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My Myspazz page has now been improved with extra zombies! Its best viewed with I.E.7, Firefox or Safari. See the decomposing social networking mindless undead hordes here, and if you have a Myspazz then add me!

Having a Blog seems completely normal, it has become one of my main activities and they are increasingly popular world wide (75m and counting). We have carbon footprints, leave administrative footprints for the government to spy on you with and blogs are the focal point of the digital footprint. Everyone has a virtual presence, many will say ‘it’s sad’ or down the pub pretend not to understand what it all is. A virtual presence starts with email addresses, then various log-ins and accounts with dozens of websites. In my case it progresses to bulletin boards and websites where I become part of an online community – by my mere presence. World of Warcraft and other online games all form part of this virtual life. Having my own webspace and this blog is where I can take control of this footprint.

A common feature of a virtual life, and possibley a danger, is a ‘Troll’. Typically a Troll can be a malign presence in a community, an outsider with an agenda or a rebellious member stirriing it up. If you are reading, and contributing to an online community such as Urban75, you will sometimes find a thread which flies in the face of the common consensus of opinion there, which will subsequently agitate all the readers and result in a multi page argument. Going to a right wing gun nut website and saying ‘Bush is a Cunt’ is beginner Trolling and usually ignored. Recently someone posted a thread on Urban75 whereby he confessed to working as a debt collector. This resulted in a lengthy argument and rant fest, perpetuated by mildly inflammatory comments from the original poster. This was an excellent example of the art of Trolling, not too offensive, but contentious enough to get everyone going.

The word is cropping up in mainstream press at the moment as people discuss O’Rielly’s poncy blogging code of conduct ideas from self appointed Web2.0 Gurus (as soon as I work out what Web2.0 is I will appoint myself a Guru in it). People don‚Äôt realise being a Troll, a good Troll, is not an easy task. It requires preparation, studying and stamina. You will need an ability to ceaselessly argue your point no matter how many people prove it wrong. The world needs Trolls to keep things interesting. Bad Trolls are an irritation I’ll admit, rentless moronic spamming can ruin everything. The idea of ‘enforced civility’ just sounds nauseating¬†- like school rules. The outline O’Rielly has looks unworkable and wimpish. The problem with net geeks that have made pots of money in Silicon valley is their tendency to build ivory towers for themselves. The last time this happened there was a vicious cull, the dot com crash, now the ‘blogosphere’s’ apparent movers are trying to make a nice little self congratulatory bubble for themselves to backslap in. I think the code of conduct is doomed, its like a troll magnet. Nothing can bring greater satisfaction than a load of easy to break rules ready to be flouted by sarcastic bastards with far to much time on thier hands. The websites and blogs are going to get¬†Trolled to death at a rate beyond that of the moderators frantic clicking the delete button. Yet the worst outcome will be no one reading¬†them anymore due to boredom.

I saw this story on reuters and have been thinking about it ever since, I have C&P’d it below:

BEIJING (Reuters) – Scientists in eastern China say they have succeeded in controlling the flight of pigeons with micro electrodes planted in their brains, state media reported on Tuesday.

Scientists at the Robot Engineering Technology Research Center at Shandong University of Science and Technology said their electrodes could command them to fly right or left or up or down, Xinhua news agency said.

“The implants stimulate different areas of the pigeon’s brain according to signals sent by the scientists via computer, and force the bird to comply with their commands,” Xinhua said.

“It’s the first such successful experiment on a pigeon in the world,” Xinhua quoted the centre’s chief scientist, Su Xuecheng, as saying.

Su and his colleagues, who Xinhua said had had similar success with mice in 2005, were improving the devices used in the experiment and hoped that the technology could be put into practical use in future.

The report did not specify what practical uses the scientists saw for the remote-controlled pigeons.