Did you really just say that?

Do you know those times when you are talking to someone and they say something and you are taken off guard? Or when you scroll through your Social Networks and see something that someone posted and have to ask yourself "why?" If you have experienced that then the best you can do is know that you are not alone. Statistics (that I just made up) show that at any one moment there is a 97% chance that one or more people are thinking this. Sometimes I think it when I see studies like this. Some people are amazed at the findings. I am just amazed that someone was interested enough to do a study on whatever it was they were studying. Some just seemed overly complicated. It is times like this that we question the thinking processes of certain people. Sometimes it can ruin your view of the future.

Source: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/unleashed/2009/11/dog-lovers-cry-foul-over-comments-from-jay-leno-and-chris-rock-about-michael-vick.html

Sometimes you just need to think before you speak. Do not just think about what you are going to say, think about whether or not that statement could hurt someone's feelings or make someone feel less about themselves. There are some incredibly thoughtless people out there who just say things and try to pass it off as a joke. Even if they are joking it does not make it hurt any less. Once it is said people begin to look at themselves and they realise if it is true or not. Believe me, the "it was only a joke" line never does you any favours. It just makes you look like more of a prick. On Facebook you see it all the time. People just posting meaningless statuses just so people ask them what they are on about. Talk about an attention whore. If you want people to notice you more, say something intelligent or interesting instead of something that makes you look like a self-important person. Seriously guys, I have said to think before you speak but you should also remember to think before you post. Think about how that post could make you or others look or feel. Once you feel confident enough that you know what you are saying can not offend anyone. Then you can post it. Of course, there are times when you need to voice your opinion and sometimes this can hurt people's feelings. The important thing you need to find is a balance and the fine line between opinion and just aiming to hurt someone.

Think before you act, see you tomorrow!

Smartphones

This is a post which goes hand-in-hand with yesterday's post and it is basically an expansion on one of the points I made in yesterday's post. If you have not read this post, click here. Yesterday I mentioned how socialising had updated to meet the current world standards of technology and how this has impacted us both negatively and positively. I made a point about smartphones and their impact on socialising and so today I am going to expand on this point as well as discuss some other areas of our lives that smartphones are affecting. As I said yesterday, they are limiting our face-to-face interactions while also stimulating our world-wide connectivity. Even on a local scale people text more to each other than they would talk about face-to-face as they do not have to face the social awkwardness that a topic or question would bring up.

Source: http://urbantimes.co/2013/09/this-restaurants-policy-put-your-phone-down-and-socialise/

Smartphones, in fact most phones, have made it easier for the rise of the global community. People are now easily able to instantly communicate to someone on the other side of the world and receive an instant reply. In this respect, smartphones have made great headway in this respect by making it even easier to communicate quickly through video-calling and texting which saves individual conversations. They have also limited our world-view. If you go to a concert today you will most likely be seeing the majority of people (probably including yourself) using their phones to record the concert, take photos/selfies, check Facebook and do everything but enjoy what they paid so much to see. It has become socially accepted and if you go to a concert, expect to be watching it through someone's smartphone camera. Even when on dates you see both people on their phones texting other people. Sometimes you even walk past a group of people texting each other! As I said yesterday, it can make for less socially awkward moments but it can also leave people with very little social skills and manners which you can only gain through experience. Even when you go out with family and friends you seem some people living on their phones. My brother is an annoying culprit for this. No matter where you go, be at a restaurant or someone's home, he is always on his phone for the majority of the night. Not only is it rude, it is incredibly annoying. Especially when you need to repeat yourself several times before he understands what you are going on about. It is really frustrating.

Smartphones are both an improvement and a hindrance in our modern society, see you tomorrow!

WATCH the video that sparked these posts:

Social Interactions 2.0

Before I begin I just want to take a moment to explain to you that this post goes hand-in-hand with tomorrow's post which I am also writing straight after this one. You may notice some points in here that will lead on to tomorrow's post but tomorrow's post is not going to be entirely the same as today as it will focus on just one aspect of what I am going to talk about and discuss the wider impacts it has. But, you will just have to wait until tomorrow night (at 6pm AEST) to see what I am talking about. Social Interaction has updated in our modern society. What was once considered social a few decades ago is completely different to the modern conception of the idea. Technology like smartphones and sites like Facebook and Twitter have been some of the main causes for this update. Social interaction is adapting and we have just got to get with the times.

Source: http://instagram.heroku.com/users/gekkolife#p535214164077054847_490341153

No longer is the nightly phone call to friends normal, in fact it is nearly unheard of. I know a few people who find it weird when their friends call them. They find it easier to talk on Facebook or texting using their smartphones. This new age of technology has created a generation of people with social anxiety. There are more people now than ever before who find it easier to talk to people using Facebook or texting as they do not have to deal with any social awkwardness that can come with a face-to-face conversation. Of course, I am not saying this is an entirely bad thing, in fact it is improving social interaction in some ways. For one, people find it easier than ever before to communicate with people from far away and receive near-instant responses. It has also made it easier for people with social anxiety to communicate with others. It has also made it so much easier to catch up with people as people's lives are basically on sites like Facebook and Twitter. One look at a person's "wall" on Facebook can tell you so much about them and what they have been doing recently. You can see their likes, statuses, friends, information and relationship status. Of course, with nearly every positive there is a negative and this is no exception. People are losing their ability to communicate with people in person and so when it comes to times where they need to talk to someone face-to-face they lack the basic manners that you gain from experience. They miss out on all the social cues as they spend their lives in the digital world where you need to say what you are feeling as, unless you are Face-Timing, you cannot see the other person's face. Social interactions have indeed changed over the years, we have updated to version 2.0.

Check out tomorrow's post for a further look at one of my points and the inspiration behind these posts. See you tomorrow!

Annoying Things on Facebook

Facebook is one of those Social Media sites that allows for many people to post whatever they like, when they like and do what they like within reason. When this happens there are bound to be some annoyances circulating around. Add to that the millions of pages on Facebook and it just gets worse. Some times I go through my news feed and get so annoyed I just stop and leave Facebook. The worst part is that once one page posts a picture you check back later and every other page has either shared the photo or posted it themselves. That means if one annoying thing is posted by a page you can usually count on it circulating for the next few hours on all the different Facebook.

Image Source:

http://www.technobuffalo.com/2013/06/14/facebok-rss-reader-to-replace-google-reader-rumor/

One of the most annoying things I see on Facebook are those photos that pages post that have "like for...", "Comment for...", "Share for...." and "Ignore for..." where all the good ones are where you have to do something but where you do not have to do something it means you are doing something bad like killing someone, worshiping the devil or being a criminal/racist etcetera. It just really annoys me and sometimes there are even pages that are literally "like if you are Australian, ignore if you don't deserve to be one". I mean, come on! Why not make it any more obvious you are fishing for attention and it really is very annoying. Then there are those posts that are "Tag someone who..." and then goes on to say "is hot" or "thinks they are top dog" or something else and are accompanied with a picture relating to whatever they are. At first it was alright and they had some pretty good stuff that would make a person feel good. However, this just went on for so long that they soon became things no person would wish upon any of the their friends and only their darkest enemies. Now it is just really annoying and I just can not stand them anymore. Do not think I had forgotten about the people. Some pages also post some pictures with a mathematical equation on it that requires the use of order of operations to solve correctly and people continue getting the wrong answers, even when they are given just two answers to choose from. Then when people point out the order of operations they still get it wrong. I saw one person calling everyone else idiots because order of operations clearly meant solving the equation from the left. The worst part is most of the people getting the questions wrong are those above school age which is just incredibly annoying when they call everyone else idiots. Again, I am going to have to stop this post before this blog becomes one where you have to confirm you are over 18 before you can enter.

If Facebook is getting to you just change to a different website, see you tomorrow!

100th Post

Can you believe it? 100 posts already! It feels like only recently I started this when actually it was over 100 days ago (I may have missed a few dates at the start. In this time I have accrued two followers (don't forget you can also subscribe to posts via email or some other method through an option to the right) and have received over 3500 views! Thank you all so much guys because without the motivation your views gave me I may have actually deleted this blog a long time ago and I would have done nowhere near 30 posts, let alone 100! To the right you may have noticed a few recent changes in terms of additions (and I think one removal) in links. There is now a contact form so you can get in touch with me just through providing your email. Even if you do not want a reply you can just say something or a recommendation for this blog. I read all your feedback and am happy to receive them.

Image Source: 

http://lemonandlavendersblog.wordpress.com/2011/06/15/one-year-100-posts-8662-visitors-happy-bday-to-my-blog/

You may have also noticed a button on the top right that allows you to tweet this page or share it on Facebook. This is just to make it easier for people to share something they may find interesting. Below the contact form there is a +1 button which is the Google Plus version of the 'like' button or the 'retweet'. Again, this makes it easier for readers to share something they may find interesting. Below this there is a list of pages with links being to the official Facebook Page (I have something to announce about that below), my friend Xavier's Current Affairs Blog (which is really good by the way) and my qooh.me profile where you can anonymously ask me questions which only appear if I reply to them and I answer nearly all of my questions (even some of the inappropriate ones but I have boundaries) so get asking (if you want)! As I was saying earlier about email subscriptions there is a button below this where you fill in your email and then you get a notification when I post something new. All you need to do is go to your email and verify it was you who inputted the email information and then you will be the first to know when I post something new because I wait a little while before tweeting or sharing the link. Also, below this is a collection of my most popular posts and it is really interesting for me to see the order of the posts and some of them are really surprising and I would not have expected them to be there. Over the past few days one of my posts have gone from the least popular to the most popular and that really surprised me. Also, as always, I have added a translate feature below that so that you can change the language of the whole blog so other people who speak different languages can read it and then there are the archives so you can easily find a post from a while ago. So now you have no excuse as to why you have not checked out these features. I still am finding it hard to believe that I am at 100 posts but I am very happy with all of you, my readers, who motivate me to continue.

Image Source: http://canoedesign.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/milestone.html

Before I go I just want to bring your attention to my Facebook Page which will be an important part of my 100 posts celebration. Starting from today I am going to begin uploading all the photos I use in this blog (yes, I save all the ones I use) so that if you like a picture but are not sure which post it was you can just look through them and download the ones you want. This is also going to be good as I will have yet another back up of these images which add an extra layer to my blog. So be sure to check that out as part of my 100 posts celebration.

Don't be afraid to ask questions or give feedback, see you tomorrow for post number 101!

25 Random Questions Tag

So today I found these 25 random questions which is a tag or something. I found these questions here and so in today's post I am going to answer them. If you want to ask me a question then click on the link to the right that says Ask me Questions and it will link you to my Qooh.me account where you can anonymously ask me questions (you do not need an account). These questions will only show up if I reply to them and I promise to reply to all the appropriate questions. Enjoy and do not be afraid to ask!

Image Source: http://www.kingletas.com/2013/04/top-10-magento-questions-i-get.html

1) Do you have any pets?
Yes I have a dog, called Sandy, and two chickens which we keep in a chicken enclosure in the backyard. I don't actually think they have names except one which I think is called Daisy which we got off some friends of my mother.

2) Name three things that are physically close to you.
Let's have a look. There's my laptop, my Samsung Galaxy Ace Phone [just wanted to be exact] and a pillow. I am comfy so don't judge about the pillow!

3) What's the weather like right now?
Well, as it's Winter in Australia at the moment it is actually pretty cold for once. Although, knowing Melbourne's weather it will probably be something entirely different by the time I go to bed. Thank the lord we have a fire place to warm us up.

4) Do you drive? If so, have you crashed?
Well I only got my Learners Permit on May 10 (I aced the test by the way [100%]) and so have only just begun to learn how to drive. I have not had any accidents whatsoever so fingers crossed I do not have one any time soon.

5) What time did you wake up this morning?
I woke up at 7 am and practiced my Piano for thirty minutes before getting ready for school. When I say 7 am I actually mean 7:10 am by the time I actually get out of bed.

6) When was the last time you showered?
Weird question but just over an hour ago actually. Moving on...

7) What was the last movie that I saw?
Great, now I have to use my horrible memory. Let's think... the last one I can remember seeing was Iron Man 3 with my friends for my Birthday but I have probably watched a movie since then. Nope, can't think of anything. See how bad my memory is.

8) What does your last message say?
My last text message reads "I told u last night!!!!!" which was me getting angry at my Dad because he forgot what time I finished after String Ensemble tonight after school. Yeah, that really shows my social life. My last message is to my father, great.

9) What is your ringtone?
I am actually not sure, wait a second and I'll call myself. Yeah, this is going to sound bad. It is actually Lady Gaga's Edge of Glory. It is not as bad as some people. A friend in my class has My Heart Will Go On as his ring tone and someone rang him during class and it really was a funny time. Wow, we have some good times in our class.

10) Have you ever been to a different country?
I have only ever left the country once and that was to go to America at the end of 2009 and the start of 2010. It was really cool and we went to Anaheim, California and Orlando, Florida. It was a really great experience (except for the plane rides, 17 hours one way is too much [thank the lord I was not going to Europe (24 damn hours on a plane)]).

11) Do you like Sushi?
Short question calls for a short answer. No.

12) Where do you buy your groceries?
Depends on where the specials are. Sometimes we get things at Woolworths, Coles, Aldi, IGA or even NQR. It all depends on what we need and if there are any specials. These questions are starting to sound very stalker-y (yeah, I made up a word).

13) Have you ever taken medication to help you sleep faster?
Yeah, I am always popping them pills to help me sleep. No, I do not actually. Although I wish I did because then I would not have to try to fall asleep through all the noise my brothers make.

14) How many siblings do you have?
I have two older brothers, Matthew and Joshua. Matthew is 22 and Joshua is turning 18 in November.

15) Do you have a desktop computer or a laptop?
We have two desktop computers and I have a school laptop which I use. I am probably going to ask for a laptop this Christmas as I can only use the school laptop throughout the school year and have to give it back at the end of each year. This means no laptop over the Summer holidays (cue rain and On my Own music).

16) How old will you be turning on your next birthday?
Next May I will be turning 17, wow, that sounds weird.

17) Do you wear contacts or glasses?
I wear glasses because we cannot all have perfect vision. I wish I did have perfect vision though. I do not think I will ever use contacts because I just can not bear to put any fingers near my eyes. It just really freaks me out because I think I am going to poke it. Glasses for the win!

18) Do you colour your hair?
No, I do not colour my hair. That was a very interesting answer.

19) Tell me something you are planning to do today?
Okay, now this just sounds like a stalker. But I guess since it's a question. Well, it is already 7:30 pm and so there is not a lot of time left before I go to bed but my plans for the rest of the night are: finish this post, study for Maths Methods and watch tonight's episode of Revenge.

20) When was the last time you cried?
Just two seconds ago when I read some of these answers. I should re-title this post the tragic life of a Lukey. Seriously though, I do not remember the last time I cried, probably when I watched the Catching Fire teaser trailer when it came out. I mean, President Snow just wanted to be like, why can't anyone see that? Why?

21) What is your perfect pizza topping?
This is going to sound bland but I prefer just pineapple, ham and cheese on my pizza. Hawaiian all the way!

22) Which do you prefer, hamburger or cheeseburger?
I am not actually sure but I think it would probably be the cheeseburger because I like cheese. Just saying, I like cheese and would probably therefore prefer a cheeseburger over a hamburger.

23) Have you ever had an all-nighter?
I have had one all-nighter in my 16 years of life and that was when I stayed over at a friend's house when I was 12. So you see I live the life, going to bed at a reasonable hour, totally rebel.

24) What is your eye colour?
I think my eye colour is hazel, emphasis on I think.

25) Can you taste the difference between Pepsi and Coke?
I do not actually drink any of those full-sugar soft drinks but I have heard that Pepsi is supposed to be sweeter. I do know that Pepsi Max is a whole lot stronger than Diet Coke and Coke Zero. But Pepsi Max is actually a pretty strong drink.

Image Source: https://www.fluentstream.com/5-questions-to-ask/

Well, that is all for today and if you read through all the way to here then good for you. If you want to answer some of these questions in the comments or on your own blog or Facebook or whatever then feel free to do so. Just to reiterate you can ask me anonymous questions via the link on the right that says Ask me Questions. I will read them and reply to all the appropriate ones. Do not be afraid to ask!

May the odds be ever in your favour,see you tomorrow!

Vandalism

What do we really stand to gain through vandalism? What could possible justify the thoughtless destruction that vandals cause every day? When was the last time you went on a train and looked through a window with no marks on it whatsoever? When was the last time you went into the city and did not see any graffiti? Vandalism costs millions to the government every year and whose money does the Government use to pay for this? The taxpayers' of course! Imagine how much more money could be spent on education and health if vandalism was not a factor. Imagine the better resources our great country could have. It is the selfish minority that ruin it for the innocent majority, as it usually is.

Image Source: http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/metro%20trains?before=21

Vandalism comes in many different forms all of which destroy the natural beauty of the resources around us. Imagine a red-brick wall, just a plain one. Imagine all the possibilities. It could become a mural, a public noticeboard or even something displaying community spirit. Now imagine this plain brick wall tarnished with the filth that is graffiti. Imagine all the possibilities now lost due to one selfish act of vandalism. Now imagine a simple playground for children. A playground always full of families out for a fun time of swings, slides and climbing. Imagine the social skills the children would develop when playing with other children their age. Now imagine during the night such a community hub was violated with the impurity of foul language an infant should never know, or the lick of flames burning away the innocence of the children who once enjoyed this place. Vandalism is diverse but has the same affect, it is violating and repugnant. It steals the innocence of youth and destroys the spirit of a community. Vandalism is really one selfish, disgusting act.

Image Source: http://www.niagarathisweek.com/print/187411

Vandalism tears communities apart and can have devastating affects on everyone in it. Imagine all the trains put out of service due to vandalism. Imagine all the playgrounds ruined by the selfish acts of the few. Imagine the innocence of millions of children been ripped away from them as they are forced to face the harsh realities of life too soon. Imagine members of the community turning against each other and priceless community gems lost in fires or covered in graffiti. Imagine a world where one could walk down one city block without seeing any graffiti. It's hard to imagine such a world isn't it? It shouldn't be so hard but it is because of the vandalism in the community. So next time you think of vandalism also think of who really feels the full affect of such an act. Vandalism is perverse and should never occur.

Image Source: 

http://local.stv.tv/coatbridge/news/204013-signalling-problem-due-to-vandalism-disrupts-train-services/

May the odds be ever in your favour, see you tomorrow!

Dumb Ways To Die

So today I just wanted to talk about the best Public Safety Message of all time, Dumb Ways to Die, by our very own Metro Melbourne! I know this is old news but I just wanted to share the results of the most shared  public safety announcement ever. If you don't know what it is click on the link on the words Dumb Ways to Die anywhere it is found in this post.

Dumb Ways to Die is a public service announcement for Metro Trains Melbourne to promote rail safety. It has become viral due to social media and video sharing. The campaign was devised by Melbourne Advertising Agency McCann. It appeared in Newspapers, Radio, outdoor advertising, on social media sites (such as Tumblr [that is spelt correctly] and Instagram) and throughout the Metro Trains system. It was estimated by McCann that within two weeks it had generated at least $50 million worth of global media value and had appeared in over 700 media stories around the World for a fraction of the cost of one TV ad. Metro had estimated it had resulted in a decrease of 30% in near-miss incidents on the Metro train network.


An animated music video for Dumb Ways to Die was uploaded to YouTube on the 14th November 2012 and was made Public two days later. It features a cast of interesting characters killing themselves in ways that get funnier over the course of the video. Three characters are killed by trains in the video and within 2 days it had received 2.1 million viewers and within two weeks it had reached over 28 million views. Currently it sits on just over 40 million views. It has spawned numerous covers and parodies and has been received well around the globe.

When Dumb Ways to Die was released on iTunes 50% of the cost of making the song was covered by iTunes downloads in just three weeks! Dumb Ways to Die SoundCloud free downloads (advertised by the campaign website) has reached over 155, 000 downloads! On iTunes the song reached top ten in many countries and the song was played for free on Radio due to its popularity. This song was also played on radio stations around the globe where Dumb Ways to Die was popular.

Dumb Ways to Die has become the most viewed Public Safety Announcement and remember, be safe around trains!

May the odds be ever in your favour around trains, see you tomorrow!

Google Plus

I have to come clean about something, I love to use Google Plus! I said it, come at me. I like to use Google Plus and I really like it! By the way, do you know if you type in Google with a lower case 'g' Google chrome spell-check says it is wrong. Just saying, I think there is some connection between Google and Google Chrome I just haven't worked it out yet. Maybe its the colour scheme...

Anyway, so I really like to use Google Plus and part of the reason behind that is that it isn't blocked by those annoying Internet blockers from school and work because it is Google! So that means we can socialise during class, after we've finished our work of course (I'm a good student), and the teacher has no idea what we are doing. It also helps because Google Plus has this thing called 'Hangouts' which is sort of like Skype in that you use your webcam to talk to other people through the internet. This helps because you can change it so that it shows what is on your screen which really helped us during Humanities recently when we were working as a group and we could just show each other what we had done rather than having to discuss it several times. It also helped when searching for data (plus if the teacher was helping one of the students we could follow along) because it was really hard to find what we were looking for. So I find Google Plus hangouts a great way to share work (and socialise outside of school) without having to download a program (such as Skype) and having to create some other account because we can just use our Google account. Did you know you can also create a live YouTube broadcast through Google Plus Hangouts?

I also like Google Plus because you can play games on it even though I don't use this feature that much. It's just good to know its there. There is also a chat option too (like on Facebook) which we use sometimes in school to share information we typed instead of dictating it and repeating each sentence five times. It's quicker to copy and paste. It really is a great site and I just can't see why others don't like it as much, at least it isn't like MySpace or something, it's Google. There are also other people that are on here (friends, celebrities, pages for shows and other stuff) and you can make pages like on Facebook and you can add pages and people into Circles (or groups) such as Friends, Art, School, Work, Family, Celebrities etcetera. So I like Google Plus and I am not afraid to say it.