The New Off Topic Thread 5. This isn't your parent's off topic thread!

Ice

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I'm already in line.
 
So if anyone hasn't heard yet:
poy_cover_z_1215.jpg


TIME's also started to get some flack for choosing Zuckerberg over Julian Assange. I'm easily in favour of their decision. Assange may have made a big splash this month, but I think his story has only just started to unfold. He could well end up being 2011's Person Of The Year, and I don't see all the ire over him only being a runner-up for 2010. Thoughts?

The article's also really good.
 
I'm confused, how is the founder of Facebook a person of the year? The first time I heard of him was cause of the movie, and that hardly makes someone person of the year.

Why isn't Project person of the year yet?
 
I'm confused, how is the founder of Facebook a person of the year? The first time I heard of him was cause of the movie, and that hardly makes someone person of the year.

Because of the sheer level at which Facebook has permeated and altered society and social connections. It's kind of hard to explain how immersive it is to people who don't use it, but the way I always think about its impact is this: The feeling of realizing you've lost touch with a friend? How they could be anywhere and anyone after all these years and you'll probably never know? You know how affecting, and universal, that feeling is?

Every generation after this one might not.

Stack that with all the other things it's become indispensible for(sharing photos, planning parties and events, discovering the obscure interests you have in common with friends and probably wouldn't have realized otherwise, even stuff like bridging the gap between celebrities and fans to an extent no one would've thought possible until now, although Twitter's probably taken over as #1 in that last one) and the sheer numbers involved at this point(a twelfth of all humanity uses it, including the US President and the Queen of England, and the percentage is growing. If it were a country it would be the world's third largest. In a predicted year or two, more people will have a page than will be hungry-via-poverty), I think it's pretty cut and dried how notable it's become.

I probably couldn't have told you Zuckerberg's name until about a year ago, but most people probably couldn't name Gutenberg either, even people who'd agree he was the most important person of the last thousand years once you told them. Same with Bell or Borlaug or Tesla. Influence doesn't always equal fame.
 
I honestly don't see how something that makes it easier for people to stay in contact with lost friends as something that deserves to be recognized as much as it has.

But that's me.
 
That angle is one that stands out to me in particular, but it's only a fraction of the overall experience. Anyway though, in terms of the Person of the Year thing, Time is just reacting to how widely his invention is used, not whether it should be.
 
Mark Zuckerberg looks like an alien.

Houde needs to take a digital media class. Then he will understand.

He is right about me being person of the year though.
 
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ProjectX2 said:
Houde needs to take a digital media class. Then he will understand.

House is more out of touch than my grandma, and she doesn't even own a computer.
 
At the moment in New York, we're experiencing a rare meteorological event.

That's right. THUNDERSNOW, b*****s. Jealous?
 
A Lady Gaga-and-Jersey Shore-obsessed Facebook Friend of mine posted earlier today that her 2011 mission is to lost 30kg(66.5 lbs) by March 1st. She's about 5' tall with a completely average figure. It's been pretty amusing to see loads of people commenting asking if she's crazy, begging her not to go through with it, etc while she keeps replying that it's not that big a deal, she's battling her metabolism, etc. Worse still are the "supportive" friends who just say stuff like "Don't be drastic now. Good luck if you Wana lose some weight. Happy new yeAr". That large a weight loss legitimately seems like it would cause her to die, let alone in under two months. Strangest of all, her profile pic is her eating a giant burger. Wonder where this is gonna go.
 

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