April Fools' Day

April Fools' Day used to be kind of an Internet Christmas.  All sorts of funny and creative things went on that day.  Now, it seems to be more of an obligatory chore to the sites that choose to do something.

But I say that any day that has the power to give us the first new Homestar Runner cartoon in over three years is all right by me.  Long live April Fools' Day!

What If I Went Viral?

This question has been bugging me today. What if, either intentionally or (more likely) unintentionally, something I did on the internet went viral and thousands of people started looking me up online. What would people find? Would I like what they found? How much would be my own fault?

I was thinking this after seeing a video that went viral of an American father punishing his teenager by posting a video reply to a Facebook rant about her parents she had done. It didn't take long for people to find his own Facebook page and phone number, etc. While most people were supportive of the father in comments, there were a few people who called the police and child services thinking he was going to harm his kid. He got so many phone calls, he just turned off his phone. He ended up saying if people who knew him wanted to get a hold of him, they knew his email address.

Not that this is particularly unique. Viral videos and posts happen all the time. Basically everyone who's had a Tosh.0 Web Redemption unexpectedly found themselves in the spotlight for something they didn't intend to have thousands (or millions) of people see.

If people were to try and dig up info on me, the most obvious source would be this blog. It's not private and anyone who finds it can read everything. The only people who visit are friends and family, for the most part, and I write my posts expecting that to be my audience. I've been careful not to share things like my address and phone number, but I do recall posting what my personal email address is (after buying my awesome domain). There's other sources of me out there like Twitter (which again is not private), Google + (which no one uses, so no worries there) and the big one... Facebook.

I've been pretty careful to make sure my privacy settings for everything on Facebook are "Friends Only" and that the barest minimum is shared publicly. But every time they change their layout, I find myself having to go through everything again, just to be sure. This latest change to "Timelines" is making it difficult for me to share exactly how I want to share. But I digress.

Anyway, this has motivated me to start going through my online presence and make sure it's "presentable". Just in case the worst (or best) thing happens.

Google+

I've been trying out the latest and greatest in social networking over the past few days: Google+.  Seems to me to be a mix of Facebook (in terms of functionality: statuses, sharing photos, videos, links, etc.) and Twitter (in terms of following people and people following you).  Also, once set up, it seems pretty simple on being able to share certain things with only certain people.

Right now, it seems to be invite only, but it also seems that there are unlimited invites. So, if you want to try it out, let me know and I'll send an invite your way.

I can't describe what it's like better than the following xkcd comic:

Update: I suppose I should put a link to my Google+ profile, if you'd like to add me.

New Blog To Check Out

Well, it looks like someone else has gotten onto the whole blogging thing. Go to purdygirl.wordpress.com to check out Megan's new blog. It's got a very insightful post about the upcoming election and the level of apathy in our country.

I hope you keep up the blogging, not like some others I know of (yeah, I'm looking at you Joel, Faith, Amanda, Matt, Pat, and to a lesser extent, Marty)

Garfield Minus Garfield

Patrick and Lindsay showed me this link a while ago, and I love it! It's Garfield Minus Garfield. Basically, this guy erases Garfield from Garfield comic strips, leaving Jon all by himself. Now, I've been a huge Garfield fan since I was really young, and I absolutely love this twist on the strip. The description on the website is perfect.

It is a journey deep into the mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness and depression in a quiet American suburb

Anyway, I saw the strip posted today and I thought it was the saddest thing I've ever seen. So sad, that I couldn't stop laughing.

Matt Geeked It Up A Notch

Just to bring attention to my obsessive need to geek things up, you should check out the redesigned website for The Touring Poker Tour of Poker, made entirely in Notepad! Don't forget to notice that I'll added Haloscan comments for each game played. How sad is it that I'm not sure what I'm looking to forward to most for the next poker game: The actual game, or updating the stats/standings?