Internet Privacy

This morning I read the weekend Wall Street Journal and was really intrigued by the cover story of their Weekend Journal: "The Great Privacy Debate". For the past week, I've been reading the journal's coverage of internet privacy as they've been spreading the word about tracking cookies and data mining.

As you'd expect, one writer took a positive stance of web tracking having its benefits, and the other was anti-web tracking.

The first article, about being web tracking and its benefits, has a lot of good points. As users of the internet, we should know that part of us being online means that we're giving up some information and, in turn for giving information, we're getting a personalized experience while we surf the internet.Ads made just for you!

I don't know about you, but sometimes the ads scare me.

That's why, I'd have to agree more with the second stance that says we shouldn't take web tracking so lightly. The writer made a good point in fearing the way we seem to care less and less about our privacy and treat the internet as a diary – something we can confide our secrets and information in – without considering the consequences. “Personalization’s evil twin is manipulation,” he states.

I think that we should be wary of the information we choose to post on the internet. Unless you really don't mind people being able to track you down through your internet history, then you can carry on. However, it would be a shame if our world turned into the one Cory Doctorow depicted in "Scroogled".

Another Dating Site

You know how I'm fascinated with the way new media bring people together. Whether it's just through a niche social networking site, or another niche dating site, I like it.

Read about another dating site exclusively for virgins. Why not, right?

(Question: does phone sex, sexting, or cyber sex exclude you from being a virgin?)

Biopsy-doodle

Got a biopsy on a mole-like thing on the scalp of my head.

My head is very sad. It feels like my scalp is being pulled together by force...

My hair is also sad because there's gook in my hair from the antibiotic cream.

Another fine day...

Birdie

For the past few weeks, there has been a bird nest nestled next to the front door awning of my parents' house. We see the Mama bird sitting there and how she flutters away whenever we walk too close to her or when we open the door. Personally, I find the bird nest to be charming because there must be baby birds in the making, and who doesn't love babies?

One evening I happened to be by the front door and I see that the cleaning lady is spraying the awnings down with a hose (we do have a dirty house, I suppose. The eggshell-shade it originally was has turned rather rotten through the years) and you see all of this black dirt cascade down. Then suddenly, I notice something from the tree come crashing down from the nest as a result of high-pressure water being shot at it: a little bird had fallen down. Wet and vulnerable, it quickly hopped into a little crevice.

I pull out the poor little guy whose whole body is shivering and his feathers are completely soaked. I coax him and temporarily put him into a little flower pot (sans flower) with leaves.

(Look at the little guy! Isn't he cute...but sad?)

Needless to say, the cleaning lady stopped hosing. Then suddenly I see something else from the nest. It's another little bird whose head and one wing has flopped over the side of the nest.

I couldn't help him. Dramatically enough, the mother comes swooping back to the nest to find that one of her children is missing and the other one is in a very vulnerable state. I watched as she just stood on the awning, blinking her sad eyes, contemplating what to do next and how to salvage the nest.

I go online and look for ways to help baby birds. Thankfully, this one is a fledgling and can actually fend for itself in some ways. I had put the pot underneath where the nest was to see if the Mama can figure out that her baby is there. But after watching from the window inside the house, it didn't seem like he was being noticed by the mother. (I did, however, see it hopping and tweeting. Cute!)

So, I build it a new nest with a box (holes on the bottom), tissues, twigs, grass...and place the baby inside that one. I figure his brown feathers would pop out from the white tissues. I go away for a little while, and when I go back to look, the baby is GONE.

I look up to see it is miraculously back up in the nest tweeting.

Hum...

...The next morning, both babies and the mother were gone. Hopefully to a more peaceful home with less water.

People Love California

After reading this article about U.S. Cities with the Most Immigrants, I have to admit that California is really bad-ass. 11 out of the list of top 20 US cities with the most immigrants were in California.

Including the fact that 1/3 of all graduate students in the United States are immigrants, half of which are pursuing degrees in computer science and engineering. Growing up in a town where 42.8% of the population is Asian (as opposed to 41.0% white people), you can see how competitive our school system is. In essence, AP tests and IB classes galore! (Yippee!)

Anyway, don't just think that immigrants are taking away the jobs you won't do for low wages you would never accept! Don't forget: the US is a country built with immigrants. Immigrants bring good things to the table and will work hard, too.

Now if I can only get more Asians on TV...

New Dating Tool

I like to read about what's happening in the world of online dating. Whether it's as official as eHarmony or as haphazard as a relationship through SecondLife, it's amazing how the internet is changing the rules of dating, love, and relationships.

Recently on the NY Times, I read about a new way to catch someone through new media. The article featured a site called Cheek'd. With Cheek'd you can get cards with cute pick-up lines with your identification code and hand them out to strangers you find attractive during the day. Then, the apple of your eye can log on to the site and find your profile.

What a great way to get social, right? In general, with the rise of the internet, some would say that people have lost the ability to interact in real life. However, with something like Cheek'd, you're pushing people out of their comfort boundaries to find a mate. It can be hard to find someone merely through cut-and-paste e-mails and trite chats, but if you can encourage yourself to approach someone and give them a card, I think you're proving how interested you are in the other person and that you're not solely dependent upon the internet to find "the one".

I really think that the dating tools profiled in the article are useful. Hopefully, if you use them, you'd get a higher date-rate. (Is that the right way to say it? Basically, you'll probably get more dates.) Also, they seem like fun.

If you're not ready to spend money on the little cards though, why not try just slipping someone your business card? On the back, you can write your blog address or, well, "I <3 You." Right? But then that's probably too "old-fashioned", isn't it?

Back In America

Back in America! So far, I've been adjusting to the time difference.

Excuse my lack of writing for the past year! I'm working on my China blog to be presentable enough for your eyes.

Thanks for your patience.