A Virtual World...

Where would I live? ... honestly I don't know. I hadn't really thought about it, until my professor mentioned it in class, and told us to do a blog assignment on the topic. I'm clueless. I typed in virtual world into the google search engine, and the first link that pulled up was there.com,. On its into. page, it looked pretty basic, almost boring, perhaps it was the fact that it mentioned it was free, made it sound more cliche to the usual advertisements to join an online community, or just how boring the picture displayed looked..it just wasn't appealing to me.

I went back to the search engine, and an interesting article caught my attention. The summary of the article, is that a woman accussed her husband of having an affair with another woman in the virtual world. I was both humored and bewildered...Would I want to be a part of a free virtual world...? I don't have a solid justification as to why that's not appealing, the little I can explain about it, would be the fact that I just don't see the point to it.

Prior to my professor bringing it up in class, I'd heard of virtual world scenarios on Law and Order.. yes, the Television series.. well, on a tangent, they were trying to solve the murder of a female that was tied into some sort of virtual community. She had taken on the persona of a female rockstar, and was very popular in the virtual world.. she had concerts, parties, and the likes of real life celebrity acitivities.. including the fan club... well once she didn't show up for a virtual concert and her obssesed fan was very upset.. particularly on her promising they would go back to some hotel, (virtual) after the concert.Flirty-turdy, and before she knew it,

He killed in real life.. (on the series- Law & Order)

It baffles me, and I have to agree with my professor, that the relationships online are very much real. People develop an emotional attachment and act sometimes beyond the virtual walls..into reality.. I mean if I think about it,.. Virtual worlds are very much a reality. The people participating in them are real, using their real time to participate in what was created by real people...

>> I really don't think I would be a part of any virtual world. The complexity of real life is so much so, that I personally don't have room to doodle with the what-if simplicity of the virtual world.....

Feed>>Tacoma

A few days ago, we had a guest speaker in class- Kevin Freitas. Feed>>tacoma is a website that highlights the brighter side of Tacoma. Kevin started blogging in the late 90's as a way of updating his family that didn't live so close, on his daily life. More like having a conversation with his family via his blog/journal. The idea of Tacoma to many that didn't live in Tacoma was associated with negative media based stories. He decided to write on the good things he saw in Tacoma. Naturally, people were pleased to hear about his blog and fed more stories of their own into the feedtacoma section. The community bond on feedtacoma grew, people met outside the virtual world, conducted and participated in community based events...

As the first successful blogger in Tacoma, Kevin has managed to bring a great sense of community in feedtacoma. Perhaps, the greatest thing about it is that he does it all for >> FREE. Not a penny to take. It's ironic how many people would love to be paid to blog, yet when there is someone that people would love to pay..... he doesn't want a penny of it.... why? He is satisfied with what he has. His full-time job is something he enjoys to do and get paid to do. The blog is something he enjoys to do, and doesn't really need to get paid for......

I think the Tacoma feed is great for what it does/..

Despite the dangers.. why do we still shop online?

The two biggest 'worries' with online shopping that people have is identity theft or being scammed. Some have learnt the hard way while others haven't encountered any problems with online shopping. On my previous post I stated that online shopping in my particular case, was limited to books and discounted airline tickets. Why? well for the most part I really do believe there are several people out there waiting to get a hold of some sort of information that they could turn around and use for their financial benefit. Limiting myself doesn't elminate the fact that I could still fall a victim of internet crime..

Shopping online has several benefits, most people would agree that online shopping offers three distinct perks: convenience, discounted, and trendy.

The beauty of online shopping despite the risks it the fact that it allows 3d images on a pair of shoes, without having to wait for an attendent * priceless *. Or purchasing books without having to sort through isles in a book store the ultimate delight of shopping from the comfort of your couch. Save on gas, time, lipgloss, and the stress of traffic or finding parking at the bookstore. Priceless!

Online saves money. For the most part prices are relatively lower.. a dollar here and there goes a long way. I can't imagine walking up to an airline counter at the airport to buy a ticket... it would be so much more expensive than purchasing it online. I once logged onto my laptop at the airport to buy a connecting flight that would have cost $375 versus $129- sale fare.
yaikes.

Lastly, shopping online is simply the new trend. The market has grown in such a way that most business prefer consumers to shop online. Online banking is huge. Did you know you can have a personal banker -online? Its not for everyone. The older generation tends to be less accepting of online shopping for the most part.. they still write checks at the grocery store or to a friend, whereas the younger generation will use credit cards.

There are several safeguards that protect identity theft.. are they flawless? Not quite, nevertheless. they do offer some sort of protection.

Question: What would you NOT buy online?!

I'm paronoid. So much so that I hesitate to charge my card at any random place. I tend to pay cash, if I so much as have a hunch of 'maybe I'll return the item' I go over their return policy before I hand over the cash, and store the reciept for about a month. For starters, I only have sparadic moments of 'lets go shopping'. Juggling between work and school related activities, the rest of the time I'd rather watch a movie.

Oops going off on a tangent

What wouldn't I buy on the internet? a lot. The list of things I would purchase is much, much, much shorter. So I'll tell you what I would buy. Since I'm blogging, I'll story tell a tad. It took me quite a while to make any purchases online.
1. Appx. 7 years ago, I decided airline tickets were a safe bet. Specifically off the airline's webpage, cheaptickets, travelocity and no where else.Priceline had a 'bid your ticket'. eh-no. I thought that was their way of jacking your credit card information- without a confirmed ticket. Not me and my paranoia.
2. I decided that amazon and e-bay were ok too. This was appx. 4 years ago. I'd use them to purchase discounted textbooks.

Those are the only two things I would buy off the internet. (from designated sites).

My close friends on the other hand, specifically two of them, make all sorts of purchases online. I was over at Danny's house for dinner and we started talking about how great the steaks were, he said he orders them in from NY about once a month. What?? Apparently there's this great restaurant that he goes to in NY, and he asked them who supplies their meat- he was able to get them to supply steaks- rib-eyes- scallops-salmon etc to his house South of Tacoma. He pays an average of $1,500 dollars for prime quality. Needless to say- I quickly overcome the parnoia of eating meat that had been processed on the other side of the country and shipped to Danny's doorstep- The steak was awesome. It almost felt like I was dining at The Met in Seattle. Shipping steaks across state borders?-I wouldn't do it. I also wouldn't be too quick to buy clothes. My friend Sophie buys almost all her clothes off e-bay. Some new. Some used. either way its a bargain price compared to the retail stores. How do you know if will fit the same? used.... is it faded? stretched? She responds, "I usually go into the stores and try them on first..." but your right there?!? why not buy them at the store? It probably rounds off to the same dollar amount in gas, shipping costs, return costs(perhaps), not to mention an emotional toil if there's anything about them that was underdeliverd..

I think my biggest pet-peeve about shopping online- is the hassle of not getting what the person promised and having to ship it back. Paranoia kicks in -- back to where? whom? are they real?... too many scams out there. Ever read the book Bowling alone? Buying groceries online just because you can, not because you have to? really? I enjoy my willingness and ability to purchase (most) things in person.

Narrowing down my Vanity search...

Alrighty,

I tried the quote " " unquote search, and the same white pages popped up. I'm not too familiar with search engines.. not to mention I feel like I'm stalking myself in an interesting(curious to know whats out there) yet dissapointing - (I'm not really out there). Its like playing detective with no leads on the suspect!
On people USA for $1.95 I could find out my age,name, address in full, relatives and unlisted phone numbers.That almost bothers me. I pay for it to be unlisted, and ther USA people search still knows about it?? or do they? My professors blog makes a strong case on the safety nets around personal information.

whats a better search engine?

My Vanity Search

Google: ONE RESULT- The white pages via google.!

Yahoo: NO RESULTS

Intelius: TWO RESULTS

amazing.!

I started off with google. I typed in my first and last name without quotations and no luck there. I then put quotations and google pulled up 4 results. One pertained to me, and it was a link to the white pages. From that, never-before-would-I-have-thought-of facts such as my name ranked 3,476 in line in the United States.. (whose number #1... ?!?!?) to more relevant facts such as my physical address and home phone! were proudly displayed...

I proceeded to yahoo. With the tune in mind.. yaaaa--hoooo-oo.. I typed in my name, and voila.. no results that pertain to me.! That's right. I do not exist in yahoo web world.

To complete my vanity search, I went on intelius.com a site that I had never heard of until my current professor mentioned it. During class he conducted a vanity search on intelius and we found out his age, wife's name, and other relatives. Beyond figuring out a solution to 405 traffic congestion or world hunger, people have time to plug all this data on people they have never met.?!? amazing! so there I was on my results page on intelius. It didn't reveal my age or any of my relatives. Why not?!? I couldn't help but undergo a juxatposition between more of my information being there versus hardly there. I quickly took the latter. There's some sort of relief in knowing that there isn't too much out there about me.

I guess not putting out too much information on myself out there has paid-off a tad. Then again google's search enging is such a go-getter, it will find a link on almost anything! I even took the liberty of googling my blogs name mindful biz and a 27 year old guy popped up... ?!?

in any case, I think I win. They really don't have too much of me out there and I'm happy about that.

*Privacy really isn't that private if no one's after it....*

Print news.Web News.

Read all about it!

Read all about it!

Newspapers were the 'in' thing. I would sit on my dad's lap while he taught me the tricks and trades of the stock market, or solving the crossword puzzle. Sunday afternoons were systematically intuned to church, followed by lunch at a fancy restaurant, and by afternoon, we would continue the full skeleton review of the newspaper.

How long ago was this?

Yesterday. Retrospeaking ofcourse.

Today, the web has taken over much of the 'flavor' of a printed newspaper. The cost per advertisement is significantly lower on the web, than it is to print the same advertisement. I mean lets not get into the size of the ad. or the color. or a picture? wow. These were things, excuse me, ARE things that are still calculated when it comes to posting anything in print. The web hardly follows the same rules or price margins.

AND,

the print simply can't execute the dynamics of the web. Today on MSN.com they had a video clip of this past Saturday Night Live episode mimicing the Vice Presidential debate between Senator Biden and Governor Palin. Sure, a reporter can write about it, but how much better is it to see the actual video...... waaaaay better!

In economics, the discussions would throw in the words of opportunity cost, or scarcity of rescourses, the gap grows. If I want to find an apartment, chances are I'll use the internet and play along the web worlds of craigslist, the stranger, or apartments.com. If I'm so inclined, I'll go into the classifieds section of the Seattle Times, on their internet website, even though I'm sitting two feet away from it at my starbucks hotspot.

Futuristically speaking, the print newspaper has no hope. Okay, maybe thats a little harsh. So allow me to rephrase.The future of print newspapers is on the web. There. I said it. You may not have heard it here first.

Tomorrow, the tree huggers are going to hug all the trees in the world and protest that the earth must be saved, one print newspaper at a time. Recyled paper, well they too are messing up the whole go green campaign. Web Web Web.....

Web all about it!

Web all about it!