Snapchat creeps me out!

When I sat down to write this, I was going to examine how stupid my classmates look when they take selfies, most likely with Snapchat.  However my plan of action drastically changed when I looked up a little more info about this app "everyone" is using.

 

I had previously thought that people had sent pictures on Snapchat sort of like an IM system that exclusively focused on pictures.  However, when I went on Wikipedia (it's good enough for laymen, not scholars), I found out that the reason why I see everyone tapping and holding their new messages.  It's because that you can only read Snapchat messages when tapping and holding them.  Even *better* is the fact that once you open your new message, you only have 1-10 seconds to see it.  Then, it is "deleted."  (Actually, the software doesn't provide a way for users to ordinarily view past messages.  The exception is with tinkering with the code of the app or using an app emulator.)

 

Ok... Maybe I've been "living under a rock," so to say, since I don't have a smartphone.  Regardless of that, I still think that this self-deleting messaging service sounds like something out of a spy movie.

 

When I told my curious mom what I was writing about, she noted how the service would be excellent for terrorists to use, since the messages delete themselves in Snapchat.  (Apparently, my mom likes to point out security issues in technology that permits extremely communication.)  I pointed out to my mom that Snapchat servers (technically... yes, it's all very technical) save users' past 200 messages.  Despite this, I thought it would be harder for the federal government to investigate servers that really aren't dedicated to saving information, such as those for Facebook and Twitter.

 

So I'm pretty much scared about this app.  Well, this isn't one of those "WARNING" chain mails fallacies but I have my misgivings about this app.  Because the last memorable thing I remember about Snapchat before today is that some teen girl talking about how some weird guys she didn't know kept sending her their pictures.  If you asked me, those guys were probably sexual predators.

The iPhone 5S craze is... stupid.

So around the time after the iPhone 5S came out, this video popped up on the YouTube homepage.  (I've written quite a lot about homepage YouTube Videos, huh?)

 

There were huge lines in front of every Apple store, as seen in the video.  At one point in the video, the YouTube channel creator asks an interviewee something like, "Why wait in line for the next iPhone?"  The interviewee responds, "I guess you have to be insane to do so."

There was also this woman sleeping in a (closed) plastic bag.  She had been in it for so long that steam was forming on the inside of the bag.  I just can't believe how people can do such stupid for one single product.  I mean, if you strip away the iPhone 5S's name and reputation away, all you have is a fancy piece of glass and metal (plastic if it's the iPhone 5C - I haven't overlooked that).

...And you might have seen this line coming, but it has to be said:
I can't believe how materialistic people, especially in America, have become now.

I'm not impressed with fraternities at all

In July, I saw this video pop up onto the popular videos feed on the main YouTube page.

 I was really interested at why a video like this was even considered to be "trendy" enough to appear on the YouTube homepage as a trending video.  All I saw in that video was just a bunch of (white) people partying with discarded cups all around them while the floor was wet from something... (Either it had rained prior to the video's recording or the partiers had spilled a lot of alcohol.)

The video got me thinking... For some reason, I've always been afraid of college.  If you knew me personally, this fear might seem unfounded for I would be called a "diligent student" by my teachers and peers.  The fears stem from not the academic rigors of university education but social interactions.  It mostly involves fitting in.

For me, there are three stereotypes that are always fixed unto college students in the media, whether it is a sensualized Hollywood movie to adults talking about how "the whole world's going down the drain these days."  Those three things are namely:
1)  Partying.  Particularly partying extremely hard.  Extra points for frat/soro exclusive parties.
2)  Being hipsters.  This mostly stems from the extreme arrogance and self-imagined nonconformity as a by-product from studying subjects and topics that at least 50% of the world's population would never even dream of thinking about.
3)  Forever in debt.  I guarantee that 90% of all college textbooks, if bought brand new in plastic wrap, cost over $500.  Let alone all the crazy fees for college tuition and housing.  (You can only imagine all the electronic devices and other things you could get if it were not for college.)

The stereotype that is relevant to this post is about partying, particularly fraternities and sororities.

I am not afraid to say that I have never truly felt like I've ever fit in with almost any group of people at my age.  They almost always seem to be too concerned with who said what and it's even worse today with people almost always checking their smartphones for notifications from Facebook, Instagram, and every single mobile app that exists in the app markets.  (I hope I do not sound too much like an old geezer ranting.)

Fraternities and sororities only make me feel worse about myself.  I am already extremely nonconformant (in a creative way and fortunately not in a vapid way as of the hipsters) and I would never do anything stupid and foolish in order to gain the ultimately trivial acceptance of a group of trivial human beings.

Well, I got a bunch of facetious definitions of what a fraternity is from Urban Dictionary.
(Here: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fraternity&defid=1545131)
(... And here: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fraternity&defid=6241540)

I also got some advice about how fraternities essentially don't matter to every person.  (Here it is: http://www.youniversitytv.com/news-general/5573-should-i-join-a-college-fraternity)

I also found an ABC story about countering hazing in fraternities.  It seems kind of contradictory to me because it seems that fraternities and hazing go hand in hand.  I know that fraternities may not be all like National Lampoon's Animal House but at the same time college partying is not a myth.  (The story's here: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/fraternity-group-lobbies-hazing-reform/story?id=19766121)

Also, I found out that all the twitter handles that were displayed at the end of the video do exist.  (And they all seem to have a likeness of the people who would actually put up a video like that.)
_____

Perhaps I shouldn't care so much about a pretentious group of people who don't really matter to me or my life goals...

Candy Crush: Just a Bejewled Ripoff

I'm very sorry that I haven't been uploading anything regularly for the past two months but I have to take care of important things.

Other than that, I have an urgent topic that needs to be addressed immediately (Yes, this topic is even more important than the other 4 posts that are currently in draft mode):

Candy Crush is lame.

If you are a part of active society, you should know what game I'm talking about. (If not, you can see the 1st level of the game for yourself [here].  You can also download it on the App Store and Google Play - but this is not an ad, so, let's get back on topic.)

You might be reading this post with an agape mouth right now - and have an Amazon River of hate running though your head right now, all directed at me. (That is, if you're just a banal hipster.)

I say this because I asked someone how to explain it about last week, since its popularity has exploded all over my school.  One of my classmates has even made two Facebook accounts to play this game.

The explanation was simple.

"Do you know Bejeweled?"

"Yeah."

"Well, it's like that but with candy."  (Hence the name Candy Crush.)

I am certain that Bejeweled has been out for about 5 years now.  Also I am sure that Bejeweled must have had some success, despite not being a mainstream smash hit.  So just imagine replacing Bejeweled with candy and...  Well, to me that would be lame and a ripoff.  I have the Bejeweled demo on my feature phone and I pretty much know the gist of that game - which is nothing to hype about.

To see what all this hype was about, I played the first level.  I'll admit that it's kind of cool to get an ultra candy when you put 4/5 pieces of candy in a row or a square L (3 down and 2 to the left/right of the top/bottom end of the 3 in a row).  That's something that I thought would deserve more points than just 10 extra points for every jewel in a row or for the square L.  However, I realized that the game itself purposely makes it difficult for players to make those arrangements - unlike Bejeweled.

I did like the Venetian background music.  It's a cheesy ripoff of Bejeweled.  I mean, who wants to arrange pieces of candy into 3 or more in a row in real life?  Then again, how would even be rich enough to have that many jewels to play around with in Bejeweled?