Jan

26

Naked on the Net

Filed Under Privacy, Social | Leave a Comment

The typical response to a “OMG Users Don’t Have the Privacy They Think They Do” article is to never post anything online or just never visit web sites where you would post something.

These seem…. Paranoid. People have an expectation of privacy. People also inherently trust web sites unless they have been burned enough in the past. I know a few people who have lost their trust. However, its less than a dozen out of a few 300 people.

My mother in particular, read an article about bad web browser cookies years ago, so she set Netscape 4.5 to tell her about every attempt to set a cookie and was appalled at how many web sites tried to set them. Eventually, she realized not every cookie is malicious. Similarly, not every web site or company is out to screw their users. By contrast, a friend of hers installed Zone Alarm at home and discovered a ton of blocked connections which made him paranoid about the dangers online.

The place to be online is, I think, somewhere between paranoid privacy and complete openness. We should be open enough to generate conversations. However, we should not be giving away the kitchen sink.

Jan

6

Why One Should Not Connect With Egoists on Social Networks

Filed Under Interweb, Social | Leave a Comment

“Second, if you add me as a friend I assume you want me to send you emails and interact with you.” — Plaxo: the social monster? - Scobleizer

Robert is the geek equivalent of Paris Hilton or Brittany Spears or Lindsey Lohan: A sad trainwreck we all thank a higher being that its not us. People don’t care what he has to say or endorse. They just want appear “cool” to their other geek friends. Because he does not know us, we don’t expect him to actually contact us.

The further a number of connections rises above 150 (Dunbar’s number), the more people listed who are not really a friend. At 5,000, he would require unheard of levels of emotional intelligence (I just don’t see it) to know them all well. Therefore, its clear the connections from Scoble’s perspective is to market to them (aka spam).

Dec

21

Never Go in Against a Sicilian When Death Is on the Line

Filed Under Science, Social | Leave a Comment

Much of my adolescence was spent bullying my male peers with snide remarks. While, I don’t think there is one kind of humor, I can see part of humor coming from male hormones. Creatures with horns butt heads. We human males use humor to express our dominance. The best is the sly offhand comment where the target struggles to understand but makes everyone else laugh.

If this is right, then we males will become more and more lame as we get older. Ugh. The wippersnappers are going to make us look impotent. Thus turns the cycle of life.

tag: ,

Feb

17

Trust

Filed Under Corporations, Gov't & Politics, News, Personal / Relationships, Quotes, Science, Social | Leave a Comment

A day at NPR:

[David Weinberger:] “There is an inverse relationship between control and trust.” The more you hand over control, the more trust you earn. True of media, business, government. He also said that trust is not a goal but an enabler: if you have trust, you can do more.

Jun

24

Circle of Friends

Filed Under Science, Social | Leave a Comment

Americans’ circle of friends is shrinking, new study shows | Science Blog:

Americans’ circle of close confidants has shrunk dramatically in the past two decades and the number of people who say they have no one with whom to discuss important matters has more than doubled, according to a new study by sociologists at Duke University and the University of Arizona.

“The evidence shows that Americans have fewer confidants and those ties are also more family-based than they used to be,” said Lynn Smith-Lovin, Robert L. Wilson Professor of Sociology at Duke University and one of the study’s authors.

“This change indicates something that’s not good for our society. Ties with a close network of people create a safety net. These ties also lead to civic engagement and local political action,” she said.

My confidants seem very distant lately. Yes, they are generally hundreds of miles away. However, as I am a techie, miles don’t mean anything. Between IM and phone, we can still discuss things. Its just that lately we seem to have other things happening that take away the opportunities.

Better work on correcting it.

Apr

1

Delayed

Filed Under Personal / Relationships, Social, Work | Leave a Comment

So I am not the only one….

In Spring ‘06, A Young Man’s Fancy Turns To Work . . .

Think romance is alive and well among young singles? That twenty-somethings are checking each other out in the office and cruising the bars at night, looking for someone to love? You might want to think again.

The major love story these days is this: maybe later.

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