Googol perplexity

Ever wonder where the word ‘Google’ came from ?  It’s a misspelling of the word Googol, which refers to a number: a 1 followed by one hundred zeroes.  Meant as a pun on the amount of information that is available on the internet.  (An even larger number is Googolplex)   Random Google surfing is like bumpy black slope skiing: you have a general idea where you want to go, but you always take a different path than planned, and you end up off course and glad you made it in one piece, without being distracted too much by strangeness like alien chicks on snow beasts. 

Yes, if there’s anything omnipresent on the internet it’s our generation’s Star Wars Fetish.  It will pass.  My sons being Alien vs predator fans (movie, games, stealth attacks on our staircase, the works), I couldn’t help noticing the resemblance to a well known brand of pregnancy test.  In a Freudian analysis, this movie would be linked to the fear of unwanted pregnancy:  “Alien vs Predictor” All this as an introduction to some internet archeology: the famous

“Alien vs predator” shower scene.

Equally hazardous as showering in the apartment of your mortal enemy, is public speaking.  Because a Freudian slip up these days will render you immortal on YouTube.  Unless you really believe in yourself,  this new trend of remixing the speeches into musical versions is especially troublesome.  So far they mostly seem to target people that have a tendency to talk melodically, like the specimen that my good blog buddy IzaakMak  fished out of the pond.   Of course it’s just a harmless parody, because I do applaud what this Jacob Isom did.  It’s indeed an unnecessary provocation to disrespect symbols.   But let’s not forget that religious fundamentalists usually also disrespect freedom of choice.  So politically active skaters might want to take it one step further, and snatch away from fanatics as many Bibles, Qur’ans, Torahs, Tripitaka’s, … as possible, everywhere.  The books can then be kept in a safe place, to prevent them being misinterpreted for power-trip purposes. 

OPM “Heaven is a halfpipe”

Some more browsing taught me that social awareness and humour have gone hand in hand before.  And as often, somewhat outdated texts can prove to be surprisingly relevant in present day contexts.

( Charlie Chaplin and Mahatma Ghandi together in 1931. )

 

“We the people“, Charlie Chaplin speech remix.

Advertisement