Interpreting on the Internets

I was just reading a story on slashdot about a clearly successful NASA mission which is unfortunately coming to a close because the space vehicle is simply running out of power.  The poster closed with, “congratulations to all geniuses on this one.” Is he being ironic?  What do you think?  The comments section of this story was pretty fascinating to see.  Someone people weren’t sure if the last sentence was ironic or genuine.  Others took it as irony and made vicious comments about the poster.  Interestingly I didn’t read any which were taking the comment as genuine.  Why is this interesting?  I had a teacher in high school who said something like, “In the 60s, America adopted cynicism.”  We’re cynical about nearly everything:  Our government, corporations, other people.   It’s I think the ultimate tragedy of the 20th century.  Then comes the internet.  Where communication is inherently limited yet so freely available.  If you aren’t making a video or audio podcast, how exactly are you going to use your wry humor to make a point.  It’s all so inherently vague that a lot of times, we’re just missing each other. Sure emoticons sort of help, but not nearly enough.  Anyway, I find it sad when something genuine and sincere gets translated into something sarcastic simply because it was written and not spoken. 

Our Media

I’ve taken an odd fascination with Britany Spears’ downfall.  I’m not much into the celebrity gossip thing, but seeing this is just amazing.  I can’t help but wonder what is the root of all this.Back  when I was in high school, we had a strange, strange experience with a friend that one of the girls in my grade brought in.  This girl was a bit of a hippy child and basically didn’t fit with the more conservatively minded Ohio student body.  Eventually, in what I can only describe as mass hysteria, 30 to 40 people literally yelled her out of the school. She didn’t belong and maybe she was the luckier for that. When thinking about Britany, I can’t help but be reminded of all that.  The way that we treat her is without compassion.  Yeah, she’s rich beyond all rational belief but we gave her that money.   She’s a creation of our media, our entertainment industry.  And now, we’ve apparently decided to destroy her.    

First post at WordPress!

Well, I’ve now successfully moved away from the world of Xanga and into the world of WordPress. I must say that I’m pretty psyched. I want to check out all the cool features and such.

So, anyway, I gotta give a shot out to the Cavs. Lebron James’ first road playoff victory and it comes with him hitting a last second shot. So, yeah, what were the haters saying when Lebron missed one end of game shot. It’s just awesome having a guy like him to root for. I’m so glad that I don’t have a Kobe on any of my teams.

In other events, I know have an apartment in Las Vegas until June 9th. It’s actually nice and close to the strip so I’m definitely thinking that a weekend in Vegas is in order.

Let me know if you’re interested.