I is for Internet

  

April marks the 15th anniversary of my blog, so during the A-Z blogging challenge, I will be sharing previous posts from over 2,000 I have written.

Throughout the years, I have shared things about my sons, Wally and Theo — especially from their early years. Below is a poem that Theo wrote when he was in grade school about the internet. At that time, most people, including Theo, didn't have the internet at their fingertips like we do today. He had limited access on our home desktop computer. I find it interesting to read his poem and think about how much things have changed and how much things have remained the same. Also, I think you will see some of Theo's introverted tendencies in his poem.  My commentary at the end was 15 years after Theo wrote the poem. This was originally posted in February 2013.

BTW, one of the reasons I chose this post is that it's a nod to National Poetry Month this month.

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Ponderings of Theodore--the Middle Years

On the Internet

On the Internet, 

I am free to do anything I want.

There are endless possibilities.

I am anonymous.

I like to play Pogo games,

Like Word Whomp,

Turbo 21, and chess.

I am anonymous.

I can read books for free,

Study for tests,

Buy stuff, and talk to strangers.

I am anonymous.

It is a world of information,

Being shared freely,

I like to be on the Internet.

I am anonymous.

Theodore wrote that poem when he was in grade school. I think it spoke to his growing awareness of the Internet. Fast forward to today. Theodore is now in a situation where he cannot afford Internet service and has no easy access to it. His lack of it has pointed out how much I have come to rely on the World Wide Web. I tell him to look up an address to find something. Then he reminds me that he doesn't have the Internet. I tell him to look up a recipe that will fit the ingredients he has on hand. He reminds me that he doesn't have the Internet. I tell him to check his email because there is an interesting email that he should see. He reminds me that he doesn't have the Internet.

However, he's doing much better than I think I would. What's he doing? He talks to his classmates, he listens to the radio, he plays cards, and he reads. Maybe I should be without the Internet for a while to see how well I could adjust. As much as I would like to pretend that I'm not hooked to my computer, I don't think I would fare very well.

Do you think you could give up the Internet?

Until next time...

Smile

There so many clever and amazing things to see on the Internet these days that I pretty much ignore them.  Or else I wouldn't get much done. However, a friend showed me this clip that really made me smile and it only took 15 seconds to watch. Fits my bill perfectly. See if you find it as entertaining as I did.

15 second clip

Here, There, and Everywhere

Do you ever wander around on the Internet?  Start with a specific question, but wander around here, there, and everywhere and never quite reach the place your looking for. I had one of those times last night.

It all started a couple of weeks ago when Theo picked up some flatware from a garage sale that he needed. After he got his spoons and forks home, he noticed that his flatware was stamped as coming from many different places--Montana, Utah, USA, Indonesia, Brazil, Germany, and Korea.  I checked all of our flatware and all I could find was the word, STAINLESS. I found the variety of place names on Theo's purchase fascinating. I wondered if it had something to do with the fact that all of the recently purchased pieces were pretty old. So I set out to see if I could find out some of the manufacturing history on any of them.

I did a lot of Googling and found out nothing about when they were actually made or the company they were made by. However, during my wanderings, I did find a few things that I thought were interesting. Here are some of them.


--Utah has a state cooking pot. It's the Dutch oven.

--Montana had the greatest temperature change to ever occur on earth in a 24 hour period. It happened on January 15, 1972, when the temperature went from -54°F to 49°F. That's 103° change. 

--Indonesia is comprised of 17000 islands of which only 6000 are inhabited. It's the fourth most populated country in the world.

--By custom, Korea counts birthdays and ages differently than we do. When someone is born, they are considered to be one year old. They count the time in the womb as the first year. Also, everyone "gets a year older" on New Year's Day regardless of when they were born. The western method, however, is often used for legal purposes.

--Brazil silver, German silver, Utah silver, and Montana silver are all alloys of different metals and contain no silver. However, they are silver in color.

Even though I didn't exactly stay focused, I did enjoy my wanderings of here, there, and everywhere both around the globe and on the Internet. Next time I want to kill some time, I may do it again. (Or next time I start to do this, I should check to see if I really have time to kill.)







Want to know more?

http://www.utah.gov/about/symbols.html

http://montanakids.com/facts_and_figures/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil#Climate

http://www.infoplease.com/country/indonesia.html

 http://www.lonelyplanet.com/indonesia

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daktari

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korea