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My Privacy Policy
June 19, 2013
— 8 Comments
single hibiscus
single orchid
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privacy
free time
Privacy and free time are the only true luxury items, in my book. They will not arrive on their own and they will not stay if not managed with care. We all have a privacy policy, and it is not like the one you get from your doctor. We either announce to the world where we are and what we are doing or not. The other branch of privacy is availability. Each of us decides if we are available to be called or texted all day and night. We let people know how and when to reach us, and based on those parameters our privacy policy is established.
I love technology and enjoy many facets of the world wide web and the power it contains. I do not use GPS or smartphone. I do not want to be tagged and given a free beer when I am in the hood. I would rather retain the privacy. I do no use my cell phone at all except for travel and odd circumstances. I use Skype or my landline to make calls. I do not text or receive texts. There are some on my ancient cell phone, but I will never read them because they are from Virgin Mobile. Some of my friends think this practice is wildly eccentric, and I suppose it is in 2013. The reason I do not live my life connected to the internet or the phone is that I value my freedom and private life.
My filters and boundaries are clear to me, and obvious to others. I publish 2 blogs, one of which is now mostly art. I interact on various social media and in Triberr with a wide array of personalities and specialties. I am active and interactive all over the world in this way. I am a great navigator who does not use GPS because I think navigation is good for the soul. I could never imagine giving up the thrill of knowing where I am and trusting some voice who has no idea where I am. I had GPS given to me in a rental car once, and it sent us drastically out of our way. I did not even turn it on after that..how silly. I have the same phone number at my home that I have had for about 20 years. There is a message system that works, and I respond when I hear messages that are for me. I eliminate the spam and move on with life.
Symbolic Transformation, #
June 18, 2013
— 4 Comments
# is a symbol. It has meaning, and it conveys something like punctuation. It says, “This is digital, not linear, not even physical.” It says, “2013 is all about #.” Yet there are those who never use it and maybe do not grasp the power contained in the #. It is clearly and obviously a make-believe entity, the digital reality. If anthropologists of the future go through the twitter accounts of the most famous people in the 21st century to learn about our culture, they will be flabbergasted.
Knowing the code, from secret societies to Morse code has always been significant. Writing code to make the computer world exist is a skill, an art, and a secret to those who do not know how to do it. The dewey decimal system was the grandparent to the #. We no longer have a paper file at the library, and there is no need to go to a library to find reference materials. If we Google, Bing, or # we go straight to the stuff we seek. Hide and seek is not played outdoors, but in search. I have often expressed the opinion here that there is nothing evil about technology. There is a big question about the morality of those who have access to the best technology to act in the best interests of society.
There is no conspiracy to push wealth away from most people and into the pockets of those who have the most data and the fastest computers. The shift from placing value on material goods to mining information about people’s habits has been in play for a long time. The society has participated in this shift willingly, and now is starting to wonder where the path leads. I believe it takes the individual where they intend to go, much like telegraphs and libraries. The choice is wider, but the choice of how to use and misuse is still a personal issue. The broader society, however, is suffering from the concentration of wealth and power in too few #’s.
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