Downsizing

Since I've been thinking WAY too much about my online activities or lack thereof, I've realized that I'm nearing the bursting point of my own personal tech bubble, as it were. Don't get me wrong, I'm crazy about the new web toys and tech buzz and all that, but it's getting kind of top-heavy and time-consuming.

That said, some changes are in order. I've decided to make some networking layoffs:

Twitter: I really tried, but my attention span is just too long for this. Or maybe not long enough. See? I don't even know what this service is good for. I don't work for Obama, I'm not in a touring band and I'm not a Mars lander. No one wants to hear what I'm doing every 5 minutes, least of all me. Tweet you later.

MySpace: I honestly can't remember the last time I spent more than 30 seconds on MySpace. I used to go there all the time and it's still great if you're a band that wants a free website, or if you enjoy testing your seizure threshold for Flash banner ads, or if you need to stay current with what [alt/metal/hip-hop/teen movie superstar-of-the-minute] is up to. Facebook's got me firmly under its minimalist, Web 2.0 spell for all my personal e-socializing needs. ByeSpace.

Under review:

This blog: Ha! Just kidding, I could never quit this blog. I mean, unless you think I should. Would you like me more if I blogged less. Or less if I blogged more? Because I can change, I swear I can! This was just a goof. That is, unless you take it seriously, then it's totally for real. Whatever you want, baby.

LinkedIn: The only reason this one didn't get the pink slip is because if my paranoia that I will someday need it to find another job. And LI just sits there until you use it, which is refreshingly unobtrusive. Plus, my dad is on it. LinkedIn stays in for now.

IM: Mixed feelings. I hardly ever use IM (nor am I in high IM demand, truth be told), but there are a few people that I would otherwise never talk to without it. Plus, it's faster than texting and usefully linked to my email. IM on the fence.

Skype: Our home internet sucks, but someday it might not and Ida and I have loved ones outside the US that would really dig the free VoIP calling. Do I believe the Skype?

Staying on:

Email, duh
Text messaging, also duh.
Facebook
Youtube
Flickr

Additionally, you'll find a bit more info over on the sidebar now, as I've deleted the old basilharris.com site and just redirected the URL traffic here. It's like moving in with your parents! If your parents were a website and you were a collection of links to loosely affiliated, narcissistic web accounts and pages.
Which, apparently, I have now become.

So now that ducks are slowly assembling in a row, this should be the last of the blog posts about blog posting. What to talk about now? Fashion? Politics? Opera?

Greetings from the new vanguard

An excuse explanation has presented itself for my lackluster blogging schedule of late.

Apparently, it's called Slow Blogging and I for one welcome our new web-slacker overlords who're advocating for:

"...a willingness to remain silent amid the daily outrages and ecstasies that fill nothing more than single moments in time, switching between banality, crushing heartbreak and end-of-the-world psychotic glee in the mere space between headlines. The thing you wished you said in the moment last week can be said next month, or next year, and you'll only look all the smarter."

Well, well well. Looks like there's room for a seasonal, roadside, homegrown, variable-hours farmstand in the world of Mega-mart blogging after all. Just goes to show that "behind-the-curve" can quickly become "cutting-edge" once everyone else reverses direction.
It's like that scene in Modern Times where a loitering Charlie Chaplain finds himself suddenly (and literally) waving the red flag at the head of an angry mob that happens to be sweeping through.

Yeah, it's exactly like that, I think.

MoveOn said I should post this, but I think they're paranoid

First of all, YES, we do need to keep the pressure on. We need to keep fighting, we need to behave tenaciously, determinedly and with focused and tireless effort for our will to be realized. We need to behave like the Republicans would if their man kept getting good news served up on a plate.
However, I got this email from Adam at MoveOn.org today and I have to take issue with all 5 of the reasons he gives for keeping the heat on [italics are mine]:

TOP 5 REASONS OBAMA SUPPORTERS SHOULDN'T REST EASY [sez MoveOn.org]

1. The polls may be wrong. This is an unprecedented election. No one knows how racism may affect what voters tell pollsters—or what they do in the voting booth. [Yeah, they may be, but the moon might also crash into the earth someday. Humans are stupidly addicted to peer pressure. Colin Powell, The Salt Lake City Tribune, the Chicago Tribune - all conservative outlets, btw. Don't discount the human nature to follow the masses. Racists don't say they'll vote for Obama just because they want to please pollsters. They call themselves undecided or hang up the phone at the words "political poll". If anything, I'd predict more self-identified Republicans and conservatives secretly voting for Obama.]

2. Dirty tricks. Republicans are already illegally purging voters from the rolls in some states. They're whipping up hysteria over ACORN to justify more challenges to new voters. Misleading flyers about the voting process have started appearing in black neighborhoods. And of course, many counties still use unsecure voting machines. [Too little, too late. An effective GOP smear machine would've planted these seeds months ago. McCain's and Palin's attacks have thus far been duds. This one has no strategy - no Karl Rove - and won't hold any real Swiftboat-style weight. ACORN's not Whitewater, it's a voter's rights org. Pass.]

3. October surprise. In politics, 15 days is a long time. The next McCain smear could dominate the news for a week. There could be a crisis with Iran, or Bin Laden could release another tape, or worse. [See above scenario vis-a-vis the moon crashing into the earth. Eyes on the ball people.]

4. Those who forget history... In 2000, Al Gore won the popular vote after trailing by seven points in the final days of the race. In 1980, Reagan was eight points down in the polls in late October and came back to win. Races can shift—fast! [Numbers are so scary! Seriously, what's the point here?]

5. Landslide. Even with Barack Obama in the White House, passing universal health care and a new clean-energy policy is going to be hard. Insurance, drug and oil companies will fight us every step of the way. We need the kind of landslide that will give Barack a huge mandate. [So, you mean we have to keep working AFTER the election? Gosh, I thought we just pressed the Obama button and a better country popped out! Landslide? Try rolling avalanche. Again, think of what the opposision would do and has done to keep their agenda front and center these past 8 years. We need to do that. Only, you know, with less evil.]

It's true we shouldn't rest easy yet, I'm just miffed that MoveOn thinks they have to stir up scare tactics of their own to remind us of that. Anyway, sign up to volunteer at your local Obama office. It'll make Adam happy.

Wired magazine says I should stop blogging

They told me I should quit behaving like it's 2004 and get on board with Facebook posting and Twittering (see left [UPDATE: see right]) and Flickr live feed video conference update yadda yadda blah blah. Nobody cares about me, the casual and erratic social blogger, anymore. It's all about actual "news" blogs and LOLcats now. These beets are made of dinosaur dust and dodo dreams.

But I enjoyed 2004. Things were different back then, before the iPhone, back when a text message really meant something, you know? I miss those days. How long until regular blogging becomes retro-chic? I can wait, I don't have to be anywhere til 3:30 today.

I know my posting has been anemic of late - the Google analytics graph of this site looks like a Kansas cornfield in December >rimshot!<.

So maybe they're right. Maybe I should stop blindly following the imagined demands of those who rely on weekly updates from me and begin blindly following the imagined demands of those who crave up-to-the-minute, CNN ticker-style tweets. Imagined demands are still demands, after all.

But I'll never stop fondly recalling the days before Vista and Leopard. When Internet video was still code for "adult entertainment" the kids still vaguely remembered VHS. Those were the good times, people.

Beets never forgets.