Free wi-fi, Free music, Free energy?

For reals? It's been said that nothing is really free in this capitalistic society where money is all, up until college, I was to small to play, so I grabbed the mic device, never thought about it twice, if you think this is a game, n*gga, you'd better think twice!

I remember the future. Wise words from the golden era of hip hop. Nothing was free back then. You had to work hard for money, love and respect. And I believe the same still applies today, though most corporations are the ones working hard to make us think we are getting something for free, with a little love and respect when in reality they are getting something with much more value from us.

The feelings, opinions and actions of a consumer will influence another consumer. Every time we think we are getting something for free, the corporation is actually getting low cost advertising or valuable market information. How many times have you received something for free, say a chocolate bar, and told 10 different people about it? We feel so happy to have received this free gift, we are already thinking positively about this chocolate bar company and then we want to share it with all of our friends. Think about that example applying to mp3s, clothing, software, auto dealers, cellular providers, restaurants, sporting events, the list goes on.

It is in our nature to want to share good news, so it's not our fault, that's just how it works - and the corporations have found a way to use it to their advantage. Word-of-mouth is still perceived as the most authentic form of advertising, though the digital and online sharing is expanding it's form, language and distribution coverage.

Worldwide word-of-mouth is today's status quo as the lines blur between mobile phone and personal computer, compounded by the growth of wi-fi and 3g, 4g and 5g networks. It's no wonder that we are now branding ourselves, making our image known to as many people as possible, and in essence, we are all well on our way to becoming our own corporation and to be stuck working for the man.

The Social Network

I know I am sometimes a little behind in these days and times, but I have been on the internet since modems made noises and Spybot searched for a whopping 8000 viruses. I do have have a facebook account that I check every couple days and I still have a myspace account somewhere, but I haven't visited it in months. I have yet to get a twitter account, but I am happy to report that I have seen the movie "The Social Network".

It is a very cool depiction of the birth of facebook, the strained relations between it's founders and the astounding rapid growth of the online social network site. I enjoyed the movies references to key things that play with the emotions of the users, like the relationship status, wall posts and photo comments. The movie was great as it reminded me of how incredible it is for so many people to have so much info about them floating around on the internet.

With the recent announcement of an upcoming facebook ipo, investors are debating the valuation of this dominant online company, with numbers ranging from $25 to $50 billion! Wow. Crazy! I think I'm going to start saving for that ipo and log on to facebook right now!

http://www.thesocialnetwork-movie.com/

Apocalypse When? 2011, 2012 and Beyond...

Ok. So we know the world is deteriorating, and mankind is the main cause. Our over-consumption of everything from food to land to resources has taken it's toll, but is the world really going to end on May 21st, 2011 or October 21st, 2011 or even December 21st, 2012? Who really knows? Can any one human or prophet or book really predict this accurately?

The fact remains that people are claiming to know when, and are dropping bucketloads of quotes and facts to prove it. One post on www.nowpublic.com by user we have 4goten 2 love references numerous biblical quotes and adjusts the timeline for us by translating nearly everything he comes across into exact days, even though another bible quote states that we will not know the day or time of the end of the world.

All of this kind of reminds me of the Millenium, remember last time the world was going to blow up, when 1999 switched over to 2000? Ha HA It looks like we are all still here!! I do, however, remember something about the Mayan calendar, it think it was, that ends in 2012. Like most of these facts, it could be nothing and it could be something. And i mean, with all these mass floods and bird and fish deaths, the world must be trying to tell us something, right?