The Internet And Trivial Pursuits
July 17, 2008 – 5:55 am
I do not know how I survived before the internet. Did you ever struggle to remember the name of an actor from an old movie or the name of a song? Before the internet, you had to call your friends or wait for your brain to suddenly recall the information. Now a quick trip to Google and you have your answer.
I no longer even bother trying to remember certain information. For instance, the other day I was mixing up some gasoline and oil for my weedeater. I knew that the mixture was 40:1 but I could not recall how much oil to add to a gallon of gasoline to get that ratio. A Google search phrase of “oil gas mixture for 40:1 ratio” turned up a site that in now in my bookmarks, the Gas Oil Mixture Ratio Calculator. It is this type of information that make the internet such a great resource.
Another useful site is the Acronym Finder. It will help you define acronyms and abbreviations, which is a must if you work for the government.
Finally, if you are out of your teens, particularly if you are a parent, let me give you a couple of websites that you should definitely bookmark. The first is the Urban Dictionary which defines virtually any slang term that the younger set might use. The second is Netlingo which has one of the most extensive lists of chat acronyms and text message shorthand on the internet. If your agency is considering adding the use of text messaging to your Crime Stopper program, you better visit this site to bone up on the lingo.