Excess

My apartmentmate may not have used the bathroom in the past several hours. I can guess this not because I monitor said usage, but because if he had, he would have seen and picked up the mail propped against the wall next to his door. He is probably too busy playing games. As far as the rest of us in the apartment can tell, he spends his life working part time at a supermarket, sleeping, and playing video games online—MMORPGs specifically. His door is never open (I’ve only ever seen a sliver of the inside of his room even though his door faces mine), he doesn’t go to school, and apparently doesn’t communicate regularly with family (a relative came looking for him once). My description paints a sad portrait; indeed, such a life doesn't seem like it can be very happy. If you struggle with something similar, do yourself a favor and break the dependency.

Growing Unfamiliarity

Do I use Twitter? Nope. Do I maintain a blog just for fun? Nope again. Even at twenty-three I sense a growing disconnect between me and the social media landscape. The divide is not caused by technical incapability, but rather from not taking the time to explore.  I spend my time nowadays accomplishing life goals.  Occasionally I wonder though if the disconnect will be more pronounced fifteen years from now.  By then I will need to be teaching my children how to avoid potholes in the technology of their day.  I actually doubt the divide will grow too large because technology is my field of study, but just in case, here is a tweet to my future self: “don’t fall behind!”

Allocator

It turns out that no one enjoys clearing a clogged septic tank.  If someone did, then it may be possible to perfectly match every person’s interests with work they find interesting.  Eric Raymond concludes in The Cathedral and the Bazaar that people are most efficient while working at something they enjoy.  However, if everyone only worked at things they enjoy, there would be a lot of jobs left undone that no one enjoys performing.  The force to counteract such an imbalance is money.  With money you can trade time spent doing something you don’t enjoy for something you do (like a vacation from that terrible job).  So, the next time you think of money as the great evil, just think of all those dirty jobs that wouldn’t get done if it weren’t for it.

Bridging Capital

“Some people build bridges between other people.  It comes natural to them, and I am one of those.”  This is what a female friend of mine told me one day while I gave her a ride to pick up a sound system for a party she had organized for later that week.  What she said seemed true enough—while she lived in the city she was the organizer, recruiter, and general front man for a group of disc jockeys and their dance parties.  She built plenty of bridges for the jockeys, so I thought I may be the beneficiary of a similar service some day.  However, I never did feel like she built any bridges for me before she departed.  I felt a tinge of resent for a while, but then I realized that (1) you shouldn’t be friends with someone because you expect something in return, and (2) bridge builders don’t build bridges between everyone they meet.  The resentment has since nearly faded and I have found that it’s often more fun to build your own bridges anyway.

Progress in Reverse

Social Laziness

Facebook is like getting stuck on a Lazy River.  If you continue to ignore the exit, you’ll get "trapped in [a] loop."1  Facebook is one of today’s most accessible outlets for wasting time.  Such outlets have always existed, but this one is free, ubiquitous, and social.  The pull to spend just a minute longer checking a friend’s wall, pictures, and status is enticing, but perhaps the best way to resist the temptation is to realize that Facebook is a “digital distraction…that [has] no lasting value.”2   It’s not likely you’ll look back twenty years from now and think “boy, I wish I had spent more time on Facebook.”  A few times around the Lazy River is fun and relaxing, but staying there for hours on end is a waste of time.

1 http://www.portlincolntimes.com.au/news/lifestyle/technology/tech-news/addicted-to-facebook/1989289.aspx?storypage=0
2 http://tinyurl.com/29yrnea

Reformed Pirates

Shift + Delete.  That is the only keystroke needed to end a pirate’s digital career.  Oh, and a trusty pair of scissors will help to destroy all those burned CDs.  Such a dramatic end to a bad habit is waxing rare nowadays.  Somewhere in the past few years Napster died and Kazaa stopped being on everyone’s lips.  The Motion Picture Association of America faded from the headlines.  iTunes gained popularity and Pandora began to stream free, personalized radio.  Legislation caught up and the upheaval calmed.  People grew up and learned their lesson.  It won’t be the last excitement we’ll see in the digital age, though.  Boundaries in law and society will be challenged.  Twenty years from now we may be wondering why our children are ripping off the whatchamahoozit and depriving money from what’s-their-name with the how’s-it-work.  But that’s how society progresses, so don’t expect anything less.

Sensitive

Do not use wireless networks that allow you to connect without requiring a pass code.  You may be tempted to use that open network when you don’t have other options, but if you do, you now run the risk of your Facebook, Twitter, Google, Amazon, Flickr (and more) accounts being hijacked.  Three days ago, a freelance software developer named Eric Butler released a Firefox add-on named Firesheep1.  Firesheep2 allows anyone connected to the same open network as you to eavesdrop on your browsing sessions with the above websites and to play like they are you—all at the double-click of a mouse button.  Butler claims this is possible because websites have ignored the responsibility to protect their users adequately.  “They've been ignoring this responsibility for too long, and it's time for everyone to demand a more secure web. My hope is that Firesheep will help the users win.”  Firesheep is raising awareness, but I doubt we’ll see any “users win” anytime soon.  So, when you are about to connect to an unsecure network and Windows tells you that information sent over this network might be visible to others, it’s really not joking.

1 http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2371465,00.asp
2 http://codebutler.com/firesheep

Great Great, Thrice Removed

“Put your contact information on this sheet if you are interested in the upcoming family history course” the woman at the front of the classroom said.  When the paper got around to me I wrote my name and email address on it without hesitation.  I felt that finally a motivator to help me learn about my ancestors arrived.  Among other reasons, helping FamilySearch (a genealogy website) digitize census records made me want to find out more about my ancestors.   Once, when I asked my uncle and grandma how much is known about our family and how far back, they told a few stories and gave a vague sense that everything is researched already—apparently all the way back to Adam.  My uncle was nice enough to give me a Personal Ancestral File documenting the family tree on my father’s side, but that doesn’t mean I can automatically translate those names to lives and photographs.  So with the opportunity to take a course, I figure now is as good a time as any to start down my own path of genealogical research.  Who knows what I will discover, but it’s bound to be illuminating.

Orange Hat

1,269 search results.  That’s how many books Amazon.com stocks on the topic of hacking.  It is strange to think that twenty years ago, when The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage was published, very few people thought about computer security, let alone published stories or books on it.  Computer networks were built around mutual “trust” and “ethical behavior.”  Naiveté ruled the day.  Times sure have changed.  Scan headlines today and you’ll find plenty of people using their computers unethically.  One can’t even imagine the world without virus scanners, firewalls, and regular security updates.  Hacking is now the trendiest hobby since the pet rock—amusing to some, but silly to the rest.  Wouldn’t it be nice if hacking went away, just like that ridiculous rock?  Unfortunately that’s about as easy as getting criminals to stop committing crimes.  Until we figure that one out I’ll continue to install those pesky security updates that protect me from the hacker at the next computer over.

Girls are different from Boys

“How did you feel the first time you pwned a n00b?” my group member asked his cousin.  We were about to start interviewing students on camera for a group project on gaming addiction, so we were excited to have a dry run of our questions on a girl from the Computer Science department.  We continued to press her by displaying a printout of several video game characters.  “Can you name these characters?” we asked her.  She had no idea.  This was a surprise to me because I thought gaming was a hobby everyone in the CS department shared.  Later, when I expressed my amazement to the same group member, he replied “Yeah man, she’s a girl.”  I guess gender still matters when it comes to gaming, even within the CS department.

Oh, and it felt awesome the first time I pwned a n00b.

Building

Last summer I declined an internship to work for the LDS Church in their Technology department.  I am a member of the Church and am studying a technical subject in school, so you would think that I would jump at the opportunity.  Nevertheless, I felt to work for a different employer in New York City—an experience very opposite to the promise of a quiet summer in Utah.  While I was surprised and even a little hesitant toward my decision, I am now realizing that there are ways to build the Kingdom outside of direct employment by the Church.  I think about the myriad technologies that the Church uses to spread the gospel, and the fact that they were mostly not invented at Church HQ.  Someone has to invent them though—perhaps that will be me.  Or perhaps my services will be better utilized elsewhere for a different reason.  There is no way to tell now and only heeding future promptings will guarantee me to choose aright.

Backdoor Safety

For a long time now the government has had the ability to listen in on phone conversations in case they believed your midnight pizza order was secret code for activating a terrorist cell.  Law is now being developed to extend these tapping rights to the internet.  It would require Internet-based communication providers to be “technically capable of intercepting and decrypting [secure] messages.”1  A backdoor to previously secure communications would be installed, giving the door key to service providers and government.  This is a philosophical problem—secure communications are secure because there is no backdoor.  Ultimately though, if this law keeps me safe then I don’t mind.  I’ll have a large pepperoni pizza with breadsticks and a diet Coke, please.

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Grade School

Google Inc. was sued1 last week for being a bully.  The internet technology giant extorted other businesses into illegally breaching their contracts with Skyhook Wireless2 after they decided to cancel their own non-binding business deal with the smaller company.  This was done in hopes of squelching the small guy.  In essence, Google stole little Billy’s lunch money.  But don’t cry for Billy—he called Google’s mother, the federal government, to tattle. We have yet to see how the story ends, but just because Google is a rock star, buys up small companies with chump change, and bench presses twenty-three billion dollars3 doesn’t mean it should get away with this kind of behavior.  Perhaps it (and all big business) should just grow up.  We all have to some time.

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What's the Rush?

“In the face of…rapid technological advance, it's no wonder that "blur" has become the latest buzzword for how information is experienced (and thus how the world itself is experienced).”1

“The relentless immediacy of today's media leaves no time for reflection...”1

“We cannot recycle or save the time allotted to us each day. With time, we have only one opportunity for choice, and then it is gone forever.”2

So, how is your time spent?  Do you choose to socialize online, or have an intimate conversation with a loved one?   Do you consume the latest celebrity gossip, or read from scripture?  Do you watch TV from the couch, or exercise instead?  Do you play a video game, or write in a journal?  It seems that life is fuller when activities are enjoyed in moderation and balance.  Spend time to experience a bit of everything that is good in life and you’ll be happier, healthier, and better off.
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