Creepy

Whoa! This article was printed the day after my last post. It's like the Personal Politics Gods read my blog and responded through the medium of the New York Times. And the gist of the message is: Yes, be afraid.

Google Mania

I have a confession: I love everything that Google does. From the search engine to the email to the book scanning to the maps to the awesome new 800 number. I recently downloaded the Google Toolbar for Firefox and set up my iGoogle page. I LOVE IT ALL!

But I wonder if I shouldn't be more wary. I mean, will the government be using/are they already using these tools against us? Should I really be so supportive of a company that does EVERYTHING?!

I just can't help but love it, though. I am enamored. I am hooked.

Do I need help?

Ikea Hacking

Have you heard about Ikea Hacking? It's not new, but I had been thinking about it a lot this past weekend as I put together two lovely pieces of Ikea furniture. To "hack" an Ikea product means to either repurpose all or part of an Ikea item (make something totally new) or just modify an existing item (add some personal flair). It's very cool, and there's a whole blog about it right here on Blogger: ikeahacker.blogger.com.

I actually found out about Ikea Hacking while I was looking up info on upcycling, the making of non-disposable items out of discarded material. They're not the exact same thing, but you can see how they're related. In any case, I'm wondering if any of you out there know much about upcycling and/or what you all think about the term "upcycling" versus "recycling." I know that "upcycling" has a genealogy (though I don't know what it is). I guess I'm just wary of the the implications of the "up" prefix--like the new product is inherently better than whatever is is made out of. And, sure--non-disposable things are generally better than disposable, but why do we have to bring these judgements into it?

Relatedly, I also feel compelled to state for the record that I hate those "I am not a plastic bag" bags. They're almost condescending. And smell of self-congratulations for consumerism masked as politics. And they're ugly.

The end.


Ikea cat hack!

Is Resistance Futile?

Should I join Facebook? I have resisted for a long time. But now I feel kind of left out. I just can't get behind all of these "social networking" sites. Are we really "networking" here, or just making some asshole rich? I'm also against the faddishness of the New Cool Site thing. First it's Friendster; then MySpace; now Facebook. Why can't we just stick to one and not allow ourselves to be the pawns of capitalist forces trying to trick us into thinking that we're "connecting with our friends" when we're really just allowing them to gather demographic info so that they can sell us shit? The weirdest part is that I'm not really all that overly earnest or incredibly naive or even against buying shit--even though everything I've written here appears to be to the contrary. There's just something that seems so gullible about joining all of these sites.

Am I being crazy here? Am I missing something? Will you still accept my friend request?

Poet's Corner

I'm in a poetry class that makes me feel old. The upside, though, is that I'm getting to read some good poetry. Here's an incredible piece by Emily Dickinson for your reading pleasure:

Pain - has an Element of Blank -
It cannot recollect
When it begun - Or if there were
A time when it was not -

It has no Future - but itself -
It's Infinite contain
It's Past - enlightened to perceive
New Periods - Of Pain.

Why are cats the cutest?

Really. And how did they GET so cute??!!

Karaoke + Joey Fatone = Love

If you have not watched The Singing Bee, you should do it now (or on Tuesday when it airs)! No, it's not as great as real karaoke; but it's still pretty awesome. It features Joey Fatone as the host (and you know I have a soft spot for him); a live band with live, Broadway-ish singers; girls dancing around in their underwear; and a karaoke contest. What's not to love??!!

It is also far superior to the other karoake show, Don't Forget the Lyrics. That one gives karoke a bad, stupidly-drawn-out-in-a-way-
that-isn't-dramatic-but-instead-is-really-annoying name.