You're in charge, not your phone: don't be controlled by apps, notifications
(10/20/16 9:49pm)
Ready for a challenge? Make your smartphone a “dumb phone.”
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This year’s top Halloween costumes
(10/20/16 12:00am)
This Halloween, adults will most likely be seen wearing red sweaters, political masks and gorilla costumes, though not necessarily all at the same time.
Hurricane Matthew: discerning between fearmongering and facts
(10/10/16 9:37pm)
A few weeks ago, I wrote about the slew of parties and bad decisions that came about in response to Hurricane Hermine. Sure, some people stocked up on bottled water and bread in anticipation of the Category-1 storm, but the majority of us celebrated our day off with some choice beverages and friends. After all, it had been a while since the last hurricane made landfall in Florida and eons since one had caused any long-lasting damage. With Hurricane Matthew, all of that changed.
Seeking a friend in the digital world
(10/06/16 12:00am)
I’m going to come out and admit something I usually only share with close friends: I role-play online. Now before you start thinking I spend time on Neopets forums, let me briefly explain the type of role-playing I do. I role-play through Tumblr. Each character I play has a different blog, and I’m part of a larger group in which each person has a handful of characters with their own blogs. When it comes to actually role-playing, it goes like this: I write a scene through my character’s perspective, then whoever I am role-playing with writes the same scene through their character’s point of view and advances it. This keeps on going until the thread finishes.
Privacy on the internet and you
(10/04/16 12:00am)
Fads come and go. In 2016, some of the best moments can be had sitting on the Plaza of the Americas, watching people as they stroll all the way from Anderson Hall to Turlington Plaza, selfie stick in hand, to document this fascinating migration. Fitbits must always be on, because how else would people keep track of how many calories they burned playing “Pokemon Go”? Why not let everyone know what you just did by sending them a Snapchat with that puppy-dog face?
Local clown frustrated after creepy clowns spotted in Gainesville
(09/30/16 12:55am)
When Rusty the Clown heard about the latest “creepy clown” sighting, this time in Gainesville, he was uncharacteristically unamused.
Where to celebrate Oktoberfest in GNV this month
(09/29/16 12:00am)
Fall is officially upon us in Gainesville. Although that doesn’t mean much in terms of changes in weather, it does mean that one of the largest drinking festivals in the world is here: Oktoberfest. We may be far from Munich, but there’s plenty of places in Gainesville that are throwing their own celebrations for this weeks-long holiday. If you’re looking for something to do in the coming weekends to celebrate, check out these three spots that are throwing their own Oktoberfest events.
Stamp your passport, but check your American privilege when you do
(09/27/16 10:03pm)
The best thing about studying abroad in China was the food. I ate everything my stomach could fit — and then some. I ate a different kind of ice cream almost every day, and each one cost less than a dollar. Trying street food became a hobby. While I often went to different cafes to study at night, one thing they all had in common was their low prices. I could knock back three cappuccinos topped with cute foam art for the price of a single grande pumpkin spice latte.
Comedy and world-building: ‘Homestar Runner’
(09/26/16 11:56pm)
The internet has done weird things for comedy. Good things, but certainly weird things. Video-sharing websites like YouTube, Newgrounds and Vine have paved the way for all sorts of art: mediums like sketches, animations and music. The internet digitized the formerly newspaper-dominated comic strip with works like “Penny Arcade” and “xkcd.” And beyond this, the eldritch phenomenon that is memes has introduced audiences to meta-humor and explored the darker side of the human psyche. Memes are spooky stuff.
It’s not about who matters more; it’s about who matters now
(09/26/16 12:00am)
#BlackLivesMatter. #BlueLivesMatter. #AllLivesMatter.
The internet of North Korea
(09/22/16 12:00am)
The internet is a wonderful thing. On Monday, it blessed us with a strange yet immensely fascinating look into a previously mysterious corner of itself: North Korea’s internet. By some accounts, it’s hard to believe North Korea even has internet. But this past weekend, the doors were accidentally opened to North Korea’s websites — all 28 of them. For the citizens of the closed-off, dictator-led poverty-stricken nation, that basically is their internet.
Lessons from ‘Star Wars’ on loneliness and escapism
(09/19/16 8:45pm)
As I said last week, I will be exploring in the next few columns the effects of modern technology with our postmodern society, for good and for ill. Last week I discussed how smartphones and social media are often used as means to escape our deeper insecurities. This week I will still be discussing this theme of escaping, but in a different way. And I will be addressing not just social media, but technology as a whole: video games, the internet, binge watching on Netflix or Hulu, etc.
Cheney-s of love: Finding the wrong election role model
(09/18/16 11:33pm)
We all have role models. Well, all of us except for J. Cole. In his song “No Role Modelz,” Cole points out that in this day and age, no role models exist for us to look up to anymore. The desire to live a humble lifestyle has since been replaced with the obnoxious, tacky and entirely superficial placeholders. Young people used to look up to athletes who didn’t use performance-enhancing drugs, politicians who made compromises to reach success for the betterment of this country and celebrities who engaged in philanthropic causes — not celebrities who get “Made in China” breast implants (read: a Kardashian) or “Made in Thailand” lip injections (read: a Kardashian).
Hip-hop artist spotlight: 24hrs
(09/15/16 12:03am)
When it comes to hip-hop and its evolution, Soulja Boy is arguably one of the most influential artists of all time; he was one of the first artists to succeed in the internet age. Using MySpace during its prime, Soulja Boy showed how it’s possible to use social media to get your music heard.
Gainesville woman raises money to visit dying mother
(09/13/16 11:35pm)
To see her mother for what may be the last time, a Gainesville woman has turned to the internet to help fund a trip to New York.
Twitter: Where “Ghostbusters” trolls, Milo Yiannopoulos and free speech collide
(09/08/16 9:38pm)
By the time you read this, it will have been more than a month since Twitter took action in what could be a fatal turning point in this social-media giant’s life. On July 19, in the middle of the hot, sweaty media mess that was the Republican National Convention, Twitter took action against the outspoken conservative journalist Milo Yiannopoulos. What resulted was yet another bloody clash of views on free speech along party lines.
‘It’s nonstop:’ Behind the Basketball Cop spotlight
(09/01/16 10:24pm)
Bags have begun to form underneath Officer Bobby White’s eyes.
The right to sit during the national anthem doesn't mean you should
(08/31/16 10:21pm)
America is experiencing racial tension. It’s no secret.
Column: Saying goodbye to Gawker and mainstream anarchist journalism
(08/29/16 10:31pm)
For the last week, the scandal that plagued Gawker.com has remained silent, its front page littered with parting words from editors and writers alike. Their headlines include, “How Guilty Should I Feel?” “Gawker Was Murdered by Gaslight,” and “What Was Gawker?” These final articles read like obituaries, mourning the impending shutdown of a site that, according to Gawker.com writer Hamilton Nolan, was, “anarchist journalism at it’s finest.”
Looking to gauge news habits, county surveys residents
(08/25/16 12:25am)
A new survey says Alachua County residents turn to Facebook more than any other platform when it comes to news.
