Invasion of the Idiots

Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke in a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community. Then they were quickly silenced, but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots.

Umberto Eco

What social media does is give more weight, more value to the people who shout loudest and who utter the more extreme views.

John Carlin

Research done via YouTube is not “your own research”. It’s an algorithm at play that handcuffs us to our worst cognitive biases.

Sarah Wilson

Spotify: why, why, why?

I'm getting quite sick of a computer telling me what it thinks I should be listening to. It just leads to Muzac 'at scale'. Even if the genre is 'heavy metal', I still end up with music to forget about. I guess that's what happens when we pay a marketing organisation to tell us what we want.

And while we're at it, same with streaming services like Amazon Prime. 'Recommended for you' is another version of them selling us shows. That's what they get paid to do. And we're lead to believe that Netflix or whoever are doing something special with their algorithm and have worked out how to please us, have profiled us. Well they have. They've profiled us to death in order to sell us stuff irrespective of whether we want it, or is useful, or we even like it.

The journey, that's what it's all about so they say, whoever 'they' are. Please Mr Ai, let me find my own listening pleasure. Let me savour the search, get excited with the find.

To Ai and all those other marketing organisations like Facebook and Google:
I don't want you
I don't need you
and there ain't no way I'm ever going to love you

4th June 2025

Old People

Why don’t old people know how to handle their social media? Young people seem to be able to deal with it quite happily, using it to look at photos of themselves or their friends or their friend’s dogs, making inane comments about the benefits of various moisturises and/or how silly their boss looks in his old-fashioned Levi’s.

But old people seem to believe what’s on the screen in front of them. Curious isn’t it? And this at a time when anyone sitting on the bedroom floor with a laptop can say anything they like irrespective of the veracity of their post. You see, if they get enough followers they will be able to make a living out of it … and what better way to get followers than make stuff up.

Like all social media, YouTube is a sales algorithm device. A simple example paints the picture. Search for Deep Purple, and YouTube offers some viewing options at the side of the page. Keep clicking and pretty soon the only options on the side of the page are Deep Purple. No harm done, in fact it’s fantastic if you like Deep Purple or whatever actress you want to know about. There’s a mountain of stuff in You Tube so it needs to be curated, and what better device to do that than a computer algorithm.

Search for information to bet your life on however, and you get the equivalent of a three year old kid dealing out cards with pretty pictures on the back, in order of the pretty pictures: cats to the left, dogs to the right. After a while all you get is what you already believed, reinforced 100 fold with no resistance, no comparisons, no nuance … often no facts, spreading doubt, lies, and uncertainty.

Pretty soon you know that your intuition is correct and start believing your beliefs. So does the other side. You are now officially radicalised, even if it’s only about a diet. Societal division is born and cemented. Civil war is not far away.

You Tube knows that Donald Trump is the saviour, Donald Trump is a fascist, blueberries will cure your cancer, if you eat enough goji berries you will become as intelligent as Elon Musk, and the best thing is that you can learn how to walk on water.

So rather than learning from experts, place your trust in family and friends … they will offer you a cup of tea, listen to you, and agree with you ... which is about the same as You Tube.

Orange, NSW. 23rd April 2025

Epi-fanny

I've often wondered why public toilets in various places and in this case caravan parks, have such rubbish toilet paper. I mean it's not a big value item. It could all be sorted out by a trip down to Woolies with petty cash, however ...

When I was younger, so much younger than today, the camping area toilet paper of choice was wax coated. I can only think this was to discourage you from using it because if you've smeared once, you don't want to go there again.

This was similar to my mother's solution in order to reduce expenditure in our outhouse. Back in those days (late '50s, early '60s), apples came in large wooden boxes with each apple wrapped in squares of green wax paper. Simple solution; unwrap each apple, flatten out the wax paper, and stick them on a nail in the wall of the toilet, just next to the Huntsman spider. Not as good as a newspaper, but it was free and an efficient use of resources.

The paper in Mallacoota amenities Block 2 is standard fare for public toilets nowadays. It's in a big plastic container as a endless roll (until you run out), without perforations or any practical means of tearing. Consequently you end up with a lot of it on the floor as each person attempts to tear it off and fails. It's also extremely thin and so a double or even triple fold is required ... consternation whilst in a vulnerable position.

I was thinking, why should it be so hard? What's the problem with standard two or three ply on a normal toilet roll holder. It can't be that expensive.

Wonboyn's caravan park had standard Sorbent rolls but mounted sideways in what can only be described as a metal canister reminiscent of Silence Of The Lambs. You had to stick your finger through an opening and bat the toilet roll round until you found the end, then thread it our through the opening hoping it didn't tear off at the perforations ... which it did anyway.

And then I worked it out. The wax paper smear, the endless roll on the floor, the rat in a maze trick ... were all designed to stop you stealing it.

Problem solved, but it's a poor excuse for a basic human right.

Mallacoota - 22nd February 2024

Naked Excitement

We arrived in Mount Gambier in a storm, and had a look at some pretty useless caravan parks. Finally settled on the Pine Country Caravan Park that is nicely situated.

Most of the powered sites were occupied and looked a lot like the Western Sydney developments you see on the tele, just really big houses on really small blocks, no room for a backyard cricket match. So we sojourned to the unpowered sites that had 79 free spaces out of 80 sites. Plenty to choose from.

There are other sections as well: there's the alpaca section with oddly shaped small ponies eating grass, the glamping section with their exclusive toilet blocks, and then the 'adults only' section. We chose a spot with a good view to the later.

In the morning I'm expecting to see grey nomads walking to the amenities with a cake of soap, a towel, and nothing else. Can't wait.

Mount Gambier - 26th May 2025

Not Another Beach Holiday

What's the point of going to a beach side camping ground just to sit and look at the caravan next to you, walk to the beach, pay far too much for everything, when you can stay at home and get the lot and more without the interference of a bunch of caravans around you 2 metres away? And let's not start on about the amenities blocks. Let's leave that for people who live in the suburbs or on a farm out west and deserve a beach holiday.

No, we found a private 'off grid' camp site amongst the gumtrees on the Murrumbidgee the best. I don't know how long it would be fun before wanting to go and look for Woolworths ... but it's worth a try.

Mystery Bay - 11th March 2024

The Kindness Of Strangers

Driving along the A1 east of Rosedale at 90km/h with trucks and cars all around doing 110, the caravan instantly bumped and grinded so we pulled over. We couldn't pull off the road any further because of the safety barrier and were stuck on the edge which was big enough for the caravan and that's all. The road was big, two lanes each way, and busy.

Beatry jumped to the role of risk management, but after some negotiation I was allowed to have a look at the traffic side of the caravan where the problem was. The tyre was shredded and down to the rim. I wondered how we got out of the event so easily. There was no fishtailing or swerving or rolling over an embankment that had been my expectation if something like this happened. Nope, the rig simply pulled to a stop in a straight line. Maybe the anti-swerve device really does work.

After a few decades of being convinced that humans are inherently selfish and violent, I was forced into a new perspective.

The two cars behind us pulled up immediately and jumped out. The young woman in the first car ran back to see if we were OK, because as she said, these events can be very frightening. I had to think about it, but we assured her we were OK and thanked her very much.

The second car had her father in it, Steve, and they organised him to drive up the road and come back and park with his flashing lights on as a warning to cars and trucks passing at 110kms. She left to pick up her kid from school.

Well, Steve found a road crew along the way and pretty soon there was a big truck with a large flashing arrow behind us. Beatry, in her role as Risk Manager, went to the fellow in the truck with the large flashing arrow and asked if he had any witches hats. He got straight on to the two-way and lickety split, a bright young woman in another ute turned up with witches hats, and stood in a hi-vis vest facing the traffic for us.

We had all the gear, but neither Steve nor I could work out how to get the jack out of the caravan locker, so he went and got his own. He got worried about how heavy the caravan was and the rating on his jack. His jack was only rated to 1.8 tonne and I said the caravan was 2 tonne. The bright young woman leaned over his shoulder and said "You're only lifting half of it". But Steve wasn't happy, so I unscrewed our jack bracket and extracted it by force, and we proceeded to change the tyre.

With risk management now the domain of the bright young woman and the bloke sitting in the truck with the huge flashing arrow, Beatry took on the role of liaison officer and worked out that these two were staying till we were on our way ... as a matter of fact we were the first to leave, and that included Steve.

Steve had no more skills than us, but he stayed and made sure we were OK and on the road again. As he said, he only had an appointment for a cup of tea in Bairnsdale. I shook his hand with the words, "My hands are filthy, and yours will be too."

Beatry, as liaison officer is now writing to the roadworks company to thank them.

We are on the shore of Lake Wellington with no one around and an abundance of natural beauty. Alive and well and contemplating the kindness of strangers.

Marlay Point - 11th June 2025

Some Things I Have Learnt

1) The first thing I learnt is that Americans spell 'learnt' as 'learned'.
2) Some people are interesting to talk to, but most aren't. I'm a bit tired of 'Where are you from?' or 'Where are you going to?' Neither of those answers interest me. I really don't care where they are from or where they are going. I'm probably never going to see them again, anyway.

I had a good conversation with a fellow the other day, and by the end of it neither of us knew where the other person was from or even what their name was.

I don't know what the reason is, but I have some clues:
* some people just like to hear themselves talk
* some people just say what they think they aught to say
* some people simply fill in the empty space
* some people 'engage' (I know it's an oft used phrase, but it sort of fits). These people enter into the relationship, even though it is destined to be quite short

... to amuse and be amused ... that's what conversation should be about.

3) And while it may not seem important to a lot of people, have you really spent a lot of time staring at the back of the door of a caravan park amenities cubicle?

I'm talking about those little chromed door knob type catches that you turn to secure the toilet door. Did you know that they come in two varieties? One for the left hung door, and a different one for the right. The left hung door (looking from the throne) has a clockwise turn to set the slider shut. It's a natural feel, turning over and out to secure your privacy. The right hung door version has an anti-clockwise movement to achieve the same effect.

Understanding this in a muscle memory sense can be vital in the case you need a quick entry, as there's enough going on without having to work out why the door isn't staying closed.

It seems a lot of caravan park maintenance persons haven't worked out these variations either, so left can be right and right can be left, leaving you with a consternation when you least need it.

ROBE, SA - 31st May 2025