The Obscure Side Roads

Sometimes I forget that my little blogs are on the very obscure side roads of the internet. Since I'm here everyday, of course, to me these are familiar. But it actually looks like it takes some effort to get here. If you search for just the right phrases -- like maybe "The Obscure Side Roads" today -- I place pretty high on the results. Otherwise, I'm down in the mix with everyone else.

And since I hardly ever make it to everyone else's place on the obscure side roads, there's no real reason why they should make it to mine. But I'm here, by cracky, and not leaving anytime soon.

I'm always kind of amazed when I hear about terrorist trackers, that they're able to keep track of blogs (I think) and websites that come and go in a matter of seconds (I imagine). But something that's here and never leaves, there's no such attention given. It all depends on what you're looking for.

I was trying to check some of the obscure side roads at YouTube today. I was looking for music videos by average people, ones that only had three or four (or no) prior views. That means you have to look at the "Recent" videos, just posted. Otherwise, there's lots of stuff from big record companies that dominates the opening page.

I found a few, including a teen band practicing somewhere. That wasn't too interesting, but a little. Also a couple of girls, individual videos, singing to songs on their stereo. They weren't very interesting either. But it was something that was different. The obscurity at least was refreshing.

Gmail Was Down?

I heard Gmail was down a couple days ago ... again.

I have some Gmail accounts, but I guess I've been hitting it OK. Whenever I happen to check one of them everything seems to be working fine. I'm just not there all the time though.

It all ties in together. If one part of the internet goes down, it affects other parts. I don't know if that's the way it is with Gmail or not. Or if it has something to do with what was afflicting Twitter a month or so ago, that kind of attack.

I'm just glad it all works as well as it does. It's like a car, only worse. There's so many things that can go wrong, it's a wonder we ever get anywhere.

Whoever's in charge of Gmail ... peddle faster!

Fake Names

Yahoo: Think twice before you sign up for an online service using a fake name or e-mail address. You could be committing a federal crime.

U.S. prosecutors turned to a novel interpretation of computer hacking law to indict a Missouri mother on charges connected to the suicide of a 13-year-old MySpace user.

What about "a rose by any other name..."? Maybe it makes a difference what you're doing with the fake name? Of course, I suppose buried in all those things you agree to when you sign up for things there are provisions, codicils, and blind alleys that refer to these things. And if somehow you get them, the website, implicated in legal troubles by your actions, then you're going to have troubles.