fiction is lying.

There are a growing number of websites that display information about what’s on other websites about other websites aggregating other websites’ links to other websites. Here’s a few nice ones that show websites’s updates being applied geographically to a map (these are usually based on google maps, if not always) in nigh-real-time:

• flickrvision – Shitty pictures people upload, as it happens. See many cats.
• twittervision – This is stupid mini-updates highlighting all the retarded minutia people think is interesting, but you never see in movies (because no one really wants to hear about or see what people do in the bathroom nineteen times a day). It’s called “micro-vomiting.” I like to watch when it focuses on tons of Japanese updates in succession because I can’t even pretend to read Japanese anymore. This is the pinnacle of the short attention span.
• wikipediavision – This one shows wiki updates by geography. See nerds flex.
• This site focuses just on map hack sites. You could say it updated you on updates from updated sites updating their update feeds or pinging the update pongshooter…calling them mashups the entire time.
• This crazy genius even made a (mac-only thus not valid) screensaver that shows what two of these sites display as updates when other sites make those updates, thus e-stalking the shit out of the entire world at once.
• flagr – This is insanity on a level I am having difficulty decoding. I think I might not understand why people want to use the internet to only ever talk about the real world. Maybe my thirst for meta-data is drastically and dangerously above average.

Is it ok for the internet to never shut up about the real world? Isn’t there more than reality, partially because of the internet?

I want to see a map update visualizer thing for last.fm (and possibly newbtube). That’s an official demand.

Ok, I’m going to admit that I am a bit of a fag for maps. Not necessarily these kinds of maps, but I’m saying I like maps. I kept a world map I had to track earthquakes worldwide for a class up for years. We have maps of Mars in our bedroom right now, framed. I used to draw maps and make out with maps and buy map porn. I was on map mailing lists and went to map tournaments and hung out at map bars. I was map-bashed and publicly ridiculed.

This meta-useless (though undeniably awesome) shit was brought to you by Web 2.0.

Update: I’d also like to see tag clouds for youtube, if anyone’s noticed any.