You know you have internet addiction when…
1. You wake up at 4 o'clock in the morning to go to the bathroom and stop to check your email on the way back to bed.
2. You turn off your computer and get an awful empty feeling, as if you just pulled the plug on a loved one.
3. You decide to stay in college for an additional year or two, just for the free internet access.
4. You laugh at people with 56.6 modems.
5. You think a person's social status is directly linked to the speed of their modem. (It's not?)
6. You buy your mother-in-law a modem so you can flame her.
7. You start using smileys :-) in your snail mail.
8. You laugh hysterically every time you see your mailman.
9. You don't understand why God doesn't have an email address.
10. You find yourself typing "com" after every period when using a word processor.com
11. You put your web site URL on all your Christmas cards.
12. You can't correspond with your mother because she doesn't have a computer.
13. When your email box shows "no new messages" and you feel really depressed.
14. You are anxiously waiting for Solitaire to become an Olympic sport.
15. You don't know the gender of your three closest friends because they have nondescript screen name and you never bothered to ask.
16. You refer to your house as your homepage.
17. You move into a new house and you decide to netscape before you landscape.
18. In real life conversations, you don't laugh, you just say, "LOL, LOL."
19. Your family always knows where you are.
20. Your kids complain about the phone bill you're racking up.
21. Your sex life consists of a lot of downloading.
22. You rename your dog "Fido" and ask him to do more than fetch the paper.
23. You spend half a plane trip with your laptop in your lap and your child in the overhead compartment.
24. You refer going to the bathroom as downloading.
25. You start tilting your head sidewyas to smile. :)
26. You have called out someone's screen name while making love to your significant other.
27. Your spouse now complains of you moving your fingers in your sleep instead of talking.
28. When looking at signs, you wonder why they are always "yelling" at you.
29. You get a tattoo that reads, "This body best viewed with Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher."
30. Immediately after reading this list, you email the URL to someone! (please do)
Well if you suspect yourself or someone who might be addicted, you can do some self-tests at the Center for Internet Addiction Recovery website.
Showing posts with label internet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label internet. Show all posts
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
The Paradox of Life
After Desiderata, another profound work that is popular is The Paradox of Life. There are two persons who could be the author but this could not be confirmed. However, this work is widely, and erroneously, said to be authored by George Carlin. Those who are familiar with Carlin’s work usually react with amazement that he could write something so beautiful and profound yet believe he is the author.
I have told a number of people that this is not written by George Carlin. An anthropology professor in an Australian university, who always verify her research sources, also attribute this erroneously to Carlin. When told Carlin is not the author, these people usually react the same way - there is a nagging instinct that Carlin wouldn’t have written something like this, yet because there are so many instances/websites that said he did, they accepted it. This perhaps is the danger of the Net. When a piece of information, accurate or not, is circulated enough times, it somehow becomes the truth. I believe Wikipedia only requires that a piece of information be cited twice before being accepted as reliable.
Whilst there is still no conclusive evidence who the original author is, it is certainly not George Carlin. Why? Because the man said so himself. (For those not familiar with George Carlin, please be warned that clicking on the link will bring you to his website which, characteristic to his work, is filled with vulgar obscene expletives.)
Anyway, let’s enjoy and reflect on this.
The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers; wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints.
We spend more, but have less; we buy more, but enjoy less.
We have bigger houses and smaller families; more conveniences, but less time.
We have more degrees but less sense; more knowledge, but less good judgment; more experts, yet more problems; more medicine, but less wellness.
We drink too much, smoke too much and spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.
We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values.
We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.
We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life.
We’ve added years to life not life to years.
We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor.
We've conquered outer space but not inner space.
We’ve done larger things, but not better things.
We’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul.
We’ve split the atom, but not our prejudice.
We write more, but learn less.
We plan more, but accomplish less.
We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait.
We have higher incomes, but lower morals.
We've more food, but less appeasement.
We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.
We've become long on quantity, but short on quality.
These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships.
These are the times of world peace, but domestic warfare; more leisure, but less fun; more kinds of food, but less nutrition.
These are the days of two incomes but more divorce; of fancier houses, but broken homes.
These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throw away morality, one-night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer to quiet to kill.
It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom.
A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete.
Remember, spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.
Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.
Remember to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn’t cost a cent.
Remember to say, "I love you" to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it.
A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.
Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.
Give time to love, give time to speak!
And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.
AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
I have told a number of people that this is not written by George Carlin. An anthropology professor in an Australian university, who always verify her research sources, also attribute this erroneously to Carlin. When told Carlin is not the author, these people usually react the same way - there is a nagging instinct that Carlin wouldn’t have written something like this, yet because there are so many instances/websites that said he did, they accepted it. This perhaps is the danger of the Net. When a piece of information, accurate or not, is circulated enough times, it somehow becomes the truth. I believe Wikipedia only requires that a piece of information be cited twice before being accepted as reliable.
Whilst there is still no conclusive evidence who the original author is, it is certainly not George Carlin. Why? Because the man said so himself. (For those not familiar with George Carlin, please be warned that clicking on the link will bring you to his website which, characteristic to his work, is filled with vulgar obscene expletives.)
Anyway, let’s enjoy and reflect on this.
The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers; wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints.
We spend more, but have less; we buy more, but enjoy less.
We have bigger houses and smaller families; more conveniences, but less time.
We have more degrees but less sense; more knowledge, but less good judgment; more experts, yet more problems; more medicine, but less wellness.
We drink too much, smoke too much and spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.
We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values.
We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.
We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life.
We’ve added years to life not life to years.
We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor.
We've conquered outer space but not inner space.
We’ve done larger things, but not better things.
We’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul.
We’ve split the atom, but not our prejudice.
We write more, but learn less.
We plan more, but accomplish less.
We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait.
We have higher incomes, but lower morals.
We've more food, but less appeasement.
We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.
We've become long on quantity, but short on quality.
These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships.
These are the times of world peace, but domestic warfare; more leisure, but less fun; more kinds of food, but less nutrition.
These are the days of two incomes but more divorce; of fancier houses, but broken homes.
These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throw away morality, one-night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer to quiet to kill.
It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom.
A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete.
Remember, spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.
Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.
Remember to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn’t cost a cent.
Remember to say, "I love you" to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it.
A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.
Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.
Give time to love, give time to speak!
And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.
AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Photos being resized automatically
I mentioned in my earlier post that unadulterated and better resolutions photos would be available in my Facebook account. Well I did some experiment and found this not to be true.
My original photo is 2.26MB at 2448 x 3264 pixels. When uploaded to Facebook, it was automatically reduced to 43KB at 453 x 604 pixels. When uploaded to this Blog, it was reduced to 217KB at 1200 x 1600 pixels, regardless of whether I chose “small”, “medium” or “large”. So this Blog delivers better resolutions photos than Facebook.
My first thought was perhaps the article published in the New York Times website on 26 April 2009 has some basis. It claims that Facebook is considering lowering the quality of videos and photographs been delivered to some regions in an effort to reduce expenses. The article states that some global web companies (like Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Veoh) are thinking of restricting access or lowering service standards to regions, like the developing countries, which prove costly to operate as the revenue generated from advertising in these regions does not cover the cost of operation, in an effort to boost their profit margins. The popularity and growth of these sites in developing countries eat up costly bandwidth which does not commensurate with revenue generated.
So to test whether this is true, I send my original 2.26MB photo to a friend in US and asked him to upload it to his Facebook account and then download it. The result was the same: the photo was automatically resized to 43KB at 453 x 604 pixels. Perhaps Singapore is not considered to be one of these “developing countries”.
Anyway, I will still reduce the pixels size, for faster download, and marked each photos, for security, that are uploaded to this Blog. I may or may not put another in my Facebook account. Thus if you are interested in any of the photos here and want the original just let me know and I will email it to you.
My original photo is 2.26MB at 2448 x 3264 pixels. When uploaded to Facebook, it was automatically reduced to 43KB at 453 x 604 pixels. When uploaded to this Blog, it was reduced to 217KB at 1200 x 1600 pixels, regardless of whether I chose “small”, “medium” or “large”. So this Blog delivers better resolutions photos than Facebook.
My first thought was perhaps the article published in the New York Times website on 26 April 2009 has some basis. It claims that Facebook is considering lowering the quality of videos and photographs been delivered to some regions in an effort to reduce expenses. The article states that some global web companies (like Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Veoh) are thinking of restricting access or lowering service standards to regions, like the developing countries, which prove costly to operate as the revenue generated from advertising in these regions does not cover the cost of operation, in an effort to boost their profit margins. The popularity and growth of these sites in developing countries eat up costly bandwidth which does not commensurate with revenue generated.
So to test whether this is true, I send my original 2.26MB photo to a friend in US and asked him to upload it to his Facebook account and then download it. The result was the same: the photo was automatically resized to 43KB at 453 x 604 pixels. Perhaps Singapore is not considered to be one of these “developing countries”.
Anyway, I will still reduce the pixels size, for faster download, and marked each photos, for security, that are uploaded to this Blog. I may or may not put another in my Facebook account. Thus if you are interested in any of the photos here and want the original just let me know and I will email it to you.
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