I thought that “The End of The World as We Know It” had already taken place earlier this year. And I was right of course, but for the wrong reason.

Silly me.

“Googled” by Ken Auletta, does describe the end of the world as we know it. But it’s not a financial meltdown, it’s a media meltdown.

And because you can get the book in both Kindle and Audible formats in a matter of seconds, I’m recommending it as a Procrastinator’s Delight for a really last minute Holiday Gift.

Much More Than A Verb

From Publisher’s Weekly:

Two Googles emerge in this savvy profile of the Internet search octopus. The first is the actual company, with its mixture of business acumen and naïve idealism … its brilliant engineering feats and grad-students-at-play company culture; its geek founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page … The second Google is a monstrous metaphor for all the creative destruction that the Internet has wrought on the crumbling titans of old media, who find themselves desperately wondering how they will make money off of news, music, video and books now that people can Google up all these things without paying a dime …

It’s been a while since I read a great ‘behind-the-scenes’ look at the birth of a technology company. But this is not just any tech company.  Google has in many ways changed our reality. And no, I don’t think I’m exaggerating.

Consider for a second what Google has put at our fingertips, under the seemingly simple term: Search. You can ask virtually any question on virtually any topic and have an answer in a few seconds. You can enter an address in most parts of the US and many parts of Europe and within seconds have a satellite map of the street, and then a view from a car driving down that street. You can, or soon will be able, to search virtually every book that’s ever been written. You can type a page in one language and have it instantly translated into another language.

‘Search’ really is organizing all the world’s information and making it available.

We take it for granted, but the implications of Search are staggering when you think about it. Some have derided Google because ‘all they can do is search’. That misses the point entirely.

Before Google search platforms were not automated. They could never have kept up with the growth in the web. Before Google search results were bought and paid for by advertisers. Google did away with that and made the results as ‘unbiased’ as possible.

[Before I read the book I thought that Google Page Rank was named after an algorithm that ranked a website on how often the pages were referenced. That was partly true, but in fact the 'Page' in the term was just taken from Larry Page's name, since he came up with the algorithm.]

“Googled” gives you the real back-story on Search and Google’s mind-set. Until recently the company pretty much flew under the radar. But that’s changing, and Google are now under tremendous scrutiny around the world by governments and a variety of business interests. This book will help you understand the thinking both at Google and their adversaries on any number of important issues. And these issues effect all of us.

But in fact “Googled” is even more about a change in the media landscape that is unfolding, and will continue to unfold for many years to come. It’s how we get our news, our entertainment, and communicate with other people. Business and cultural models that have been around for a hundred years are collapsing. That’s what’s perhaps the most interesting aspect of the book for me.

In a way the world is choosing up sides, and Googled helps explain the coin toss.

So did you want to Kick or Receive?

With H1N1 germs floating around, everyone is getting clean these days, or at least trying to.

It’s stressful though, trying to stay clean with so many ways to get contaminated.

I worries me.

So for example, what should I worry the most about,

• Dirty money?
• Contaminated food?
• Doctor’s ties?

It’s a tough call.

I'm Worried And Taking Precautions

I used to worry the most about dirty money. According to experts, in excess of 80% of dollar bills carry discernible traces of cocaine. Since learning about that I’ve switched entirely to using my credit card, and purchasing as much as possible on the interweb.

Then I began worrying about contaminated food when it was documented that 26% of the US population gets food poisoning every year. Since it’s only a fraction of that in Britain and France, I convinced Leslie to go with me to the UK for a month. But that was only a temporary fix, and now I’m back in the soup, so to speak.

The final blow came yesterday with the discovery that now I even have to worry about my doctor’s tie. Turns out that nobody washes ties, and they are always within nose-range of the patient when the doc performs his examination. One solution has all docs wearing bow ties. Even better, I could just switch to Leslie’s doc, since she doesn’t wear ties.

So what to worry about the most? I think I’ll listen to words of advice from my favorite columnist:

[Anxiety?] We live in a time when we are constantly being reminded that a fellow plane passenger might be trying to smuggle explosives in his sneakers. We can manage anxiety.  - Gail Collins

Don’t worry, be happy.

I pretty much always learn things the hard way, consoling myself with the hope that this time I’ll really remember the lesson. Since, statistically speaking, I’m older than the average blog reader I thought I’d pass along some of this hard-earned wisdom.

Today’s lesson is to remember and try to Always Ask The Right Question.

I’ve discovered that this is much harder than you might suppose.

Many years ago Leslie and I were in a remote town in Australia. It only had one restaurant, and that was the local pub. We checked it out when we arrived, and asked if they served food tonight. “Yes”, was the answer. Did the pub get crowded and would we need to get there early. “No” was the answer.

So we said, “OK, we’ll see you later.”

Remoter Even Than Australia

We came back later, and sure enough the place was empty, so we asked for a beer and a table for food. But no dice. The same person very politely told us that there was a wedding party coming later and it would take up the entire pub.

So in retrospect, the question we should have asked was “Can we eat dinner in this pub tonight?”

The take-away is that when we ask questions, we have a better chance of asking the correct one if we just ask for what we want.

Getting fancy and being too smart by half usually doesn’t work.

Be stupid.

A reliable source has told me that my last few posts have been too convoluted.

He said to get simple. OK, here we go.

The question burning in your mind is whether a bird can outrun bird-shot?

And the answer would be,

No.

But some do better than others. Here is your chart from The Economist.

Better To Take Your Chances With A Jet Engine

You have to admire the graphic artists at The Economist.

They do have a way with words birds.

Traveling in a foreign country teaches you to get familiar with a few key words in the local dialect, especially if you are language-challenged like me.

So it’s been natural for me to learn some PLU when I venture out to the grocery store. Especially since PLU’s are just numbers.

It’s not that I can remember numbers more easily than words; it’s just that I can actually pronounce them without sounding like a total fool.

Even better, you don’t say them out loud, they are entered into a keyboard.

What's the Plural of 4011?

Those of you who employ ‘people’ to make your life easier need to know that the rest of us save time at the grocery store doing self-checkout.

As explained by the corporations who own these stores, this gives their customers a badly needed chance for self-expression. And I’ve found that this is indeed true. I can make a choice to stand in a long line or have a satisfying interaction with a grocery bot. Kind of an R2DU without wheels.

Most items come with a UPC that is easily scanned by our small friend. He even makes a satisfying beep upon recognizing the UPC. Like he’s meeting a long lost buddy. A  fist bump between inanimate objects.

More challenging for the grocery tourist are the items not born with a UPC. Here’s where your working knowledge of PLU leaves a fluent French speaker in your dust as she is offered silly little ‘food icon’ buttons to press because she’s considered  illiterate by the bot.

You, on the other hand, will avoid the pretty pictures and go directly to a screen where you boldly enter the item code in the native’s PLU language. The power and control can be overwhelming.

But beware complacency. PLU is destined to join Babble’s scrap heap of history. The powers that be are already experimenting with ink-jet applied UPC’s directly on our fruits and vegetables. It’s too late for us, but not for our children.

They will tell their children about the good old days when a banana was just 4011 and not a  3-dimensional hologram with an embedded RFID chip. A chip in this case that does not require ketchup.

I have only one thing to say to President Obama.

4884

I’m in for a bunch.

And for our international readers who didn’t keep up with the details of the 2008 Presidential campaign, here’s your link.

If you like our blog and want to stay up-to-date with new postings click here.

We’ve gotten comfortable with Eco-Tourism, and now have another great phrase entering the lexicon: “Terror Tourism”. Today we’re visiting Mumbai, six months after the attacks, thru the reporting of the Financial Times.

Farhan Jehani, co-owner of Leopold Café, said business could not be better as he pointed out the bullet and grenade marks the managers have purposely retained on the café’s walls in remembrance of the incident. “Leopold’s . . . has become more famous now following this incident [the attacks], no doubt,” he said.

Street hawkers operating around Nariman House, which is near Leopold’s and the Taj, say it has also become a tourist attraction.

“There is also a bus service that takes tourists there,” said Imran Khan, a street vendor who sells replica watches, jewellery and stickers not far from Nariman House. “So in a way it has become good for us, business-wise, after the attack.”

They used to be just a Café, now Leopold’s is a destination.

Business is Good

Come see our bullet holes!

It's A Tourist Destination Now

But hey, if it’s bullet holes you want, let’s try Bosnia. My son, Matthew, took this picture in Mostar, Bosnia and he was just an ordinary tourist, way back in ’07.

Bullet Holes? We Don't Need Your Stinking Bullet Holes.

So what’s the point? Pick your favorite.

• People are callous and stupid,
• Disneyland is becoming disintermediated,
• Life goes on.

I guess I pick the last one, that’s why I filed this post under Angst.

Shameless plug: If you like the picture, thank Matthew by going to his website www.treasuredfinds.com and purchasing a gift for Dad on Father’s Day.

Pakistan has the world’s attention with the threat that one of their Nukes might get into the wrong hands. There’s a concern that they are not properly ‘locked up’ or ‘secured’ like those in the west.

It may be time to bring in the really heavy guns.

We could recruit the music and movie industry to put DRM (that’s Digital Rights Management to you folks in Rio Linda) on the errant devices.

Or just sue the terrorists into submission.

Wherever you go, there you are.         – Anon