Super is super.

So I was browsing through my news feed, ever so casually, when I noticed a trend. A few outlets had posted this weird black and white picture of Bill Murray with old-school 3D glasses pasted on. I decided to actually read the headers for these posts and I found out that yet another new social network was upon us! NOOOOOOOOO!

Under normal circumstances I would have scoffed at it... but these are tough times. You see, I am currently unemployed, which means I only interact with my immediate family. I thirst for human interaction so badly that I re-activated my Facebook! So I bit. I read a little about it and downloaded the app. I set it up and started posting nonsense immediately.

After playing with it for a while, I realized even though that my knee-jerk instinct would have been to uninstall the application and go on with my life, I was having fun, even laughing out loud! It's brilliant, actually.

First, let me lay down some basics:

Super does not feature complex social structures like Facebook or Google+, instead you just follow people, a lot like on Twitter.

Your posts are always public, but unless someone is actually following you the post will probably drown in a bottomless pool of noise within seconds. You can't share or retweet other peoples' posts, and you can always just delete your posts. This makes it all feel a bit ethereal, the main appeal behind Snapchat.

You can make posts semi-anonymously (ANONYMISH is the exact term), where those who follow you will see it but your name won't be there. It's a lot like whisper, but people can still find out who you are. The Super FAQ stresses this is meant to be playful.

OK, now let me cover the details. Every Super post is composed of 6 key elements (7 if you count your identity):

A super starter, or prompt, the little header-like bit on top of the post. You choose one from a list that rotates occasionally. Things such as THE BEST, MY FAVORITE or THE SEXIEST. You are expected to continue the sentence. I think it's brilliant because these starters always set the post up with a positive, fun foundation. It also makes it hard to treat it like you would other social networks.

The body text, where you finish your thought. They have limited character space, but it's usually enough. The text is always uppercase, but if you're an uppercase hater like me, it's actually quite refreshing because since everything is uppercase and posts are always squared, nobody feels like they're using larger characters to invade your screen. Also, it's a font that looks nice in uppercase. Brilliant! It's also pretty interesting that this field is optional.

A background image. The app runs a quick image search based on your body text, and the results are usually dead-on or hilarious. If you think none of the images offered are a good match, or if you're aiming for something more specific, you can refine your search, upload an image, take a picture with your camera, or choose from some a gallery of colorful works of art. Now, people posting images with a black background and white text (or vice-versa) on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ is my greatest pet peeve, but again, Super makes it work by making it intentional! Again, it no longer feels like someone is using a large image to invade your screen only to share a short blurb of text. It boggles the mind how brilliant the concept is!

A signature. Your posts are always attached to your name (unless anonymish), so you don't really have to sign them. Yet, you are asked to. And if you sign with your name, you're not getting the joke. Most people use this last bit of text at the bottom of the image to credit the post to a generalized group (hipsters, kids nowadays, no one ever), a fictional character, or blatantly lay responsibility on someone else. Some others use it as a punch line, much like Twitter users will use hashtags for punchlines. It's truly amazing how clever this is. I think on a previous version signatures actually worked as hashtags, linking similar posts togther, but the function was removed.

An optional link so you don't litter your precious post with an ugly URL!

An optional location so you can post things like THE BEST BURGER JOINT. And use the application like some kind of Foursquare. You can also search for nearby posts.

Oddly enough, the only part of this that is truly optional (besides location, link and your identity) is the body text! You HAVE to choose a header (or stick to the default chosen, usually "THE BEST") and signature and force you to be creative, and take a minute to rearrange your thoughts, as opposed to just blurting out whatever is on your mind. The result, I think, is many users realizing their post is not fun at all and deleting it before uploading it. You, the reader, get only the good stuff.

These limitations make it nearly impossible for wannabe marketers, corporations, or spammers to advertise their wares. The fact that is has terrible SEO means people joining the network is word-of-mouth type deal.

TL;DR

Really, now, give it a try. It's fun! First, try browsing through the EVERYONE feed to get a glimpse of how fun the community is. Then, think of a few fun things to share and watch as the community gives you loves (likes) and feedback. Swipe left on your posts to share them on other social networks.

Link your phone number, Facebook and Twitter to it and enable notifications so you get notified as soon as anyone you know joins, because it may be a while before anyone you know joins.

Oh, and be sure to follow me, look for 201d!

Goodbye, Spambook. You will be missed.

About a week or two ago I took the decision of quitting Facebook. I told all my friends, even started an event to catch their attention. I wanted to make sure I didn't lost contact with anyone who cared enough. I posted my Twitter handle, my Google Plus profile, and even a link to this here blog.

What did I hate about it? Nothing really, it was just a combination of things that were mildly annoying.

The first problem with Facebook was that it is like the Internet when it started in the early nineties; back when I was in high school, when we were figuring out search engines, email, IRC chat, HTML, and random websites about random stuff. When the World Wide Web was like the wild, wild, west. There was no law upon the vast openness. Some of the earliest webpages were also the most disturbing. Computer viruses that would spread like the plague through shared floppies could now send themselves to new hosts. Hate groups could share their evil ideas and form nice communities. Kids that were once bullied could become the greatest assholes. These were dark days, but I still remember them fondly. How did we survive this era? We simply did because we had to! Soon enough, after the novelty wore off, there were laws; unwritten guidelines that we all followed. The two pillars of this law were spam and netiquette. For a few years the Internet was a nice place to spend time. Then, as a parallel to mankind in general - our creations evolving faster than our minds, and our minds evolving faster than our bodies - technology made the internet accessible to anyone, even people who didn't ask for it. Phone companies started building smartphones and making them mandatory. Social networks came in and once more became mandatory. A nice old lady walked into the phone store because her Nokia had broken, and an astute salesman sent her home with a fucking android preloaded with MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. Now, before you shrug me off as a snob, read this carefully. This people did not ask for the internet. They were forced into it. I'm not talking about just the elderly. I'm talking about the jocks, the bros, the hot chicks, the artists, the teachers, the housewives… people who already had a life, a job and hobbies. People who were happy. People who had life figured out. People who did not have the tech savvy that we relied on to keep the internet from collapsing on our heads. People who took it all for granted. My mom and dad both have Facebook accounts. My younger brother, who was never into technology and barely even played video games as a boy has one. Many of my uncles and aunts have Facebook accounts, and my grandparents were they alive, they'd be on Facebook as well. I know I'm starting to sound like a hipster, just bear with me for a second. The problem is that all these new users were shoved into a world without any guidelines. There is no instruction manual. Just post whatever you're doing or thinking, and click the like button. I have no patience to relive the nineties. My mother in law posts everything in uppercase and refuses to stop even after I explained how annoying it is. My uncle keeps tagging me in pictures of a guy taking a shit and such. My friend's sister posts that she's selling this or that on a daily basis. These are tiny details that irk me just as much. They are still people I love. No I'm not going to stop loving my mom for making an embarrassing comment on my status.

The second problem is such a large part of the first that it deserved its own paragraph. Back when email was still a novelty, people had the tendency of re-sending any interesting emails they got to their friends. Eventually this came to be known as spam, and such conduct slowly receded. The Internet came up with less annoying ways to share these amusing anecdotes. Then social networks came and it got worse. Now you're an asshole of you don't copy and paste the whole thing! "97% of my friends don't love me enough to post this as their status". A big, heartfelt, FUCK YOU to anyone who has ever started any of these chains.

The third problem was getting to really know some people. One good thing about life before the eighties was that you'd assume everybody was very smart by the way they spoke. Now there's nothing but bitter disappointment when I see some of my relatives' spelling and grammar, yeah, the same people who expected me to have straight As in school. I'd see people post the silliest things and I realize we have nothing in common. Religion, politics, superstition… even music - these are things you should not discuss openly. In some extreme cases there were people I liked that turned out to be real jerks. How can a someone who is nice in person be an absolutely evil on a social network?

The fourth problem is gaming. I have covered this in several occasions on my gaming-related blog. Some games in there are OK, but none of them is worth the continuous spamming for gifts, energy or other in-game favors. I still can't believe I have friends that ONLY use Facebook for gaming.

I'm glad the internet is so widespread now. News travel faster now. We get to know each other better now. We keep in touch. It's all really nice. What I like the most about Facebook is that it made me realize I was not alone in this world, that there are people who care about me even though they don't really know me. It was certainly a worthwhile experiment.

Remember, if it doesn't make you money and it doesn't make you happy. Don't do it. - Adam Carolla

So why am I quitting? I simply don't enjoy it anymore. To those few that kept me interested the novelty seems to have worn off, so they barely post anything. I find myself staring at a wall of uninteresting fact about acquaintances I barely know, untagging myself from pictures and blocking apps and people altogether. The fun is ghone. Time to move on. I just hope Twitter and Google+ don't end up like this.

Now, I may have not been clear enough, so I will restate this: I am not quitting on my friends and my family. I’m quitting on a broken social network. I still love my friends, and I hope you can still keep in touch.

This poo shall pass.

Warning: This post contains graphic depictions of potty business.

There comes a time in a man’s life when the call of nature is so strong that one must break free of any comfort zones and venture into the darkest of places: the public restroom. It’s a known fact that one must be cautious in these environments in order not to become diseased. However, the truth is that the entire process would be a lot easier and safer for all of us if everybody stopped being so stupid about it.

Consider this: How often is a public restroom cleaned? How often do you thoroughly clean YOUR bathroom? The first fact of the day is that a properly maintained public restroom is probably cleaner than its domestic counterpart. If you don’t trust the maintenance workers maybe it’s because you know you’d leave behind a mess that you wouldn’t clean up yourself even if you were paid to.

The first step for cleaner bathrooms would be for owners to provide sanitizing wipes rather than those waxed toilet seat liners. The only thing stupider than one of those is when someone uses toilet paper to line the seat. Then they proceed to bend the laws of physics in order to sit down without moving it. I guess they’re pretty confident that it won’t fall in the water and slowly wick the water towards their unsuspecting behinds. What makes them think these liners are sterile, anyway? Are they aware that after each and every flush there are hundreds of drops of toilet water splashed all over the stall (including the TP roll and that liner dispenser)? Of course, now that you're all done, the liner is too gross for you to dispose of properly. Hopefully it’ll eventually get tired of being there and hop into the toilet all by itself when you're not looking.

Then there are those who are way smarter than that, they know liners don’t work. Yep, I’m talking about those douchebags that will somehow get their #2 all over the place but the toilet to avoid sitting down. I guess they believe they can somehow aim their torpedoes from any distance. People who think like this should die of constipation. Think of the employee that is going to have to clean up after you! I swear if I ever find myself in that situation I will quit on the spot. Screw it.

Back to the TP subject, did you know this kind of tissue is designed to be water-soluble? What I’m trying to say is: you’re supposed to flush it (no, it’s not going to clog the toilet, and if it does, then the owner of the building should upgrade their plumbing)! Doesn’t depositing your poo in the garbage bin defeat the purpose of indoor plumbing? You might as well just go in the garbage bin!

I guess all of these principles apply to #1 as well. Even when there are urinals, there’s always the one shy dude that needs to lock up in case he breaks into dance (that would explain the mess) in the middle of his business.

In the end, it’s all a vicious cycle of people that make the bathroom scary because they’re scared of it. Think about it. Keep some sanitizing wipes with you and wash your hands thoroughly when you’re done. Simple.

Update:
Looks like I'm not the only one worried about this subject!

• Adam Carolla Explains Proper Bathroom Etiquette (VIDEO)
• A letter from Oatmeal to the world's crappers.

Facebook: You're doing it wrong.

Let me tell you a little about my general experience with this Facebook service you’ve probably heard of. Back in the day, when MySpace was still relevant, my wife would spend a great deal of time in these social networks. Every once in a while she would call me to show me something neat she had found, or would tell me how she got back in touch with someone from elementary school. I would say “heh, cool” then go about my business, for I knew that behind the social connections, and the sharing of information, lied a vast network of spam and douchebaggery.

At one point I decided I’d give it a shot, chiefly, I guess, because I don’t really “keep in touch” with any of my friends. I am a human being; therefore I get lonely at times. I figured I could disable all the email notifications and carefully adjust the page’s settings to minimize spam and other annoyances. The result of this experiment has been quite satisfactory. I certainly spent the first few weeks blocking applications left and right, and I was extremely careful as of whom to allow the privilege of my electronic friendship.

I would, and still do to this day, befriend only friends, family, and trusted acquaintances. I have declined many a request from people I actually know, just not that much. I also intentionally let out people who could use my information against me, namely supervisors and elderly relatives.

One of the most satisfying circumstances is when friends from very different circles interact when commenting on my posts.

That being said, the true purpose of this post is to point out the different ways in which my friends are ruining this Facebook experience I enjoyed so much, a series of irksome trends that are growing in popularity.

• General inappropriateness: Cursing, posting tasteless pictures, that kind of thing. I mean, seriously, we’re grown ups now. Also keep in mind that it is a growing trend to open accounts for minors, although it is forbidden by the terms of service.
• Improper spelling and grammar: I am not a native English speaker, nor was I formally taught beyond the basics in school (ask any Puerto Rican of my generation and they will agree public school English does not make one bilingual). I put a lot of effort not only on expanding my vocabulary, but also on making sure I did not speak with a silly thick accent. Those of us who have made this extra effort take particular pride on it. I am equally passionate about my native tongue, Spanish. It really bothers me when an American mixes up “your” and “you’re”, and it bothers me because I know they know it's not correct.
• Excessive shorthand: On the same line of thought as the previous, I believe this butchering of the Queen's English is mostly due to the perceived need for fast and furious typing, along with misguided Internet acronyms and "smileys". If you're going to use an acronym, make sure you know the meaning of it and picture it in it's long form. A phrase like "OMG what are you doing?" would make sense, whereas "LOL what are you doing?" would not. Also, a "smiley" can add a lot to a message but should not be part of a sentence.
• Passive-aggressive posts: Look, if you’re mad at someone, but think confrontation would be unwise, try the following: punch a wall, write an angry letter and burn it, stab yourself… but please, do not post an angry note aimed at a second person (i.e. the reader). Eventually a handful of your friends will suspect the post was aimed at them. I, for one, will automatically assume the aggression is indeed aimed at me and will proceed to block you, just to be safe.
• Marketing: So you have joined this shady pyramid scheme great marketing network and need people to join your network in order to make profit. You decide to dust off the old Facebook and tell your neglected friends about all the money you’re making and how financially independent you are. That’s sad, really. I block sad posts. I don’t mind you trying to sell me something just as long as you continue addressing me as a friend and not as a potential customer/recruit/money tree.
• Preaching: I respect your faith (or lack thereof) just as much as I find it disturbing. Keep it away from me, please. This includes all the raging, fanatical, atheists. Also, the word “Amen” is not a substitute for the period at the end of a sentence.
• Tagging: Use tagging to put a square around my face if I indeed am in the picture. If you want to show me the picture use the “share” feature. The same applies for the faces of other people in pictures I have posted. Don’t make me revoke your tagging privileges!
• Profile pictures: Do not use avatars, pets or your own children. Some people aren’t good at remembering names and really rely on the profile picture for reference. Also, your baby is ugly.
• Applications: I don’t really mind the use of applications (however stupid they are) as these can be easily blocked. Some people, however, seem to discover a new, unblocked application on a daily basis.
• Gaming: This is my greatest pet peeve. I have already written about how Facebook games are evil, but to recap: These are crappy games designed to ensnare poor fools into believing they’re having fun while in reality they are only addicted. Luckily, Facebook games are also applications, therefore posts coming from them can be blocked. The new trend is introducing systems that require you to beg other players for items through regular status updates. I will instantaneously block anyone requesting nails, boards, bricks, or widgets. Use the in-game messaging for that.

I hope this explains why I never seem to notice your posts.

What Google knows about me

As the dust clouds left by the Great Google Buzz Snafu of 2010 (an actual historic event) fades and the hate posts from blogs across the world begin to diminish I stumbled upon an ad banner that made me want to write about Google too.

Now, before I continue, a few points must be made clear:

1. I love Google
2. I do not wish to have my Gmail, Blogger, YouTube, Picasa, Reader, Wish list, Google Docs or Google Calendar deleted
3. I would die of any of these are deleted
4. I do not think Google is an evil corporation trying to take over the world
5. If at any point Google decides to take its rightful place as ruler of humanity I will not join the imminent rebellion
6. I love Google

At first I thought I’d stay clear of this trend of criticizing Google after the Buzz screw-up, then I thought I’d join in, then I got distracted and forgot about it. If you were not following, what happened was that Google decided to add an entire social network to every Gmail account, and to incorporate the use of every other Google product to this system. If you ask me, it was a very clever idea. The only problem is the way it was implemented. Suddenly everybody had a Buzz account, their friends were selected for them, and lots of information about them shared with these new “friends”. Lots of people went berserk over how, suddenly, because they send a lot of emails to their boss, Google decided their boss wanted to know what they’d been watching on Google Reader. I’d flipped out too if it weren’t for the fact that I don’t email a lot of people. Well, in the end Google realized their mistake, apologized, and fixed it.

Right after this incident, lots of upset users started venting their views on Google’s apparent information monopoly. This is because how Buzz exposed a lot of information about ourselves that many thought was unrelated. Suddenly people realized how much they’ve told Google about themselves throughout all these years. Many panicked, and the truth is that it is a little scary.

Google knows who you email and what you’ve sent them. Google knows what you search for on the internet, and how much you like what you like. Google knows what you do for a living and what you do for fun. Google knows all of your ailments (like when you searched “explosive diarrhea”) and exactly what kind of porn you like best. Google knows you.

My question is: What’s wrong with that? Hey, if Google’s going to post an ad banner (which is what pays for all those free websites you visit) at least it posts something relevant! Google also uses this knowledge to fine-tune your search results. It’s all really awesome. What if it knows what kind of video games I like? That just makes it easier to me to search for video games!

Second, you have to realize, Google is an it, not a he, she or a them. It’s a computerized system. Sure, it’s run by people, but don’t expect to have a human being on the other side of your monitor furiously writing your deepest secrets on a scratch pad. That’s just silly. It’s also silly to assume that Google gives a damn about your darkest secrets. It’s not like the company’s CEO occasionally prints your statistics and shows them to his friends to have a good laugh. It’s not like these statistics can even be printed in a readable format.

There are only two things you should worry about. I shall discuss them even when they are already covered by common sense:

The first is the risk of this data being hacked. Hey, it can happen! Just make sure not to share vital information over the internet, not just Google. Never share your password nor make it anything obvious (and if it’s by any chance “12345” please slap yourself). Follow basic Internet security guidelines and the possibility of your stuff being broken into roughly the same of your house being broken into, you know, where you keep all that delicate information.

The second is mistakes like the implementation of Buzz. To prevent this, well, don’t post anything on the Internet that you would not say in public and adhere to the “nothing nice to say” policy. If you REALLY need to remain anonymous, create separate accounts for those uses and do not use your real name.

See, it’s all common sense, like I said. You can’t expect the Internet to be perfect, after all, its run by humans.

After much deliberation I have linked my actual name to this “201d” persona. Simply put: I may not have much to show, but I have nothing to hide. I am aware a Google search for my real name can lead to thinks I have posted as 201d, and vice versa. I don’t really care.

All this is only to present a setting to the real issue of my post: Why does Google think I’m gay? If Google is supposed to show only relevant ads, why do I only get ads for Gay dating services? Honestly, guys, do I look gay? I promise I will never wear those pants again, it was laundry day and I had nothing else to wear, I swear. Is it maybe because my daughters had been searching for Jonas Brothers pictures without me logging off? If so, so help me God, they’ll be grounded for life, I tell ya.

I just hope the Google Bot crawls trough this page and reads this:

I am a heterosexual male currently married to a heterosexual female. I am not interested in dating, period. I have been feeding you information for over a decade now, and I honestly expected you to get this one bit of information right. Please fix it.

Thanks for reading.

Letting Go

Ever since I first lay my hands on that NES controller, I knew It'd be the neatest thing to make games. In school I'd draw "levels" in my notebook and have my friends play them. When I got my first computer I started to learn programming, and as soon as I was old enough to think about a carreer I knew I wanted to be a game programmer. And so When the time came to go to college, I opted for computer sciences.

In college I learned a lot of things, like how to be a grown up. (I didnt really learn squat about game programming, though).

That was about 10 years ago. Every once in a while I catch myself daydreaming of the great game that could have been, and instead of slapping myself across the face and telling myself to go back to work, I let the little boy inside of me go on that fantastic voyage. It still makes me warm and fuzzy inside, I've just learned to let go. I'm not saying you should give up on your dreams. I just had to because of the direction life was taking me. I guess what I'm trying to say is that you should give yourself an early reality check and let go before you find yourself turning 40 and having accomplished any of your dreams.

I still have many things I want to do before I die, and I still enjoy gaming. Not just playing games, but watching them, trying to figure out what the programmers were thinking... I might pick up game-making later in life...

Why did I come up wit this topic? The creation of this blog. For about 10 years as well I've been a web design enthusiast. For the last year i've been working on a PHP page that wuld serve as my blog, but after an 8 month pause I came home to a text editor full of code I don't remember. Then I saw a friend's blogger blog and decided maybe it was time to let go of that and just use a ready-made blog system. I'm lovin' it. I feel a lot lighter now.