If you haven't seen it already, Domino's Pizza has a pizza tracker.  Yeah, I rolled my eyes at first, too.  But it's really sort of neat.  I know it's a bit of a gimmick, but it worked.  My daughter and I love to watch the pizza get prepped, put into the oven, boxed, and out for delivery.  It's a new age when you can follow your pizza from oven to your door.  You don't even get that sort of service in the restaurant.  But does this change the world?  Why yes, yes it does.

How, do you ask?  Well the most obvious is the one up on the competition ladder that this gives Domino's over Pizza Hut (Pasta Hut?), Little Caesars, and the like.  It even gives other food delivery services something to think about.  The Internet is no longer simply a place to show your menu.  Or even to take an online order.  Now it provides useful feedback to your customers.

But this is just changing a market, that's not world changing, is it?

Not by itself, no.  But this also spreads beyond the food service boundaries.  If Domino's can track a pizza to your door within 30 minutes, FedEx better start showing me the same.  I've never worked for a package delivery company, but presumably they operate within a delivery queue.  FedEx and UPS already know, rather instantaneously, when a package has been delivered.  Shortly, I believe, we will start to see that queue.  Certainly not the actual GPS location of the truck, as that may very well skirt the boundaries of privacy (ha ha ha.  hooo.  Sorry, amused myself with the thought of anyone giving a damn about my privacy).  Ok, yes, shortly we will see that "you are #19 in our delivery queue."  And we'll see it update as each package is signed off on its way to you.  And I know each of you would really value that information.  How many times have you thought, "I really would like to go to the grocery story.  It'll only take me 15 minutes.  But I know once I leave the shipment will arrive."  Now if you could see you're #30 in the list, you'd certainly be more inclined to take that chance than if you were #5.

But wait, there's more.  Once we have tracking down to this queue level, enter in notifications.  Certainly one of the sites will enable that.  Wouldn't you like to receive a text message once your package is within X number of stops?  But I don't see that this needs to be handled by the delivery companies themselves.  What we have now is a completely new delivery company opportunity.  One of information delivery.  It starts with a system that is able to track packages and queues for you, and send you notices via your phone, IM, email, etc.  Twitter already has that foundation in place.  Some smart group may take advantage of their service.  A smarter one would build their own, but you have to start somewhere.

Now that we've got this new delivery company, what else can it do?  WiiAlerts.com is already partially there.  Our new company will begin to monitor other things that we care about.  Not just finding when a Wii is available, even thought that is knowledge we all need, but how about other items we're interested in?  When does Dell kick off their big 50% off sale?  When are tickets to that next Rick Astley concert available (cause we know they're all going to be sold out)?  Why is there a movie about talking chihuahua's coming soon?

I don't think it will stop there.  Ever want to know when Pepsi's go on sale at your local grocery store?  Do you still receive the Sunday paper to see?  This isn't an instantaneous information need, but it can still be tracked by our information delivery service.  If a store is spending money on paper media, how about sharing their inventory and prices?  Grocery stores begin to open their database to the world.  This will be tough on competition, but all of a sudden you can monitor who's got what for the best price.  You can plug in your grocery list and have the system tell you which store to go to, not just for individual items, but who has your overall lowest total cost?  (If you care enough, you could get the cheapest price by going to various stores, but I'd think it'd be worth my time to visit the one where my overall total was less).

So now we're tracking pizza, packages down to the delivery queue, we're monitoring the availability and pricing of entertainment and necessities.  How about your RSS feed?  That's already being done, so it should certainly be included, right?  Virtual worlds and online games will start to offer information outside of their little environment (SL does already), but now you can get a notice when your friends are online.  Stock prices?  Sure.  How about a notice whenever a charge hits your credit card, and how much that charge was for?  Talk about fraud prevention.  How about knowing what your local politician is up to?  Want to receive a notice as to how your local Senator voted?  You care enough to receive football scores, why not that?

And all of this because Domino's decided to let us track a pizza.  Do we forgive them for the Noid yet?  Yeah, me neither.

A few days ago Grace McDunnough wrote about social norms in Second Life and how they seem to have been eroding away with the influx of new people. This got me thinking once again about the decline of society in Second Life. Sure I'm just a bit jaded, but it was good to see other with similar viewpoints. There are a lot of us, roughly 100,000ish that arrived before the big boom of residents. I came in at the 100,000 resident mark. Grace says she arrived at about 150,000. Life really was much different then. And I won't say it was necessarily better. There was still drama, but each of us did feel like we could make a bit of a difference in the world. I think that feeling alone gave us a better warm and fuzzy than one can get today when the population is so high.

Of course we don't really have 6 bajillion people signing in to Second life at one time (though many will claim that it certainly feels like it some days), but the waters have definitely been thinned a bit. Back when I entered the world, I was happy being my fairly laid back self and still being recognized for having a contribution to make. It was definitely one of the reasons I loved Second Life so much. I was able to have my voice heard (I say that a lot) by others who were fairly like-minded, and given a shot at actually doing something. My first month into Second Life I was given the task of building the set for Dolmere's new game show. A few months later I was the building manager for Second Life's Third Birthday event (SL3B! I'm still proud to have coined that one and see it carry through today. My one lasting contribution). I was included with a group of Mentors to develop a plan of action in cleaning up the Second Life Mentor group and fixing the woes that were becoming more and more present, not that it helped (see also: talk to the hand). The point was, I was brand new, but I was included.

Now we fast forward to the end of the year. One million residents hit, and it didn't stop there. The Shelter, where I called home, was flooded with people. New Citizens, Inc. was also flooded. The environment was changing, and changing fast. It was too difficult to assist anyone, the turnover rate was simply far too high. Most of the old residents who wished to help became jaded in one way or another. New residents didn't want help very often, and the ones that did had to wade along with the vast influx of other new folks. Their own voices not being heard simply because there was too much to hear.

Now once we got our flood of new people, instead of people being recognized on their own merits, you were just another drip in the ocean. When we have this sort of population, to get recognized you have to promote yourself. We begin to see more and more of the "hey, look at me!" types, and miss out on the quiet and talented individuals. We move from a world of inclusion, to one of exclusion. I doubt very seriously that I would've received the opportunities that I did in today's world. There are too many others that will stand in front of you and push their own way ahead to get noticed and recognized.

Am I bashing the "look at me crowd"? Probably a bit. They're not bad people, of course, but they're looking out for themselves and making sure they get as much as they can, whether it be attention, jobs, friends, etc. The quiet ones are off somewhere on their own, working on their own project, finding others (hopefully) with similar interests and having a bit of fun. But they're not being actively included. In fact, they often impose a self-exclusion because they don't gel with the other personality types. I know I've bowed out of projects because I have to deal with someone who is all hyped up on their own skills and brags constantly. My only real joy has been when I'm told, some time later when I took another shot at helping, that my work was far superior than anything they'd ever seen. I imagine that is the case for many out there. It's just that the really gifted people typically don't brag about it.

This is what happens when you have a sea of people flooding in, of course. But it's also a statement towards society outside of Second Life as well. The Second Life world has become more in tune with the RL one. And that's where I have a bit of a rub. Second Life was a bit idyllic when I arrived, and I miss it. There were just as many problems, yes. We didn't have all the bells and whistles. The Linden's didn't listen to us much more than they do now (Torley always listened and tried to help). But the people that wanted to make a difference could make a difference.

Back to Grace's original post, the social norms within Second Life are changing, and not for the better. It's a lack of education that keeps the new people from understanding or even realizing that they're crossing lines that they shouldn't. And because the masses are more massive than the rest of us (by definition) their norms overrule ours. We are mocked or frowned upon if we want to keep a bit of privacy. As someone that has an avatar that is of the opposite gender, I can understand those that don't want certain details knows. While I don't support misleading others and getting into a deceptive online relationship, there is a certain amount of freedom that Second Life provides, which is taken away when people want to know all about your real life. The inclusion of voice, while I still agree can be fun in small circles of friends, is misused as a group. If you're in a place where the majority are using voice and you are not, you are excluded. It's up to the place, of course, but it's a direction I don't like. Instead of the world being as inclusive as it once was, we've been given more tools to exclude.

Now I've started thinking about society outside of Second Life as much as within it. Society is relying more and more on the Internet for communication. I've used the Internet for oh so many years, so I'm on board with the connection to the world. But, at least in the US, it's created a bit of a monster. With the anonymity that the Internet provides and the distance from others that is its nature, people are emboldened to say and do things they wouldn't in a face to face environment. They don't want a differing view, or are at least more secure in their own view to argue. But people typically haven't been trained to argue. So what breaks out are outright fights instead of intelligent debates. Combine this with, and I'm sorry if I offend, the "computer geek" crowd which already lacks good social skills, and you're just stirring up trouble.

Of course, the population of the US has also become flooded with those that feel entitled to everything. They carry that into the Internet as well. So what we have are a bunch of people that don't have a lot of social skills wanting desperately to get some attention, and who feel entitled because they believe they are better than the rest. Shake and stir and we get drama.

This isn't a Second Life problem, this happens everywhere. Of course, I've yet to really meet someone with real talent that bragged about it. Have you noticed in movies and television that common story where the braggart is an idiot? We all know it, we all see it, but he/she gets ahead. Thankfully, in the end, our quiet hero has their just revenge or is finally recognized for their efforts. It's a good message, but ironically this rarely happens in real life or Second Life.

Speaking somewhat relatedly, I know a number of people that simply want to get out of the computer industry because of these same problems. Where it was once a quiet few of us that could do some really amazing things and make a difference in the world. It has become flooded with everyone who made a web page once and are therefore programming geniuses. Those of us with talent have been cast aside in favor of those who make a lot of noise. I've even seen companies actually come out and say they'd rather hire three mediocre programmers than one good one. Because it's easier to find mediocrity and when one leaves, another will be able to fill their place more easily. How's that for encouragement?

I suppose what I am trying to get at is that society as a whole has changed. I don't typically have a bleak outlook on life. I've always been optimistic and believe that things work out. But I do see Second Life now becoming a more accurate reflection on real life and I think that's where one of my biggest complaints comes from. I realize it's going to happen, but it was nice to be among peers for a while, and I don't think it's unnatural to think fondly back to those days. I know those people are still out there. I just wish I knew where to find them. If you're one of them, come say hi.

So what does this have to do with the original social norms topic? Probably not a lot. It's more of an analysis of the changes I've seen in Second Life. I know I would like to make a continued effort to help out and educate. There are good people out there that simply don't know better. And they are willing to listen and learn and even pass the knowledge on. It can happen, but it will take a lot of work. It's an uphill battle. Who's prepared?

In order to increase overall stability of the grid today…logins have been disabled. Why didn't *I* think of that?

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch

I've often wondered what people's plans were. Thankfully it has been charted so we can all be on the same page:

see more funny graphs

…how to get to Sesame Street?

I know, this is an odd return to my blog, but I just had to post this. Season 38 of Sesame Street just kicked off a few days ago. My daughter made note of the new opening and closing credits, but I wasn't really paying any attention. Yesterday I saw a new human character (sorry, dude, I don't remember your name), but he was looked new to me in Sesame Street. He was job hunting, which I thought was a pretty bold step for Sesame Street to take, but as he looked through the paper at each different help wanted ad, he'd sing a tailored version of "there's so many people in my neighborhood" to the job, which my daughter liked, and which I thought was done pretty well. Each job that he would apply for was pretty amusing, but I still hadn't caught on that this was a new season.

Today, however, I was sitting in front of the TV, mildly paying attention, when this skit with Grover being a Doctor for A's Anatomy came on. Next thing I know, I'm rolling on the floor in laughter. And she was as well. It was awesome!

I had heard a little buzz a while back of Sesame Street making some changes, but oh my, they did it right. I had no idea Sesame Street could be that cool. I started to pay closer attention to the rest of the show, and it was pretty cool. Now I want to catch them all.

My hat's off to you, Sesame Workshop.

Many, many moons ago, Torley posted about how Second Life needed theme music.  That login screen, while improved, is still pretty silent.  Well, I agree, there needs to be theme music, and clearly this fits the bill pretty well.

What's going on in Second Life? Packets are being lost in droves! Since I am, by nature, a very caring individual, I've become seriously worried about my lost packets. How do I find them? Will they ever make it home? I tried calling the police, but they just wouldn't listen to me. I got some lame excuse about packets not being in their jurisdiction. I assumed there was something going on at the station from all laughter I was hearing. Lazy cops. But then it occurred to me that these packets are likely coming from California, so of course it's not something they would be able to handle. Perhaps the FBI could help out.

Before I could place the call, however, I got word from a few other friends that have also lost packets in Second Life. A conspiracy, perhaps? Are packets being stolen and forced into the sex trade? Knowing the nature of the Internet, I assumed the worst. The authorities must be alerted! Again, my calls were badly timed. I think I must've interrupted "The Office" or "That's So Raven", judging by the laughter on the other end. The authorities are going to be of no help. That's right, it's all up to me.

I continued my quest by doing a little research of my own. This lead me to famed packet wrangler, Ned "Packy" McRobertsontonburg. Packy has been handling and training packets for 20 years. He's got a slow southern drawl, which combined with his cowboy hat emblazoned with a gold encrusted shield declaring his "Best in Packet" win of 1994, really put me at ease.

Mera: "Mr. Robertsontonburg, my packets in Second Life are being-"

Packy: "Packy, please."

M: "Oh. Ok, Packy. My packets are disappearing left and right. I feared at first they were cold and alone in a strange router, but I've heard from others that their packets aren't coming home either. I think someone is stealing them and making them do who knows what!"

P: "Calm down. It's ok. Packets are known to do that from time to time."

M: "What?"

P: "Folks think packets are easy to herd from one place to another. But they ain't. Packets are an ornery bunch, let me tell ya."

M: "But it's happening to everyone. It wasn't always this bad. I know something terrible is happening to them."

P: "Let me tell ya. Them varmints got it comin to them if it is."

M: "Packy!"

P: "No, no, hear me out. You see, them packets are usually pretty good about keeping to the heard and following in line. But some of them good-fer-nuthin scuds like to do things all on their own. Some'll be too fast. Some'll be too slow. And when that happens, the whole herd suffers. Then there are those that just wander off all willy-nilly as if they don't even care. It's them wanderers that you got to get rid of. You don't want more like 'em. Survival of the fittest and all. You've been losing more and more. That's 'cause folks like you have been wandering around trying to find and care for them beasties. Now they're back in the mix, making other packets just like 'em. Soon all of them will be off wandering around taking their time, stopping to smell the duplex. You gots to stop it now before it gets worse. Leave them lost buggers be!"

M: "…"

P: "You see, them packets ain't lost. They'd just rather not go see you anymore. They're off having their own fun who knows where. Probably Wichita. They always seem to like Wichita."

M: "So you're saying I don't need to worry about my lost packets? Not even Gordon? Gordon was always so cute-"

P: "Gordon's a goner! Let him rot and the rest like him."

M: "Packy, I'm shocked to hear you like this. I thought you'd have some advice to find them and train them to be better."

P: "Listen. I've been wrangling packets my whole life and there's one thing I can't stand, it's them new lolligagging packets that have been infesting the breed. You got to cut your losses and let 'em go. They ain't never gonna learn no diff'rent. Trust me."

With that, Packy tipped his hat, spurred his token, and rode away to the next station.

I returned home tired, and a bit sad. I still worry about those packets I've been losing. It does help knowing they're not being forced into labor camps for the Home Shopping Network. I do think about Gordon from time to time, though. I hope he made it to Wichita.