Miel de Maple

Something funny happened today: GPS data and location protocols of iPhone’s framework made me revive a love story that worths sharing.

All started today, while I was handling GPS positions and tying them with my new iPhone app. During one of the tests, I started Google Maps application and remembered it’s also capable of displaying 360º photographs of the streets. It’s a Google’s project called Street View.

Procrastination then took me to latitude 43.604363, longitude 1.442951 which happens to be the location of a southern-France city where I made a residence with my first photography teacher.

I spend a virtual tour across some of the streets I remembered, because it’s a city that keeps a lot of valuable experiences for me. I then landed on Avenue Tolosane, the very same place where one of my favorite songs, “Coke, Cigarettes and You” was inspired.

The story happened during summer. I was on that street because I had a date with a girl I really loved. I was going to meet her at a bus stop, but arrived a little earlier. In fact, I didn’t arrived by bus, I actually arrived after walking about 5 or 6 kilometers because my camera’s watch failed and started the journey extra-early (it was 2 or 3 hours forward).

Even after the long walk I was still early, so I went to a bar in the same street to kill some time. I ordered a Coca-Cola (you know how much I love it) and took seat at the bar’s terrace. My cigarettes just were over when I saw her walking down the street (like in that 1964 Orbison’s hit).

We spent a wonderful day and near the end got slept, then waked up at twilight. Just in time for me to catch the bus to the train station, I was leaving the city that same night. We walked to the bus stop (you guessed, over Avenue Tolosane) and waited for the last bus. It was starting to get dark and cold. We hug, I hold her tight and said goodbye. We knew there were good chances we would not see each other again.

After my arrival to Mexico City, I recorded a song during the following weeks, a love song about that day. It has no lyrics but it says something like:

In a place that is new and strange to me, I’ve found someone who makes it familiar.
Someone who doesn’t speak my language but I know how to make smile.
Someone that can tell me with her eyes she really liked that kiss.
Someone I would say: when I’m with you I don’t need anything else…
No wait, we both know that’s a lie, better say:
When I’m with you, I just need Coke, cigarettes, and you…

You can listen the track directly here, in last.fm

weee!

Are you aware of what kind of information is displayed when you type your email, most frequent internet user-name or your meat-life name on Google?

It could range from the fancy results of your top-edge scientific research on a new intellectual framework for psychiatry, but it could also include some nasty information like: your brainy speeches at your favorite forum, the grades your teacher published in his personal page, YouTube’s comments, or social network websites with your photographs along with tons more of information.

Not long ago, a friend of mine typed in Google the e-mail address of someone we met just to find out  an incommensurable amount of forum threads detailing the entire experience of her termination of pregnancy: questions, answers, microscopic details… Believe me or not, we were just trying to find if she had previously released some interesting achievements in the software industry.

Nothing happened really for me, I just thought: “I didn’t knew it, but it doesn’t matter to me either. That’s the sort of problems you could  face during high-school.”

But now, it’s not just your most curiosity-driven friends at college that could search for you in Google. It could be your employer, a person who feels attracted to you or even your parents.

Go ahead, type your name, common user-names or emails and find out what kind of information is out there. Delete it, edit it or use a different identity when posting information that could be used against you in your upcoming political career.

Once upon a time, in a long past age, the Delphic Oracle was the most prestigious and authorative oracle in the world. It has been ages since then and as Heraclitus once noted: “there is nothing permanent except change”. Nowadays, the title of the definitive oracle is claimed  by the mighty internet search engine, Google.

It’s present everywhere at the same time and it’s looking forward to know all things which can be known, past, present and future.  It is capable to respond your most deep and concerning questions like: How can I get rid of the plague that threatens my city? Should I marry her? Do bugs have emotions?

And it’s almost sure it knows something about you.