Just Google It..

The verb 'google' has become one of the more important ones over the last few years. With the overwhelming access to the internet that we all have now, its become something that is commonplace. Googling things has become somewhat ritual for a lot of us. Everyone has their own opinion on it and that's something that can't necessarily be googled.

Personally, I think its great. Having the worlds collective knowledge at my fingertips? Who doesn't want that?

A lot of people will say that the amount of information we have so readily available will make us lazy. We are no longer people who store information but just machines that research and repeat. I don't think this is necessarily true. Unpopularity, I think its become more helpful than harmful. The things that I google are things that I want to know the answer to quickly. An argument with a friend or a quick random thought that pops in my head and I want to more about are typically the reason that I google things. I think that our brains work at a higher level now with the advent of googling.

We push out that useless information to make more room for more important things.

How important is it really to retain information like:
What was the dog in Air Bud's real name?
or
Who won the Stanley Cup in 1986?
or even
Did Al Gore invent the internet?

Those are all the types of things I find myself googling on a daily basis. If I spent all my energy remembering what that recipe for blueberry pancakes I cooked 3 weeks ago was, I don't know if I would remember the important things in my life. I use google as the database to solve every "bar-type" argument I have with my friends. It's an endless source of the most and least important information to man. If I put my appointments and class schedule in it to help me remember, its for my own benefit. Nobody gets an award for being the guy who can remember his schedule. They get the recognition for showing up and being organized. Google helps with everything in my life. From the most important of dates to the least important and useless facts you can even imagine.

Its possible I don't use it like everyone else, but the next time I want to prove that Shakespeare invented the word swagger, I'm happy Google is there to back me up.

-north

Blogging on Blogging about Bloggers: A review On A Jason Kottee Interview

I just finished reading the interview featuring Jason Kottee, a professional blogger, that was conducted in August of 2006. The interview was a part of series of interviews conducted by a reporter by the name of Rebecca Blood. The series follows a bunch of different professional bloggers talking about their own unique experiences in the new frontier of blogs.

The interview went through a bunch of different general questions i.e. What was your first blog? How did it become popular? etc.

The section of the interview I thought was the most interesting was the part that he talked about his wife, who is also a professional blogger. he talked about how his blog led to them meeting and their lives together now. They both maintain blogs but Jason admits to not always reading everything his wife posts. He says that sometimes he gets caught 'skimming'. I thought it was interesting how he says that it led to actually having conversations (albeit about their blogs) in person.

It shows how these people who spend 8-10 hours online a day can sometimes get caught up in their online personalities and loose touch with people in the real world. This sentiment is pretty cliche but is a little closer to home the more I think about it.These people use these blogs as jobs. They earn income from these websites and spend 8 hours a day working on them. My life isn't too far off. I don't spend nearly that much time online but I spend more than enough time making pizzas. Most people would think that spending 8 hours a day making pizzas and running an italian restaurant is ridiculous. These bloggers life are very similar to mine or anyone working full-time. Everyone just puts in thier 8 hours and then goes home. They do their best not to let each one conflict with each other.

The interview made me relate to these bloggers more than I thought I could. They just all seem like normal people who seemed to stumble into the beginnings of something huge.

-North