I’ll sit and write a substantial fresh from my ass unsolicited and uneducated opinion at a later time– sorry for all those breathless in anticipation…

At work someone mentioned a website which can track people through their cell phones… Seemed a little unlikely but then we tried it out and, well I guess it’s not unlikely at all… So there’s yet another piece of information out there in the world about each and every one of us (except me) that can be used to track, evaluate and exploit… Check it out:

phonetrace.org

Not sure about the particulars but don’t use dashes between the segments of your number and include the area code… I think it works for all carriers but again I’m not sure… Also I would suggest using someone else’s number because the site’s free and they gotta be making money somehow… As tasty as the banner ad is it’s probably not quite as lucrative as collecting and selling people’s numbers…

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Do you hear that? The slow rumble in the distance? It’s the thunder of information you’d rather not be privy to. And it will soon be all around you. In this second-wave tech bubble we’re in, the name of the game is communication. Due to the fact that very little is actually communicated, I would be more inclined to refer to it as information access.

Sites like Twitter are emblematic of this trend of information streams that you can choose to drink from or not. Nothing is required of you, no obligation of eye contact or civil acknowledgement. Just dip into someone’s life for a moment until boredom starts crawling up your leg like the icy hand of death and quickly move on.

Scientists have also apparently invented an invisibility cloak that, when further refined, will keep visible light from reflecting off the object it surrounds. One of the developers even had the roombas to speculate that future cloaks could theoretically mask an area from “acoustic waves, so as to shield a region from vibration or seismic activity.”

We are being weaved into a thick fabric of information that is already forming tectonic meta plates on top of the conventional ones. I could see a point in the near future where I’d be more excited by an informational cloak that would make me invisible and immune to the seismic meta activity than one that protected me from meatspace dangers.

Imagine localized alert systems that instantly send mobile messages to everyone within the area affected by an earthquake. The alert would divulge the epicenter of the quake and the recipient’s distance from it, probably on a comprehensive map on a mobile phone or other device. Now imagine that each of these informed persons is a red dot on a different map. There would be little, if any, visible shifts in terrain from afar, but you could see all these tiny red dots moving away from the epicenter, resembling a seismic ripple.

Or maybe a quake is a bad example. Perhaps people realize the futility of trying to escape from it. But what about a gunshot in a crowd? Or simply in your neighborhood? I’m sure there’s someway to detect gunfire in the air just as we’re able to detect shifts in the ground? The immediacy, customization, and localization of information and the ways you choose to receive it are forming a very real meta physics that is closely tied to more concrete physics.

I predict that the next media boom after blogs will be the separation of information into meta layers contoured to geographic and meta locations (primitive example). Say, for instance, that you’re monitoring the people who are likely to vote democrat and who are likely to vote republican in the next election. They are represented and red and blue dots on a map. Say the Foley scandal hits and you see a ripple effect of red changing to blue around the country. The epicenter is not a location but the news source that broke the story.

Now you have a ripple effect of distribution that you can then track on a map. You will be able to see the networks of readers for various media providers and study the meta physics of events. With proper visualization and interface, this can provide a far more comprehensive sense of global and local affairs in seconds, rather than trolling through headlines via RSS.

I would find the dead zones and move to one.

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For the second time in 19 hours I passed through the toll booths on the East side of the Bay Bridge. That is certainly a lower ratio than people who commute with commitment. According to my mate Dennis, who really likes bridges, it is laughably infrequent

Aside the Port of Oakland a vast tarmac apron opens up and welcomes a cavalcade of commuters. The booths eat our carcases that lay prostrate within our four-wheeled ergonomic choice for carbon monoxide, alloy (and in certain cases hybrid) dependence.

Amidst this familiar and depressing view of post post modern modern human unit transferral, I came across cheer and human connection. I would not have appreciated toll booths previously as points of meaningful contact. Fortunately, not all people are so pessimistic or blind or both.

 I got a long over-due tutorial

The staff at the Bay Bridge Toll Booth, and for that matter all toll booths, are impressive people. This is my first hesitating post and I want to kick off on a good note. I have an incredible amount of respect for a workforce that deals directly with people all day  -but by virtue of those peoples’ necessity and intentions to be elsewhere – have few meaningful interactions. I was open to their coping strategy … one of humour and civility.

Last night I was introduced to Burmese music blasting out of booth 3. It was a cross between east africa dumbolo (sp?) and hyper-japanese pop. Kitschy but cute and certainly an antedote to the theme tune to bladerunner running past my head. The booth operator was keen to share his music.

Today, I was told by a very jolly Senegalese man that I should take good care of my wife. He said she was beautiful. I didn’t want to point out that the lady that sat next to me was a work colleague and that my wife was at home where I wanted to be. I didn’t want to douse his healthy conversational fire. Instead, I put on my handbrake and asked a couple of questions. He didn’t have a wife, but he sure wanted one and he wanted to buy the lucky lady a house. He was a nice fella.

The traffic was queueing on the other side of the plaza due to traffic density. Urgency was low. I drew no horns of anger from drivers behind for my lengthened stay at the booth. I urge you to take some time next time you go through – you’ve waited 25 minutes to get to the booth, why not stay awhile? You’ve earned it. Think of it as a reward. It’s infinitely more entertaining than the democrat bumper sticker on the nissan sentra in front.
These two interactions made such an impact because I’ll probably not see those fellas again. I’d like to thank them. I often consider people who jolt you from your self-obsessed cynicism as post post modern modern angels. The interactions stand out because from within the confines of your rolling box with music (car) its easy to make people anonymous.

Who are the anonymous workers? With inevitable racial profiling, it is my observation that the jobs on the toll booths are taken up, as are many monotonous service jobs, by new immigrants. I don’t feel comfortable talking about immigration (legal or otherwise) as I generally fall back on gross assumption, pensive depression and anger about the late capitalistic abuse of civil rights.

Why am I affected? In four weeks I have an interview to become a conditional resident of America. I am from england and have married a fantastic las who happens to be from the comfortable middle classes. No matter how desperate we were, it would never occur to us to consider a job for on the toll booths of the Bay Area. I admire the folks that accept our dollars in rubber-gloved hands. Gloves are a mediocre metaphor for the detachment of driver and tollster. I cannot accept the limits of this interaction. The tollsters give it minor importance. They listen to the radio and tell you about their lives if they’re in the mood.

 It is an old message. It is simple. It is the type of point mothers and grandmothers make. Appreciate one another. I feel guilty for not sufffering financial hardship. I feel guilty for sounding slightly patronising. I feel guilty for not being more eloquent. I feel guilty for resorting to simple and specualtive analysis when complex and supple commentary (without necessary conclusion) is more suitable.

But, conclusion is necessary for an opinion piece. I like toll-booths. Does Dennis feel like this? Maybe, but he also incessantly crosses bridges without tolls.

Please note the picture within this article is not mine. The car in front in the picture is not a nissan sentra.

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If I’m not careful, one of these days I’m going to join a cult. I got about ten minutes into What the #$*! Do We (K)now!? before something seemed a little fishy. I paused the movie and did a little research and bam. What I thought was going to be a passively eye-opening brain-fest is some recruitment video for a faith led by a 35,000 year-old warrior named Ramtha.

The film basically makes unsubstantiated claims regarding quantum physics and spirituality that are presented as fact, and satisfactorily lead us to believe that we can manifest our world through positive thinking.

It’s tempting to believe that reality is simply a manifestation of our thoughts, because we can control our thoughts right? And it’s easy to bend the unanswered questions of quantum physics to be evidence of that conclusion, because it’s a blank canvas for your imagination with no real danger of being disproved. This in itself is relatively harmless. The real problem comes from a polarization of outcomes.

People like myself want to believe that these claims are true so much, that once you find out it’s a new age sect (read: cult), the spell of fantasy melding with reality is broken. I find myself hanging in the balance of despair at the thought that any fantasy is impossible in the face of accepting these facts. It’s my speculation that an inability to reconcile or cope with these feelings leads some people to move in the opposite direction and seek out even more fantastic claims that are so unbelievable, they must be true.

The consolation – and in fact what I believe to be a superior solution – is that the mystical or spiritual can be seen in very concrete examples. I’m constantly astounded by the wealth of information constantly flowing before our eyes, and all we have to do is reach out our fingers and watch it bend around our hands. Indeed, if you’ve ever shown someone how to email a photo who has relatively little knowledge of the internet, it can seem like magic to them. I’m not sure that it isn’t. I think that the explanation of something gives it power rather than taking it away. Is a space shuttle trip to the moon more amazing before or after you learn how scientists did it?

I’m surprised that the rise of the internet hasn’t heralded a mysticism of its own. Or perhaps it has and I’ve just never seen it that way. Or maybe the average person doesn’t know enough about how it works to appreciate how unknowable it is. It’s the realization that you’ll never read all the books in the world times a million.

Blogging can be seen as being a conduit for this unknowable stream; a network of priests preaching the gospel to those who will listen. Only this time it’s not abstract, you can see it, and it will answer your questions. Spam bots are creating other spam bots, and the net as organism is building its own anti-viruses. There are too many autonomous entities existing solely in cyberspace to name and they’re growing on a daily basis. Worlds within worlds.

At least this is my protection against the various cults out there. If I suddenly disappear you’ll know that I’ve found the truth and it’s not in books or the net, but actually purchaseable for ever increasing amounts right here in San Francisco.

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Digg is the newest form of citizen journalism. Instead of being based on user created content (blogging is so 2004), digg is challenging the authority of editors everywhere by giving people the power to decide what content should be highlighted.
All over the world regular Joes, highschool geeks and IT professionals are becoming media moguls. With a simple click of a button they can send thousands of eyes to the URL of their choice.

In my mind there are some pro’s and con’s to digg and its relationship with journalism, but that’s a different post.

Currently I (muay, me, yours truly) am a top digger (in the top 50 at least). I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but… toot toot. While I have risen to my status, as one of the top 50 diggers, through serendipitous beginnings (I had no idea what I was really doing), I have kept that status by developing some basic methods which I think can help all diggers.

These ‘rules’ aren’t all inclusive, nor are they mandatory. Because truth be told, there is no magic to being a good digger. It simply requires being a geek and having a lot of spare time. But since I’m still tooting my own horn, I’ll pretend that I have discovered some trade secrets which I will divulge here.

1. Friends Rule!

Digg is both a bookmarking website and a social networking site. Find some friends. But be careful who you choose. As in all things, they reflect and effect you. Don’t just go around declaring friends. Nobody likes it on MySpace and nobody likes it on Digg. But you should make friends and maintain that relationship. They aren’t high maintenance. It usually requires some reading, clicking and a call once a year on their birthday.

Making friends is easier to do with Digg V 3.0, so put yourself out there, but make sure you check out what your new playmates are submitting, what goes to the front page and find out who their friends are. Are their subjects they particularly like? If their submissions are good, Digg them. The more you diggith, the more you shall recieveth. Yes, this is “gamming” the system if you want to be cynical about it. But I look at it more as having fun on the Internet — it’s a geek niche website people — trading diggs isn’t like embezzling money.

2. Don’t sell out

I’ve been approached by a few start-ups to Digg their sites. I’m sure other high diggers have too. I’ve even submitted some, but only after paying close attention to the content. The fact is, your reputation is on the line if it’s a lame site. It’s one thing to propagate something you believe in, it’s another to just go around trying to do favors for people cause you think you’ll get a backrub out of it.
3. Digg in your niche

There are lots of subjects to choose from in Digg. If you follow sports in general and baseball in particular, that’s what you should digg. Since you follow it anyways, you’ll have a better nose for what’s newsworthy. That isn’t to say you shouldn’t venture into other topics. Some of the new topics like Television or Offbeat news are easier to break out in.

4. Never be afraid to submit.

While I said you should stay away from doing favors and digging press releases people send you, you shouldn’t be afraid to digg. What’s the worst that will happen? Your mother will still love you. It’s always nice to get a surprise from those offbeat submissions that make it to the front. Yes, your reputation is on the line so-to-speak, but if you honestly find something interesting, then that’s all the reasons you need to sumbit.

5. Comments Come and Go

( In full disclosure I have a different philosophy from most people on the subject of social bookmarking etiquette)
I personally think it’s fine to link back to your submission in a comment on another person’s digg if it’s relevant. You shouldn’t go spamming your link (just like you shouldn’t comment spam blogs), but if you are doing it with the intent to start a conversation around something similar, go right ahead. To me it’s just like emailing a friend a cool link. Others get annoyed with this practice.

Whether or not you link back, it’s never bad to put out a reasonable comment. It’s probably best to keep the Hitler jokes to yourself and just add something to the conversation. It’s a good way to make friends and sometimes starting a comment that sparks a debate is the best thing for a digg submission. After all, the point is to contribute to the flow of information/conversation.

Never take it personal if someone points out a dupe and never be afraid to point one out yourself — it just comes with the territory

6. Digg regularly

A day without digging is like a day without sunshine. That’s also to say you should use your momentum. If you have a frontpage story, that means a lot of people are looking at your profile and the other submissions you recently put out. Timing is everything and since most people digg during working hours (when the big bossman isn’t around) the best time to start is between 9-10am EST.

7. Have fun with it

Like blogging this isn’t a full time job for most people. Don’t freak out and become a recluse from your friends so you can digg longer. Make sure you see the sun at least 15 minutes a day.

My own personal Digg Dream
8. Don’t Digg Kevin Rose (Not a crowd pleaser, I know)

I’m probably alone on this one, but I think it would really show the power of the people if his next submission didn’t make it to the front page — no one should be above the rule of democracy on digg, not even its playboy founder Rose. Having one of his submissions not hit the front page would be proof that Digg voters are more than fanboys — they can be critical and engaged voters. Until that happens, my view of digg is slightly faltered: It does have an editor, one man who can put anything on the front page anytime he wants.

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