Snapchat: The Sexting Sensation that's Sweeping the Nation

Like Snapchat pictures, this post will be short and only available for a few seconds.  Or, at least, short.  I have no idea what the programmers behind the viral app had in mind when they released it, but I can tell you what it's being used for.  Reports from the NY Daily News, Daily Mail, and- get this- the New York Times say that teens have been using the software to sext, at least a little more safely than traditional text message sexting.  The idea is that the picture can only be viewed for a few seconds before it is deleted from both phones, and the company's servers.  It also alerts a user if an individual takes a screenshot of said picture.

Creator Evan Spiegel claims the app was created to reverse the idea that everything posted on the internet should stick around forever.  That it is supposed to encourage sharing and communication.  I personally don't see the appeal.  I've used Snapchat for its more platonic and "fun" uses, such as sending pictures that say "thinking of you", and funny faces, and I don't get it.

I guess there are people who find the platonic uses somewhat boring, and have graduated to using the software as a "vehicle for sexting."  For some unknown reason, people have been lulled into a false sense of security, and have been sending each other suggestive photos.  No harm no foul, right?  It can last a maximum of 10 seconds, and then deletes itself.  And the programmers have been kind enough to put code in that recognizes if a user takes a screenshot, and alerts the sender.  Here's the problem with all of this:

1.  Someone with quick enough reflexes can get a screenshot of your Snapchat photo.
2.  Even if that app alerts you that the receiver took a screenshot, it's too late.  That individual now has a compromising nude photo of you, and could post it online or send it to others.
3.  The receiver can take a picture of their phone.  This gives them a copy of the Snapchat photo, and the sender won't even be alerted.
4.  There is a way on smart-phones to take a screenshot without the Snapchat application knowing.  This is pretty self-explanatory.

There are several blog posts that end their already preachy article on sexting with commentary on a poor lifestyle choice with sending nude photos of oneself to another, blah blah blah.  I'm not here to preach, we've all heard the guilt-trip speeches.  I'm just to share the information.  Do with it what you will.

"Life is about the stories we could tell." [Feature]

I understand ahead of time if you don't want to read this.  It is, after all, a recapitulation of my weekend.  There is, however, an over-arching theme to my adventures.

My weekend essentially begins with one of the most interesting films I've ever seen.  I took my mother out for dinner and a movie, and because we're both Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis fans, seeing Looper was no question.  I will not even attempt to explain this movie, because I'm running low on aspirin  and it's not proper to give your readers headaches.  I will, however, highly recommend that you see Looper as soon as you can.  It's interesting concept creates a new world for ones imagination to explore, and derive many fantastical situations that can exist here.  Other movies that captured my imagination in a similar way are In Time, Limitless, and Source Code (all of which also come highly recommended).  I suppose this story did take a tangent into a review, so this post can still count as one whose content is entertainment-related.

Saturday evening, my friend and I attempted GeoHashing, a "method for finding an effectively random location nearby and visiting it".  We quickly decided we didn't want to creepily drive into a local residence for no apparent reason, so we defaulted to GeoCaching.  We found a rock container hidden in a rock garden.  The container stored a list signed by every person who had ever found it.  Headed back towards my home, at about 10:00, I received a phone call from a dear old friend.  "We're meeting at the high school and going to haunted houses."  So, in the spirit of "why the hell not?", my friend and I hopped in the car and headed that direction.  Due to countless failed attempts at preparation, we did not attend any haunted houses.  We instead rode go-karts, played laser tag, and shot at each other with big foam balls.  This is probably the most artistic story I've ever written.  Staying out until 3 a.m. and walking through a Taco Bell drive through, we eventually made it home at 3:30 a.m.

The next day, we got up bright and early to go hiking and see an overlook.  I taught a friend to waltz on said overlook.  Because, why not?

Finally, the highlight of my experience.  Which requires me to tell a short story about stupidity.  My building has decided that no matter what the weather is doing, they will turn the heat on the same date every year.  So, for the last two weeks, it's been a bombing 75 degrees outside, and the heat is still on.  Long story short, I've been having trouble sleeping because of the heat.  So, instead of sleeping, I drove to a local small mountain that overlooks my fair city.  The lights of the town were beautiful, and with the windows down, I finally fell asleep.  When I woke, the sight I saw was beautiful.  The picture I took is in this post.  The air was clean, cool and crisp, and the smells of fall were everywhere, along with a hint of rain.  For a few fleeting moments of driving back to my building with my windows down, and Angels & Airwaves in my ears, I was so happy I laughed out loud.

The experiences I had this weekend were all because of a simple state of mind.  This philosophy, while not necessarily classy or artistic, is aptly named.  "Why the hell not?"  Asking myself that question led me to one of the best weekends I've had in a long time.  So, I implore you to ask yourself the same question more often in your life.  Follow the "Yes Man Philosophy" more closely than your fellow man.  You never know how straying from your daily schedule and trying something different may affect your life.  Meet new people, smile at a stranger, do what others don't.  Doing so can help you live your life to its fullest extent.  After all, and this is my own personal quote, "Life is about the stories we could tell."

Why scaring us won't fix the environment (and what will) [Feature]

I recently read an article discussing environmental change, warning us that if we continue our current consumption and pollution habits, fifty years from now these changes will be irreversible.  So, what have we as humanity done to avert this crisis in the making?  Nothing we haven't been doing since the dawn of the 21st century: Recycle, scrubbers on smoke stacks, buying local, hugging trees and whatnot.

So where do we go from here?  Well, here's the problem with using these watered-down scare tactics to get people to go green... They don't work.  If people truly feared for the environment, everyone would recycle, and we would turn all of the Hummers into green houses.  But we haven't.  For whatever reason, be it Americans love for their flat screens and Big Macs or the Chinese need for mass production, we cannot expect humanity to do what scientists consider is best for the environment.  Instead, we have to trick them into doing it.

Volkswagen recently sponsored an experiment called The Fun Theory.  The idea is pretty simple:  Can we get people change their behavior for the better by making things more fun?  Their diverse ideas including converting stairs into a piano and making recycling an arcade game, all to make us take the stairs or recycle.  If one were to ask Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, authors of Freakonomics, how to get people to better care for the environment, they'll answer in the same way The Fun Theory did, and they'll say the same things I'm about to.  

The trick is to provide an incentive to change our behavior.  Businesses do it every day with coupons, buy one get one free sales, and other marketing schemes.  The reason that works is because we save money, and this is especially effective due to the collective fear of what may continue to be a struggling economy.  Why don't we buy electric cars?  We know they're good for the environment, and most blue-collars would do anything to stick it to the lumbering oil conglomerates, but we don't.  And why is that?  The short is answer is because they cost too much.  The long answer is because the rent is too damn high.

So how do we promote clean energy and help Captain Planet do his thing?  We as the American people- and even as earthlings- have to overcome one of the most difficult obstacles we have ever faced:  We have to convince the government to pass a law.  And not some more EPA stuff, but financial law.  And maybe I have a few ideas as to what could be done.

Subsidies.  Ok, maybe one idea.  Oh, and tax breaks.  That makes two.  The government currently publicly subsidizes nuclear power.  Perfect, because a 2011 Union of Concerned Scientists report states that it would not be viable without subsidies.  We know that subsidies work to get businesses started.  And because I'm just a lowly journalist, I don't have a comprehensive report on what specifically needs to be done in order to save the environment, but I'm sure someone does.  And anything that needs to be done can be achieved through subsidized programs, for example, the government buying scrubbers for a company.  That way the buying business doesn't lose money, and the people that make scrubbers make a profit.  The economy maintains growth, and the environment is a little better off.

Tax breaks can work in a similar manner.  Let's say I can provide proof that I recycled my IBC root beer bottles this week.  If I can provide proof that I did it (i.e. a receipt, just like one would get when donating to Goodwill), then I can get a tax break for it.

Obviously this is a very small-scale idea, but the implications of it can make a huge difference, especially when properly executed.  Which, when leaving it in the hands of Congress, may mean enough pork to cause an environmental apocalypse.

The Dear Hunter [Promo]

The internet has opened up opportunities for consumers to experience media outlets that have gone largely undiscovered by the public, either because major investors have turned them down, or that creative director of the media chose to stay independent.  And while the significant role the Internet has played in the arts is a story for another day, we would have missed out on original and cheap entertainment without it (i.e. Minecraft).

Today's [Promo] is none other one of my favorite bands of all time, The Dear Hunter.  This project, started so lead singer Casey Crescenzo could write and explore music that didn't fit with his other band, The Receiving End of Sirens.  He explores many genres of rock through his already large discography of a demo, three EPs, and four full length albums- one of which is made up of 9 EPs totaling 36 songs- and he has Acts IV, V, and VI already lined up.  His eclectic sound encapsulates progressive, experimental, alternative, electronic, and much more.  When I attempt to introduce friends to new music, they ask me "Who do they sound like?"  This is one of the few times, along with the Paper Tongues and Forgive Durden's Razia's Shadow, that I could not find any other artist that could compare to this artist's sound.

3D Printing, this is real. Google it. [News]

The future is here. What with all of the recent advancements in technology, humanity currently has the technology to do almost anything. But today, we're going to analyze 3D printing, on an industrial and consumer scale.

I don't want to be a fan-boy, but this technology is truly miraculous. For those who don't know, it's a printer that doesn't print on paper, but create objects. The first ones would use liquid plastic to print figurines. Recently? Boeing used it to make an airplane. Which is nothing.

Just ask Anthony Atala, he'll tell you about printing a transplantable kidney. Or maybe you could read about the beating heart they printed.

If this thing takes off, industry would manufacture a lot of products with 3D printers. We see it now; NASA is developing a 3D printer that can be used in space. So, an astronaut breaks a wrench while working on the International Space Station. Instead of waiting for the next shipment of tools, NASA just sends the 3D printer file to their computers, and they print a new wrench in space.

The problem with this technology- if it hits the consumer base- is piracy. The Pirate Bay is already discussing sharing printer files on the Internet. So, instead of buying the proper print materials and buying rights to the print file for the newest running shoes from Nike... You buy the materials and pirate it. You could steal anything without even walking into the store.

However unlikely that may be, it is something for producers and consumers to consider.

All-in-all, no matter what may happen, this technology is useful, and just really cool.

Razia's Shadow [Promo]

It's difficult to put the emotionally rewarding art that is Razia's Shadow into words.  Forgive Durden was once tight-knit band, but its members were split into different paths by fate.  But Thomas Dutton was not finished, for while they were touring with their album Wonderland, he had a thunderous masterpiece gathering within the clouds of his mind.

Steam Box [News]

So the Internet has lit up with commentary on the "Steam Box", a rumored console from Valve that may or may not exist.  Well, I'm going to look at some of the predictions and - assume they're true - speculate on what this means.  It's one article that's pretty much all bologna, but that's okay.

The first major question is:  Will the Steam Box become a major competitor?  Can it hold it's own against the Big Three (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii), or will it become another OnLive?  Well the rumors include that this beautiful little machine will run Steam and - hopefully - allow Steam users to upload previously purchased games to the console.  It is also possible it will allow users to run other PC games, which may include EA's online system, Origin.  But what does this mean for the market?