How did people ever learn stuff before the Internet?
Ok… I know the title is a little deceiving – I am aware of the various ways people have gained knowledge such as schooling, books, guidance provided by elders or more experienced people etc. etc.
But how did people ever learn about the little things? Everyday I do a dozen or more random searches to find-out something that if the Internet didn’t exist I simply would never know because it’s probably too insignificant to actually go to a library and borrow a book about or look through the phone book to find someone knowledgeable to ask.
Although strangely enough, despite having a world of information at our fingertips, there seem to be more stupid people than ever.
The only explanations I can possibly come-up with is that:
- Despite there being a lot of useful and beneficial information, there is just as much rubbish which will often distract or mislead people who otherwise wouldn’t have been exposed to that information in the first place
- Perhaps there are no more stupid people now than there were 50 years ago, but thanks to social media websites such as YouTube and the tabloid quality of investigative journalism, the stupid people are getting far more exposure than they ever have before
- Further to the point above, stupidity has always been entertaining and is often the foundation to many a comedy skit, so due to the increased exposure and ease of being able to submit, upload and share your own stupid acts with the world, some people think that by being stupid it may bring stardom
Ironically, in the last point, the act of attempting to gain fame through stupidity is in itself quite stupid, but while reality TV and the internet exist, I doubt there will be an end to this.
That reminds me (about to take you on a journey through time and space… no actually just a tangent)… Reality TV. I don’t know who’s reality it is, but I can’t recall the last time someone locked me in a house with a bunch of strangers and recorded my responses to daily challenges such as eating worms or pouring spiders on my head.
This isn’t reality – if you want reality, lock those same people in a house and then a week into the competition, broadcast an announcement to the ‘house’ that due to budget cuts the show will no longer be televised but because of state gaming legislation, they must remain in the house for the next two months without any of their antics being broadcast on national TV. Then let the rest of the country watch the contestants thinking they aren’t being watched.
Ok, perhaps that wouldn’t be reality, but would still be very entertaining. Either that or just stick nicotine patches to each of the contestants every night as they sleep without making them aware of it and then advise them the only beverages they are allowed to consume are highly caffeinated… sure the health risks are enormous, but that would make a great show.
Read MoreFour Things…
This was emailed to me a while ago and I thought I’d share my answers on the blog instead of spamming everyone with a silly chain email.
Here’s Four things about me that you may or may not have known in no particular order.
Four jobs I have had in my life.
1. Salesman at Dick Smith Electronics
2. Worked at the Brisbane Convention Centre doing things like being a barman for various functions, selling hotdogs and icecreams at Bullets Basketball games, setting-up stalls for expos and a dozen other duties involved with hospitality
3. Salesman for Myer (in both Home Office and Music departments)
4. Helpdesk support for an ISP
Four movies I would watch over and over.
1. Hero (Ying Xiong)
2. Sin City
3. Donnie Darko
4. Eternal sunshine of a spotless mind / Evil Dead / Swingers / Clerks / Fight Club… the list goes on and on… there are just too many great movies and plenty more cult classics that I’d love to add
Four places I have lived
1. Spring Hill (Brisbane)
2. Red Hill (Brisbane)
3. Bulimba (Brisbane)
4. Booval (Ipswich)
Four TV shows I watch
1. House
2. My name is earl
3. Underbelly
4. Dexter / Burn Notice / Chuck / Arrested Development / Scrubbs … I’ll watch pretty-much anything really
Four places I have been
1 Switzerland
2. Italy
3. Singapore
4. Melbourne / Sydney / Adelaide / Cairns
Four People who e-mail me (regularly)
1. Kristy
2. Chris & Talita Kindermann
3. All my clients
4. Twitter (with notifications of new followers… don’t ask me why)
Four of my favorite foods
1. Steak
2 Indian
3. Italian
4. Sushi
Four places I would like to be right now
1. In bed
2. Having drinks with close friends
3. At a family get-together
4. In a pub playing trivia
Four family or friends I think will respond
1. I’m expecting a comment from Con
2. Maybe a comment from Mick
3. Perhaps something from Meg, Ben or Joe, or even Ann (if she still reads this, but I don’t think she does)
4. Can’t think of anyone else who actually reads this rubbish I write… but feel free to leave a comment if you are reading this and want me to mention you in a future post 
Four things I am looking forward to this year.
1. Going overseas to see Con, Gerard and Chris
2. Growing my web hosting business
3. Growing my search engine optimisation business and skills
4. Spending more time with Kristy and Caleb
Do you have a favourite blogger that you want to talk about?
A few days ago I received an email from Bo McGrath – an Honours student in Communication and CulturalStudies from the University of Queensland, Australia.
Bo is researching the experiences that blog readers have with their favorite blogger for her Honours Thesis and asked if I’d be willing to assist by placing the following flyer on my blog.
Being a blogger who is very interested in social media and the interaction between bloggers and blog readers, I was more than happy to help.
If you would like to assist Bo by taking part in this research you cannot be a blogger yourself and you cannot know the blogger offline.
AND
Please note that for ethical and legal issues you MUST be 18+ years of age and an Australian Citizen to partake in this research
If this sounds like you and you would like to participate in this original and exciting research project then please email Bo at:
All inquiries are very much appreciated!
Thanks (from both Bo and I)
Read MoreFinally!……that instruction manual we have all been asking for!
Phew… now I can finally become a good father:
Signs that annoy
I work about 15mins from my home and there’s a back-route I usually take to get to the office so I avoid most major roads that are often congested at that hour of the morning / afternoon.
This is fine until there’s an accident on one of the major roads and everyone decides to take back roads to get around it – which screws-up my trip.
This happened on my way to work this-morning.
To make matters worse, the council have been doing some road works and there is an electronic sign situated along the side of the road that flashes “Expect Delays”. Normally you just need to slow-down and you’re past the road works pretty quickly, but due to the build-up of traffic, I was stuck sitting in front of this flashing sign without moving for about 15 mins this-morning.
Being stuck in traffic is annoying – being stuck in traffic with a big flashing yellow sign reminding you that you’re still stuck in traffic every couple of seconds – now that’s torture!
Read MoreHexakosioihexekontahexaphobia
When you spend as much time on the Internet as I do, you start to stumble across things that you didn’t go looking for… things you probably have no real interest in… things that serve no beneficial day-to-day purpose… but for some unknown reason they are things that I find really interesting.
My most recent find (and don’t ask me how I managed to come across this as I honest can’t remember) is the word: Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia.
So what does this mean? It is the fear of the number six-hundred sixty-six – 666. If you’re interesed, you can read more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia
Now the number 666 certainly doesn’t scare me, but the knowledge that Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia is the fear of the number 666 scares me. If you’re still with me on this one, I’ll explain why… Because I like to share these tidbits of useless knowledge with people.
Thanks to technology and social media, it’s quite easy to do that via a blog… but if I ever had the opportunity to speak to someone about this phobia verbally I’d be screwed – for starters I’d never be able to pronounce the word and even if I practiced how to say it everyday for a month, there’s more chance of George W Bush winning a Nobel Prize in physics than me remembering the word and it’s pronunciation when I finally have that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to use it.
So I did some more research and found that fear of fear itself is called Phobophobia… now I’m not afraid of all fears, just Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia. So if we were to apply the same naming convention for the fear of fear to the fear of the number 666 you’d end-up with Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobiaphobia – now that’s something to be afraid of!
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