1 Second Everyday for for May 2014 (#1SE #1SecondEveryday)

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1 Second Everyday for April 2014 (#1SE #1SecondEveryday)

Here is 1 second of video (or a photo if I was weird and didn't shoot video) for every day in the month of April 2014. April marked my first visit to see my wife during her second Disney contract aboard a Disney cruise ship, so watch for those 1-secondses. Check out more of my 1SE videos at http://thepete.us/1se most of these clips are #throughglass

1 Second Everyday for March 2014 (#1SE #1SecondEveryday #th

Here is 1 second of my life from every day of March, 2014, in video (or sometimes photographic) form. Watch for some of my adventures in Toronto, lots of drawing, my green tea Kit Kat supply dwindling and more! A lot of this was #throughglass. Follow me on Instagram (@mrthepete) or Vine (@thepete) to follow more of my adventures! Watch more of my 1SE videos here: http://thepete.us/1se

The Story of @Megapixel or How Social Media Allows Us to Remember Those We Never Knew

The content of this post was first published on my TwitWall but under a different title.

So, I was just minding my own business today when I saw a Tweet from @bsimi explaining that today at the @RSHotel dirty martinis would cost $7 in memory of Megapixel. I didn't know her, and my instinct is to double check before I assume things I read online reflect reality.  Some people have dry, even invisible, senses of humor, so it pays to confirm stuff.  Sadly, it's true--Meg Porter, aka Megapixel on Twitter, died in a car accident a week ago yesterday.  Seems she may have been on a single-lane road when a big-rig was going the other way.  Regardless, it was sad--she was just 24 years-old. 

What makes her death even more poignant is that while she had over 3000 followers on Twitter, she let everyone follow her life via her vlog posts on MegPorter.com.  I haven't had a chance to look at many of them, but in the few I watched she seemed like a pretty normal 24 year-old woman--her whole life ahead of her.  Life is funny this way--some of us go away early, some of us stick around, while others can't decide what to do.

The thing is, thanks to social media, no one goes away fully.  We've all heard the phrase "they'll live on in our hearts" and it's true but now, those who have passed on can live on through their own words, their own voice, their own face through social media--in a tiny tiny, but significant way, it's like they're immortal. 

So, when I found Meg's blog I saw the YouTube video she recorded back on the 21st and immediately thought "Oh, @bsimi is just kidding or something."  If I hadn't Googled any further, I'd have never known the difference. 

I'm not sure what I'm getting at, really.  I think maybe I'm hoping stories like this one will encourage us all to blog/vlog/record/document/whatever our lives more. 

As scary as it is to contemplate, we may check out before we expect to.  Best to make sure there's something people can remember us by.

Just my ¥2, of course.

Totally forgot to add this link:

http://megan-porter.gonetoosoon.org/

Obama Ditches YouTube After (not) Breaking the Law (Kind of)

OK, this is kind of a convoluted story here. According to two articles at ReadWriteWeb.com (here and here) President Barack Obama has had an interesting time using YouTube to deliver his weekly addresses.

As everyone knows, Prezzi Barry O'bama was posting his weekly vids on YouTube, but privacy advocates raised a big stink. The stink seems to be well founded since YouTube uses "long-term tracking cookies". My guess is that these cookies allow Google to know where you go after you leave YouTube? I don't know to be honest. Regardless, it seems that the White House using said cookies violates federal law. Yep. How many times did Bush violate federal law? Just a few times.

But worry not, Obamafans! The Obama Administration stopped violating federal law by, essentially, giving itself a pass. Which, you know, is pretty shitty. Talk about kingly behavior. I can hear Obama now:

"What's that? Using YouTube is uhhhhh violation of federal law? Well, uhhhh, let's just uhhhhh... changethelawforonlyus."

That's the very definition of being above the law. At least he had the decency to do it, uh, legally, by issuing himself an official exemption--just like Bush did with all of his signing statements.

Now, that was back in February--yesterday, ReadWriteWeb.com reported that the Obama Admin was ditching YouTube in favor of Vimeo (see cap above), and would no longer be using those pesky long-term cookies (we assume). Still, Obama and Pals broke the law.

Is this a concern of Abu Ghraib proportions?

Of course not.

But if this is how Obama treats the little laws, how is he going to treat the big ones when lives depend on it? Will principles, morals and/or the law win out? Or will the myth of security beat all?

The ObamaWatch continues...

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