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Published on Leave a comment on We Are All Clueless

True wisdom is knowing what you don't know. - Confucius

The call to action to buy this candle: "Tired of feeling like a bone-dry hack?" Not kidding.

Once upon a time, I was stumped for a blog topic. (I'm sure I'm probably the only blogger that happens to.) Falling back on the last refuge of the blogger who can't decide what to write about, I checked to see what was trending on Twitter. It changes constantly, of course, but here's what was listed when I checked.

#HappyBirthdayBeliebers
#LiamWeStandByYou
#AquariusComeBack
#NionerAndRemaja
#Balqis
#BuZulumArsiTitretir
#GustavvoLimaNoDomingoLegal
The Bat Cave
TheApprenticeAsia
AngkaYangkamu
Eriksen
Three Musketeers

Talk about a lesson in humility. Of the twelve topics listed, how many did I know with certainty what they were about? Exactly one. I could hazard a guess or at least give the definition of the words on a few. After Googling all of them, I discovered that just because I knew the definition of a few words, certainly did not equate to knowing what the heck the hashtags or trends were about. Before you continue reading this post, take a moment and see if you can predict what each one is about.

Okay. Let's see how you did. No pressure.

  • The Apprentice Asia is obviously about the reality show. My confidence is so high on that assumption I didn't even fact-check it.
  • The Beliebers one wasn't too difficult to guess - it had something to do with the Canadian pop singer. But if you guessed it was his birthday, you would be wrong. I think the fans were celebrating his 7 year anniversary on Twitter?? Still not sure about that one.
  • Speaking of heartthrobs, Gusttavo Lima is one in Brazil. And 'Liam' is someone from American Idol. 
  • Indonesian topics dominated the list of 12. I know what Three Musketeers are - book/film or candy bar. But I could not have guessed why that was trending. Apparently one of the movie versions was broadcast on telly in the Phillipines recently. This was a big deal because it was broadcast without being 'tagalized' (translated into Tagalog). The Angka appears to be something about lucky numbers.
  • The Aquarius thing is an analysis of the traits of men with birthdays around this time of year.
  • BuZulumArsiTitretir is Turkish and looks like something that if I click on through, I will land on a terrorist watch list. Not kidding.
  • It is a shame The Bat Cave was a broken link. Apparently it was a cool home theater setup.
  • Eriksen is soccer (football) related.
  • Balqis may possibly be a musical group/artist.
  • And the Nioner-and-Remaja I could not figure out, even with the aid of Google's translating tool.

Being in the dark about some topics was understandable in the Dark Ages, when our ancestors had fewer options for staying informed.  For example:

  • The Chinese invented gunpowder about the same time Leif Ericson discovered America (1000 A.D.). But it was hundreds of years before gunpowder became commonplace in the West. 
  • Christopher Columbus' Spanish sponsors had to wait eight months to hear whether or not his gamble on sailing west amounted to anything. 
  • The last battle of the American Civil War was fought a month after Confederates surrendered at Appomattox in April of 1865 because Texas troops hadn't gotten word it was over. 

Today we have the technology to stay informed. But so many people are overly preoccupied with their own little worlds, they don't bother. Even when we are interested in the world around us, parsing the torrent of information available is a tall order. 

I'm not arguing for even more screen time so we can all know what lottery numbers are trending in Indonesia today. But just realizing how much there is out there that we don't know serves as a healthy reality check. 

Image from Gaping Void

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Published on Leave a comment on More Research Required
Borg me up, baby!

Hello, my name is Lissa, and I am a knowledge-a-holic.

I have been thinking lately that I have an issue with spending way too much time online. I plan to troubleshoot this problem by applying what is left of my brainpower.

What exactly is the big draw? Initially, I blamed my love of technology in most of its forms. I love my smart phone. So handy for so many little tasks! I love my microwave, without which my family would starve. I love GPS. I loved maps before, but the time savings (and no need for folding skills) with GPS is ridiculous! I love my satellite dish. Think about how that works - up in space, whirling round and round our planet, invisibly delivering massive amounts of viewing choices to millions of people 24/7. Speaking of which, I love my TV's remote control. It's not that I object to walking over to the TV to change the channel. But with hundreds of channels all programmed to show commercials at exactly the same time, standing there with your finger on the TV's channel button until you find something worth watching is just not an option.

I love all of these things and more, but it's the Internet that is killing me. I love all of my smart devices, but if it were not for the Internet, I would definitely not have a dead booty and a permanent kink behind my right shoulder blade from sitting in front of a screen all the dang day.

Think about it: without the Internet, how much time would you spend on your laptop/phone/tablet? It's the Internet, with all of this more or less infinite knowledge within literal reach, that keeps me chained to the desk. I am a knowledge junkie. I cannot get enough. So I sit here and ruin my health ('sitting is the new smoking') when I should be out taking the air and otherwise interacting with Mother Nature or other human beings.

Do you know the scene from The Fifth Element where Mila Jovovich's character, Leeloo, is catching up on 5000 years of human history by absorbing knowledge as images on the computer screen zip by? My idea of heaven! But I fear another fictional scenario may be more likely. It's only a matter of time until I turn up like that dude in a Stephen King short story, who spent so much time on his computer that gradually its wires burrowed into his body, and they became permanently entwined.

There's no way I am ready to give up my addiction. I haven't hit bottom yet. If only you could see what I see every day. Recent bounty included these tidbits:


I love info like Smaug loves his gold

Random? Sure. And each factoid has oodles of factoid-lets oh so ripe for the plucking. Dig a little deeper and you will find more info, and more, and more, an endless supply, more than any human brain could ever process. And it's just about as close to 'free' as you can get. I can wallow in this stuff all day long without spending a penny. I know the economists among you are out there waving your arms and shouting 'opportunity cost!', but I choose to ignore you since this is, after all, my blog.

The flow of information is not going to stop, and I'm not going to stop wallowing. So my only alternative is to turn this vice into something productive, channel it, control it. That way, I can rationalize all that time I spend BIC (Butt In Chair), or even (dare I hope?) allow myself even more BIC time. Hey, maybe this blog thing could be part of the solution. Definitely needs more research!

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