30 Sep 10 Quangos: Good or Bad? Live or Die?
A Quango – quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisation.
Depending on one’s viewpoint, and perhaps political leaning, quangos either perform a useful function to the area of local or national Government that they serve, or they are a complete waste of taxpayers money.
Human nature too, plays a part, in that people whose lives are affected by a quango are often more polarized as to its existence (or not).
Should they exist at all?
The current Government in the UK is looking at cutting or culling several of them.
Some would appear to be more useful than others.
Check out the list here, and make your own opinion…
Tags: existence, governmental organisation, human nature, money, national government, quango, quangos, taxpayers, UK, united kingdom, viewpoint, westminster
02 Aug 08 Internet Misinformation
66% of online Republicans and 58% of online Democrats think that the internet is full of misinformation according to a recent article on ZDNet.
Well, Sherlock comes to mind here!
Of course the internet is full of misinformation. Thing is information isn’t the truth anyway. It’s only a series of events or happenings from one persons viewpoint. It’s information, sure, but truth?
Anyhow, a large majority of those bemoaning about the Internet, are probably those that unquestionably believe the garbage pumped out of the idiot box on Fox, or CNN. Much of that is misinformation too, and quite a lot is out and out BS.
In fact, I’ve gotten to the point that I almost never watch TV news, preferring to read what’s going on, via the Internet, and then making my own value judgments on what I’ve read. Many people only believe what they want to believe anyhow. If you want to agree with Bill O’Reilly, then you’ll only get the soundbites that you want to hear, the rest you’ll poo-poo or ignore. That’s human nature to a large extent.
I try to read a number of sources to try and get a balanced view of what’s occurring.
Having said all that, how many people are more concerned which of he latest celebrity tarts is in rehab this week, than the state of the economy?
Perhaps these people find the internet full of misinformation, as there’s too much to have to read to get the information that want, instead of having some pictures and meaningless sound bites thrown at them?
Tags: bill o reilly, bs, celebrity, cnn, democrats, economy, extent, fox, garbage, human nature, misinformation, recent article, republicans, sherlock, soundbites, tarts, TV news, value judgments, viewpoint, zdnet
31 Jul 08 Social Media Tools
Oh no! I hear you say. Not yet another article about Social Media Tools!
Well, no not exactly.
But still, us techie types do tend to go on about our tools a lot don’t we?
I guess other professions do that too. I can’t imagine being a carpenter and having a chat over a few beers with another carpenter and comparing lathes, but I guess it happens.
Going back in time, I’m sure the techs of yesterday got excited about new tools too.
Heck, I can remember back in my radio ham days (I drifted away from amateur radio and into computers fairly quickly, and I had neither the time nor the money to indulge in both), when we’d compare radio sets of course, but even accessories like SWR meters or Morse keys.
Now, with established technologies we don’t perhaps tend to talk about them so much. When was the last time you spent time on a land line telephone talking about them? Mature technologies that aren’t innovating so rapidly don’t really get the headlines do they?
It’s human nature to get excited about new discoveries, new tools, new toys, at whatever age we are, so when yet another Social Media app comes along, and we like it, we want to talk about it, and share our excitement with other like-minded folks.
Sometimes though, perhaps we need to step back, and enjoy Social Media for what it is, and quit trying out another batch of tools until next week at least!
Having said that, I’m not at all sure if I can put that into practice myself!
Tags: amateur radio, beers, carpenter, excitement, going back in time, headlines, human nature, lathes, line telephone, media tools, minded folks, morse keys, new discoveries, new tools, new toys, professions, radio ham, radio sets, swr meters, when was the last time
