Back when i was a kid i remember taking keyboard lessons. I had a cool Casio thing which had a bunch of pre-recorded functions, plus some effects like "Organ" and whatever. Twas pretty cool back in the day. The lessons didn't last for long anyway. Now i seem to remember one occasion where me, my mum and brother were waiting to cross the road to get tot eh other side for my lessonage. On this day i vividly remember my keyboard ending up half way across the road. Did i manage to throw it stupidly far? Was it 20 years ago today which would mean the wind carried it? I prefer to think of it as being the latter. I'd barely even manage to throw such a thing as far today, so it must have been that there hurricaney wind type thing. Ah, the things that happen when you are a kid. And when the weather wants to play havoc.
Speaking of which, today is meant to be a "blog action day". A day where we should blog about the environment.
This video mentions the basic plan. Now my thoughts on the environment have been put into blog form before, so i wont bother too much with retreading old ground. What i have a problem with is the idea of this general day. Firstly the opening question on the video doesn't make sense. Secondly, the idea of only "thousands of voices" is quite low reaching, considering just how massive this blogosphere is. Thirdly, the blogosphere doesn't really do all the things the video thinks it does. It is usually little more than a rant box, with the occasional cool download to find or insider info you'd get nowhere else to read. The blogosphere wouldn't change the world, except in very few specific cases, which goes onto to my fourth point.
The blogosphere usually acts as millions of voices on millions of subjects, but just occasionally it'll talk as one. When sky news photoshopped an oil fire to make it look worse, the blogs pointed it out. When the US government reacted so shitely to the New Orleans people, the blogs united in protests. When war broke out, when revolutions started, when elections were held and fixed, the blogs were a united force in commentating, discussing, critiquing and protesting outcomes. They have been united in calling for the release of chinese bloggers arrested by their government. They have watched in Burma and other places as revolution was attempted. They were, are, and will be where the news turns to to get eye witness accounts, pictures and such things.
This is what's important. Is the news talking about this "blog action day"? No, because there are more important things to chat about (apparently including ming campbell quitting as lib dem leader) and this doesn't include what we already know anyway. Yes, get people together to talk about such things as the environment. But when many of these voices will be saying "OMG Bush is lyke sooo unecological and Al Gore shuld be prezidant" it kinda makes the idea pointless. The important people who make important decisions affecting the environment don't have blogs. They have people to read these things and provide disinformation for those in charge. It does nothing. It changes nothing. Well, except there probably being more computers being switched on. I wouldn't be posting here today if it weren't for this idea.
In other thoughts, i'm not sure if i posted this before but a few months back i finally completed downloading all the series' of "Due South". I've been watching it and thinking about just how great TV was back then. I love that series.