I think I've finally come to terms that for as long as I am in Scotland doing a minimum amount of work, I'm going to be drinking constantly. Call me a fair-weather alcoholic--when I don't have a lot of responsibilities (as I do in NYC), I let myself follow an unguided path, which seems to be leading me towards the bottle on a highly regular basis. A glass of wine here, some brandy there, 3 beers, etc... I know it's not good, but my will power just isn't the same when I don't have anything else fighting for my time. So I figure I'm just going to stop complaining for now (except when I realize how much I'm hitting my wallet) and enjoy life. Now if it was only 75 degrees and I was on a beach--even Jimmy Buffett's music is starting to mock me at this point. It doesn't matter that New York is probably colder--listening to Jack Johnson, Ben Harper, and Donovan Frankenreiter so often has me hooked on the beach. And it doesn't help that Dominique, of New Orleans, won't stop talking about pina coladas and 90 degree weather.
In other news, coming right on the heels of my Facebook article for the Student paper here (read it here : http://www.studentnewspaper.org/view_article.php?article_id=20050228131429), I just banged out a 1300-word feature article about online music downloading (the legal kind) and how the music industry won't stop being greedy. That's running next Tuesday--i'll put the link up then.
Ahh hell, links don't even work on this page well, as far as I can tell. Here is my Facebook article:
Facebooking the future
I’ll admit it, I’m a Facebook slut, but there is one man sluttier than I: Steve Hofstetter, stand-up comedian, radio show host, Columbia University graduate, and Facebook member who shares himself with roughly 70,000 people.
Technically, that makes him a huge slut. Either that, or a whore, as Facebook parlance goes. TheFacebook.com, a website arisen from the bowels of Harvard University, is known among American university students by various appellations, such as ‘a huge waste of time’, ‘a great way to stalk other college students’, or ‘the greatest thing since guy and girl created the one-night stand’
An online community where members can create profiles, join groups based at their universities, and share their interests, Facebook has become a phenomenon over the last year. And with 1.7 million college student members in the United States alone, it has now begun its inexorable spread toward world domination. Universities added to the site recently include Cambridge, Oxford, and LSE, making the University of Edinburgh an inevitable next step. All a student needs to do is request on the website that his university is added, provide university details, and voila, the online stalking can begin!
No one, though, can approach the sheer sluttiness of Hofstetter, who in the past few months has picked up a ridiculous 70,000 friends - 60,000 more than any other member - on his quest for 100,000 online friends. Along the way he’s promoting his new book and stand-up CD, and having a documentary made about him by a college student from Florida.
“Facebook is a great resource,” acknowledges Hofstetter. “It helps you stay organised and keep in touch with old friends. And the ability to download your contact list is great when you need your friends’ numbers, addresses, etc. And it doesn’t take much time to create a profile. He warns, “if they’re looking for a way to make new friends, they should take up a hobby.” It is a wise warning, for Facebook has been acknowledged as the cause of many failed tests and late papers.
The Facebook is known among American university students by various appellations, such as ‘the greatest thing since guy and girl created the one-night stand’
Why? Because the Facebook has done more to help people quantify their importance than anything since existence-justifying Tetris scores. I, an aspiring Facebook slut, have 514 friends at this point, a thought which leaves me with a warm tingle as it proves that I’m loved by hundreds of people I barely remember meeting. Who needs real friends when you have the ability to search for people who have listed whale watching as an interest? Want to find Blazin’ Squad fans? S Club Juniors haters? It’s easy in the Facebook world. Reality falls by the wayside when confronted by the Facebook; it’s not even a fair fight. People love to belong, and Facebook is the largest and most substantial online community, exclusively for university students and alumni, ever created. You even have the ability to search for people who went to the same schools with you previous to your entrance to uni.
The best part about the Facebook, though, lacks any necessary function. It is the random ability to ‘poke’ someone, where a message shows up on their profile saying, ‘Student X has poked you. Do you want to poke back?’ While it may be indicative of the utter inanity of much of our Internet use, poking, like sticking your finger in the Pillsbury Doughboy’s belly button, takes on a whole new dimension of greatness when combined with late-night recreational drinking.
The University of Edinburgh does not yet have its own Facebook identity, but requests can and have been made for the Facebook gods to introduce this poor Scottish outpost to the joys of procrastination via ‘Facebooking.’. Rest assured, the time is near for encountering/being sucked into the greatest American export since the 24-hour grocery store.
By Brian Wagner
In other news, coming right on the heels of my Facebook article for the Student paper here (read it here : http://www.studentnewspaper.org/view_article.php?article_id=20050228131429), I just banged out a 1300-word feature article about online music downloading (the legal kind) and how the music industry won't stop being greedy. That's running next Tuesday--i'll put the link up then.
Ahh hell, links don't even work on this page well, as far as I can tell. Here is my Facebook article:
Facebooking the future
I’ll admit it, I’m a Facebook slut, but there is one man sluttier than I: Steve Hofstetter, stand-up comedian, radio show host, Columbia University graduate, and Facebook member who shares himself with roughly 70,000 people.
Technically, that makes him a huge slut. Either that, or a whore, as Facebook parlance goes. TheFacebook.com, a website arisen from the bowels of Harvard University, is known among American university students by various appellations, such as ‘a huge waste of time’, ‘a great way to stalk other college students’, or ‘the greatest thing since guy and girl created the one-night stand’
An online community where members can create profiles, join groups based at their universities, and share their interests, Facebook has become a phenomenon over the last year. And with 1.7 million college student members in the United States alone, it has now begun its inexorable spread toward world domination. Universities added to the site recently include Cambridge, Oxford, and LSE, making the University of Edinburgh an inevitable next step. All a student needs to do is request on the website that his university is added, provide university details, and voila, the online stalking can begin!
No one, though, can approach the sheer sluttiness of Hofstetter, who in the past few months has picked up a ridiculous 70,000 friends - 60,000 more than any other member - on his quest for 100,000 online friends. Along the way he’s promoting his new book and stand-up CD, and having a documentary made about him by a college student from Florida.
“Facebook is a great resource,” acknowledges Hofstetter. “It helps you stay organised and keep in touch with old friends. And the ability to download your contact list is great when you need your friends’ numbers, addresses, etc. And it doesn’t take much time to create a profile. He warns, “if they’re looking for a way to make new friends, they should take up a hobby.” It is a wise warning, for Facebook has been acknowledged as the cause of many failed tests and late papers.
The Facebook is known among American university students by various appellations, such as ‘the greatest thing since guy and girl created the one-night stand’
Why? Because the Facebook has done more to help people quantify their importance than anything since existence-justifying Tetris scores. I, an aspiring Facebook slut, have 514 friends at this point, a thought which leaves me with a warm tingle as it proves that I’m loved by hundreds of people I barely remember meeting. Who needs real friends when you have the ability to search for people who have listed whale watching as an interest? Want to find Blazin’ Squad fans? S Club Juniors haters? It’s easy in the Facebook world. Reality falls by the wayside when confronted by the Facebook; it’s not even a fair fight. People love to belong, and Facebook is the largest and most substantial online community, exclusively for university students and alumni, ever created. You even have the ability to search for people who went to the same schools with you previous to your entrance to uni.
The best part about the Facebook, though, lacks any necessary function. It is the random ability to ‘poke’ someone, where a message shows up on their profile saying, ‘Student X has poked you. Do you want to poke back?’ While it may be indicative of the utter inanity of much of our Internet use, poking, like sticking your finger in the Pillsbury Doughboy’s belly button, takes on a whole new dimension of greatness when combined with late-night recreational drinking.
The University of Edinburgh does not yet have its own Facebook identity, but requests can and have been made for the Facebook gods to introduce this poor Scottish outpost to the joys of procrastination via ‘Facebooking.’. Rest assured, the time is near for encountering/being sucked into the greatest American export since the 24-hour grocery store.
By Brian Wagner
posted by The Oracles @ 8:29 PM
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