The old adage that on the Internet no one knows you’re a dog is of course not true—even through the disintermediation of the computer screen and the series of tubes, there are still clues, the equivalents of clothes, accents, and haircuts, for those sensitive enough to spot them (read: nerds).
Apart from your capacity for spelling (seriously, people: red squiggly bad) and grammar, one of the most obvious is your email address. Here are some example personal email addresses and what they say about you:
bob@internet-service-provider.com: I don’t know much about technology so I’m just using the email address my ISP gave me. My soul dies a little every time I check my email through the Web interface, which I have to do since I don’t know how to set up an email client. The kid down the street keeps promising to help me get set up, but it just never seems to happen.
bob-and-amy@internet-service-provider.com: Hoo-boy! We have some trust issues in our marriage!
bob@company-i-work-for.com: I can only keep track of one email system, so I use my company email address for everything. I don’t understand that this means my system administrators can read all my personal email.
bob@aol.com: Technology scares and confuses me. Can’t we all start calling each other again instead of this new-fangled email thing?
bob@yahoo.com: I used to be pretty on top of this technology thing.
bob@hotmail.com: No matter how much everybody tells me to, I’ll never stop using Internet Explorer! The blue “e” means Internet!
bob@gmail.com: I enjoy a good email experience.
bob@bobsmith.com: I’m hip enough to this stuff to have my own domain. I can probably be trusted to not be a complete clue-bird when it comes to technology.
Posted Wednesday, 04 July, 2012 by Nic Lindh
Another book roundup, including some stellar athletes and soldiers, what might be the most jaded, soul-weary protagonist ever, and some grimdark fantasy.
The Internet is getting creepy, and Nic is breaking out his tinfoil hat after newspaper paywalls push him over the edge.
Nic is tired of tech sites obsessing over Apple’s financials and business strategy. So very tired.
Nic reads a book about the processed food industry and is incensed.
Computers are complicated. This brings out the irrational in people.
Nic proposes the loan word Rechthaberei be incorporated into American English.
The Core Dump is back! Books were read during the hiatus. Includes The Coldest Winter, Oh, Myyy!, Tough Sh*t, The Revolution Was Televised, The Rook, Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore, Gun Machine, Fortress Frontier, Standing in Another Man’s Grave, and The Memory of Light.
This site will return in February.
From a true patriot to a world-weary detective, a dead god, and a civilization about to sublime from the galaxy, this book roundup spans the gamut. Includes Where Men Win Glory, Wild, Inside the Box, The Black Box, Three Parts Dead, Red Country, and The Hydrogen Sonata.
Springsteen gives a concert in Phoenix. It’s fantastic.