I think it’s safe to assume that I’m crazier than most people, and that most people tend to over-extend themselves less than I do. So why are people always so tired? Is our society so complex and intricate now that simple daily interaction tires us out? Is our work culture so demanding that crafting an internal memo taxes us both physically and emotionally?

What does that say of ‘progress’? What does that say of our perfect lives with our iPhones and shiny objects? What does that say of the copious cups of coffee consumed?

I don’t know. Do you?

/rant

And what is this ‘stance’, you may ask…

Well, it’s simple. It’s also been reiterated time and again by those more well-known and more influential than I (not to mention that they also write better). It’s this: the age of true privacy is over; now is the age when we must recognize that the best we can do is control and sculpt how the digital world records and stores our information and our thoughts. In short: Personal e-PR.

It’s probably a little more than that, actually. It’s about sculpting your online persona such that it’s personal, without being too personal. It’s letting the world see into your life, but not so much so that your lifestream is an open book. It’s ultimately having control of your personal information floodgate.

Isn’t that a doozy?

In all seriousness, this shouldn’t be a daunting task. Social networks and advertisers should be making this easy for you. However, this isn’t always the case. Corporations, afterall, are entities whose sole purpose is to increase value for shareholders, and for the most part, you are not a shareholder. In fact, many of us aren’t shareholders for these social networks and advertisers. We are, however, stakeholders in their products. So, shouldn’t we have a say in their business practices?

In actuality, I find a large majority of social networks and online advertising networks would rather promote their shareholder valued than take care of their user base. They try to subvert user rights through carefully crafted and overly obtuse EULAs or Terms and Conditions. They also try to mask their activity through layers of PR and other well-crafted ‘nice words’. These practices are underhanded and simply unjust. Needless to say, they must be stopped.

How can we possibly stop these nameless and faceless corporations, you may ask? Easy. Spread the word. Educate people about what companies are doing with your data. Read the EULAs. Show people PleaseRobMe.com. Essentially, make as much noise as possible and let the people decide. If you’re perfectly alright with your life as an open book, please do so, but know the risks. If you prefer to keep parts of your life private, then find out how you can do so. It really isn’t hard. Afterall, most of them have privacy settings you can tweak. The worst you can do is abandon it all.

Hell, I did. Facebook is dead to me.

In any case, please spend the time to think, organize your thoughts and act. Do this, not for me, but for you and your digital self.

Ciao, until next time.

scwleung

But no longer. I have hung up my digital cutlass and have lain fallow my bandwidth. I have declared my early retirement, and it is not simply because I have collected enough e-riches (or iRiches if Steve Jobs has his way) to satisfy me for a lifetime.

In fact, I’m not entirely certain why I stopped.

It’s been difficult for me to nail down why I’ve stopped. So instead of mulling over it till the cows come home, I’ve decided to post some of my potential reasons. Perhaps the wisdom of crowds will point me in the right direction.

Reason 1 – Financial

Let’s be clear. I make money now. Not the mad marketing dough that’s continually purported in Mad Men. Not in the slightest. It is, however, enough for me to live off of and enjoy nice things with. Tie this in with the fact that I don’t subscribe to cable, the math points to that the money I save from not subscribing to cable can be poured into buying TV episodes and movies on DVD (or Blu-Ray).

While all this is true, it doesn’t fully explain my situation. Afterall, I was more than happy to pirate movies and TV shows when I was making money in the past few years. Also, I was more than happy to buy DVDs even when I wasn’t making money. No, this is only a partial explanation. (Though I have to admit that it is nice to see DVD prices fall.)

Reason 2 – Social

There’s two aspects of social in this case. The first is the general social acceptance and tolerance of piracy. The second is that despite the social acceptability, there are still legal hurdles currently in place, and to be enacted in the future that will try to reverse this trend.

Despite having countercultural tendencies, I don’t really think that simple social existence would sway me away from downloading. It is an interesting thought, however, that as new technologies and services appear (think Zip.ca and iTunes Media Store), I would be more drawn to them and slowly abandon my old habits.

With regards to the legal-side of rights protection, I think most people know my stance on unjust, and oft-draconian legislations. Pretty sure I don’t have to say much more than that.

Reason 3 – Personal

It is not a secret that I work far harder than I should for someone my age (I beg to differ, though). The obvious conclusion that’s drawn from this is that I have no time to watch anything. This is so absolutely untrue, I find the simple thought of it laughable. I take in so much more media now than ever before. I listen to 5 or 6 podcasts a week; I finish a video game every two weeks; I read more (legitimately paid for) books on my Kindle than I did throughout my entire undergrad degree.

Also, with my being out of the apartment so often during the day, it would make sense for me to use my full bandwidth to download all day, every day. And yet, I am not.

In any case, those are the three reasons I have pondered on for the last few weeks, as well as my attempts at debunking each of them. It’s clear that I have made little progress since I started this exerecise. Perhaps you can help? Would love to hear if you, too, have stopped plundering the digital seas. And if so, why.

In any case, that’s all from me.

Ciao

Sam

Good fucking riddance.

Maybe it’s because I’ve had my fill of elections and politics this year, or maybe people around me are all over-hyping this election cycle, but I am so sick and tired of listening to Obama-This-Maverick-That, Hope Vs. Experience, or Biden gaffs and Palin gaffs. I really just want it all to end. And no, I don’t really care who wins.

Now, I understand why Obamaniacs are so excited. Obama is charismatic, young, hopeful, and an all-round smart fellow. He instills hope where little hope exists. He inspires in a time when inspiration is needed. He would make a great President…in 2012 and beyond. I’ve listened to his speeches and they are truly remarkable oratory masterpieces. His speech writers deserve a lot of that credit. However, I am gravely concerned about his policies and its sustainability in the current and foreseeable economic conditions. I am concerned about his experience in understanding broad global issues, and how the US will continue to shape the world’s geo-political, social, economic, and military landscapes, despite the US’s waining influence. I am simply worried that Obama will rely too heavily on hope and clever words to get him through the next 4 years.

With that said, I’m not a McCain supporter either. Yes, he has strong leadership and foreign relationship experience under his belt, and that is certainly worthy in my books. He, too, is a smart man, but his age will be large concern. John McCain truly means well for his country, and he has proven it before. However, based on observation of his campaign alone, I can tell that he [as well as his predecessor George W. Bush] rely too heavily on the opinions of his aides and advisors. His sudden shift towards catering back to the conservative base and his rash appointment of Sarah Palin can only be attributed to receiving poor and unsound advice from Republican advisors. A real maverick who would have made sound judgments and legislature in the White House has been diluted into a Republican puppet. This is a huge loss for the American people and the world.

As I hope I’ve shown, I’m not a big fan of either political party in this election. As a matter of fact, I’m not a big fan of US politics as a whole. The entire system is now a 4-year, multi-billion dollar cycle that enforces stereotypes, divisions between socio-economic classes, and idolatry that rivals the great religions on this planet. The entire system still tries to shut voters’ minds off from thinking about the real issues at hand and making informed decisions, and instead continually offers a better vision for the future without actually describing concrete ways to get there. Both Obama and McCain are guilty of this. As alluded to by Clotaire Rapaille in his work The Culture Code, Americans view their President as a modern day Moses who will lead them to their Promised Land. Because this mindset is so deeply rooted in the society, this problem will persist for many many years to come.

Despite all my grievances, whoever takes over the White House come January next year will be a competent leader. There is little doubt of that. It is, however, important to remember that no matter what was said or promised during the campaign, don’t expect things to change overnight, or quickly…or even slowly. The next President will face many challenges, including the Senate and Congress. Don’t expect any of the extreme and populist campaign promises to be fulfilled. Let’s be honest; whatever happens tonight and whoever gets elected into office, a politician will be running the US, and a politician will do what a politician does best – get re-elected.

So let’s not delude ourselves into thinking big changes are coming down south just because they’re replacing the old guy. Things will change for certain, but the fundamentals of the system is unlikely to change regardless, and that is probably our biggest problem that we face today.

Hmm…only 3 Years, 363 days, 23 Hours and 30 Minutes until the next election. I’m already half an hour late following the new election bandwagon…Palin 2012 anyone?

I guess the point I’m trying to make is that we have defined too many different arbitrary starts of years be it temporal, corporate, HR, academic, or whatever! Don’t get me wrong here, I appreciate the need to recognize birthdays, anniversaries, and special dates like that, but for anything more arbitrary, I would prefer the Federal Government’s take on the Small Business tax cycle. Woudn’t life be easier if there were more more consistency on that end?

Well, that’s what I believe anyways…

I don’t know much about the full history of the building, but I know it’s pretty old. What I can say about the building is that while the city has rapidly grown around it, the terminal hasn’t really followed suit. This is a huge problem as the number of people choosing mass transportation and the number of scheduled bus trips out of the city had been steadily increasing. [There are a myriad of reasons for this, which I will not go into.] There are occasions where the line for a bus is so long, the busses aren’t able to pull into their loading bays. There are other times when so many busses are in the terminal, they don’t have enough room to maneuver their way out. There are now so many passengers waiting for busses, the waiting lobby area is almost always standing room only. The end result of this lack of maintenance and upkeep is the congestion in and around the bus terminal every rush hour. This is good for no one.

While I understand that building a new terminal is more or less out of the question, I implore Greyhound, Coach Canada and other public bus companies to work together and create a better solution both for yourself and your passengers. Improving passenger experience will only be beneficial to all stakeholders involved in this situation. Otherwise, other competitors like GO or Via Rail can easily swoop in and win over the market with either lower fares or better customer experience. The choice is up to you.

Why don’t you Insert Thought Here.

Please. Insert Thought Here. [i.e. comment]

Insert Thought Here.