Canadian Action Movies

Does anyone remember Google Buzz? Here are a couple of my archived "buzzes:"

In the Year 2099

While looking over some of next year's dates in Google Calendar, I spotted my own birthday, which I have set up as a recurring event. Out of morbid curiosity, I started clicking forward through time, month by month, mentally calculating my age as the years flew by. 2020...2021...2022...2032...2042...2058...2067 (Canada's bicentennial; I'll be 98)...2075...2080...2090...until, finally, 2099, the last time my birthday recurs. Should I actually live that long, I'll be 130 years old.

Even though it's likely I'll die decades before 2099, I was still mildly irked that Google Calendar arbitrarily chose to stop marking my birthdays before 2100. It felt a little like the opposite of a bullet with my name on it. "No point in noting his birthday anymore; surely he'll be toast by then." Thanks, Google! I mean, you're probably right, but it still feels a little harsh. I was really hoping to see the 22nd century. 

If You Don't Like the Answers, Don't Ask the Questions

Who is Earl Dibbles Jr.??? Now I'm too scared to Google...

Facebook Blocks Blogspot.ca

Yesterday I discovered that Facebook will no longer allow me to share links to this blog. Naturally I'm disappointed, since much of my readership comes from folks who follow those daily links.

Perhaps I'm paranoid, but I wonder if Facebook has categorized blogspot as "spammy" because blogspot is owned by arch-rival Google. If that's the case, then this seems to be a case of money-motivated censorship.

Many will argue that because Facebook is a business they have the right to censor what they will, but this action certainly seems to fly in the face of their business model, which urges users to share as much detail of their private lives as possible. Besides, if I'm going to be used by Facebook as a source of marketing data, then I think I have the right to complain about Facebook's decisions.

Maybe this is just a glitch, one that Facebook will correct today or the next day. But even if they reverse course, those of us trying to build an audience and a personal brand on the web should remember that we are very much at the mercy of the large corporations that seek to control the web. Blogspot is a wonderful service, but it could disappear tomorrow at the whim of a CEO. All the more reason to save your work offline...