The German’s gain a sense of humour at last…

23 07 2009

You may recall last week I mocked the German’s over their lack of humour when a Nazi gnome ‘accidentally’ entered the country and that the golden gnome was at risk at being sent to prison or at worse, gassed. Well it seems that with the world more interested in us being all killed off by swine flu, they have decided to let the gnome walk away free and to continue saluting Nazi German.

A German Dictionary, which we could have all potentially owned.

A German Dictionary, which we could have all potentially owned.

But the German’s have warned against any attempt to copy the idea and that gnomes have  a certain abuse potential, in fact it shouldn’t be al-Qaeda we should be fearing, it’s gnomes boarding planes and heading to Germany that are the true threat.

Sticking with Germany, they have recently added 5,000 words to their Dictionary, or Duden as they call it. Now to show you how young this fine nation is, the word “Kreditklemme” (credit crunch) is making its first appearance, which sounds and looks like a breakfast cereal containing Lemon.  But what I liked most was this, “Vorratsdatenspeicherung”, those 23 letters mean telecommunications data retention to us and I’ll give a pound to the homeless donkeys for every time you use that throughout your day.

Now I go searching around the BBC news website searching for entertaining, maybe informative and non-educating articles every week. For me it has to be their coverage on swine flu. A quick look down the side of a swine flu story and your see articles titled  ”How to make a swine flu vaccine“, “Can masks helps stop flu spread” and my favourite “Swine flu: Your experiences. Now is it me or is this whole swine flu craze becoming a bit Michael Jackson? Do we need all these stories, is it really going to help? I don’t even think these swine experiences are real, they are probably hand picked by the BBC to give the most extreme side of the flu to side with the Government’s crazy guidelines on not going into public places, drinking water, eating bread, not even touching your own face. We should all sit in a dark room for 20 years and disconnect ourselves from civilization. But that isn’t the best thing. What I really love is this graph outlining how many could catch swine flu:

If the news reports, pictures wont scare you, maybe this will?

If the news reports, pictures won't scare you, maybe this will?

I’ll admit, the most extreme side to swine flu outlined by the BBC is well… extreme. But its another case of everyone going a bit over the top and viewing a few deaths as an epidemic. I mean when you consider how many people are killed on the roads each year, your still more likely to be knocked down by a bus tomorrow than being killed by swine flu next month.

Let’s stop restricting our lives as if this is the worst thing the world has ever faced, I mean, what’s the worst that could happen anyway?





Is Twitter the new media?

3 07 2009

The sudden death of Michael Jackson last week sparked a media panic. Regarded as one of the largest pop icons of our time, the internet was becoming one of the largest forms of activity, with many hearing the news through Facebook and Twitter before any other source. So, are social websites the future of new media?

Michael Jackson's affects on Twitter

Michael Jackson's affects on Twitter (http://mashable.com/2009/06/25/michael-jackson-twitter/)

My main focus is Twitter, which I am lead to believe is only two and a half years old and was offered a $500 million buyout. The service has become extremely popular in social networking circles, even celebrates ‘tweet’  in order to keep their fans up to date on their latest hair styles. But the service has become more than just a way of telling people what you had for breakfast. It’s become a way of spreading news quickly and allowing other people to interact within seconds. Whilst the BBC where interviewing friends close to Michael Jackson, the world seemed to be turning to Twitter with users expressing their thoughts on what was happening online, connecting to people far and wide across the world. In fact the site actually crashed during this period and it goes without saying that many were following the news online and not on television.

I for one first heard of the news through a status update on Facebook, which was soon followed by more, updating the events, linking to websites and eventually confirming his death. It seems you no longer need a television or a radio to stay in touch anymore when it comes to world wide events, it seems websites such as Twitter are ahead when it comes to the fast paced environment we are all becoming accustomed to. 

Who knows what the future holds for social websites.

Links:

Michael Jackson Dies: Twitter Tributes Now 30% of Tweets





Bad news for the entertainment business…

2 07 2009

Its that time of the year again, if your in anyway connected to the entertainment business you may want to consider writing your will because everybody is dying.

A shot of the BBC Entertainment page shows little to entertain

A shot of the BBC Entertainment page shows little to entertain

It is a shameful fact, but since the death of actress Farrah Fawcett on Thursday morning, Michael Jackson, Karl Malden and Mollie Sugden have all decided to die within the space of a week, all of them linked to the entertainment business. What some Amercian’s are classing as Entertainment-Flu, a statement was due to be released half an hour ago but sadly we believe he or she has died as well.

The world of entertainment is therefore hoping that Johnny Depp will come to the resuce, his latest film Public Enemies, shows that if you become bank robber John Dillinger, you can also become rich, famous and successful without having to sing or act. Hopefully he doesn’t die at the end…








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