Hey you, stop sharing everything that you hate.

Hello Facebook friends!

Lately, I've noticed that the line between spreading awareness and making-shitty-people-powerful has become a bit...blurry. 

Blurred Lines make me uncomfortable.

To be fair, shitty people have always had a massive audience, but they've largely been confined to YouTube comments and anonymous forums, which makes sharing more difficult. With the recent surge of political posts on Facebook, these content creators have found a new, lucrative, and free advertising channel - the timelines of people who hate them.

If I was more honest with my title, it'd probably say "Hey you, I know you're angry, but stop for a second and reconsider Share-ing that viral video/tweet of someone's morally shaky opinion." 

But why does YOUR Share matter? Well, let me hop on my soapbox real quick.

We live in the Viral Age.

Fig 1.2: A thought lands on the surface of a brain.

It's all fun and games when Gangnam Style goes viral, but in this day and age, going viral is THE way to make sure the world pays attention to you. Given the power to instantly share anything from your newsfeed onto your timeline, you get to decide whether to pass on the content or to quarantine it. Most of the time, we want others to enjoy the same content that we do, so a Share is an easy decision.

So what's the catch? Just like a real virus, if you choose to share any content, you don't get to decide where it goes next or how far it spreads. While we enjoyed the uncontrollable growth of Gangnam Style, it isn't the same when people are intentionally trying to spread malicious, politically-motivated content. Even if you intended to share a video to ridicule it, you don't get to decide who stops to really listen and how they react to it. For all you know, your Facebook friend twice removed is easily persuaded by confident people in suits.

You're more influential than you think.

Fig 1.3: A reverse funnel system.

Now, you may think that uncontrollable growth means nothing when you get 3 Likes and no Shares for every post you make. While I don't have any hard numbers to back up this next claim, I get the feeling that we all watch and read posts without leaving any trace of interaction. In 2013, Facebook reported that an average user has 338 Facebook friends, and not too long after that, we had access to Facebook's friend rankings (doesn't work anymore). Among my top ranking friends, I noticed that about the top 5 were people that I talked to on a daily basis, but the top 15 or so regularly showed up on my newsfeed.

If you've done any multi-level marketing math before, you'll know that it doesn't take many people to start a chain reaction of Likes and Shares. You don't even need to actively Share a post to spread it; simply reacting to the post or making a comment will expose the content to your friends.

Your clicks and shares are basically a bunch of tiny votes.

Look what your careless hands have wrought.

I like that we're getting used to the idea of voting with our wallets, and the next step is to take online interaction into account. If you dislike our electoral college process or if you don't have any money in your wallet to vote with, then try the other kind of democracy - the internet. On the internet, every view, click, comment, or share is just as valuable as money. We're only limited by the amount of time we have to spend on these websites.

On one hand, it's comforting to know that you're just a statistic on a news outlet's spreadsheet (just kidding, big data is scary as hell, but that's another blog post). On the other hand, news outlets don't care whether or not you liked the post you shared. Simply clicking "Share" means that you've cast a vote saying "yes, this type of content will cause me to drive more traffic to your website."

We're not stupid, but our brains are.

What the fuck, brain.

Finally, to make our decision-making as hard as possible, our brains are chock full of biases that actively prevent us from processing the information that's presented (not that we have the time to digest everything on our newsfeed). 

The first time you show me a Trump tweet, I'm double-checking that it exists on Twitter. The second time you show me a Trump tweet, I'm fact-checking his accusations. The fiftieth time you show me a Trump tweet, I'm just angry because the 140 characters confirm how I already feel about him. The content and legitimacy stops mattering because we all need to take shortcuts to get through a day's worth of information.

It's slightly annoying to see the same shitty behavior from our president day in and day out, but that's not why angry shares are counterproductive. From my perspective, Trump's tweets may confirm how I already feel about him, but confirmation bias works from all perspectives. Perhaps the link that I share confirms someone else's feelings about how scummy the media outlet is, or that people with certain party affiliations will believe *anything*.

So...now what?

For what it's worth, sharing ideas is still generally awesome despite all the pitfalls. We did really well with Kony 2012 (or did we?), the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, and many other causes in between. It's only when we start compulsively following the trail of breadcrumbs that are designed to make us angry that we relinquish control of our votes. Stay vigilant, be in touch with yourself, and find out where that blurred line is drawn for you.

In the long run, we are all dead, but for now, stop smugly advising me to cash out my Bitcoins.

As of 6PM today, 1 Bitcoin can be sold in the U.S for $725.

Yes, I am happy about that. But even if Bitcoin had lost all of its value today, I would personally still be putting my money into cryptocurrencies. Cashing out because Bitcoin is going to "crash eventually, it's just a matter of when" is just as ridiculous as putting all of your savings into Bitcoin.

These days, Bitcoin is mainstream enough for every other person to have some sort of opinion on it. People who ridicule Bitcoin claim that the coins have no intrinsic value, are too volatile, and laugh as more people turn their cash money into an ever-deflating virtual currency. It's a Ponzi scheme, a bubble, an engine for money laundering, and any time the price of Bitcoin rises is a good time to cash it out.

On the equally-insane other side of the spectrum, Bitcoin promises freedom from government regulations and a completely free worldwide market. The NSA can't get us if they can't trace our online payments. Satoshi will turn us all into millionaires one day, so buy a few Bitcoins and leave it in a fireproof safe. Your grandchildren will thank you for it.

This graph shows my level of rage over time. 

Somewhere in the middle, Bitcoin is a completely valid technology to invest in. Pennies, nickels, and dimes are already archaic. Ideally, we'd have a network that allows us to instantly transfer purchasing power from one person to another without incurring massive fees. In the age of digitization, why are we so uneasy about the gradual digitization of currency?

At the moment, Bitcoin transactions are still slow and carry a reasonable amount of risk. Bitcoin can be incredibly complicated, and even scary, to use without understanding the technical aspects of the transactions. Bitcoin needed the help of developers and consumer in order to grow, and thanks to its newfound popularity, it now provides a huge incentive for creative minds around the world to be the first to solve its problems. Whether it's Wall Street brokers looking to make a quick buck or small businesses embracing the long term potential of cryptocurrency, any new adopter is a good adopter.

Except for this guy. This guy is an idiot.

But what if Bitcoin crashes? If someone ends up figuring out a way to tag and trace Bitcoins without permission, then we might have a problem. But most people are worried that Bitcoin might end up being the Napster or MySpace of digital currency, which isn't as bad as it sounds. Napster and MySpace made huge strides in their respective markets, and Bitcoin can do the same. If a new cryptocurrency enters the market and replaces Bitcoin, it will no doubt allow current Bitcoin users to exchange their BTC for the new currency.

I'm excited about Bitcoin, but mostly, I'm just excited about the future. Between wearable technology, free fiber optic internet, and self-driving cars, I think Bitcoin is just another step in the digital revolution. It has its hitches and inconsistencies, but what's holding it back the most is the uninformed rejection of the idea of digital currency.

Also, unsolicited financial advice is usually not well-received anyways.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Meta

Rock. It's my favorite sign to throw because I don't have to budge a finger. I think I'll throw Rock most of the time. It's an easy 50-50 win-loss ratio anyways.

Paper. Shit, it looks like my friends caught on to my Rock-only strategy. They're throwing Paper most of the time now. This isn't looking good.

Scissors. Well if I just switch to Scissors for five rounds in a row, I can beat their Paper strategy. They'll never see it coming.

Rock. OH NOW YOU ENJOY THROWING ROCK? I THREW ROCK BEFORE IT WAS COOL.

Not sure why I Google Image'd an RPS diagram. Also not sure why one exists.

5 Gaming Techniques That Are Actually Absurd

1. Snaking

We used to do this all day in high school. Join the cool kids revolution.

In Mario Kart DS (and Mario Kart Wii), the fastest way to get around a track is to exploit the speed boosts that you get when you drift. By constantly alternating left and right drifts, you would move forward in a zigzag at a faster pace than you would without the boosts. It's called snaking because you move like an extremely fast snake, but at the same time, YOU'RE DRIVING LIKE A SNAKE. If I were Mario, I'd outlaw snaking and make sure that you lose your MarioKart driving license if you're ever caught boosting your kart on the road.

The Chronicle of a Very Bad Idea

The single purpose of this blog post is to complete a set of events. Bear with me here.

This blog started off as a simple motivational tool. Yunsuk wanted to start drawing again and I wanted to start writing again, so we matched each other's progress one-for-one. At this point, I'm falling behind, and it's entirely my fault.

Painting a Picture of My Perfect Support

Last night was one of those nights. Everyone was gathered on Mumble making small talk when Yunsuk interrupts the conversation by asking Michael to "paint a picture of his perfect woman." It was boy talk night again, so I put on my favorite ambient music, listened, and made loose tangents in my head.

 Loose tangents... Loose... Loo...Lulu! Credits to Poki-grzyb on Deviantart.

Top 5 Groupon, LivingSocial, and Google Offers Deals

Deal-of-the-day websites are the essence of my existence as a broke college kid. Groupon, LivingSocial, and Google Offers have provided me with hangout and date ideas that would have otherwise cost twice as much. These days, it may be difficult to find something exciting in between all of the Botox and wine tasting deals, but every so often, one of these fun deals will reappear for one more day.

5. Snow Tubing
Found on: Living Social Adventures
Price: ~$70

She makes snow tubing look safe.

For those of you who've watched Avatar: the Last Airbender, snow tubing is the closest you'll get to penguin sledding. Instead of sitting on a hard sled, you have the option of belly flopping onto a soft tube and going headfirst down a snowy track. Racing isn't encouraged, but there's nothing stopping you from gunning down the slope at the same time as your friends. To top it all off, the deal came with a cozy little buffet at a nearby tavern. If you're inept at skiing and snowboarding, snow tubing is the way to go.