The World of Stuff .com

Stating point of view

Birthday greetings and a bottle of wine to Paul McCartney, who is sixty-four today. Though he’s not really losing his hair, it has been many years since the Beatles’ song “When I’m Sixty-Four” was released on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967. Thirty-nine years later, Sir Paul hasn’t needed to scrimp or save. Linda and Heather have fed him, and he’s probably stayed out till quarter to three on many an occasion. Who could ask for more? This is precisely what I mean to say: we’re all older too, but we still need you, Paul. Every Vera, Chuck, and Dave would agree.

One of the newer features in Skype is the ability to participate in Skypecasts, which are basically huge conference calls (of up to 100 people) that are organized in advance. Perusing the rather short list of upcoming Skypecasts, I’ve been disappointed to find that most of them are about boring topics like business, self-help, religion, learning English, and soccer. Surprisingly, there have been a few about Esperanto, of which I have a pretty good understanding. I joined one only to find that only two or three people were there; we were all dabblers who just wanted to hear the language being spoken. Another Skypecast had quite a few people going on in Esperanto about various things. I was pretty shy, and I dropped out after listening for a little while. I think I need to talk to a native English speaker who is also in the process of learning the language.

Anyway, I thought that I could start a Skypecast, but I can’t really think of a topic to talk about with random strangers scattered all over the globe. Actually, it doesn’t have to be a big discussion — Skypecasts have been likened to a call-in radio show because the host of the Skypecast can control whether the others are allowed to speak. Since it can also be used in this way, it would be interesting to deliver a comedy routine, with allowing a certain listener to speak being an analog to chatting it up with somebody in the first row of the audience. Does anyone have any interesting ideas for Skypecasts? Give me your answer: fill in a form. Er, post a comment. (Sorry if my lights have gone.)

Hey, maybe I could talk about the Beatles. I like them.

From the Wall Street Journal: Hollywood’s Take on the Internet Often Favors Fun Over Facts. It’s an article about how computers and the Internet have been portrayed in movies.

Here’s a list of the Top Ten Weirdest, Creepiest, Freakiest Children’s Television Shows, according to some blogger.

Two years ago: “It was described in the Warner Brothers sound effects library as ‘Man Being Eaten by Alligator.’”