The Mobile Phone Killed The Sit Com

I'm a big fan of Seinfeld. I’m currently rewatching the entire show. So far I'm about half-way through series eight.

Not everybody likes Seinfeld and even I have to admit that his stand-up routine isn't so great but I do love the show.

It occurred to me last night that many of the gags in the show wouldn’t work if they were tried today. It's not that peoples sense of humour has changed that much but rather that many of the situations were dependent on the characters making arrangements with each other and then not being able to contact each other. That just wouldn’t work anymore in the mobile phone age.

It's hard to remember now what it used to be like before mobile phones. How you would make arrangements to meet somebody somewhere and then you would have to meet them there at the pre-arranged time or else miss them. Nowadays we can just make the "I'm running late" or the "I can't see you, where are you" call.

That's why they really had to cancel Seinfeld: Nokia.

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Protective Cover for a Apple iPhone

I remember when mobile phones started to become widely available around ten years ago. The biggest accessory for mobiles at the time was a leather case. Indeed, for the first couple of years of mobile ownership I felt that my phone was almost naked if I didn't have it in a leather case.

The fashion trend for leather cases is just about finished at this stage and now you hardly ever see one. Todays mobiles are designed to be attractive and are shown off rather than being encased in leather.

The most attractive phone today is definitely the iPhone. I'm still holding off on buying one but it is tempting to own one before most other people.

Obviously people want to protect their iPhone and keep it looking as good as new but the idea of covering it up in a leather case would really take away much of the show-off value of owning one.

A solution to this is see-through iphone cases which protect the phone from scratches but also continues to show it off to all your jealous friends and work colleagues.

The see-through covers are made from the same material that the military use to protect helicopter blades. That sounds pretty tough for something that’s only .2 milliemeters thick!

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Europe, I Hardly Know Ye

The great musical farce of the Eurovision is over again for another year. I didn't see the song contest but in the course of random flicking I came upon the scoring at the end of the contest. As a child I usually didn't watch the songs either although I couldn't avoid some of them as my mother did watch it. Even then I used to enjoy watching the scoring and even then it was mainly for jingoistic reasons.

I don't think the Eurovision Song Contest ever was about the music. In the end the scoring came down to one country's list of its favourite European states. The main difference in the old days though was that some consideration to artistic taste would be allowed and so it would sometimes be possible for a song that was actually quite good to win.

The other difference was that in the old days you would know something of the history and geography of the other countries in the contest. The thing that struck me as I watched the scores coming in the other night was that I hadn’t even heard of some of the countries taking part in the contest, let alone know where they were or anything about them.

I remember in the past reading sneering articles which poked fun at Americans and how many of them couldn’t name all 50 states or place them on a map. This seemed to be information of vital importance to the health of a nation. It was also a good way for Europeans to feel superior even though we only had 12 names to remember.

It occurred to me watching the Eurovision last night that not only do I not know where many of these countries are on a map, I don’t know how many of them are members or candidate members of the EU. I’m not even sure how many countries are in the EU.

With a referendum on another Treaty coming up shortly which I don't know anything about, these are greater worries for me than whether or not a western European country will ever again win the Eurovision.

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Online Dating Services

One in every four internet users is signed up on at least one online dating service. That's the bold claim made in the introduction to Dating Services which provides a free guide to such sites. Whatever the percentage of Internet users who are actively participating in online dating sites it certainly is a growing number as internet dating becomes an increasingly commonplace way of meeting a match.

In response to this Dating Services is one of those sites to emerge which offers a guide to the sites and some general advice about internet dating.

The advice given by Dating Services includes some basic tips such as taking precautions to ensure your safety, giving out your personal details and being sceptical about what people tell you about themselves.

From there it goes into more detail about what to look for in a site when you are thinking of joining one, such as the age profile of the members, the size of the membership and costs.

Dating Services is an interesting read and clearly some effort has been made to compile the information and put it all together in the one site. Presumably the pay-off for the owners is when people join the dating sites being reviewed using their affiliate links. It is probably for this reason that it tends to be a little overly dismissive of the free as opposed to the subscription dating sites.

The Guide is well put together and, while it doesn't include any groundbreaking news, it does cover all the basic points that anyone looking to join an internet dating site might want to consider.

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Our Daily Colonel

A salesman from KFC walked up to the Pope and offers him a million dollars if he would change "The Lord's Prayer" from "give us this day our daily bread" to "give us this day our daily chicken." The Pope refused his offer.

Two weeks later, the man offered the Pope 10 million dollars to change it from "give us this day our daily bread" to "give us this day our daily chicken" and again the Pope refused the man's generous offer. Another week later, the man offered the Pope 20 million dollars and finally the Pope accepted.

The following day, the Pope said to all his officials, "I have some good news and some bad news. 'The good news is, that we have just received a check for 20 million dollars. The bad news is, we lost the Wonder Bread account!'

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Issues in the World of Web Designing

I became separated from the world of Web Designing around about 1999. When I started designing web-sites in 1995 I was not quite a pioneer but I wasn’t too far off. The internet was a different place then. With grey backgrounds and tables being the cutting edge of design I was like a one-eyed man in the land of the blind.

Things started running away from me as the years went on and around 2000 I started to lose track as my hands on, day-to-day web-site maintenance ceased. My web design skills since then haven’t developed beyond creating tables within tables within tables.

Today if it wasn’t for blogging software I’d barely be able to maintain a site. Knowledge of HTML is now commonplace. To survive nowadays, as this post about the world of Web Designing demonstrates, requires knowledge of a greater variety of languages.

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Could This Be Summer?

The last two days in Dublin were wonderfully sunny days. The forecast is for tomorrow to be the same and for the day after to be slightly less so until it gradually descends back into foul, relentless rain on Saturday. Luckily for me I’m off work tomorrow and Thursday as I was today. Last years so-called summer is still firmly in the forefront of my memory and it is just possible that these few days of good weather are our lot as far as summer weather goes. Enjoy it while you can!

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Cher in Las Vegas

The newest attraction at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas is Cher who is starting to tomorrow, replacing Celine Dion and performing for four nights a week for a month.

Cher's new show, which is being performed at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace will feature 18 dancers and aerialists. The show will also feature video and special effects and the costumes that you would expect from Cher and Vegas.

It has been some career for Cher, born Cherilyn Sarkisian on May 20, 1946. She started performing in the 1960s and has been through several lifetimes of experiences in the meantime. Interestingly before Sonny and Cher came to be known as such they performed first of all as Caesar and Cleo. In a way then Cher's career has come around full circle; starting off as Caesar and Cleo and coming around to now as Cher in Caesars Palace!

It's a funny thought she will be spending her 62nd birthday performing in Las Vegas. Yes, she is actually performing that night! You can be sure that Cher tickets at Caesars Palace for that night in particular will be highly sought after.

In a way Cher and Las Vegas seem to be a perfect match. An evening with Cher in Caesers Palace strikes me as the perfect way to experience a trip to Las Vegas!

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