As I write this the current world population is 6,682,588,002 there have already been 328,025 births today and 134,928 deaths. That's an actual growth of 193,097 per day. This roughly means ever minute across the world there are 248 couples, that's 496 people hooking up who either intentionally or unintentionally conceive a child.
In the last 3 weeks I have spoke to 3 sets of newly engaged couples and 3 sets of pregnant or new parents, and that's just the immediate short list. Without taking a Malthusian view upon the ever expanding world population and being slightly scientific about it you would have to wonder what biological imperative drives the modern homo sapian. Eat, sleep, reproduce are 3 fundamental behaviours of most organisms but human beings are exempt from Natural selection so they may also be from those inherent traits.
If not continuations of the species why do we pair up to be lead into the Ark? Is it nurture over nature? If you watch most Hollywood films the hero gets the girl and they live happy ever after (mostly). Is pop culture to blame that we have a need for some form of companionship? Will watching Love Actually too many times turn you into a crazy cat lady? Or maybe its simplier, perhaps it was Ego in the study with the lead pipe.
I think its simplier than this, I think we do what we enjoy. For me its pretty simple - I like a girl who is a little cute, a little funny, a little smart but the most important thing beyond all things that Quazimoto must have as a drawcard is simply I like being around them (a shorter list than you think). And just like an exotic massage, there in lies the rub. No one short of a sperm bank patron is there with a checklist, reviewing traits, shopping for value adds like extra cupholders in the new Ford Explorer. Most people are just getting from A to B and occasionally saying, 'You know what? This looks like a good place for a pinic' and pulling over.
There are lots of reasons you could say for pairing up, Tax breaks, being able to afford a home loan with a Joint Income - but I think its fairly simple, you do what you like and if you like being around someone you do that. Im not anti-marriage or engagement or pregnancy or anything like that - for the mathmatically adept amongst you, you would realise that in my earlier statements if everyone on the planet right now paired up had one child each then the world population would drop to below that of Brisbane in 4 generations.
So the point of todays Blog isnt a fortune cookie of life being short or the 5th line of a Leonardo's Bride single. Its simplier than that - go do what you enjoy paired up or not. Crazy cat lady isnt crazy as she likes her cats, its more the tinfoil hat to keep the microwaves out. As long as you dont harm yourself or anyone else im a fan of the Pursuit of Happiness and Laissez-faire methods of madness as thats what will be my driver.
The population is now 6,682,596,470 - go do what you like, the world can manage without you for the weekend.
Andy. A man who bought Love Actually on DVD not just for Kiera Knightly.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Monday, October 8, 2007
If I cant buy a Jetpack can I atleast put one on Layby?
I've recently started to wonder, as you may have noticed, why I can't buy a Jetpack on eBay. I mean we are living past the year 2000, there hasn't been an Apocalypse or attack from alien cows - yet it seems strange that the science fiction of the 1950's hasn't yet been realised. But on the way home I was thinking maybe we are to an extent just focusing on the lack of personal upward propulsion.
Quite possibly the coolest thing I have seen in the last 24hours is the latest add ons you can get for your Tom Tom. If you dont know Tom Tom is by far the most fun to say GPS unit on the market at present. If your out on the roads you might notice about a third of all drivers have these small units attached to their dashboards. Car GPS is a trend which within the next few years will become as commonplace as 17 year olds being bounced from strip clubs at schoolies.
Anyway back to the cool part - you can get a GPS unit which will direct you from point A to B through the quickest route, or the one that avoids tolls, or using the most amount of curb surfing. You can pair up your GPS with your friends and keep track of them on your buddies list so you can know if they are nearby to meet up or for the more anal among us - lowjack your children. But the coolest thing is you can get your Tom Tom to tell you the directions as you go.. as John Cleese.
There is no way that is not cool. And if you were told you could have that 10 years ago? Science Fiction, completely unheard of and you should of stopped eating lead paint chips when you were a child living under those powerlines. But that is a little be awesome.
Lets kick this up a little more, it could be we've had some time to build upto this - so the concept of a car driving on hydrogen is nothing new, you saw one of those the other day. Perhaps we have slowly been wading deeper into the pool not quite at the level or pass the level where you dip your John Thomas. But what if you took a plunge, lets say your born today:
Quite possibly the coolest thing I have seen in the last 24hours is the latest add ons you can get for your Tom Tom. If you dont know Tom Tom is by far the most fun to say GPS unit on the market at present. If your out on the roads you might notice about a third of all drivers have these small units attached to their dashboards. Car GPS is a trend which within the next few years will become as commonplace as 17 year olds being bounced from strip clubs at schoolies.
Anyway back to the cool part - you can get a GPS unit which will direct you from point A to B through the quickest route, or the one that avoids tolls, or using the most amount of curb surfing. You can pair up your GPS with your friends and keep track of them on your buddies list so you can know if they are nearby to meet up or for the more anal among us - lowjack your children. But the coolest thing is you can get your Tom Tom to tell you the directions as you go.. as John Cleese.
There is no way that is not cool. And if you were told you could have that 10 years ago? Science Fiction, completely unheard of and you should of stopped eating lead paint chips when you were a child living under those powerlines. But that is a little be awesome.
Lets kick this up a little more, it could be we've had some time to build upto this - so the concept of a car driving on hydrogen is nothing new, you saw one of those the other day. Perhaps we have slowly been wading deeper into the pool not quite at the level or pass the level where you dip your John Thomas. But what if you took a plunge, lets say your born today:
- You would of never heard of tape.
- Ipod is to Gameboy as Wham is to the Village People.
- There has always been an Internet.
- The Simpsons' repeats are still on TV.
And thats only by the time you turned 5. There are some constants of course, the Seekers will always be on their Final Tour, Australian Idol will still be on and to fill a tank of Petrol you would need to trade either a small child capable of making sneakers or a good kidney. On the flipside NASA would have Astronauts in training to live on the moonbase, Hybrid cars wouldnt be so much a novelty and you think Video Games look good now.
So you might be thinking thats nice, how do I get a piece of that action? Im not getting any further away from my next colon check. Simple - keep looking for whats cool. Theres always something new and interesting and just that little bit more awesome then the last - and you can enjoy it just by doing that, enjoying it. Your only as old as who your feeling I'm told so for those who are single or dating someone older try this, Actual age is more important then Mental Age only until your old enough to buy booze and get cheaper car insurance.
Just because your old doesnt mean you have to act it. Things arent crap just because you dont like them, they are different. Be open to change and opinions. Try something new or try something you havent done for a while. The older you get doesnt mean the more cheese and wine parties you have to have, just means your getting older.
Law of Nature says the young and spry win out in the end, I prefer to think the ones that arent dumb enough to cross the road in front of the truck but not the ones not game enough to think about crossing because there might be.
Andy. Fought the Law and the law decided to call it a draw.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Viva La Net! Viva La Revolution!
Pop quiz hotshots, who here has broadband? Hmm that many of you... Now who on a plan which limits the amount you can download a month? I see. Last question how many of you think that sucks? All of you, really how about that.
I like the Internet, it is my squishy. Apart from performing an emergency tracheotomy on the side of Mt Kilimanjaro there isn't much you cant do with it, except I suppose with what you see in most Hollywood movies. But the point remains we love the net, its a highly complicated system of tubes which allow the global to become smaller.
I speak regularly with people on the other side of the global with instant messager. Email delivery staff are significantly less likely to go postal then your common mail carrier. Online games have shown Actual Intelligence is much more effective foe then Artificial. And the torrents - oh how we love the torrents.
But there is a blight on our fair emerald city which is the ferry man who asks for his 2 pieces of silver as we board his little boat to cross the river there and back. Much like a 7 year olds allowance we need to figure out exactly how much we can spend on redskins and still have some change to last til next month. If your on a Internet plan like this I expect you know exactly how much you can download a month and furthermore how much that equates to per day before you get cut down to either paying for it or a slower pre-broadband speed.
I'm sure if we think back there were other things like this, novelties which used to cost per kilo but overtime became so commonplace that they were just as easy to charge per serve. The way we get charged for Internet hasn't really changed much over the last 10 years or so with the only advancement being more carriers and more things you can do with your connection. The Internet will one day be on everything, cars, phones, TVs, white goods - think the Jetsons without the world working on Cogs.
For now while the Internet is still in it's early teens, usage should be more like Paytv - not that you get to watch so much TV then it turns off or switches to 24hr Antiques Roadshow. No you get a basic package (say most functions that allow browsing or mail), then you click into your extra channels you might want (maybe online game functions) and then you've always got the movie channels which may still be so many per month then you pay (maybe say FTP or something).
Unlimited Internet isn't such a bad idea, there is a school that might tell you that if everyone was downloading 24/7 365days a year the infrastructure in place should be upgraded which will drive up the cost of providing. But think about that, your in a chocolate shop, you like chocolate, not lactose intolerant and your allowed to eat as much as you want all for a dollar. Whats going to happen?
At first your going to gorge yourself on Willy Wonkas fine treats and blow up to the size of a balloon. That's at first, but your allowed to come in tomorrow too so what do you do then? Probably have a little less as you've tried most things already, then a little less again and eventually the novelty will wear off and you will just be coming in and getting your fix for the day and leaving again.
I believe the Internet could be used like this, no one can use it 24/7 without having Opera rescue them from their house with a crane - no matter what you download or view or do theres only so much TV, blogs, games or hell, porn you could look at before the populous' commonly low attention span limits hits.
This all comes back to one thing... Jetpacks. The Internet is part of the promised future of the Jetsons - flying cars, robot housekeepers and jetpacks. Unlimited Internet is something everyone should want as it aids in global collaboration that will one day yield such technological wonders. So if you want the Internet to be the horn of plenty that helps connect everyone to everyone then call your ISP and say "Where is my damn jetpack!"
In the meantime I'm going to believe that somewhere, someone, at sometime is already onto this and will revolutionise how we get billed for the Internet which will significantly change how the casual user uses it. Someone like the A-Team or MacGvyer holed up in the Pons Institute with a box of matches, ball of yarn and a trusty pocket knife which will emerge not with a bus converted into a tank but something a little more shiny.
Until then I'll be waiting for my Jetpack.
Andy. Hoping for a Future without Australian Idol.
I like the Internet, it is my squishy. Apart from performing an emergency tracheotomy on the side of Mt Kilimanjaro there isn't much you cant do with it, except I suppose with what you see in most Hollywood movies. But the point remains we love the net, its a highly complicated system of tubes which allow the global to become smaller.
I speak regularly with people on the other side of the global with instant messager. Email delivery staff are significantly less likely to go postal then your common mail carrier. Online games have shown Actual Intelligence is much more effective foe then Artificial. And the torrents - oh how we love the torrents.
But there is a blight on our fair emerald city which is the ferry man who asks for his 2 pieces of silver as we board his little boat to cross the river there and back. Much like a 7 year olds allowance we need to figure out exactly how much we can spend on redskins and still have some change to last til next month. If your on a Internet plan like this I expect you know exactly how much you can download a month and furthermore how much that equates to per day before you get cut down to either paying for it or a slower pre-broadband speed.
I'm sure if we think back there were other things like this, novelties which used to cost per kilo but overtime became so commonplace that they were just as easy to charge per serve. The way we get charged for Internet hasn't really changed much over the last 10 years or so with the only advancement being more carriers and more things you can do with your connection. The Internet will one day be on everything, cars, phones, TVs, white goods - think the Jetsons without the world working on Cogs.
For now while the Internet is still in it's early teens, usage should be more like Paytv - not that you get to watch so much TV then it turns off or switches to 24hr Antiques Roadshow. No you get a basic package (say most functions that allow browsing or mail), then you click into your extra channels you might want (maybe online game functions) and then you've always got the movie channels which may still be so many per month then you pay (maybe say FTP or something).
Unlimited Internet isn't such a bad idea, there is a school that might tell you that if everyone was downloading 24/7 365days a year the infrastructure in place should be upgraded which will drive up the cost of providing. But think about that, your in a chocolate shop, you like chocolate, not lactose intolerant and your allowed to eat as much as you want all for a dollar. Whats going to happen?
At first your going to gorge yourself on Willy Wonkas fine treats and blow up to the size of a balloon. That's at first, but your allowed to come in tomorrow too so what do you do then? Probably have a little less as you've tried most things already, then a little less again and eventually the novelty will wear off and you will just be coming in and getting your fix for the day and leaving again.
I believe the Internet could be used like this, no one can use it 24/7 without having Opera rescue them from their house with a crane - no matter what you download or view or do theres only so much TV, blogs, games or hell, porn you could look at before the populous' commonly low attention span limits hits.
This all comes back to one thing... Jetpacks. The Internet is part of the promised future of the Jetsons - flying cars, robot housekeepers and jetpacks. Unlimited Internet is something everyone should want as it aids in global collaboration that will one day yield such technological wonders. So if you want the Internet to be the horn of plenty that helps connect everyone to everyone then call your ISP and say "Where is my damn jetpack!"
In the meantime I'm going to believe that somewhere, someone, at sometime is already onto this and will revolutionise how we get billed for the Internet which will significantly change how the casual user uses it. Someone like the A-Team or MacGvyer holed up in the Pons Institute with a box of matches, ball of yarn and a trusty pocket knife which will emerge not with a bus converted into a tank but something a little more shiny.
Until then I'll be waiting for my Jetpack.
Andy. Hoping for a Future without Australian Idol.
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