidth so that I can publish this website? It seems weird considering that I could get something like this for free on any number of services such as WordPress.com or Blogger, or LiveJournal. Okay, maybe not LiveJournal, the natural habitat of the whiny over emotional physically lacking whack job, but still, there are other services.
I mention this because the news about EULA controversy concerning services like these and Facebook and Twitter seem to never end. It has become clear that the thoughts, photos, videos, and comments you put on those services are not your intellectual property. It has become clear that these now multi-million, and in some cases billion, dollar corporations want you to just hand over your content for free. All so that they can essentially turn around and sell it back to you and your friends and readers.
Is it really fair that we as the people of the Internet, populate Facebook and MySpace (another service dominated by the emotionally challenged) with original content and that they make money buy plastering their pages with advertising. Have you looked at the Feed on Facebook lately? There is no distinction what so ever about what is an ad and what is something that one of your friends actually posted. In fact, some of those ads use your friends names and avatars to promote their product.
I don’t like the idea of my likeness being used to promote a product just because I happened to visit their website. I mean, what if it’s an ad for Dr. Pepper? My friends will think I have horrible taste!
And I bet you that they are going to do the same thing to they own it. Is it fair for them to use our content to make money? Some may argue that it is considering that they give these services away for free, but are their limitations to what they can do? And have they shattered those limitations? I starting to think that some services may have.
20 Year Old Student Seeking Room in SLC.
Posted by Andrew | Filed under Internet Culture
Hi, my name is Andrew. I’m going to be starting as a new student at the University of Utah this August and I am looking for a place to live for the Fall semester.
I am not picky, quite the opposite, I just need my own space all to myself. A place where I can sleep and watch episodes of Dexter and Six Feet Under on Boxee on my computer in peace. A place where I can keep a mini fridge stuffed with Diet Coke and Chinese leftovers. I’m not going to make a mess in your kitchen, nor will I in your bathroom, and don’t expect me to walk around your living space naked. I lack that much self confidence and have that much shame.
No, I do not drink, I do not smoke, I do not do drugs. I don’t really care if you drink or smoke, but I do not want to live somewhere with drugs. I’m sorry, I’m not going to be carried away with a black bag over my head in the middle of the night by the DEA, never to be heard from again.
I am “gay friendly” so long as you are “Mormon friendly.” C’mon people, I know what you mean when you post the words “open minded” on the Salt Lake City Craigslist, you mean “no freaking Mormons.” I am as open minded and as liberal as they come, so if you are gay, don’t hand me a pamphlet about open sexuality and I won’t hand you a Book of Mormon.
No, I do not have a steady source of income, I don’t even live in Utah yet. Please understand that I must find a job upon moving so that I can afford the rent that you will be charging me. I have no problem giving you first and last months rent and paying the security deposit in exchange for you showing faith in me that I can pay the monthly cost. If I can’t, don’t worry. I have a perfectly good car that I can sleep in if it comes to that.
So, that is what I am looking for and I’m hoping that you are a good fit, I’m looking to move in by August 21st as classes begin the week after. Please feel free to email me your questions or interest.
P.S. I don’t have pets.
The Christian YouTuber, Not Very Christian
Posted by Andrew | Filed under Internet Culture
My friend, Andrew Reed pointed this YouTube character out to me today. He’s the Christian YouTuber (username: ChristianU2uber), and he is twelve years old and wants to use YouTube to spread his knowledge of God. I’m all for this because I have found that everyone seems to be against God in almost everything. It’s okay for people to spread Religion in new and exciting ways, like on YouTube, but this kid is going about it the completely wrong way.
He posted a video called “hateful comments” asking the YouTube comment posters to think about what they are posting before they type it. That’s like asking a dog to stop wagging it’s tail. I know it’s bad and you really don’t want to hear any of it, but the best thing to do is to just ignore it. In fact, get your own website like I have so that you can just delete them and deny them the pleasure.
And don’t ever respond to them like this. Some commenters have been calling the kid a “homo” and the next thing you know, there’s a video of him almost crying and throwing a hissy fit about it. That really isn’t Christian. What else isn’t Christian is being angry at a toddler for calling you names and hitting you, its a toddler! he or she probably doesn’t even know better and yet you are taking it way to personally. I also love how he isn’t accepting his friend’s apology, but not to his friend, to YouTube. That isn’t Christian either, being Christian is all about “do unto others as you would have done unto you.” What if you were the one apologizing? Wouldn’t you want the other party to accept that apology?
By the way, a video where you claim you are going to hurt yourself and then start smacking yourself across the face and then hitting your head repeatedly isn’t a “very funny video.” No, it’s disturbing and suggests that you need to seek some sort of counseling. I definitely think that it is possible that this kid is just to immature to do what he is doing, he is taking the anonymous attacks from trolls to seriously and is sharing information that is way too personal for a public forum such as YouTube, where anyone can stumble across it.