Social Media

Thom on March 26th, 2013

I admit it. I don’t handle conflict well. I internalize it far too readily. Even if I’m not in the conflict myself, just having people in conflict near me upsets me. But at least in person I am able to measure the body language as well as the words being spoken and get a more [...]

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Thom on March 14th, 2013

I recently decided to check out Pinterest and see what the excitement is all about. After all, I keep hearing that Facebook is in decline, and that Pinterest is the hot new thing. But I admit I just don’t get it. It appears to be a bulletin board for things you find interesting. You pin [...]

Continue reading about Calling all Pinterested ‘arties

Thom on February 22nd, 2013

My daughter has been really into Taylor Swift lately. She’ll get a certain line from one of her songs in her head and sing it nearly all day. So as a result I’ve had a line from Swift’s “Mean” stuck in MY head for several days now: “One day I’ll be living in a great [...]

Continue reading about Taylor Swift is my muse?

Thom on September 19th, 2012

It’s probably no surprise to anyone that we’re meaner online than we would be face to face. But a new study has found that to be literally true: Far more than anonymity or invisibility, whether or not the subjects had to look into their partner’s eyes predicted how mean they were. When their eyes were [...]

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Thom on August 27th, 2012

Thanks to Mary Robinette Kowal I’ve had the pleasure of discovering The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, a modern vlog interpretation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. It gets a little PG-13-ish at times, but they’re great fun! I suppose they would be as fun if you’ve never read the book, but for those who have I [...]

Continue reading about Web Wanderings: The Lizzie Bennet Diaries

Thom on August 9th, 2012

Anyone can get hacked, even people who supposedly know better: In one night, Wired technology writer Mat Honan saw his entire digital existence horrifically erased before his eyes. Using security loopholes in Amazon, Apple, Google, and Twitter, hackers were able to piece together enough information to remotely wipe clean his iPhone, iPad, and MacBook — [...]

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Thom on July 20th, 2012

It’s my goal to be honest and open in my blogging. However, things we do in cyberspace have implications in the real world. That’s why, while I’ll try never to lie to you, I won’t always tell the truth. For example, I’ve been out of town the last several days. I never let on, did I. [...]

Continue reading about Online security and blogging

Thom on July 16th, 2012

The other day I got an email from Twitter letting me know a friend of mine had sent me a message. I haven’t been on Twitter in months, and this time as I went in and looked around I realized it was a very cluttered house. I had been following around 350 people, and most [...]

Continue reading about Twitter karma loses its hold

Thom on July 3rd, 2012

Last week’s discussions on Facebook, politics, and religion prompted one of my friends to ask me just how one goes about sharing something that they are passionate about without annoying people like me. It’s an excellent question, and while I will take a crack at it, I also want feedback from all of you. If [...]

Continue reading about Sharing safely online

Thom on June 26th, 2012

When am I going to learn? People are not posting those trite little socio-political pictures that oversimplify issues into pithy slogans because they want to invite discussion. Quite the opposite! They post those so they can take potshots at their otherly-aligned friends while retaining plausible deniability. “What?! You found that offensive?! Hey, don’t blame me, [...]

Continue reading about Facebook sniping