Absurd Singularity

Posting has slowed to a crawl in the past few weeks due to deadlines at work and a sudden immersion into the massive and slightly disorienting flood of data that is FriendFeed. Why post when people on FF with more free time and wit has already done it for you? Anyhoo, I'll get back into the flow soon hopefully; as soon as work slows down a bit and I can rip my eyeballs from Google Reader and FF.

Since we got our bikes earlier this year, I've taken a couple of rides over to my old high school, Hanover Park. Back then, HP was rather different physically from other high schools that I had seen because instead of one large, multi-story building, the classrooms there were split up into a whole bunch of one-story buildings arranged around a huge expanse of grass along with one main (also one story) building that housed the administration offices, auditorium, library, cafeteria, band rooms, and a few other miscellaneous classrooms and the gym in another separate building. So moving from class to class required venturing outdoors which I thought was quite refreshing. It was my understanding (which could be incorrect), that the reason HP is so spread out was because it was built on rather swampy land. So they couldn't build one huge building for fear of it slowly sinking into the earth.

Since I graduated oh so many years ago, I've revisited the campus a couple of times and pretty much nothing had changed. Until this year. Apparently they've gotten some funding and are using it to connect the individual classroom buildings together two by two. I'm not entirely sure what's to be gained by these extensions besides I guess, locker room space (which was at a premium even in my day) but it seems to be a major undertaking. I believe there's some other modifications being done around the gym area but that wasn't as apparent to me exactly what they were doing there.

Now HP's mascot is and has always been, the hornet. Which back in the day I didn't think too much of. As far as I knew they were like bees but less hairy and more efficient stinging machines. That is until this article over at 8asians brought to my attention the Japanese giant hornet. Which is one impressive-looking, and totally badass flying insect. When 30 of these things can systematically annihilate a 30,000 member strong European bee colony in 3 hours without taking any casualties, you know they mean business. But then again, those European bees are just mindless drones. Not like the native Japanese bees, who have developed a way of defeating their mortal enemy by enveloping them into a "bee ball" and giving them one hell of a fever. But of course it's we humans who get the last laugh. Despite killing around 40 of us a year, we eat their young. Deep fried or as "hornet sashimi." Yum! =p

So yeah, I have a new found respect for hornets and hopefully I'll never run into one of those Japanese ones in my lifetime. Or any of those other 4 "most horrifying bugs in the world" either. Ugh, I get the skeevies just thinking about them.

As most of my friends know, when it comes to gadgety things that tickle my fancy, I tend to be an early adopter. The first Powerbook G3, the first Powerbook G4, the first black MacBook, the first MacBook Pro, the first Treo 650, the first iPhone, and many others, I've had them all. However when it comes to checking out Web 2.0 sites, I'm suddenly slow as molasses. It's not that I don't keep tabs on what the latest Web 2.0 site of the week is, I just haven't felt compelled enough for the most part to throw myself headlong into them.

I think the main reason is because the majority of these "sites du jour" are all "social" this or "social" that. If your site doesn't have a social aspect to it, just pack your bags and go home. So why's that a problem for me? Because I'm just not that social. I've typically liked my social gatherings small and preferably with people I actually know IRL. Even back in my old college days when I was heavily into MUD/MUCK/MUSH/MUSEs, I wasn't terribly social. I'm not anti-social (I did somehow manage to get married on a MUD once after all =p) but socializing just isn't a big deal for me.

However, it's not that I haven't tried to get involved in these social sites (Friendster, MySpace, Twitter, Pownce, et al.). But with each of these sites that requires you to ideally replicate your RL connections onto the Interweb, I consistently run into the same, insurmountable obstacle. Practically none of my RL friends give a rat's ass about these sites. I can count on half a hand the number of RL friends I can build a social network on these sites with. The two general replies I get when I query my other obstinate friends about joining these sites are "Like I have time for this sh**?" and "Eh, just doesn't interest me."

Is it because of my age group? I'm guessing the tweens, teens and twenties crowd are generally a lot more receptive to, and enthusiastic about online social networking than those past their third decade of life. And they probably have a lot more free time as well. I think by my age we already have our relatively set circle of friends, hobbies that don't involve socializing on the Interweb and a family life to tend to. Do we really have the time to invest in all these social sites that seem to pop up like weeds? I barely have enough time to keep up with my blogging and tweeting and Google Reader and FriendFeed as it is.

But it's not like I don't try. So lately I started to finally dabble in two sites that I've had accounts in for a while but just haven't gotten around to exploring until now: Flickr and Zooomr. Long story short, I prefer Flickr. It's just a cleaner-looking and easier to use site. Unfortunately it's not free (that 3 set limit for non-pro users is really freakin' annoying) but I can live with the $25/yr fee. Not saying that Zooomr is a bad site. For those who don't think they should have to pay for anything online, it's a great alternative. The Zipline doesn't do anything for me and the UI is just a smidgen too cluttered compared to Flickr but the ability to upload and view full-sized photos (without having to pay) as well as being able to set prices for your photos is cool.

Oh, but the one functionality that I just love on both sites? Geo-tagging!!! That's the shiznit yo. Although I did find it easier to do on Flickr than on Zooomr.

As for the social aspect on these sites, they both have the requisite ability for people to add each other as contacts and to leave comments on photos and to join groups and all that jazz. Zooomr's a bit more in your face with the Zipline so if you've got a group of friends who are into photography and like the whole online socializing biz, then Zooomr would be the site for you.

So going forward I'll probably use Flickr to house all my miscellaneous photos. Devon's stuff will still be over on his site as usual and I'll most likely still keep the bulk of my travel/family photos on my ol' gallery.

Hmm... ok I think I can see what the hoopla's all about. ;-)