Is the internet a dangerous place to work?

In the first place, the Internet was originally designed for use in the U.S military. The whole system at the time had less computing power than an iPod. Today though, the Internet is just about anything but  a military tool.

Today the Internet is used for:  entertainment, work, communication, and information finding. It is hard to imagine the modern world without the Internet.

The Internet allows its users to access vast quantities of information at the push of a button for research, education and fun. It allows for quick communication world wide with family and friends. Also, entertainment, movies, music and games can be viewed and/or downloaded.

But, the Internet does have its dark side. In a way, the Internet has become the new 'toilet door.' Many websites feature pornography and violence or easy access to sites that promote gambling. Others  carry messages of hatred toward minority religious and ethnic groups. Some sites teach how to make bombs, poisons or get involved with terror groups.

Social networks seem like harmless socialisation.  But, there are weirdos out there who disguise themselves to fool unsuspecting users. Internet predators hope to lure a child into an online or even a face-to-face sexual encounter. According to a 2008 survey, 52 percent of teens have given out personal information online to someone they don't know offline including personal photos and/ or physical descriptions of themselves (Harris Interactive-McAfee 10/2008)

The Bible provides good advice by warning us not to associate with those who aren't what they seem: Psalms 26:4 "I have not sat with men of untruth. And with those who hide what they are I do not come in."

With regards to cyber bullying, things like hateful and threatening emails and text messages can cause people to become depressed which can lead to suicide. Says the website InternetSafety101.org,

"43% of teens aged 13 to 17 report that they have experienced some sort of cyberbullying in the past year."

Another thing with regards to emails, is spam. It's just junk mail but can contain obscene content, and links to other undesirable web sites.

The Internet, if you know how to use it and what to look out for, it is a really useful tool, as I said earlier. On the other hand, the Internet will probably never be danger free so, be on guard for the dangers and keep an eye out for weirdos.

Review of 'Mind Your Language' (an English comedy from the mid 70s)

At the moment, I'm quite into the old BBC comedies. Why? Because its good, clever, and 'clean.' The clean aspect of this is that my family doesn't tolerate foul language and things like that. Yes, the title 'Mind Your Language' might sound to be an exception. But it isn't. Its not about some foul mouthed bloke. Instead, its about an English language school in the mid 70s. Around when people of all tongues were coming to England for work and a better life. A bit like New Zealand is now.

The main funnies in this show are that the students often miss-hear the teacher's instructions. And there a jokes in it too. One of such goes like this: "Oh my wife's an angel." "You're lucky, mine is still living!"                  Episode 1 season 1 Part 1 ( Top ) Episode 2 season 1 part 2 (Bottom)  

The i-Learn Experiance

When I first heard about the i-learn program, I thought it was just going to be a bogus attempt to get us to learn something. We were to learn about anything we wanted for the next 3 days. Then, present our findings to the others. My thoughts were that we should learn about anything in our own time. And have the option of when and how much we would find out about.

It was all a very dull idea to me until I remembered that I could choose any topic i wanted to study. Because had taken an interest in cars in the last month or so, I had been wondering how the transmission in cars worked. So, I choose car transmission as my topic. That was a good one because: One, I didn't know a lot about car transmission. Two, because there was such a range of information, it was sure to take at least 3 days.

Over all, I guess the i-learn scheme was OK. It was a nice change from school routine.