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By MITCH TRAPHAGEN
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 You’d think that, given the general state of the economy and the near double digit unemployment rate people would be more reserved in admitting that they hate their jobs. It’s not like the economy is going to make a bad job better, so obviously people with bad jobs will still hate them but you’d think they wouldn’t want to broadcast it to the entire planet.
Yet hundreds of people do. Youropenbook.org is a web site that pulls Facebook updates from people who have not set their privacy levels to…well, private. As a result, what they type as a status update is instantly available for the entire world to see. Including, one would imagine, their bosses.
Steven writes: “I tell ya I hate my boss dude thinks he knows it all but I kno it all so stop it slime.”
That ought to earn some bonus points at review time.
Danielle in Colorado at least has an excuse: “Is Wondering how my job became my life... That’s sad considering I work in fast food.. Ugh I hate my job.”
And Michelle in Louisiana has some depth to her complaints: “i hate my job today. the government is putting all of these people out of their houses, & they dont understand its not me, & im powerless to do anything about it. obama promised change & now he’s delivering it, in the form of kickind (sic) all these old people out. the sad part is, no one even cares.”
Using Youropenbook.org, you can find out more than you would ever want to know about your fellow inhabitants of this planet.
Kelly is getting a divorce and is happy about it. Kenton is not only getting a divorce but will cease “pastoring.” He doesn’t seem broken up about either. Dawn is tired of catching her husband cheating on her and is drowning her sorrows in a quart-sized bottle of beer. Gemma has big plans for some drunk, topless sunbathing.
The end result is more sad than satisfactory. While there are hundreds of people that post about getting a new job or having a baby or other happy events, it is the illicit stuff that is disturbing. Not so much what people are doing, but that they are telling the world about it. What goes on the Internet stays on the Internet. I’m not certain that Rob really wants the entire world to know that he finally lost his virginity the other night. Or, judging by his facebook photo, maybe he does.
Youropenbook.org allows people to search on Facebook status updates from people who have left their privacy settings wide open. More than a few of those people really need to change their settings from “Everyone” to “Just Friends.” It is an interesting web site from an academic standpoint — but it’s not a place I would really want to spend long periods of time. The results give one the impression that the entire world is a freak show. Call me naive, but I prefer not to believe that. And part of maintaining my naivete is NOT knowing that Jamie has decided to come out of the closet (not that I have a problem with that). Also, it is not necessarily a place where you would want your young children to hang out. Give them a chance to have some fun before they become frightened and cynical.
On the other side of that spectrum — and to prove the world is not a giant freak show — there is a very cool project from the photographers at The New York Times called, appropriately enough, “Moment in Time.” On Sunday, May 2, at exactly 11 a.m. Eastern Time, photographers from around the world snapped photos and sent them to the nation’s most venerable newspaper. More than 13,000 photos have captured that single moment in humanity. The Times photo editors remarked on how they were struck by the peace and tranquility that was captured in the world. In that moment of time there are children, cats, dogs, flowers, and simply life in general. It is an amazing compilation of life’s everyday beauty and mundane splendor.
A “Moment in Time” is found at The New York Times photo blog entitled Lens. The photos are sorted geographically in stacks on a globe. Florida is encompassed into two stacks: one directly over the state itself and the other over the Gulf of Mexico. Most of the Tampa Bay photos are in the latter. You can also search by photographer name (useful if you want to find your own photo).
Unlike Youropenbook, this is a web site in which you could happily wile away several hours. I highly recommend a visit. The Lens blog is at lens.blogs.nytimes.com.
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