Blog

Just so you guys don't think I'm slacking on blog posts, I'm temporarily moving all blog posts over to www.erikmarklarson.com/blog. Thanks guys!

General Conference

I think rainy general conferences are the best.

A few thoughts on general conference.

I think Church in pajamas is pretty awesome.
I like how well President Monson understands his crowd.
Cinnamon rolls go really well with conference, who knew?
The best activity before priesthood session is airsoft.
Don't think you can look disheveled at priesthood and not feel weird. I did.
Waking up at 7:30 conference weekend is pretty great.
Ask a question, pray about it, and someone speaking will answer it. Or the Spirit.

More tomorrow.

Jason, my roommate, went to a Melt Banana concert tonight. I was going to post a video, but I'm not sure I want it on my blog. Look them up.

Food Inc

A good documentary informs.

A great documentary changes. 

I watched Food Inc. tonight by the recommendation of a friend, and I highly, HIGHLY, recommend watching it as well. Best part is, it's available on Netflix Instant Watch. Enjoy.

Viral Video

Calling it right now, this goes viral.

Beginning of Fall Term

Here are my four classes for the term and what I think they'll be.

Creative Strategist:

The new, hipper, Intro to Advertising. Which I took this summer. I'm interested to compare the two. 

Writing Design Concepts:

I have absolutely no idea. Is it typography? Or communicating design ideas? 

Marketing:

Finding out what people want to buy, or making people want your stuff.

Media Planning:

How to buy space to put your advertising.

We'll see how this goes.

A Terrible Blog Post

I guess I don't have a lot to say.

I think there is a good recipe for a good blog post.
Somewhere.

But I'm going to make one.

1. Visuals
2. Good Writing
3. Good Content
4. A Personal Opinion.


This blog post has none of the above.

The Last Days of Summer

The weekend before school starts is always a strange one. Excitement is abound for the new year with all its possibilities, and yet, a feeling of dread intrudes, reminding one of homework, tests, projects, and group meetings.

When did school get this way?

I remember being in first grade, and missing a day of school. I was not a happy camper. School was my life, it was recess, it was fun. Now...

I feel like school is no longer my life, but it does take over it. Oh to be a kid again.

Sigh...

Ifttt.com

Go to Ifttt.com, it reminds me of

Sunday Night and...

Game night lives on.

Moves Like

I was in a friends car for 2 hours.

My friend likes top 40 stations.

The radio in my car doesn't work.

So I never listen to top 40 stations.

I have one question for you:

Why is Mick Jagger getting so many shout outs lately?

By Request

It has been said I don't blog enough about my own life.

This is what is happening right now. 

I woke up at 9:15, which is the latest I've been able to sleep in all week. I had no reason to get up early all week, there's just a large window in my room which the sun hits perfectly. Curtains haven't been purchased. That's because we just moved into a new house. 

We had a housewarming party last night where we:

 Created a toxic fire (you shouldn't burn treated wood) 

Played Blokus

 Kicked it outside with the toxic fire

 Got rid of our cat (turns out Mark is allergic to cats, who knew?)  

The guy in the background bought the house.

He's making pancakes right now, and I'm blogging about it.

That's my life Jessi Willes.

New Studio

So, we moved into this new house, where I put together a studio to record Frequent Visitors first real album. I'm like a little kid on Christmas. This is the first track we recorded in the new studio, it's rough, but it's a start. Final versions coming soon. Enjoy.

9/11/2011

I had an interesting experience today.

I flew on the tenth anniversary of 9/11.

This wasn't on purpose, mind you, it was merely coincidence. It did lead to some thoughts though.

#1. The country isn't nearly as religious as it was after 9/11. We tend to turn to God in our hardship, and turn away when we're comfortable. It's a pity, because our lives would be so much better if we just stuck with it.

#2. I'm a tiny bit racist. I realized that after I got on the plane, and noticed the guy across from me was from the middle east. That normally doesn't bother me, but he was acting really nervous. That worried me. Then I realized, what if it was some white guy sweating it out over there? Would I be trying to figure out if he's going to do something? No. I wouldn't. So why should I be concerned about this guy?

Turns out he was just scared of flying, it's amazing what you learn when you talk to people.

#3. Talking to people helps you understand them. It's pretty simple, and it works.

#4. American Airlines planes are not made for tall people.

This guy...

I get more picture texts of this book than any other object.

Downtown Dallas

I spent the day in downtown Dallas. This was the best part of the city.

Ribs

I went through four new states today. Beautiful Colorado, Confusing Kansas (why do people live there?), Folksy Oklahoma, and big ol Texas.

I had Lou's BBQ in Oklahoma City, which had some really great barbecue, but I learned a few things.

1. It doesn't matter how famous a place is, fried bologna is still fried bologna.

2. Fried Okra is really good.

3. The effort to amount of meat ratio with ribs is really high.

In lieu of doing any work on this blogpost tonight, I will reference you to Kathryn's blog. We hung out over the weekend, and her explanation of what went down is always better than mine.

Enjoy it.

Book

So I'm looking for a book.

I just read a Tom Clancy novel.

I just read the autobiography novel of Dick Van Dyke.

And I just tried to read Harry Potter again, but couldn't get into it.

I want a good book that tells a good story that will keep me turning pages.

Preferably also teaching me something...

So a good historical fiction?

Any suggestions?

The Greatest Show On Television

As my friends can attest, I've become addicted to a little show.

This show.

I think it's the funniest show on television, and here's my evidence.

And, here's a hulu clip for more proof, with two of my favorite characters, Jean Ralphio and Ron Swanson.

And.... I just discovered Hulu has web exclusives I've never seen...

Yes. I am that addicted.

Firepod

I bought this.

So our band can sound like this.

Frequent Visitors first real album coming soon.

Game Night

Tonight was the last Sunday night game night at #9.

Mark, Jason, and I have lived in the Rivertowne Apartments for a year. Jason has bought a house, and so we're moving into that.

Memories of Apartment #9 include:

The back to school party and subsequent photo shoot.

 Our band when it was "Who Brought Edgar"

Then Mark joining the band, and we became "Frequent Visitors". 

We play Tetris and Bomberman more than we play music.

And of course, game nights.

Farewell #9, we will miss you.
Don't worry folks, game nights will continue once we move in.

Nerd Word: OS

I like the idea of segments, and so I came up with Nerd Word. I'll throw out a word that a lot of people don't understand, but is dropped a lot when you hang out with nerds. 

Oh, and thanks for hanging out with us. 

The word of the day is "OS". It stands for operating system. I will now explain what an operating system is. Hang with me, it gets a little complex.

If you want to skip to the really basic stuff, skip to the bottom.

So when your computer is off, it's just a pile of circuits, circuit boards, disks, and other assorted hardware. Hardware is the physical part of the computer. 

Below is a picture of hardware.

If you smash your computer with a hammer, you break the hardware. 

When you turn the computer on, an operating system starts. The operating system is a complex program that tells the hardware how to react to different programs. 

Below is a picture of an operating system.

A virus breaks the operating system. 

Because the operating system is not part of the hardware, this means you can delete Windows off your computer, and install Linux, OSX, and other operating systems, on the same computer. The hardware does not determine the operating systems necessarily. 

It's the big mother program that tells all the other little programs how to act.

An example of how an operating system functions:

Tetris for Windows.

You start a program called Tetris. It sends a ton of code to the operating system.

The operating system reads the code it received from the program that looks like this:

if(KeyDown(UP))

{

    RotatePiece(CLOCKWISE);

}

and turns it into this:

1010100101011101010100101001010100110101010101011010110...

(sidenote: the code above is called binary code. It's a code that tells little switches what to do. The one's and zero's just mean on or off. Your computer is made of millions of tiny switches and circuits.)

And these numbers tell the hardware to listen to the keyboard and mouse, and show little colored shapes on the screen. 

Still with me?

So because each operating system speaks a different language, programs are written differently for different operating systems. That's why you can't install a Windows program on a Mac computer. Or vice versa.

What are some examples of operating systems?

Windows (We all know this one.)

OSX (The operating system on Macs, sometimes called Mac OS.)

Linux (Don't worry, this one's for nerds.)

Android (On a lot of cellular phones.)

iOS (The operating system for iPhone, iPad, and iTouch)

Sample sentences:

"Oh man, I liked Windows machines, but I love Mac OS."

Or,

"Seriously, I just need to update my machine's OS."  

Or,

"I prefer Android OS."

So now you know. 

Real Simple Stuff

OS just stands for operating system. 

Examples of an operating system are Windows, OSX, Linux, Android, and iOS.

It just tells the computer how to react to games, browsers, and other programs you run on it. 

You can't install programs for Windows on your Mac, because each operating system has a different language it speaks.

That my friends, is what OS means.

The most wonderful time of the year

Late summer to December 31 is my favorite time of the year. 

It starts out with lazy afternoons with the family, swims in the bathwater lakes, and last ditch efforts to have legendary stories from the summer.

It continues on with those first four weeks of school where you're excited about what you're doing. Academia is never as inspiring as it is in September. With school comes college football. Football, family, friends, and a large pot of home-grown sweet corn is as close to heaven as you can get. 

Around October, the trees turn yellow, brown, and orange, the moon starts getting fuzzy, and the nights get cold. Friends get a little closer, football gets more serious, and days get shorter.

Halloween comes with its costumes, November brings its turkey. The family eats too much, sits on the couch and catches up with each other, while the pumpkin pie waits.

Christmas frenzy turns into Christmas contemplation which turns into good Christian faith. Then you get to New Years, ending the year with a bang. 

And it all starts now.

I Want That Job: NPR Music Guy

I've decided to create a segment for my blog called: I Want That Job. Coming up with this segment was  part me deciding what I want to do with my life, part practice in research and writing, and part a starting point for any blog entry. I'm sure more segments will follow. Anyways, back to I Want That Job. I list a job that I want.

Pretty self-explanatory.

First, watch this video.

Here's the description for what just happened.

...intimate video performances, recorded live at the desk of All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen in the NPR Music office.

This guy, Bob Boilen, convinces the big wigs of the indie scene to sit at his desk, and perform live. Don't believe it happened more than once?

Still don't believe me? (man that guy looked like Johnny Depp...)

So who exactly is this Bob Boilen, and how did he get this super cool job?


I Googled him.

This is taken from NPR's site, and you can find the whole biography here.

Before coming to NPR, Boilen found many ways to share his passion for music. From 1982 to 1986 he worked for Baltimore's Impossible Theater, where he held many posts, including composer, technician, and recording engineer. Boilen became part of music history in 1983 with the Impossible Theater production Whiz Bang, a History of Sound. In it, Boilen became one of the first composers to use audio sampling — in this case, sounds from nature and the industrial revolution. He was interviewed about Whiz Bang by Susan Stamberg on All Things Considered.

In 1988, a determined Bob Boilen started showing up on NPR's doorstep every day, looking for a way to contribute his skills in music and broadcasting to the network. His persistence paid off, and within a few weeks he was hired, on a temporary basis, to work for All Things Considered. Less than a year later, Boilen was directing the show and continued to do so for the next 18 years.

Inspiring stuff.

The lesson to learn from Bob Boilen is to know your field, and be persistent. 

Then you get to sit at the tiny desk where this happens.

Sweet summer nights.

Camp is over, I'm back in eugene, and august might be my new favorite month.

End of camp.

Well, I've had a blast kicking it with my man Tyler here at camp. We rode horses, jetskiid, swam, boated, and sang. This camp is amazing, it's full of all kinds of miracles. Can't wait to come back next year.

Camp Attitude

Google it.

Filler

Another busy day with my little sisters wedding reception.

Here's something to fill the post. 

I apologize for filling my blog posts with stereotypical baby animal youtube videos. 

I don't apologize for the cuteness.

Conspiracy Theory Time

Alright everybody, time to argue over conspiracy theories.

Here's one for you.

Does Big Oil keep electric cars and other alternative fuel sources for transportation down?

Watch this video.

Now read this article.

Now read this one.

I believe these sources to be credible, and so the air car is possible. So what about this article?

Why haven't these cars been brought to light yet? Why haven't we seen these produced? Who would profit from these NOT being produced?

You be the judge.

Insomnia

I've been on some antibiotics lately, and they have wreaked havoc on my stomach, which has resulted in a lack of sleep. Photos like this usually follow. Longer blog posts may also happen.

This summer has been an unusual one for me. I started it out with 4 weeks of intense school, then left almost immediately for Hawaii for my little sisters wedding, then came home, and did nothing. I have kept myself semi-busy with working on my website, writing new music, and watching reruns of Parks and Recreation, but I have yet to really find something to fill my time. 

Usually, I settle into a routine. I am a man of routines, I like things to go according to plan. This summer, that's not going to happen. Sunday, I head to Camp Attitude with my good friend Tyler Young. I'm there for a week, and then I come back. I then have ten days to pack, clean, and move my stuff. Once I get settled in, I take off for Texas with a friend the 5th through the 12th. I then come back and get ready for school. 

I'm not complaining at all, it's been an exciting summer, and I it's just going to continue to be more exciting. It's just interesting to me that I miss having a routine. I think my mind is somewhat bi-polar when it comes to monotony. I love being in a routine, but I hate being in a rut. Where's the middle ground? 

Anyways, it's been an interesting summer, and I can't wait for fall.

Why everything hurt.

Thanks for the care and responses guys.

I'm fine, I had a neck sprain, and the fever and shaking came from a foot injury that I should have taken care of. Just a rugby injury left over from Hawaii.

You guys are the best.

Why everything hurt?

Interesting night last night.

7:00 Started a game of ultimate frisbee.
7:40? Dove for a frisbee, both elbows connected with the ground, heard a sharp click that sounded like it came from the back of my neck.
7:41 Felt dizzy and nauseous.
8:30 Went home and watched The Eagle, people came and watched.
2:30 People left, crawled to bed. Shivered uncontrollably for an hour. Pounding headache.
3:30 Fell asleep.
5:30 Woke up extremely hot, went downstairs and ate cereal. Played guitar with my eyes closed for half an hour.
6:00 Went upstairs, went to sleep.
2:00 Woke up.

What happened? Any medical people have any theories?

Head, shoulders, knees, and toes.

That's everything that hurts right now. Ultimate frisbee is a cruel mistress.

An interesting view.

http://blog.beliefnet.com/projectconversion/2011/07/latter-day-saints-the-conclusion.html

I recommend this blog post. It's a guy who goes and tries to understand different religions by jumping into them for a month. What a great idea. He decides to try Mormonism this month. Read it, love it, share it. 

And... because I feel my blog posts should have more content...

Cat picture.

I know, what a cop-out. 

A lost contest

I lost a blogging contest. 

Captain America Honest Review

In lieu of anything else to write about, (mainly because I'm so busy writing a ukelele song that will be posted soon) I'm going to write about the movie I went and saw tonight, Captain America. Here's my review.

It's a fanboys movie.

If you understand the comic book universe, you'll appreciate all the cameo's and people in the movie. 

If not, you'll appreciate Tommy Lee Jones. That might be about it.

The end.

Cheers

Today was great.

I slept from 2 AM straight until noon, woke up, went to Porky's Palace Barbecue, played frisbee, ran into a teacher from last term and chatted with her (is anyone else still weirded out when they realize their teachers have lives outside of school? Even when they're my age it's still weird), went and saw Kung Fu Panda 2 (way good, go see it), went stargazing with Jason, Kelsi, Sarah, and Kaelyn, had a great conversation about genetics, astronomy, and religion, started writing a ukelele song because of a bet I lost, and went to Walmart at 2:30 in the morning.

Then I drank horchata.

This song was stuck in my head the whole day.

A quick post.

I'm back from Hawaii, it was great.

In other news, I often ask myself if the stuff I thought years ago were funny are still funny.

Yes.

Yes they are.

Sorry and you're welcome.

Sorry about not blogging for a while. I'm paying the full price for it. Here's my token of appreciation for reading. This video might also help make it up to you. This is at my sisters wedding.

Little Sister, New Brother.

Best wedding ever.

Hawaii thus far

Airport
Poly cultural center
President Uchtdorf
Dance practices
Snorkeling
Rugby on the beach
More President Uchtdorf
More dance practice
Dance preparation
Walmart
Dole plantation
Dance practice
Set up for dance
Dance
Sweat
Dance in front of everyone at the dance
Sweat Profusely
Dance
Sleep

That's three days out of eight.
I love Hawaii.

Two things, one's a contest.

1. I'm going to be in Hawaii all next week, so my blog posts will probably just be pictures.

2. No one commented below. So I'm going to try something. We're going to start a lovely conversation below about the poem, and whoever makes the best comment, wins a cheap souvenir from Hawaii. 

Good luck to everyone.

Floating Through Life

I have no pictures from it, but I went rafting today. Then I went to a little cafe called "Heaven on Earth." Also, no pictures. I'm running on fumes. I'm going to bed.

Unfortunately, the guilt of a 5 sentence blog post has kept me up. So here's some wise words.

Once in a golden hour

      I cast to earth a seed.

Up there came a flower,

      The people said, a weed.

To and fro they went

      Thro' my garden bower,

And muttering discontent

      Cursed me and my flower.

Then it grew so tall

      It wore a crown of light,

But thieves from o'er the wall

      Stole the seed by night.

Sow'd it far and wide

      By every town and tower,

Till all the people cried,

      "Splendid is the flower!"

Read my little fable:

      He that runs may read.

Most can raise the flowers now,

      For all have got the seed.

And some are pretty enough,

      And some are poor indeed;

And now again the people

      Call it but a weed.

Thanks Lord Al for that one. Comment what you think it's about below, I'd love to hear from everybody.

Voldemort Hug

I'm finally done with school, and I can start enjoying my summer. The first thing I did? Watch Harry Potter. Voldemort's awkward hug, that's all I'm saying.

A blog is a blog and I feel blah...g.

Well, I have one more day until the end of the term. I feel like this. I'm so tired I posted a picture of a tired cat on my blog, and I don't even care. I just don't care. I understand it's internet credibility image suicide, but I'm doing it anyway. There's the cat. Deal with it.

Bang!

Fantastic game. It's called Bang! Great way to spend a sunday night.

G+

Today, I got an invite to Google Plus (let me know if you want one) and I logged in.

 It was like walking into a brand new public building that hasn't been opened yet, and there is two or three people in there as well, and we're all asking each other what we think about it, and no one has really come to a conclusion they just know it's empty and the architecture looks great and that when the people all come in and there is a party going on in this currently empty building it's going to be the best building on the block with light spilling out onto the streets with people wanting to know "what is going on in that building that was empty?" and they come in to the well-lit room with all it's tables of lavish food, mainly seafood based finger-foods, and they think "this is a lot better than that last party we were at, especially when all the young kids came in and kept strangely asking us to watch their cows for them and we didn't understand and were annoyed", so they decide to stay for the party but they don't invite the people that were there before and they have fun and the brand new public building that is now empty except for two or three people standing and asking one another about it is now full.

Yes, I'm reading Hemingway, why do you ask?

My Birthday

A few quick things.

I am 25 now.

I watched this music video, great song, made me think about life, in a non-emo/I'm a huge fan of summer/wish I was a teenager in the 80's kind of way/I highly recommend it.

And thanks for the reminder Molly.  I'm sorry to hear about your finger.

And thanks everyone for the birthday texts, messages, facebook posts, and phone calls. You're all the best.

All grown up.

Well, my brother Kenny and my sister-in-law Ameeta just had their first child. Ashmi Ameeta Larson was born 33 minutes ago. I'll muse on the importance I feel from being an uncle later, but for now... 

Congratulations Batman, I'm proud of you.

Late nights with the brother in law.

This is my sunday.

Church
Meeting
Choir
Family Dinner
Game Night with siblings and cousins
Last Sappy Sunday
Late night chat with Walker
Late late night McDonalds run, with Walker, (polynesians favorite.)
Late late night chat
Sleep.

Goodnight.

Little band with big dreams.

This is my band, Frequent Visitors. We're huge among young mormon kids between the ages of 18-23 living in Eugene and Corvallis Oregon who know a band member and has listened to us talk about it for months. Thanks everyone for the great show.

Fast Lane

12 credits, 4 weeks, crazy. I have picked up some interesting stuff though. Here's a couple of great videos I've seen this week. 

It's a bit stereotypical, but great advertising nonetheless.

This isn't the whole interview, I think you can watch the entire one on Hulu, but both sides bring up some great points about political economy. This is why you should never trust media. 

That's it for now, more this weekend, I promise.

Oh and Limp Bizkit's new album came out today, according to Google News. Two questions: Why? and why is it on Google News? 

The Oregon Coast

An Ode To The Coast

by Erik Larson

Oh oregon coast

so windy, so cold.

Newport cafe

foul temptress

draws me in 

I regret it every time. 

monster burger regret.

The patty tastes like meatloaf. 

Not in a good way. 

Oh oregon coast

so windy, so cold.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Delicious warm

Delicious cold

Not delicious with sand in it.

Oh oregon coast

so windy, so cold. 

I curse to the wind,

spill my guts to the chaos,

smell the salt 

trip on driftwood.

Oh oregon coast

so windy, so cold.

The End.

It's so deep you can't even fathom it. 

Oh wait Erik, the Ocean or the Poem?

Double entendre. 

Midnight in Paris

Once in a while, I see something so great, I can't describe it. A few vistas I've seen on backpacking trips, an ocean sunset when a storm is coming in, a truly great novel, or a great film. Tonight, I saw a great film. I cannot describe it. Go watch it. You're welcome.

My dream job.

I've been an advertising major for a while now, and I'm still not sure what path I want to take. Do I want to be a grunt doing the graphic design? Do I want to be the decision making art director? Then I see stuff like this, and I think, 'I want to be the guy that gets paid to make this.' Enjoy.

I'm going to call this the first post of summer...

Just because I got stung by a bee. I know that sounds like something that happens to five-year-olds, but it hurt. I've learned 3 things from today's trauma. 

#1. Do not walk around barefoot through clover. It looks great on paper, but clovers in bloom attract a lot of honey bees. 

#2. Do not pull out the stinger with your fingers. There is a little bulb of venom that usually detaches with the stinger, and when you grab it to pull it out, it sends more venom into your middle toe. Or into wherever you got stung. 

#3. When walking barefoot through clover, do not take a picture and say out loud to yourself  "What a great start to the summer." One of the many traits bees have that most people don't know about is that they love causing ironic situations. 

Now don't worry everybody, I'm okay. I don't need a casserole or anything, but thank you for the thought. Oh, and this is the picture. Really, it was about two seconds before I got stung. 

And this video/song always reminds me of summer. 

Summer begins...

Summer 2011 is finally here. What does that mean for me? 4 weeks of intense school, hawaii for my sisters wedding, Camp Attitude with Tyler Young, a road trip to Utah, multiple backpacking trips and... what else? a job? Starting yet another side business? An internship set up for just september? The possibilities are endless. Awesome.

4 days left.

My internship is starting to come to a close. It's been a great opportunity, they offered me a job, but alas, I have miles of hoops to jump through before I can sleep. If you're wondering what I've been doing this whole time, go to www.youtube.com/eiradio. 90% of the videos on there are directed, shot, and edited by me. I promise to keep you all more updated when I get back.

Idaho

Well, I am now in Idaho working on an internship. I am currently working for Riverbend Communications. If you are interested in what I am doing, go to http://www.eiradio.com, click around on the websites. Any film-looking videos on there are mine. Enjoy.

Double Nerd

Two things in the last week have brought me much closer to being a complete nerd.

Number one: I got an Ipad. Got it for the price of a netbook too, (thank you education discount) which I needed to do online homework for the next three months.

Number two: My main use so far of the Ipad has been to watch Star Trek: The Original Series. I've never been a huge fan of Star Trek, but the old shows are so campy that they become awesome. They're like a good Louis Lamour novel.

And that's been my spring break thus far.

University of Oregon Jam Squad

Another piece for school.

Where the internet is going.

Read an interesting article the other day. Note when it was written.

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1969/12/as-we-may-think/3881/1/

Vannevar Bush was a man who had the foresight to realize something needed to be changed. All of us at some time have thought, what’s next? Where is our next technological breakthrough going to come from? Dr. Bush called it. Although he was off in some aspects, such as the personal library being mechanical, he was correct in his premise. The world needed a way to handle its information. 

This article is still read today for many reasons. One primary reason is to understand why we have this technology. Why did our scientific forefathers create the personal computer? It was to help up share knowledge. How are we doing on that? Is Facebook in the realm of sharing knowledge? When Facebook was set up, the premise was to help people who went to college together keep track of their friends lives. Now, business is exchanged using the Facebook messaging threads. People create events for their companies. Companies advertise in every way imaginable on Facebook. In my opinion, Facebook has become a microcosm for what the internet is.

Dr. Bush wanted the internet and computers to be used for good. To be used to share information in the scientific realm, in essence, he wanted a scientific Facebook. Instead of adding friends, you would have colleagues, instead of “liking” something, you would “concur”. Status’s would read “OMG just brk the petaflop barrier! Knew I could do it LOL!” “Dr. Johnson concurs.”

Fortunately and unfortunately, the internet became more than another place to post your scientific knowledge, it became a worldwide forum. Artists can now reach millions where the previous generations could only reach hundreds. American businesses can exchange financial information with their sister companies in China in seconds. People can lose their life savings in a few minutes by giving away their information to the wrong website.

Recently, the internet has broken its desktop prison. It has moved to laptops, tablets, phones, gaming devices, televisions, GPS units, cars, and more. Instead of a lack of information, we have an overload of it. Sorting through countless web pages for the truth becomes more and more intimidating. So where do we go from here?

Aggregation is the next step. Instead of expanding knowledge, we are now seeking ways to condense it. Give us our information in short sentences; we just want the gist of it. Give us our headlines, our blurbs, our RSS feeds, our paragraphs; spare us your essays, your novels, and your papers. Could Dr. Bush have foreseen this? Where the information was plenty, we wanted less? By reading “As We May Think”, we will constantly be wondering: what’s next?

Yup, i'm obsessed.