Clever Internet GIFS With Sounds

What would happen if someone added a soundtrack to the internet's most popular GIF images? Nothing earth-shattering, but you might chuckle and you probably can't stop watching before the end.

This won't make you smarter, but it's fun.

If you didn't get enough GIFs with sound, here's another. (Hat tip to the Daily Beast and Andrew Sullivan.)

Thanks Al Gore, The Internet Really Does Kick Ass

Back in the 1960s when Al Gore first invented the internet, he said this new technology would change the way we live. Al Gore was right. There must be 15 or 20 different things you can do online. It's crazy. And they add something new every week or two. Best of all, as we have grown as a society and as a people, so has the internet.

First, we sent emails. Next, we Googled. Then there was Facebook.

And pictures of kittens in laundry baskets.

Soon after, we had planking.

And meme after meme...like First World Problems.

Now, we have the Cinnamon Challenge. Watch the video (wait for the cloud).

Oh yeah, and now we have blogs.

Okay, I confess. That video makes me laugh out loud every time, and it's the only real reason for this entire blog post. Hat tip to popular "online personality" Tyler Oakley for the weeks of entertainment he has given me, and for his absolute wussy-ness in eating a tablespoon of cinnamon.

Facebook, Twitter, and Other Weapons of Mass Instruction

Being an activist used to be hard and time-consuming work. Thanks to the advent of the social network - that's just not so any more.

Back in the day, if you wanted to send a message of discontent to "the man" or needed to disrupt the status quo, your first priority was to determine the best ways to fight the perceived injustice and to inflict harm upon your oppressor, or to otherwise gain attention for your cause. Then, you had to pound the pavement to identify a group of like-minded individuals and organizations who are willing to rally around your vision and objectives. Next, you might have to get busy printing placards, staging protests, organizing boycotts, and finding ways to attract the media. All of this took a lot of time and effort, but it was the necessary work of activism. Because you can't be very effective as a crusader if you're not thrusting your anti-whatever movement into the public spotlight, right?

Social media has revolutionized revolutionizing though. Now, any dick with a blog (eh-hem) can express his opinions, demand change, and publish a widespread call to action with little more than the click of a button (or two). Thanks to the World Wide Web - anyone, or everyone, can pick up the mantle of injustice and be an activist, and you never have to leave the cheap warm comfort of your parents' basement.

The internet enables us to react with blazing speed, and to respond and rebel nearly instantaneously when we have had enough of being held down, put down, torn down, or just gotten kind of ticked off. It provides us with a digital megaphone whose reach, with a bit of well-intentioned sharing, re-posting, and re-tweeting, is practically unlimited. And that's the other thing that makes social media revolutions so awesome - not only are they easy to start, they are incredibly easy to join, allowing for our "active" participation, even if we only give a half-hearted shit about the cause.

What If You Unplugged and Left the Cloud?

Jake Reilly,  24 year-old Amish pioneer

For the Amish Project, a young guy disconnected from the world of internet media and all forms of digital communication for 90 days.

 In doing so, 24 year-old Jake Reilly found his world view dramatically changed, and he learned (or remembered) a few important things about life.

I'm far from being a opponent or an apologist for technology. I write a blog, and I promote it on both Facebook and Twitter, so I would be more hypocritical than Rick Santorum attending a Perez Hilton birthday bash, if I were to disparage the world wide web.

Quite the contrary, I'm a serious fan of social media. Through Tumblr, Blogspot, Facebook and the like, we build and maintain connections with strangers we may have never gotten to know and with friends whom we may otherwise have forgotten completely. Granted the connections we establish thru the social network are sometimes lightweight and superficial, but they are real connections nonetheless and they are enough. Who has time for 500 profoundly intimate relationships anyway?

Having said that, when I ran across the Amish Project video clip (on YouTube, ironically), it was a nice reminder that while the internet is a wonderful place to share ourselves and our experiences, our lives are still lived offline, in the real world, where we must remember to occasionally slow down, take our eyes off the screen, and cherish our friends and families out loud each day.

I was really glad to find this video about the importance of periodically disconnecting from technology, and I'm equally happy the technology exists for me to share it. The real lesson in all this is one we already know - all things in moderation, including how and when we use the internet to entertain ourselves, to see the world, and to communicate with those we love.

"I looked around at the world, instead of reading about it on the phone." - Jake Reilly, The Amish Project