I have a decision to make...

...not like anyone really gives a shit, but as a longtime Facebook hater for reasons like this, this, issues discussed in this book, etc., I may have to close or relocate this blog, which I enjoy keeping even if I'm the only one that reads it.

Why? Because this is a Google service, and Google is preparing to implement "privacy" policies very similar to Facebook's.

Google Stockpiles Data Ammo Through Privacy Merge, Guns To Win Relevancy War, via TechCrunch

I have taken my little steps to fight the power over the years - for example, I use Mozilla Firefox with the AdBlock Plus add-on for routine web surfing, which eliminates nearly all ads and provides a small measure of protection from tracking, as well as other privacy protections and anonymizers.

I don't surf porn, download pirated content or do anything else illegal online - I oppose online intrusions on principle. I also know I'm fighting a losing battle, but I'll still fight it. Guess I'm becoming an internet curmudgeon.

Anyone who reads this might find it strange that I have a Twitter account with my real name. This doesn't bother me (yet) because Twitter so far has been honest about the fact that everything you do on it is public. Its policies don't change from week-to-week or day-to-day, and they don't seem to have the types of security lapses that Facebook is famous for. If people have problems with it or screw up on it, it's usually their own fault (like this guy). I am a news junkie and use it mainly as a news aggregator, and also follow some comedians who give me laughs during the day. I follow no one I personally know, and no one I personally know follows me (although I wouldn't object to either). Via Twitter, I receive information and laughs all day without "liking" or otherwise engaging with anyone if I don't want to. I LIKE this :-) (pun intended).

Having said all that, I have heard rumblings and grumblings about changes to Twitter that I will be paying attention to. A real dilemma is developing for Internet users who don't want every click tracked by some known or unknown entity.

Five Ways Twitter Is Changing Media Law, via paidcontent.org

Terry Gross interviews Jeffery Rosen, one of the editors of the book linked above, about interpreting the Constitution in the Digital Age - read or listen - via NPR

OMG SHUT UP SUE AND POST A PICTURE


/pic ganked from a FARK photoshop thread

This is also lovely

A professional violist deftly deals with a cellphone during his performance

This is just lovely

The Cancer Sell

Those of us who work in oncology find the charlatans hawking fake cancer "cures" to be the bane of our existence. These predators take advantage of the most vulnerable of us at the most desperate time in their lives, taking their (large amounts of) cash up front and giving nothing in return but shattered hope.

I could go on for pages about this as it angers me so, but instead I'd like to share an impressive 25-minute short film made by Al Jazeera reporter Sarah Macdonald, herself a cancer survivor, about the business of alternative treatment clinics in Tijuana, Mexico. For the investigation, Ms. Macdonald took the extraordinary step of shaving her newly regrown hair to appear more like a patient actively seeking treatment, which can't have been easy.

She points out that many patients actually try these "treatments" when first diagnosed, and seek out conventional treatment only after disease progression, which is often too late. I have seen this thousands of times. I am caring for a lovely woman now who sought some odd treatment in Colombia when first diagnosed with stage I breast cancer (easily curable with conventional treatment today). While under the treatment, her cancer grew and metastasized throughout her body, even externalizing through her skin. Her "practitioners" there told her this was a good sign - that their "treatment" was "chasing the cancer out of her body." This is simply criminal.

Butter's "Ode to Dinner"

CooperDaKat and Mrs CDK are two virtual friends I know from the FARK Caturday threads. They have taken in a few animals, including Butter, a deaf white boxer. I have come to love this silly dog, even though I have never met her or her people IRL.

Recently they posted a video of Butter "singing." This is now my favorite dog video of all time :) She's so ugly she's adorable



A cute pic of Butter captioned by me



P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY THERESE!

Happy 2012! (a little late)

Welcome back loyal reader! (That would be me - nobody else reads my crap)

Getting a lazy start to 2012 - hopefully not predictive of the remainder of it - but I didn't run across Dave Barry's review of 2011 until today. Yeah, it's DAVE'S fault!

Also enjoyed the 50 Funniest Tweets of 2011, the most popular passive-aggressive notes of 2011, and the top 10 Photoshop disasters as well.

This blogger annually updates and reposts his Rules of the Gym, and he wants it shared since there are LOTS of new members of gyms every January, so I'll do my part.

And finally, if you missed Kathy Griffin surprising Anderson Cooper with her impromptu costume change on NYE, check it out. It's always funny when Anderson gets the giggles and tries to hold it together



Wishing a Spectacular New Year to any who may stop by :)