Shift Happens (and it boggles my mind)

Below is a YouTube video, 'Shift Happens'. I urge everyone to take a few moments and watch this. Take this information in, to really understand the speed of planetary change we are living with, and how much faster the changes will be coming in the near future. The original video was created by Karl Fisch, and this updated version was modified by Scott McLeod. Visit Karl Fisch's site for more on the background of the original video. To join in the conversation about all this, please go HERE:




And here is another version, with cooler graphics, that was put out after I originally posted this- you click your way through it at your own pace:




I am boggled by this information. What does it mean for a human living on planet Earth?? Well, to some extent that depends WHERE that human is living, although that seems to be less and less important, as humans EVERYWHERE start getting connected. And to a much larger extent, it depends on WHEN that human is living. We are seeing the first stages of this global transformation... what will our children and grandchildren live to see, and how will those changes effect the quality of their lives???

In a related matter, I took a 'speed test', to compare my internet connection speeds to other areas. The results were disappointing. My download speeds were 2,090 kilobytes per second. The US average download speed is a measly 1,280 kbps. Compare that to average download speeds in Japan, a whopping 51,200 kbps. Wow! Results for the upload times do not show as large a difference: Mine = 599 kbps, average US = 230 kbps, and Japan = 1,275 kbps. Why are Japan's citizens provided with connection speeds SO much faster than in the US and elsewhere? What speeds are YOU connecting with? Take the quick test for yourself, by going HERE.

I tested my speeds again August 20, 2007, four times within a period of about ten minutes, and got these varying results results:

Is Google Googling My Thoughts??

A couple of days ago I added a small Google Ads display to this blog, as a way to generate some income. It has interested me to see what they have been displaying. They are supposed to match the products being advertised to the content of my blog. While the ads do switch around, I've noticed that most of the time they are advertising various drug rehab and drug detox programs- 'get over your heroin addiction while going on a wilderness retreat & rafting down the Rio Grande'- that sort of thing.

Now I'm wondering just how that fits in with anything I've been blogging about. Does it? Not as far as I can tell. Why aren't they advertising cat related products, or maybe some good zombie repellent? That would make more sense to me, and heck, everyone should have a can of zombie repellent handy these days.

But no, they're stuck on drug recovery. And at my place of employment, a secret facility buried deep beneath the sands of an undisclosed location in New Mexico, where wayward youth are sent to keep them safe from zombies, drugs DO come up from time to time. Why, just the other day we discovered that one kid has been abusing over the counter cold to get high. Ick. And other kids were caught storing bottles of pee by their beds, presumably to help someone else pass their urine analysis tests ('UA' tests, given to detect drug use). Double ick.

So, certainly I have had recent thoughts of drugs, drug abuse, and recovery (or lack thereof) from drug addiction. But how does Google know this??? Does putting their ads onto my blog also put some sort of Google Thought Monitor into my mind??? I confess I did not read all the fine print in the agreement between Google Ads and myself. Now I feel a little nervous. What other things which I thought were private does Google Ads know about me???? You can be darn sure I'll be watching those little ads VERY closely, to see what they are selling! Am I being paranoid?? Maybe, and maybe not... time will tell.

Update: While Google did begin displaying more relevant ads soon after this post was written, not long afterwards I decided I just didn't like the look of those ads on my blog, regardless of what they were about, and I removed them.

Some Recent Blogging Trends...

I came across some nifty graphs, which show recent trends in the blogosphere. For instance, this one below, which shows numbers of mentions of cat people, dog people and horse people over the last 6 months:

It looks as if the cat people are a bit more unstable, with greater ups & downs than the dog people. The cat people had a great day around February 9th, but overall we need to pull ourselves up a bit, as it is obvious (to me and my 9 cats) that CAT people should have the highest levels. Of course, just by posting this, and mentioning cat people, I am boosting our ratings. So I feel I've done my bit, and now I'm encouraging the rest of you cat people to get blogging about your love of felines! As for the low rating of horse people, I think that is just because they are out in the stables and fields with the horses, and not inside blogging about it!

Switching topics, here is another graph, showing how the 'Seven Deadly Sins' are doing in blog mentions. But first, before you look, can you name the seven deadly sins???:

It's easy to see that anger and pride are the front runners by a wide margin. Why are we blogging about those two so much more than the others? I would have thought lust would put in a better showing. And, in my own personal life, I'm certainly pulling for gluttony and sloth.

And, just to show balance between the dark side and the light side, lets take a look at the 'Seven Roman Virtues', and see how they are fairing in the blogosphere:


Clearly, hope is by far the most popular virtue to blog about. Fortitude and temperance, on the other hand, seem to have fallen by the wayside. Or at least we don't have much to say about them these days. I sat here a moment trying to think of something to say about them, but I also am at a loss. But hey, how about all that hope, huh?? It makes me smile. It makes me feel, well, rather hopeful... How about you?

OK, and I couldn't resist this one final graph, comparing blog mentions of ghosts, demons, and zombies. Now this one surprised me. Frankly, I thought the zombies would put in a much better showing. But that might just be my own personal prejudices showing though- I admit I'm kinda into zombies. And what was with that huge spike in people blogging about ghosts around February 9th?? Curious... (insert spooky ghost music here)


These graphs are just some of the cool features available at: http://www.blogpulse.com/