Blogging is such sweet sorrow

We watched a "best of live at the Apollo" last night. It was funny in places but I was reminded of a quip on some other show saying ".... that was as thin as Michael McIntyre's material" (http://www.comedy.co.uk/guide/tv/michael_mcintyre_roadshow/press/) still it was light entertainment.
A clip of Ed Byrne was aired where he trotted out some amusing observations about the differences between men and women, still funny to hear them a second time, one such observation, posed as a question from men to women; "you know when you ask us what we are thinking....", well I won't just repeat the joke in writing, since without the lyrical southern Irish tones and the cheeky wink at the camera, it may fall flat. Suffice to say, men tink about nutten ;-)

Do we really think about nothing? I'm afraid to say it's not true in my head. It never stops churning over and over, analysing, questioning, postulating. The noise can be as suffocating as it is intoxicating. I rarely remember my dreams and I think it is probably because my brain is completely exhausted so, when I sleep, it honestly needs a rest. In fact my inner narrative is so profligate it has often deigned to share it's overflow with random expressions to anyone within earshot. I have, over the years, learned to curb this trait. How am I doing? I seem to notice this trait in others and tend to be more tolerant than many as I too hear the noises.

Reading other's blogs, as I do, I still question the purpose of my own. In general some blogs are review digests, some are issue related discussion boards, many others also seem to have a purpose. Not sure what the purpose of mine is. Is it just another valve with which to release the noise from my head? Is it a necessary chore that serves to allow the peace and quiet with which I struggle to surround myself?

Sent from my iPad

Communication

Not a communication you understand, but communication in general.  Which is a case in point.  A written exchange of information can be very literal, expert writers are able to craft their prose to gently convey a subtext or to imply a broader and often less direct meaning.  However, in the main we are pretty poor at this, especially if you compare our ability with the spoken word.  Here we have a replete armoury of weapons to aid the communication, conscious or subconscious.  Paralanguage has evolved over aeons to provide us with tools to inform and be informed by each member of our social group - a vital skill in survival.  It is thought that modern humans developed language around 200,000 years ago.  By contrast, the written language has arguably only been in existence since 3300BC.

This is a Mesopotamian cuneiform tablet from circa 5000 years ago and is one of the earliest known records of the written word.  It contains a schedule of payments to workers made in beer.  This is one of the podcast episodes in A History of the World.  It has triggered some of the thoughts I am currently sharing.

It is not surprising then that in our rapidly accelerating evolutionary environment as we approach the singularity; we are experiencing some difficulty in the transition from traditional methods of engaging in social discourse.  In my last blog I provoked an engaging discourse that suffered a little from not being face to face and also was diminished as it clearly wasn't a peer reviewed journal.  Its really worth reading the dialogue in the comments between Eric and myself if you get time.  I can't help thinking though that as we blunder and err our way through this proto-social-communication tool we are in some way chipping the cool wet Tigris and Euphrates clay.

Too much to say

Unsurprisingly I find myself with too much to say. Perversely this has resulted in me actually blogging nothing for over a week. My thought process about what to blog had been: BT Vision Review, Cult of "New" or Pain of the Early Adopter, Moore's Law of Exponential Micro-Processor Evolution, The Law of Accelerating Returns by Kurzweil, The First Person that will live for 1000 years has already been born.  It's like "Surfing the Brain".

So let's start at the beginning.

Recently we moved home and this provided an opportunity to rationalise three essential modern services. Fixed line telecoms, broadband internet and pay2view TV. These 3 services between them were responsible for more than I cared to admit of our monthly outgoings.

We had Sky HD with loads of add-ons, BT 8MB business broadband and most of our phone calls were on the O2 mobile account from our iPhone's prepaid monthly calls. The "full service" options were Sky, O2, Virgin and BT. For various reasons and despite my misgivings about BT customer service, we opted for the BT package. Customer service has been the worst I have ever experienced - well maybe the Biroska shop in Soviet Moscow in 1984 - no BT still occupy that nadir, nothing can go lower. The cost saving has been good if they actually credit back all the errors in billing that have occurred!

So finally the review of BT Vision:

The device that is provided is an uninspiring receiver/recorder box for freeview TV but additionally you can access TV programmes over the broadband selecting from a whole array of past series. Unfortunately this selection is quite limited and programmes don't seem to be available in perpetuity. Also HD is only on very limited "download" availability and is not able to be live streamed. As a concept then BT Vision is a prelude to the future. Being able to pay for what you view - or use credits - and to chose a specific programme from a backlog of all those produced is clearly a fairer way to bill and a more empowering way to engage with visual media. In actuality though it is a mere shadow of what it could be, I'd wait until more early adopters (like me) have beta tested it and the bandwidth has improved in the UK.

Why am I blogging?

So episode 3 and already I'm becoming overly introspective.  What is blogging? typing whyblog? in to google was quite enlightening.  I think, looking at the top link, it gave me some ideas. 

It's like sitting around a virtual fire with some good friends, may be drinking a glass of winter warmer, and "chewing the fat".  You get to hear some of your thoughts and try them out on people - judge their response - before they've become set in stone. Unless of course you're a journalist and then its entirely different.  It strikes me that many people haven't really explored what they express verbally to any degree before they utter it in public.  Of course this all relies on having an audience.  So to the nub of it, I am now torn between polar opposites, the theme "soliloquy" implying that I am speaking in to the ether without care of an audience and the clear opposite - characterised by me regular reviewing my reader stats on blogpatrol - is my desire to solicit feedback from readers, to communicate.

This desire has got me in to trouble previously, I distinctly remember my Dad pleading with me on a long car journey to sit back and try to sleep - code I was clear on even then in the back of his blue Ford Cortina, for "Stop talking".

I suspect then you have an opportunity, with the patient tone of a father driving to Cornwall, to gently say "stop talking".  The opportunity may not be around for long so don't delay!