Blog - October 2010
Jump to: The Youngest Ever... , The Apprentice! , Avaaz.org , Climate Connundrum , Mountaineering...
Tue 26th Oct 10 The Youngest Ever Billionaire
Went to the cinema last night (the awesome Showroom in Sheffield) to see The Social Network. Having just taken on an ex BBC Radio Producer (with vertigo!) as a part time PR specialist to help work on my events, social media has been high on the agenda for the last week or so. You may have noticed a revamp of my Facebook and Twitter profiles (please sign up if you haven't done already as I am trying to post interesting stuff there each day). Coincidentally I also watched a popular Youtube video yesterday on the sheer power of social media. I shan't list the various stats here (as that is mainly what the video is), suffice to say that it's worth watching.
The film charts the dawn of Facebook by a couple of students at Harvard, the incredibly fast growth of the site into a phenomenon the likes of which the world has never seen before. If Facebook were a country it would be the third largest in the world with over 500,000,000 users (and that is without China!). Owner and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg is the youngest ever billionaire (born in 1984 and currently worth over $25Billion!). The main character in the film (played by Jesse Eisenberg), Zuckerberg made a lot of enemies along the road to where he is now which makes for a very, very absorbing and entertaining film. I went to bed last night thinking about Facebook and woke up doing the same, and here I am Blogging about it. It's a funny old world we live in!
Thu 21st Oct 10 The Apprentice!
What a bunch of muppets! If you don't watch the Apprentice I'd strongly urge you to do so. It is one of the best bits of TV entertainment ever conceived in my mind. I watch very little TV, but look forward to my Wed nights. For those who don't know the concept, 15 people are effectively being interviewed for a high flying job as an apprentice to entrepreneur Alan Sugar. Each episode they are set a fairly hefty task (for example to think of, design and sell a brand new beach product, all within a 48 hour period). The interviewees are split into two teams and compete against each other. One member of the losing team is fired.
Sounds simple enough. It is. The tasks are pretty tricky, but these are folk aiming for a £100,000 salary job so you'd expect them to have the credentials necessary. So why is it that week after week the project leader (different each time) turns into a raving lunatic that wouldn't be able to manage a GCSE project? I'll admit that as a viewer I am being manipulated and toyed with by a team of very clever editors, and that each episode a new character or two are picked up to look incredibly silly, but that doesn't get around the fact that they say and do some down-right daft things! Then there's the argument that they're just doing it to get on the telly. Well given the fact that there is a 14 out of 15 chance that they will be fired and end up looking like a total wally in front of millions, I can't see that The Apprentice is really a very sensible road to fame and stardom! It'd be interesting to know what the previous contestants have got up to since their time in the limelight (the series is a few years old now).
Can't wait for Ben Elton to parody it in one of his books!
Fri 15th Oct 10 Avaaz.org
If you haven't heard of it you ought to check it out. It's quite probably the single best use of the internet and email of all time. Some 6 million people are members, a lot fewer than the likes of Facebook or Twitter, but rather than existing simply to facilitate social networking, Avaaz is an online campaign engine fighting for important causes all over the world. And it works. Whilst Facebook allows people to have a laugh and stop some wayward suit from losing his job for surfing porn at work, Avaaz tackles more meaty subjects like the mis-use of Argentinian glaciers or stopping Germany from cutting its aid budget. It's a kind of global democracy the likes of which have never been seen before. Sure, massive rallies have been organised to oppose war in Iraq (and look what good they did!), but Avaaz can mobilize literally hundreds of thousands of people within hours or even minutes.
I reccomend that you join...
Thu 14th Oct 10 Climate Connundrum
I'm not sure what to make of this. Makes me feel a lot like a real-life puppet!
I know, it's not cool to question climate change, but I'm a sceptic by nature and there does seem to be a rising tide of such doubt. In case you can't click on the link above or simply don't have time, in a nutshell it's a letter written by an eminent physicist to the American Physical Society (his representative / governing body) resigning from the society because of their complete lack of gumption to question the current state of thinking in the wake of Climate Gate.
Tue 5th Oct 10 Mountaineering Expedition Grant - Nick Estcourt Award
Something I administer as part of Heason Events is the Nick Estcourt Award which gives one substantial grant per year to a deserving mountain based expedition. This year’s award went to:
2010 British Tahu Ratum Expedition. £1,500. To make the first ascent of the NW Ridge - Tahu Ratum (6651m). Luke Hunt, Tom Ripley &Hamish Dunn.
The deadline for next year’s award is Dec 31st, still a way away, but now is the time when people will be planning next year’s trips.
