Yesterday I wrote concerning the battle between Yahoo Mail and Gmail for dominance in the area of email provision.  It would seem that both have their potential benefits, while both also have downsides.

Below is a slideshow I made for my Internet class comparing the two.

The world of email providers is an interesting study in the "target audience" area.  I am baffled to this day that Yahoo somehow manages to stay afloat when faced with the easier, more streamlined Gmail.  Not only is Gmail much simpler to use, but it also boasts an enormous amount of storage space and access to the whole plethora of Google applications.

Yahoo's persistence is mainly due, I think, to their targeting of a certain segment of the internet population.  The simple fact is that they have made a name for themselves in day-to-day speech.  When the "average" person, unsavvy to the internet, sets out to create a browser-based email account, the first thing that occurs to them is the name "Yahoo", simply because they have heard the company's name mentioned alongside "email" for years.  Yahoo has very effectively presented themselves as the novice's email service.  They boast ease of registration and use.

Unfortunately, I don't find Yahoo to be very simple for new computer users to work with at all.  The mail page seems unnecessarily cluttered, and the function buttons seem unnaturally placed on the page.  It's unfortunate that Google is known to be almost solely for "techie" people or "geeks", because the facts speak otherwise.  Google never ceases to amaze me with how many useful, user-friendly programs they continually put out there on the Web.

My take: Gmail betters Yahoo in almost every possible area.  You won't find a better email provider out there than Google.

This will be a itty bitty post, I confess.  It is something I'd like to mention some thoughts about, though.

This is the year of eReaders.  That much is apparent.  I fail to see, though, what is so much better about a digital reading device in comparison to a classic book.  The fact that an eReader is contingent upon the company that produces it seems to reduce the potential longevity of the books you buy.

I can see how "neat" the Kindle is, for example.  I wouldn't mind having one at all.  I would definitely appreciate being able to download thousands of classic books for free - but I would much rather own the actual book.  The advantages to genuine books are that they will last longer. They will preserve the human spirit more permanently.  The words therein won't disappear upon a device becoming unusable.

To me, I would much rather spend my hard earned cash on actual books that will be around long after a digital device becomes outdated and ceases to work.  While I can understand the hype, it seems like it will be very short lived.

I think that's one of the most difficult things in any relationship - in order to build anything, you must be together. You can't build anything over the telephone.
~ Julie London

The telephone is just like everything on this good earth.  It is beneficial in ways, but at times it is an infernal nuisance.  Some people use it for devilish business, spreading rumors that continue to grow like weeds down the chain.  Others, in a better use of the phone, employ it in contacting their distant relations (literally).

The telephone, however, can be an unseen enemy.  Constant use of it can cripple us in our participation in real, genuine personal contact.  One can become so accustomed to chatting on the phone line that they find it difficult to communicate in "real life". 

There is, of course, also the danger of endless noise.  One of the most depressing things about modern society is its insistence on constant activity.  Every second of our day we are expected to be talking on the phone, engaging in social networks, Tweeting our current activities, and "living" in the "web community".  In all the fast-paced chaos, humanity and personal thought is often lost.

One important aspect of sanity that I feel is highly underrated in our present world is the value of plain old silence.  It can do wonders for the mind.  Have you ever had a long, rough day and, upon arriving at home, simply sat down, and relished in the silence and absence of noise?  It's a pleasure that so few will ever get to experience as our noise-driven world continues to turn on and on and on...

I hope the reader will forgive my ramblings on such a minute object, but I somehow feel that the telephone speaks volumes about the dangers of our postmodern society.  In such a society, people are tired of the daily grind and are searching for personal connection.  While the phone provides this, it can never compare to face to face interaction.  The Internet and phone are very dangerous in that people can convince themselves that they are "sociable" and are not alone simply because they use them constantly, while never actually making real contact with anyone.  Through these artificial social mediums, people can live and die, believing they are enjoying their fellow man, without ever experiencing the real joy of relating with others.

So the next time you pick up the telephone, remind your self of other, more personal, ways you could communicate with the person you are about to call.  It may just make all the difference in the world to the both of you.

Dort, wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen

 "Where they burn books, they will also burn people."

~ Jewish poet Heinrich Heine ~

Books, books, and more books.  That's what a library is.  That's also what my living room is.  I humbly confess that I am a clear cut book addict.  I love books.  Not even because I love to read them (I do, though), I simply just love books.  They stand for something - freedom, knowledge, an open mind.

Many people in the past, however, have hated books.  Adolf Hitler is probably the best example.  He proved himself an evil man in restricting his citizens the right to read books of their choice.  In truth, he burned them because he was afraid.  He was afraid of the common sense and moral values his people might gain from reading "unapproved" books.  He was afraid of the power of the written word to call men to action for truth and righteousness.  He knew if he got books out of the way his scheming would be much easier and bring about greater results.  There wasn't any reasoning beyond that to the book burnings of Germany.  Books were burned regardless of their qualities simply because they were Jewish or American, or spoke of democracy.  Books by authors such as Ernest Hemingway, Jack London and Helen Keller, and British writer H. G. Wells were sent to the flames in masses.

Ray Bradbury wrote a fantastic book on this issue.  His  Fahrenheit 451 will take the blinders off anyone who doesn't see the importance of literature.  In the dystopian world he presents, books are regarded as unhealthy for society - for books cause knowledge.  When such knowledge is available, it also becomes possible for some individuals to be more "intelligent" than others. This, of course, could cause bad feelings.  The beloved utopia of collectivism would then fall in this imaginary, but not-too-distant future world.  Books separate people, and we can't have that. So they've got to go. We want a society where everybody is equal and alike. Books make that impossible. So we must burn them. Book-readers are "enemies of the public peace." So they must be arrested. They are disturbing The Force. They are an example of Another Way. We can't have that. Ideas might give people ideas.  It all sounds very similar to Germany under Hitler, does it not?

Evil men will always attempt to be rid of the written word - because it is powerful. It is the essence of humanity printed on paper.  Even seemingly "fluffy" stories have "morals" behind them that cause men and women to consider themes of freedom, faith, and right and wrong.  For this reason, books will continually be the enemy of dictators and villains who wish to rule based on ignorance.  Books educate and enlighten, and plant thoughts and ideas in the mind that cause fierce resistance to totalitarian demands.

Books will be burned.  It can't be avoided.  What will not occur, however, as long as the human spirit persists is the eradication of human expression and storytelling on paper.  That will forever live on.

People are mysteries.  No matter how many classes you take on understanding and analyzing them, some of them still baffle your mind.  I'm thinking of the incredibly brave men and women in Egypt who are daily risking their lives for their freedom and that of the rest of the populace.  One would think that in all of their poverty and rejection, they wouldn't want to face more.  That notion, however, is wrong.

Mubarak is a dictator with a nicer label.  The statement that Egypt is an autocratic regime falls short of the mark.  While most people really don't have a clue concerning the goings on in Egypt, there are simply horrible things occurring.  To put it shortly, the witch hunts have begun in Egypt.  The police and military have officially stepped up their game in suppressing the demonstrations of innocent protesters.  It can be wondered whether the very police who are arresting, shooting, and gassing these freedom fighters don't really agree with them behind their shields and masks.  In all reality, what citizen, whether government worker or not, would not wish for rights and freedoms to be granted to them?

One aspect of these events that seems to have mostly missed the eye of reporters is the fact that the very guns the military is using to fire upon the protesters are very likely to have been paid for by the United States.  After Iraq, Afghanistan, and Israel, Egypt is the largest recipient of U.S. assistance, including $1.3 billion in annual military aid.  The United States is the largest benefactor of Mubarak's regime, as it pays us back with favors in the area.

It's apparent, then, that this issue is not quite as cut and dry as it seems.  The lines are surely blurred.  In the past few days, however, the violence and disaster has calmed a bit.  Mubarak has agreed not to run for reelection after being in office for over 30 years.  Some change has been accomplished.

My hope is that the leaders of the United States will take the correct stance on this issue, and perhaps refuse to support Egypt any longer until the regime is disbanded.  It will be interesting to see how this all turns out.  

I've recently been reading a classic dystopian book by Philip K. Dick.  I've never read any of his works before, so I thought I'd give it a shot.  He is like Bradbury in many ways, using the social structure of a post-apocalypse society to comment on the current human condition.

The book I'm reading is probably his most admired work, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? It brings up, in subtle fashion, some of the fundamental questions that we should all ask ourselves.  Questions such as "what makes a human human?" and "what is the meaning of life?".  Through his clever use of the relationships between androids and actual humans, Dick attempts to explain to us his answers to these questions.

The most profound point that the book makes is the quintessential quality of humankind: empathy.  In the book, the protagonist, Rick Deckard, is tasked with hunting down "rogue" androids - androids who have escaped the confines of servitude they were created for and are posing as genuine humans.  The most useful way for Deckard to pinpoint whether a subject is an android is through the use of the Voigt-Kampff test. In administering the test, Deckard asks questions that would solicit and empathetic response in a human being, and gauges whether that response occurs.  If it does not, he knows he has pinpointed an android, and promptly "retires" it.

This seemingly simple aspect of the story is the obvious theme of the book.  Dick states through his clever use of story-telling that empathy is really what defines humanity.  Sympathizing and role-taking are not reproduce-able in artificial life.  It is through feeling the pain of others, and attempting to help them through their difficult times that we prove ourselves to be human.  Empathy may very well cause pain to ourselves, as we have share in the woes and misfortunes of others; but it is a worthy sacrifice for the joy and happiness that we can also experience through human interaction.

Love, kindness, and caring for others are the things that define who we are as humans.  They are placed in us because we were created in the image of a loving, caring God.  That is what sets humanity apart - the soul.  No other being is infused with the very image of God.  While Dick was an atheist, Androids shows us the qualities that will continue in humankind as long as we exist.

I highly recommend the book.