Where Have I Been?

Back in the day, I used to consider myself tech savvy. Back in middle school, I had my own website, and I was reading webcomics in high school. When facebook became available at MTSU, I was quick to join. As soon as I was able to acquire a Gmail invite, I signed up. I used to know what was going on in regards to the web, but apparently I have fallen behind the times. During the past few days, I have discovered so many new things!

On Sunday, Liza introduced me to the world of RSS and ATOM feeds. Thanks to gadgets like Google Reader, I no longer have to surf the web! Everything I care about is sent to one location. I know longer have to wait to see when a webpage will update; I get it automatically. I am sure I am one of the last people to join on this bandwagon, but I am kind of excited. However, I do feel this technology kind of negates surfing the web. Perhaps, I should start stumbling now as well.

For those unfamiliar, Stumble Upon is a website (or some sort of technology... or magic) that sends you to random websites! How cool is that? I do believe it has guidelines as well to direct your stumbling. I have known of it for a while, but I am becoming more intrigued. Apparently, I have been under-utilizing the web lately, but I am discovering new stuff to do... like more social networking websites!

The first one I signed up for is called Readernaut. It tracks what books you are reading, have read, plan to read, abandoned, want, and so on. So far, I am pretty impressed with it right now. Liza and I both signed up for it, but I think you should too! You can find me here.

Then there is 97 Bottles. It is a social networking site devoted to beer. I do believe I have found heaven on the web! It is a way for me to track the beers I try, tell you where I tried them, what I think about them, and more. As of right now, I have not played around with it too much (mostly because I have not drank any beer lately), but I plan to do more with it soon.

If those aren't up your alley, perhaps you might like Dopplr. Dopplr is a way for you to share your travels with friends and complete strangers. I've not played around with it too much, but Liza really likes it. Perhaps you will too.

Now I realize I can do a lot of this on Facebook or Myspace, but I really like having more niche sites. In my opinion, many of the applications on Facebook like these are really buggy and not user friendly. I like being able to share this information with anyone, and most of them have options than available on the big two sites.

Of course, Google is also trying to join in on the social networking fun, apparently. They have created Orkut. I think I noticed it the other day, and my friend, J, sent me an invite for it. As of right now, I have not investigated it, but I probably will in the days to come.

Finally, Liza showed me that Google has their own website hosting and building capabilities. I do believe I am going to create a new site soon. It should be a way for me to share all of my loves and interests in one place. It should have lots of crazy gadgets and what not. I will keep you up to date with the progress. I have some rough plans for it, but I think it will offer me some more options than just a blog.

Has Obama Been Watching Chuck?

While reading the paper, I discovered an article about the Obama administration using colleges to recruit future intelligence agencies. Immediately, I thought of the first season episode of Chuck, "Chuck Versus the Alma Mater." In this episode, it is revealed that Chuck's former professor has been recruiting students for the CIA for years. In fact, he was responsible for recruiting Chuck's old roommate.

Well, now it appears the government will actually be taking steps to such a process, and they're looking at basically creating a degree in spying at certain colleges. Students will receive federal funding with the possible stipulation of having to work for a certain agency. They're also basically guaranteed summer internships. The program is still in the planning stages. I have no idea how I feel about this, but I certainly hope they did in fact get the idea from Chuck.