myspace

Recently I've been playing with the whole myspace.com thing. It's interesting that since so many people have myspace pages, you can find random people that you meet in real life on there and find out something about them or get in touch with them.

There's been a lot of parental backlash and politicking about the dangers of myspace for teenagers. People think that teenagers are exposing themselves too much and creating opportunities for stalkers. This sounds a lot like the old "the Internet is only for porn" accusation. myspace is a medium for communication. Kids simply need to be educated on how to blog responsibly, just like were all told not to talk strangers or get into a stranger's car when we were kids.

On the flip side, there are studies like this NewScientist article about the social benefits of myspace.com for teenagers.

Aesthetically, I think that myspace pages are really ugly. And others agree. Here and here are efforts from web designers to make their profiles look good.

Lastly, here's a funny video I found about myspace:

Vegas, Baby!

For work I went to Las Vegas to exhibit at NAB 2006. I also took time while there to visit my friends Meg and Diana who live in Vegas.

I know. it's strange to think that there are real people with real lives there. But they do exist! And it was interesting to be in Vegas for the first time with a real purpose. But I wonder if I could live there. What would I do for work? I guess there is plenty of nerding to do as casinos become more and more computerized...

Naaaaah. If I lived there I would do something random, like maybe sell fake IDs on the strip. No, I would be one of those guys who hand out the ads for "escort services"! I could perfect my paper-snapping technique to get people's attention so they can't resist taking the ads, even in front of their wives and kids! Then I could ascend to the top of the ad-snapping hierarchy...

Anyway, I like Vegas because it's a party town. It's warm most of the year, people stay up and have a good time, and just a lot of random shit happens there. Also, now I know of a good tapas place there. Try the Mango Margarita and tell 'em that Mike sent ya ;)

BTW, I've been blogging for over a year now. I used to try and keep journals but I find the actual act of writing to be too tedious. The exhibitionist in me needs to know that people are reading before I really write much.