Welcome to the Friday Postcard from Cobwebs, where I share with you all the stuff I’ve learned this week.
Life teaches us all some lessons and ‘stuff’ it believes we need to learn or know about. Some of these things might be painful. Some of them may give you a heartache. Some may touch you so deeply that you can almost feel this ‘thing’ slowly sinking into your soul. Some things may make you cry. But then there are some things which will make you smile. Or laugh. Or just set up your day with a base of a good mood which carries you through your day. I’m hoping that this Friday Postcard, from me to you, will be one which starts your day off with at least one smile. Shall we dive in?
What I’ve learned this week . . .
I’ve learned that when I leave the house, clamber into my car, put my seatbelt on, start-up the car and put it into reverse in order to get off my drive …. I’ve learned that around the point I’ve backed out of my drive and driven just a little way down the road, it’s usually at this point that I realise that the reason my eyes are so blurry isn’t because I didn’t get enough sleep, but because I’ve forgotten to put my darn glasses on! [sigh] Why do I keep doing this? Why haven’t I actually learned this lesson yet. You’d think that at my age (of over 21 plus a lot of tax), it would be as natural to put my glasses on as it is to pick up my car keys.
I’ve learned that the world has more information than a brain can surely hold, but not enough inspiration.
We live in a computerised/technological world. Everything is run by computers. With more and more things being computerised, daily. I watched TV a couple of days ago and saw how a short black cylinder with a blue light halo around the top can now turn on lights or the kettle or the washing machine or .. well just about anything while you’re not even in the house! It can make a shopping list for you by you just talking to it and asking it to add (eg) a loaf of bread to the list. It sits in the corner, or on the table, or … well just about anywhere it seems, and it’s ALWAYS on. You never turn it off. It’s just there. Listening to you and waiting for you to say it’s name – Alexa.
You can ask it virtually anything, and it will give you an answer within seconds. How far away is the Sun? It knows. Is there a particular store in your city? It knows. How to spell a word? It knows. Watch the little video below, but beware … you might end up thinking you should have one. lol
Then the presenter on the TV showed me how I could get a tiny circular vacuum cleaner to clean my carpets and floors while I was out at work, by setting a timer on it. Then, before I came home from work, the carpets would all be super clean. However, if the machine began to run out of charge, it would return itself to the docking station and would re-charge itself, then set off again, back to where it left off, and continue cleaning the floors for you!
Then they turned to a fridge and showed us how a computerised ‘thing’ on the door, would take note of what was inside the fridge, and if someone opened the door and took out (say) the Melon. Then this computerised gadget would know that it had been taken and would register this on the door. It even had another little gadget installed in it which, at the press of a button, you could actually see what was in the fridge instead of opening the door. Oh.. and it even took note of ‘eat by’ due dates, and would flash this information for you when that due date got near so that you could make sure to include that item in your menu.
See … this is all very clever but … and here’s the thing … What the divil is wrong with picking up a pen and making a shopping list? What’s the problem with YOU vacuuming your carpet? Is turning the kettle on so hard labour that we need a gadget to do it for us? Why do we need a ‘Hive’ to control our heating at home, when we can cope perfectly well with getting our bottoms out of our chair and change the setting if we need to?
As for not opening the door of the fridge to see what’s inside … is ANYONE REALLY THAT LAZY that they need this screen on the outside of the fridge door so that they can simply look at the fridge for the information???
Like I said … the world has more information than you can shake a stick at, and if you don’t know something, then a few taps on a keypad connected to the internet will get you the information you need to find out what you need to know. But stop right there for a moment. Computers are a recent invention. Most homes didn’t have a home computer until around mid 1980’s. So if you were born before around 1985-1990, then the question is … what did you do before then if you wanted to know something? And what if we wanted to remember to buy a joint of meat and some apples from the shops – what on earth did all us numbskulls do then?? We must have done something because we all know quite a bit of stuff and none of it was learned from or via a computer!
We now focus so much on the outside ‘stuff’ that there’s a deficit on the inside ‘stuff’. Where are the things which are going to help with that? Where is The Balance? Where is the Inspiration? What exactly is Inspirational about these gadgets?
Are we actually going to end up like the dystopia scene, (nearing the end) of the movie Wall-E?
I’ve learned this week (and this surprised me) that half the human beings who’ve ever lived are reckoned to have been killed by the mosquito.
3,000 people die of malaria every day (malaria caused by a mosquito bite). That’s 45 billion human beings in our history. Mosquitoes carry more than a hundred potentially fatal diseases including malaria, yellow fever, dengue fever, encephalitis, filariasis and elephantiasis. Even today, they kill one person every twelve seconds. Which leads me to thinking that if the super intelligent guys who are designing and making the gadgets which I’ve just talked about, instead put their minds to solving this mosquito problem, then perhaps that problem solving thing would REALLY be something to celebrate. (instead of seeing inside the fridge with the door closed. huh!)
I’ve learned that Mr. Cobs idea of putting super duper new over-head lights in the ‘Executive Art Annexe’ to replace the old ones (craft room to you and me) was one of the best ideas he’s ever had (obviously the best was marrying me. lol). These new lights are BRILLIANT! It’s like having natural light in there all the time. So much better for crafting by and I LOVE THEM!
I’ve learned that who ever’s in charge of turning Autumn into Winter is obviously new to the job this year, and that the previous person must have retired, because – on November the 1st, it didn’t just get cooler, it turned into frost on my windscreen and me into a dithering woman who began the day wearing a v-neck long sleeve top, and had to get a scarf out to cover up that v-neck bit because it was icy cold! Someone needs to have a word with this obviously new employee whose joy of getting the job has gone to his/her head (I feel it’s a chap to be honest – not sure why) – and ‘he’ is enjoying the power he’s now got. I wonder if he was a Traffic Warden in a previous existence?
And finally … I learned some new (to me) jokes … and I just HAVE TO share them with you….
Why do the Teletubbies go to the toilet together? …. because they’ve only got one tinky winky!
Why is 6 afraid of 7? . . . Because 7 8 9
How do you make a band stand? . . . Take away their chairs
What’s white and can’t climb trees? . . . A fridge!
What do you call an alligator with GPS? . . . A navigator.
What do you call an alligator in a vest? . . . An investigator.
I’ve just put my friend Richard on speed dial on the phone. . . . it’s my Get-Rich-Quick scheme.
Ok I’ll stop. … you’ve suffered enough. 🙂 lol
Wishing you a truly Fabulous Friday, filled with a balance of innocent fun, smiles, love, care, and friendliness. May any gremlins which get into your day be shooed off and not hang around long. Have a wonderful day. But … remember to stop and make a memory at some point today!
Play safe, be good to each other, and may your God go with you.
The Art of Cobwebs 