Over at Rays Index, I wrote about the bliss of being at the Rays final regular season game of the season. Spoiler: they make the playoffs.

Joy, Jubilation, and the Sheer Exuberance of Victory

At The Wrestling Blog, I posted an old interview I did with e-migo and highly regarded media studies professional Sam Ford. We talked about indy wrestling and social media, especially from the promoters perspective.

Guest Blog: An Interview with Sam Ford

Finally, at Bus Leagues Baseball, I compared two baseball books I recently read.

A Literary Comparison of “Out of My League” and “Odd Man Out”

So check them out. Of course, more coming soon. Thanks for reading.

Quick post today based on something interesting I read on Wired.com:

In an article entitled “Pseudonymity, Anonymity, And Accountability Online“, author Sheril Kirshenbaum discusses her opinion of another article on the Wild, Wild West of Internet commenting.

(Yes, this is a post about a post about a post.)

This discussion of how people choose to comment on the Web behind the cloak of anonymity has gone on for a while among people who observe culture, media, and technology. The Web is not for the sensitive, bringing out the worst in racism, sexism, and overall meanness.

But there is another less-talked about effect of the Web. That which may even have an effect on lives offline.

There is an allure to be egotistical online. What you write comes from you and is your opinion and your words and often times, being from you, they have to be right. And when faced with the slightest bit of objection, people online tend to either coat their expression in the Internet language of snark or they become highly combative. Neither of which is very healthy.

The Internet has unfortunately decreased our ability to have civil discussion and instead preached argument. It has fostered a culture in which a solo opinion is all that matters and that people have to outshout or outargue everyone else.

If you do a lot of work online, this can be particularly dangerous.

Although you can turn off the computer and mutter under your breath how much of a moron the person you cyber-argued with was, that is not a healthy habit offline. Because it only takes one to type and comments are rarely made by consensus, the Internet has devalued cooperation, listening, and compromise.

As I live by myself, sometimes I have noticed these traits slip into my own interactions. Nothing major, but the ego and hostility that bear its fangs in online debate sometimes slips out offline.

That’s not good.

Stupid internet.

I need a dog or maybe a Russian bride.

Inspired by this week’s Mashable Comic (on right), I was thinking about how Foursquare could have been used by characters in literary classics through the ages and whether or not modern technology may have changed literary history.

Huckleberry Finn

@ Mississippi River “Riding down the Mississippi with Jim.”

Outcome: Technology would not have been beneficial here. Although it wouldn’t have mattered for Huck, for Jim however, a check-in device spells trouble. With slave trackers on their tail, Ol’ Jim would have been quick found and put back on the plantation. Huck may well just have been forced to join him.

Alice in Wonderland

@ The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party “Smoked with the Cheshire Cat, took pills, now I’m drinking with a guy with a big hat.”

Outcome: Alice would have benefited from Foursquare. Not only could she have checked-in at some amazingly exotic places, but she could have also kept a record of where she was for prosperity. This way she had proof, because there is no way anyone believed her.

Dante’s Inferno

@ Hell “Virgil has no idea where he is going, but I am along for the ride!”

Outcome: Although most people would consider it impressive for Dante to only check-in throughout the eight levels of Hell, I am partial to the potential of Dante recording the entire Divine Comedy on Foursquare. He could check-in in Hell, Heaven, and Purgatory. If they have technology in Heaven, Dante’s check-in might also be the biggest swarm in history.

Moby Dick

@ Sea “I’m catching that whale if it’s the last thing I do!”

Outcome: Although Foursquare could not have helped Ahab and his crew against Moby Dick, reading the first-person thoughts of Captain Ahab would be absolutely interesting. Especially in the days following his encounter with the world famous whale. Any earlier and Ahab’s communiques would be boring check-ins from the high sea. Any later and Ahab’s check-ins would be the first from the belly of a beast.

While circumstances closed my mother’s store, another threat is killing other used book stores around the country: online sales and downloadable books.

My father recently forwarded me a link to an article that discussed the closing of another Melbourne, Florida used bookstore. This bookstore, On The Shelf Books, had been in business for over 30 years, only to close their doors because they couldn’t keep up with rising rent and other overhead costs.

Of course, the article then discussed the overall plight of used bookstores and their battle for survival. One of the local bookstore owners the author quotes is Elva Rella, owner of Patrick Paperbacks in Satellite Beach, Florida. I’ve never been to Patrick Paperback, so I can’t honestly rebuke her claims, but her quotes confused me.

According to the article, Rella’s store is seeing increased business and she is scheduling local events to draw in buyers, such as scheduling autograph sessions by local authors. That’s great. However, Rella says,

“We do all we can to bring the customers in”.

Then, however, in the same article she bemoans the growing influence of the Internet on book buyers.

“If you’re reading the New York Times Book Review (online), embedded in there is a little link that takes you to amazon.com,” Rella said.

“It makes it so easy. People’s lives are very busy, so coming into a store like ours becomes an investment in time.”

These quotes, when taken together, lead me to think Rella is not doing all she can. She is not trying to be a local alternative to the New York Times or Amazon. I am of the belief that people want to support local businesses, they just want those businesses to be as convenient as corporate stores.

It might take more work, but the Internet should be the friend of small bookstores. Instead of watching customers flock to other alternatives, local bookstores need to try to intercept those readers who are reading national reviews and buying the book on Amazon.

First of all, the Patrick Paperbacks website is amazingly primitive to the point of being ineffective. The “About Us” page is ok, but that’s it. Patrick Paperbacks could improve their website to include items of interest such as Q&As with local authors, announcements, and their own book reviews. Maybe Rella could start a blog with volunteer reviews by local patrons. Three to five reviews a week should work. I’m sure Patrick Paperbacks has loyal customers who wouldn’t mind writing reviews of their favorite books. Perhaps Rella could even do a review a week for the Florida Today. (Maybe the Florida Today could cycle through all local bookstores and post reviews from one of them a week/day/etc.)

Bookstores need to feed their customers their opinion online, rather than have them go the New York Times. Small bookstore owners need to sway and influence local customers online as they would while those customers would be in the store.

Those reviews could also have some way to buy the book from Patrick Paperbacks, be it a direct link to an Ebay or Amazon or other third-party merchandise account or even an email address to email Rella to request the book. Once that request is received, no matter what avenue, Rella can take the book the shelf and send it to the buyer. Make it easy to buy no matter where the customer is.

Second, Patrick Paperbacks needs a Facebook presence (Rella herself has one). So far, all I could find is a location page for the store. While that tells me where they are, it tells me nothing of why I should go there. Rella should post links to the aforementioned book reviews on the stores’ Facebook page as well as promote conversation on books, incoming inventory, authors, sales, and upcoming happening at the store. A Twitter page could also do some of the same. With so many people on Facebook, it’s inconceivable that a small business in a struggling industry wouldn’t at least try the social media option.

Like I said, I have a soft spot for local bookstores, both because of my mom’s store and the fact that local book stores have a charm that you can’t find in Barnes and Noble, in what’s left of Borders, or on your internet browser surfing Amazon. I want to be influenced to go to a local bookstore, like I would be lured to seeing a band live instead of downloading a song and listening to them in my living room.

Don’t fight the internet. Use blogs, Facebook, and other online tools to create a 24-hour community and conversation about your store. This way, if I am part of that community, when I am away from my computer I’ll want to stop by and talk, listen, and most importantly, buy.

(Ok, I’ll admit, we took one and didn’t think it came out well, so we took a second. And to be perfectly honest, I didn’t mind.)

Anyway, she is one of the final contestants for the 2010 Maxim Hometown Hottie Contest. Since I didn’t have a favorite before, Ashley Ann is now who I am going to vote for.

So here is a lesson for all of you folks aspiring to bigger and better things, if you are running for anything – mayor, congress, president of your class – take a picture with me and I will vote for you.

I’m simple like that.

Facebook and Google like to know where you are
Facebook and Google see you driving your car

Facebook and Google know where you were born
Facebook and Google know when you’re lookin at porn

Facebook and Google know when I have mail
Facebook and Google know when I post bail

Facebook and Google can track what you send
Facebook and Google found your 9th grade girlfriend

Facebook and Google want to know what I think
Facebook and Google want to know what I drink

Facebook and Google want to know when I pee
Facebook and Google you are scaring me

Facebook and Google please leave me alone
Facebook and Google please get out of my phone

Facebook and Google oh can’t you see
That my P-R-I-V-A-C-Y is priceless to me

That last line is a shout-out to Pearl Jam, by the way.

That makes three.

Of course, there is me and my crazy, Afro-Squad inspired ‘fro.

There is Miss Destructo, and her blue ‘do.

Today, I discovered another, the purple-haired Short Hair Diva of the aptly named shorthairdiva.com. Apparently she was also at the Tampa social media meet-up the other week. Unfortunately, although I took a pic with Miss Destructo, and The Shorthair Diva did pictures with Miss Destructo, we did not do a group pic.

Any idea why there are so many crazy hair bloggers in Tampa?

Is it the water?

Is it the heat?

(Ok, the jury is still out on how “exciting” and “trailblazing” this field is. But pardon me my Shakespearean hyperbole.)

I don’t know how long it lasts, but for the last two weeks it has been Social Media Networking Season here in Tampa.

First, on Wednesday, June 23, there was the sports blog meet-up hosted by SBNation Tampa at the Tampa Bay Brewing Company in Ybor City.

As I mentioned in the last post, at the SBNation meet-up I finally met some of the Tampa bloggers I have been reading for the last few years, to include the great Clark Brooks of Ridiculously Inconsistent Trickle of Consciousness and Gregg Burrage of Sticks of Fire.

With the complementary swag and free Crown Royal, good times were had by all.

Then, a week later, at the same Bat-place and at the same Bat-time, I attended the Mashable Social Media Day networking event. Here I again had the pleasure of meeting other local bloggers, media creators, designers, marketers, and other assorted web folk. Some of the folks I met included:

• Miss Destructo of Destructo Deviations.com
• Jen of Miss Attitude.us
• Rae Catanese, whose website I worked with prior to the Super Bowl in 2008
• Darrin Guilbeau of Hanger1Media.com
• Loren Omoto and Jennifer Yarter of TBO.com
• Susie Steiner of Fido’s Laundry.com and Geek Is Single.com
• Blaine Rumsey of the aptly named Blaine Rumsey.com
• Kim Randall of the similarly aptly named Kim Randall.me
• Chris Kanclerowicz of blackenedsun.com
• David Rivera of thedrawingroom.us
• Larry Sanek of Castle Dream Real Estate and
• Karla Jackson of the University of South Florida USF Alumni Association

And those are just the people who gave me their business cards. There are a bunch of other folks that I am now following on twitter.

(Interesting side note: of all the business cards I received, not one had a picture of the person on it. I wonder if that’s bad form. I know I have my pic on mine.)

Anyway, it was great meeting all these people. I definitely made a bunch of new friends and increased my chances of being the next great mega-social media hero.

And if you are one of the many people I met in the last few weeks, and this is your first time checking out the site: Welcome. Feel free to take a look around, kick your feet up, and make yourself at home. Tu casa es mi casa. Or something like that.

By the way, bonus points to anyone who knew the “mega-social media hero” title was a tribute to California rock band The Uninvited and their song “Mega-Multi Media Hero“.

(Song starts at the 1:15 mark.)

With each new tool, website, or social network staying in touch gets more complicated.

For example, I have family members I can only reach via phone, friends I only talk to via email, Twitter friends, Facebook friends, organizations I follow only on MySpace, a boss who only reads my office reports if they are printed out, and folks I text on a regular basis.

As to be expected, the use of communication tools often varies on generation. Younger friends, family members, peers, other people in my age bracket or younger tend to be more online. I don’t expect my grandfolks to be on Twitter any time soon.

Then there is the frequency of how often people check their communication platform. Although almost everyone has email, that’s doesn’t mean they check it. Same with voice mail.

Of course I make things exponentially more difficult by having multiple accounts on many of these platforms. I have four personal email addresses (I’ve only dropped two since I started emailing in 1996), four work email address on various servers and networks, two Twitter accounts, two MySpace accounts, and one Facebook account. And my phone, which has a Facebook and a Twitter app.

All I am missing is the firepit to send smoke signals.

Communication tools have also vastly changed the dating game. I remember back when an hour long conversation meant girl and I may have a few things in common. In the last two years, I haven’t dated a woman who didn’t rely heavily on text messaging.  I think the days of the hour-long phone call are long gone. I was getting good at that.

Calling now seems awkward. Like I have to really know someone first or they have to be expecting my call. Or maybe I have to text to let them know I am going to call.

Apparently, I am supposed to text a woman a lot sooner than I was supposed to call. There used to be a 24-hour rule on calling. Not that I was that great at following that, but do I text first now? What is the “correct” time I should wait before texting?

The last thing I want is to be this guy:

One of these days, I going to go Thoreau and be reachable only through mailed postage. Either that, or I am going to end up like the bad guy in Wes Craven’s Shocker and live in the grid.

Maybe I am old-fashioned, but I actually like giving people things. Things they can touch and feel. Things they can put on their dresser or mantle or table or counter. Things they can say, “My son gave me that.” So count me out for the Mother’s Day social media extravaganza.

That said however, I wonder if helping out on Mother’s Day is only the beginning for Facebook. Maybe they have bigger plans for other holidays.

Think about this: every year people all over the world pour through their address books, rolodexes, and other assorted files for the names and locations of people they will send Christmas Cards to. They’ll buy the cards, the envelops, the stamps, the labels, and probably even pay for Christmas pictures of the kids to send as inserts. Then there is the hassle of going to the post office and all it entails.

What if Facebook partnered with Hallmark and did all that for you?

I know I am not the only person whose Facebook friends constitute 90% or so of the people I would send Christmas cards to. Save for my grandparents, my mother, and a few other second cousins here and there, everyone I know is on Facebook. I shouldn’t need to have all their addresses stashed away somewhere only to be dusted off once a year.

Here is what I think Facebook should do to make my Christmas card sending season easier:

1. Create a code that crawled through my friends’ profiles and let me know whose addresses are already in Facebook.
2. From those friends, generate a list so I can check who I want to send a card to.
3. Show me a menu of 6-10 Christmas card formats and allow me to select one.
4. Provide me a box to type in a message to all or if I choose, I can type separate messages to each.
5. Ask if I want to include a picture from my profile (especially handy for those folks with kids).
6. Ask if I want to input my address if it is not already in Facebook so other can send me cards.
7. Forward me to the Hallmark.com check out page.

(If they wanted to be really fancy, they could also alert me if any of my friends adds their address after I sent out my cards. Then I could have the option of going through the card sending process specifically for that person.)

It’s just that easy. I won’t have to write addresses, lick envelops, or even go to the post office.