“Most of us believe we’re acting safely on our bicycles, even if we break a little rule every now & then. But it only takes one bad call to cause a terrible mistake one that you may never recover from. We shot our PSA using LEGO bricks as a way to appeal to a wide audience of children, teens, parents, and retro-loving 20- and 30-somethings, and to teach a serious lesson in a lighthearted (yet hopefully memorable) way.” –Sean Kenney

He has lost the ability to smell the air, enjoy the sun, eat a perfectly cooked steak, or see the beauty in life. To him, the world is death, and terror is the answer. He hates the country in which he was born. He doesn’t care what the people around him feel like, or how he makes them feel. But worst of all, he simply cannot smell fresh air. Somehow, to him, wherever he goes, he smells pollution.

Dreaming about coffee in Italia, chocolate in Switzerland, hookers in Amsterdam, a perfectly toasted baguette in France… Once a shiny possibility, now seem like a distant wish. This man can’t smell that clean, fresh, beautiful air, feel that wind and enjoy the Earth’s warm glow. To him, his mind is cloudy, filled with storms, rain, depression and motives that drive everyone and everything in his life around a pivot of the truth that hasn’t been shared, uncovered, resolved or addressed in years. In other words, there is a shining nugget of truth at the core of his existence being denied. Everything surrounding this piece of information is a mask for Andre, an outlet where he can avoid facing the the underlying issues head on.

Rather than address these fears and rapidly multiplying insecurities, this man lashes out on people around him the only way he knows how, with personal attacks. He criticizes society, makes fun of stability, jokes at the concept of relationships, mocks being employed, plays games with people’s emotions, and remains rather ungrateful for the financial benefits, that “conforming to society” have made it possible for him to enjoy. Who would want to see this person, and why would anybody give him anything for free you may be asking? Well, the sheer joy of being around him is enough for some people. Every once in a while, this man breaks loose from his demonic shadows and catches a small, brief whiff of that cool, fresh air. The kind that makes you stop in your tracks, take a deep breath and ask everyone around you… “Ahhhhhhhh…. Do you smell that fresh air?”

Now, you may be wondering why I am even calling this person a “man” right? Well, he is sick. Very, very sick. He needs help. We all have similar demons as this man, only he does not win his daily battles with them. To this man, there is no voice saying “Be responsible… You can do this… You are a man…” – To him, the voices say “You are a failure…. a loser…. a little boy…” – Somehow, the most amazing little joys in life are simply non-existent. Replaced by existential battles and philosophical tirades that could posses people to do harm to themselves, and those around them.

As I write this, I can think of a million things that torcher my mind, wreak havoc on my brain, and try to bring me down. Is it any surprise by now that our mind is not our friend. It has been scientifically proven, and it is upon us to combat these thoughts with positivity. It’s our job to hammer these thoughts out of our brain and replace them with thoughts of substance. Things that can help us, further our lives and shed a new perspective on the way we will approach them next time. This… Is what we call life. This…. Is what we call living in the present… being able to persevere. This… Is not what we call conforming. It’s what is called being intelligent, wise, intuitive, confident, proud, happy, diverse, knowledgeable.

In a world of natural evolution, the sick will not stay around. Unless they get help, they will disappear. It is our job to help them. Help them understand how they need help, and make sure they get the help they need.

Now, when people find out that I don’t have a facebook account, they often times react with “wow” and “huh?” Sometimes I’ll get a chuckle and a “well, that’s just weird,” but for the most part I let it slide without feeling the need to explain my thoughts.

Aside from Facebook.com being a corporation that when squinting at looks like a small Microsoft replica, the entire thought that under no circumstance do I own my own content makes me cringe. I am not sure most people understand, but EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF CONTENT that you put on Facebook… They own. Every photo, every tag, every image, every word, every comment, every link, every click, every shared anything, every poke, every single thing. But you can just delete your account right? NO! Even when you delete your account… YES! EVEN WHEN YOU DELETE YOUR ACCOUNT !!! They own your content forever. This is makes me far too uncomfortable.

These are personal photos, letters, discussions, comments, that Facebook owns. These are people and system administrators working on the application itself that can, and most likely do browse your information unsolicited. Humans by nature will do things they are not supposed to do. If you put a big fat “don’t click” this in front of someone, they most likely will. And out of those 150+ people working at Facebook, you can be sure at least a few of them have illegally browsed some photos, comments and discussions. The only thing is, in a way… It’s not illegal. As the Consumerist intelligently points out, Facebook’s new Terms of Service agreement ever so slightly states that “even when you delete your account, they still own your content… forever.”

Here is the new Terms of Service agreement: As you can see it looks fine, but there are two important sentences missing from the end of this agreement.

You hereby grant Facebook an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to (a) use, copy, publish, stream, store, retain, publicly perform or display, transmit, scan, reformat, modify, edit, frame, translate, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and distribute (through multiple tiers), any User Content you (i) Post on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof subject only to your privacy settings or (ii) enable a user to Post, including by offering a Share Link on your website and (b) to use your name, likeness and image for any purpose, including commercial or advertising, each of (a) and (b) on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof.

And here are the two lines from the end of that paragraph, which happen to be missing now: As expected, they directly explain that you could at one time remove your content… Now, you cannot… Ever.

You may remove your User Content from the Site at any time. If you choose to remove your User Content, the license granted above will automatically expire, however you acknowledge that the Company may retain archived copies of your User Content.

And, just for good measure, the agreement explicitly states what remains their property… forever.

The following sections will survive any termination of your use of the Facebook Service: Prohibited Conduct, User Content, Your Privacy Practices, Gift Credits, Ownership; Proprietary Rights, Licenses, Submissions, User Disputes; Complaints, Indemnity, General Disclaimers, Limitation on Liability, Termination and Changes to the Facebook Service, Arbitration, Governing Law; Venue and Jurisdiction and Other.

I have accounts with Twitter, Vimeo, and of course Gmail. I have my contacts inside Adium, and I use my personal blog to express myself online. I will never join Facebook, and the slight moments of insanity when I consider it, the sheer thought of Facebook being able to peer into my life without any control over my digital content makes me realize that eventually this will backfire. Whether it be in a corporate shake-down where Facebook implodes while distributing your content to advertisers for direct targeting, or whether it be because Facebook employees were illegally learning about future employers, employees and competition to get a leg up. How it happens is yet to be determined, but at some point, Facebook’s intentions as a whole will emerge. And they’re not about “connecting to your friends.”

As you can see from the comparison below. From a User Interface standpoint, Google’s current logo uses inner shadows, drop shadows and lighting angles that cast harsh radials and edges on the typeface. It’s not very pleasing.

You won’t find gradients in many Google products, and that’s a good thing. The gradient “wave” is coming to an end on the web, and for the most part, sleek, clean color pallets and light, fluid edges are at the core of usability… and likability as well.

Google may definitely see this is as too drastic of a change. But, they’re Google and they can tell people to like it. It’s clean, progressive and it’s still a few years ahead of where the competition will be.