It has become my custom these last couple of months (since I took early retirement) to log onto my news servers in the early morning (which has been my custom for many years) and then wander over to facebook. In case anyone is wondering, I know 'facebook' should be capitalized, but that would show a level of respect for it that I just don't have. Don't misunderstand, I greatly respect the achievement. It is easily the largest most important internet portal in existence. The facebook experience is equal parts admiration versus frustration, discovery versus obfuscation, digital democracy versus totalitarian tool, enjoyment versus stupification. It is a labyrinth without Ariadne's string. It can be useful. One can find old friends, stay in touch with our family members kept at a safe distance, or our neighbors and friends we seldom see in our all too busy world. Of course, we don't see some of our friends because they are lost in facebook's hypnotic maze and branched pathways.
Last night on facebook there were many locally oriented posts regarding an imminent blizzard. This morning, the posts informed me that most of the area schools were closed due to snow. Our local almost a movie palace announced that it would be closed tonight and will have no matinees tomorrow. It is now 10:45 in the morning, and we have yet to see a single flurry. The facebook experience is rather like a blizzard with no snow, it is the moment of waiting for the chalice to be raised.
Many people or groups post incessantly. One post isn't enough for them, so they post several times. Every hour. If one political page has a graphic, all of the political pages have it, or make variations of it. Spurious quotes and statistics are commonplace. But so are wonderful graphics, stunning pictures of far away places, and iconic images of pop cultural history and/or cultural trash esthetics. Think of hundreds of WordPress pages displayed in a continuous scroll. I've added to my collection of extraordinarily bad art, abominably cheesy album covers, pulp book and magazine illustration, etc. While some of these are highly enjoyable, there are also a number of images which I wish I hadn't seen.
Naturally, I have the overwhelming urge to share them.
Have a great day.
2 comments:
Trust me, the snow is headed your way. We have it now and all of us Guelphites are standing on our porches and huffing and puffing toward the south east. We have at least a foot down, it's still falling and blowing. It's lovely really, so quiet.
mbj/Delores - Oh, yeah - we got it. My apartment is on a road with heavy traffic, except on mornings like this. I like it.
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