Freeview ascent puts it above Sky in digital race | Media | MediaGuardian.co.uk
Something free overtaking the mighty Murdoch empire? It brings a smile to a confused face.
Lying down
Does the Internet encourage duplicity?
Its a question I’ve been considering for a while and true to form it now leaves me confused. It seems that much of my online experience of late has involved deliberate attempts to lie to me and its difficult not to be disheartened by such experiences, especially when considering the needs of those who have to lie online that they will be safe in real life. Those who lie about their identity when blogging in a country where they could be imprisoned for what they write are still lying, but few would disagree about the necessity of them doing so, in fact most would even applaud them for their courage in taking the risks they are in blogging at all. Objectively, of course, they are still lying, but if they are not condemned for doing so, is it truly a lie? Is a lie only a lie when it hurts another? Is lying actually something that is subjective, rather than objective? When is a lie a lie?
The wikipedia editor who lied about his credentials and identity is a well known example to the “Internet-ati” of someone whose online lies were exposed, but did anyone consider whether the editing and contributions he had made were inaccurate at all? If they weren’t, are his lies somehow diminished, or is the principle of lying sufficient that even what he wrote that was factually correct is now devalued? Can objective facts be destroyed by the source of those facts being proven dishonest? Do facts then become subjective, or have they always been?
A forum I read recently exploded into a flame war when the claimed credentials of one of the posters was called into question. In the eyes of many, it only took her honesty to be questioned for almost all that she had said to then be attacked, attacks that became increasingly personal. Lying online still seems to be considered sufficient grounds for inflicting social pariah status on another, so why then do so many fall prey to its temptations? Is it perhaps because of a desire to be someone different to what they are in real life, to gain a sense of fulfillment in their lives that the offline world does not give them, or is it merely always malicious?
The online world Second Life is rife with dishonesty, much of which I have seen to be malicious, but also much that I have seen to be escapism. Paradoxically, many in Second Life who are tired of the duplicity and the lies around them, particularly concerning people having alts (other avatars, owned by the same person), often create their own alts to escape it, to “get away” from it all. In order to escape being lied to they embark upon their own lie, so is this objectively lying, or subjectively? Black and white, or shades of grey?
Anonymity and identity, both vital parts of the Internet and yet they seem to be in direct conflict. Is there a resolution? Is there even a need for a resolution, or does online dissembling and duplicity only reflect our nature and be indicative of it? If we do it online, do we do it also offline and the Internet only makes it easier?
Its definitely too confusing for me to find an answer, but I’ve been reminded of a saying while I’ve been writing this and it seems a good way to conclude yet another unfinished thought. It does not need proof to destroy trust, only suspicion.
Sold my soul to Google
It turns out I’m shallow. I’ve been seduced by Google’s shiny new gadgets.
It started off with gmail. We love gmail, we love its storage size, its reliability, its very cool features. Even the “targetted advertising” is funny sometimes, when I pay attention to it. Like most gmail veterans, I’ve long since got used to blanking it out mentally. Gmail is a shiny gadget and I love it.
Then Google bought writely, the online document and spreadsheet creator, and turned it into Google docs & spreadsheets, which must have taken them hours to come up with the name for. I use docs & spreadsheets almost as much as I use gmail, but then one day I clicked on the innocuous looking “more” link at the top and opened a pandora’s box of other shiny new gadgets.
Ooooh, look, there’s google reader, a RSS aggregator! Wow, Google notebook, perfect for keeping all those little notes from websites in the same place! Google calendar, that should be handy for keeping track. I may as well use Picasa for photos as well, since I’m already signed up to it, by virtue of having a gmail account. Fantastic, there’s Google personalised home page, where I can bring all of this together with widgets! I can add lots of other clever widgets too, so everything I need is in one place and I need never visit another website again and then…..
Oh. Bugger. I’m fished in, I’ve sold my soul to Google. I’ve been seduced by clever gadgets and toys and they’ve got me right where they want me, on their website all the time. But they’ve made it all so shiny!!
Above the radar
I admit it, I’ve been hiding.
I admit it more, its not actually true that I’ve been hiding. I’ve been lost in a second life. Bleary eyed I have emerged from the sleep hoover to discover that I haven’t blogged in 15 months. Bugger.
On the plus side, I suspect I’m even more confused now than I was 15 months ago. May the confusion continue. Perhaps.
For anyone unable to speak “utter rubbish”, this post translates as “I think I’ll blog again.” There, plain English, confusion free. I’ll try and keep that part to a minimum.
Slightly surreal Starbucks
Unlike many coffee shop afficianados I don’t have a big problem with Starbucks. In the land of the cheap caff, the one place to get a vaguely decent coffee is king and all that. I’m not about to bemoan the complete lack of independent coffee shops near me though (well, at least not right now anyway). As long as Starbucks maintains their fair trade alternative I’ll shop there, until something better comes along.
Some visits to Starbucks are more memorable than others. The one when they’d completely run out of Rocky Road definitely sticks in my mind as a bad one for example. I don’t think I’m going to forget today’s in rush though.
It boded well from the off. Not only were they actually promoting their fair trade coffee (bit of a shocker I know) but they were even giving away free samples of it. Wonder what the Starbucks project websites would make of that?
One of the attractive things about Starbucks (admittedly this isn’t restricted to just Starbucks but to coffee shops in general) is the range of people they attract. They’re a real microcosm of society. Right now I’m sat between an old married couple (doing the traditional old married couple behaviour of not talking to each other) and a heavily pierced goth. Just across from me is a Moleskine writing, Razr toting fashionista. Sharing the table with me are 2 of the most competitive and self obsessed sloaney ladies who lunch that I’ve ever eavesdropped on (this conversation was brought to you by the expression “Yes, its the most expensive one they do.”). Then, of course, there’s me, sitting here blogging. Bizzarely all these very different types of people feel at home here. What’s that about then? The coffee shop world is truly surreal.
I’m settled in for the afternoon to catch up on some writing, while others come and go. Queing for another coffee I realise I’m standing next to Blackburn manager Mark Hughes, who is complaining at the size of his take out being too big. As the Barista said, its not like you can’t afford it Mark and you don’t have to drink it all anyway. Perhaps he’s not read all the blogs posting about the arcane secrets of the Starbucks short coffee. What’s he doing here and not on the training ground anyway?
The shop begins to empty, meaning that anyone new comes in has a too much choice dilemma. No, not what to drink, but where to sit. 2 bag laden shoppers play musical tables before finally settling on their choice.
The sloane rangers get up to leave. One asks me if I’m writing a book. Not having the balls to say to them “No, I’m bitching about your conversation” I say instead “No, I’m blogging”. I can’t work out whether or not she is disappointed or confused. Blogging may be important (to other bloggers at least) but it doesn’t seem to have infiltrated their world yet.
There’s always a story at Starbucks. You’ve just got to be prepared for it to be a slightly surreal one. Just like reality I suppose.
Sharing a coffee
A big hello to any readers who have arrived here today from The year of coffee blog (see Lloyd, I can get the name right sometimes!) where I had a guest coffee posted today.
It’s always nice to share a coffee! Thanks to Lloyd for letting me share that one with him and his readers.
Craft project – how to make your own confetti
In an attempt to rescue “crafts” from being synonymous with “card making” I’ve decided to share this great step by step technique a friend of mine discovered to making your own confetti.
1. Get a large and expensive new cross cut shredder at work.
2. Read on the box that it could even shred a newspaper.
3. Decide to test out this claim immediately with a large broadsheet paper, for some unknown reason folded in half.
4. Turn shredder on, feed newspaper into jaws of paper death.
5. Laugh with work colleagues as it seems to be living up to the claim on the box.
6. Note how large shredder begins to labour and make strange grinding noise.
7. Panic that you might be breaking brand new expensive office shredder.
8. Try to remedy the situation by hitting the reverse button.
9. Step back and enjoy as your office is now showered in your very own cross cut newspaper confetti.
10. Really panic about how on earth you’re going to be able to clear all this up without getting in trouble.
11. Take rest of the day off sick. Cut and run.
So there you go, that’s how its done. I’ll try and share some more great crafting ideas soon (whenever any friends do something stupid I can twist around!).
But I wanna go….
I’m a bit of a coffee shop junkie. When I say a bit, I mean a lot. And I’m always on the lookout for that perfect one to be “my” coffee shop.
I was very excited to find this coffee shop recently then Cafeggio Coffee. It had it all, practically everything I’d imagined my perfect coffee shop to have. Great coffee was a must obviously, but there had to be cakes and proper food to facilitate a really long stay. To have a really long stay there’s got to be long opening hours too (which you don’t get in my neck of the woods). All looking good for Cafeggio so far.
Free wifi is just a pipe dream round my way, but not at Cafeggio. How about comfy chairs for when you want to sit and read, but chairs and tables for when you want to work? Yep. Regular live music? That too. It’s got to be said, Cafeggio has got everything. There’s just one problem. It’s in Texas and, quite frankly, I’m not. I’m not even in the USA. I think I’m going to have to keep looking for my coffee shop.
Hey, at least its fun looking!
Blondes and PCs
A client of mine has 3 blondes working in an office of 9 and I regularly have to fix their computers. In honour of them, I couldn’t resist linking to this blonde joke.
Hey, its not PC, but I couldn’t resist linking.
Forwarded
I’ve got acquaintances who like to forward email. A lot of email, made up of those “funnies,” “vital info” and “heartwarming thoughts” that you just can’t do without. Apparently.
I hate these emails.
Why do people send them? Why can’t they work out what the BCC button is for on their email client so my email address doesn’t go out to be hoovered up by whatever spambot is running the PC’s of people who keep telling me the wonders of Viagra and Cialis and how they’ll make me a real man?
Thankfully, a friend who shares my opinion (and also shares the same “forward to” acquaintances) sent the email below on to me. Finally, an email worth forwarding. If someone forwards you an email, fight back with this -
The Perfect Forwarding Email
My heartfelt appreciation goes out to all of you who have taken the time and trouble to send me “forwards” over the past 12 months. Thank you for making me feel safe, secure, blessed and healthy.* Extra thanks to whoever sent me the email about rat poo in the glue on envelopes – cause I now have to go get a wet towel every time I need to seal an envelope.
* Also, I scrub The top of every can I open for the same reason. Because of your genuine concern, I no longer drink Coca Cola because it I know it can remove toilet stains, which is not exactly an appealing characteristic.
* I no longer check the coin return on pay phones because I could be pricked with a needle infected with AIDS.
* I no longer use cancer-causing deodorants even though I smell like a water buffalo on a hot day.
* I no longer go to shopping malls because someone might drug me with a perfume sample and rob me.
* I no longer eat KFC because their “chickens” are actually horrible mutant freaks with no eyes or feathers.
* I no longer worry about my soul because at last count, I have 363,214 angels looking out for me.
* Thanks to you, I have learned that God only answers my prayers if I forward an e-mail to seven of my friends and make a wish within five minutes.
* I no longer have any savings because I gave it to a sick girl on the internet who is about to die in the hospital (for the 1,387,258th time).
* I no longer have any money at all in fact – but that will change once I receive the $15,000 that Microsoft and AOL are sending me for participating in their special on-line email program.
Yes, I want to thank you all so much for looking out for me that I will now return the favour! If you don’t send this e-mail to at least 144,000 people in the next 7 minutes, a large pigeon with a wicked case of the runs will land on your head at 5:00 PM (EST) this afternoon. I know this will occur because it actually happened to a friend of my next door neighbor’s ex-mother-in-law’s second husband’s cousin’s beautician.
DO IT NOW OR ELSE.
And have a nice day!
