Ryan Ripley . Com

Look, I’ll be honest… I like money. It’s just the right size, fits nicely in a wallet, and has that, “Oh, please spend me charm.” It even comes in easy to use denominations. Fives, Tens, Fifties, Hundreds. It just plain fun to count it… I often do it in a loud falsetto while wearing nothing but a captain’s hat and a coin changer.

But seriously, is it worth trading in your values for?

If your ultimate goal is to accumulate the most money then stop right now. The game is over. Bill Gates has won that terminally ill rat race by a mile. His childrens’, childrens’, childrens’, children will be richer than you can possibly achieve. The man’s worth like 100 billion dollars… Apparently a personality cost 101 billion.

Or perhaps your vice is more of a material nature. Think you’ve got consumption problem bigger than Gary Bussey’s on a binge night? Have no fear, here’s a quick test. Pretend you are a CEO. You have 17 Porsches. If you lay off 1,000 people you could buy 5 more Porsche’s with that fat bonus the board of directors will give you for doing so. This is a good thing, because after all having 22 Porsche’s is better than having 17… right? If you agree with that last line then yes, you fall into this category… and you are an asshole.

Maybe this problem is just hard wired into that inner squirrel of ours. That desire bang our charge cards down on the counter like a coked up monkey on a snare drum, collecting everything from Rabid, the disease infested raccoon beanie baby to the Michael Jackson jury.

Whatever the drive is, at some point its got to stop. At some point we have to sit back and realize that we all along for this crazy joy ride called life.

So, what’s led to this late night incoherent rant? I was disappointed today. A company that I thought to be “good” has turned out to be very bad.

Google has always proclaimed itself to be the “open” search engine. In other words they wanted to do cool things, and do them in a respectable way. Here is their company philosophy taken from the Google site:

“The perfect search engine,” says Google co-founder Larry Page, “would understand exactly what you mean and give back exactly what you want.” Given the state of search technology today, that’s a far-reaching vision requiring research, development and innovation to realize. Google is committed to blazing that trail. Though acknowledged as the world’s leading search technology company, Google’s goal is to provide a much higher level of service to all those who seek information, whether they’re at a desk in Boston, driving through Bonn, or strolling in Bangkok.

To that end, Google has persistently pursued innovation and pushed the limits of existing technology to provide a fast, accurate and easy-to-use search service that can be accessed from anywhere. To fully understand Google, it’s helpful to understand all the ways in which the company has helped to redefine how individuals, businesses and technologists view the Internet.

Here is just one example of what they have done terribly wrong. This link points to a story about their censorship of certain sites to appease the Chinese government. Here is some more information on this topic. The site linked in the last line cannot be viewed in China.

So whats the big deal? The epochtimes article says it best:

“The official goal for Google News China is “providing the user with the best search experience possible.â€? To me, ensuring a “best search experienceâ€? sounds a bit too much like what the Matrix has to offer.

What if I’m searching for the truth?”

This was one of those rare opportunites for Google to do the right thing, and unfortunately they chose poorly. They broke their values and their philosophy in a vain attempt to keep their site, and their advertisements on Chinese desktops. I hope those coked up monkeys enjoy their Rabid beanie baby and that it one day bites them right on the ass. I hear those rabies shots are painful.