AS HE OGLED, he googled. You notice how google is no longer just a noun, but a verb? The first sentence was given to three students of mine, asking them to identify the verbs.
All three selected googled but none of the three knew the word ogle. (Although, to be fair, one of them knew the word “Bogle” but that was perhaps because his grandfather was Bogle Dancer from Jamaica.) My three students, all aged 13, are avid googlers. They google (and ogle) a lot. On their cellphones.
I have to admit, while opposed to the use of cellphones in schools, my temperament was tempered this week by Minister Stephen Lashley’s suggestion to “regulate” and not totally ban cellphone usage in schools. Kinda like how Jamaica has decriminalised small amounts of ganja but not legalised marijuana as a “free for all”, according to The Guardian. Same logic base, different topic.
Anyway, back to technological advancements. We’ve advanced so much that we’ve gone back to basics. Well, with the Amazon example, at least. After years of convincing consumers that online purchase of books is better than visiting say, your nearest Pages bookstore, Amazon opened its own brick and mortar store last week.
Ridicule
For years, the online giant has been ridiculing physical bookshops, stating that they were a “waste of real estate” and accused the stores of passing on rental costs to their customers.
In fact, Amazon ridiculed bookstores for not getting with the times, blamed them for the rising cost of education in the world and continued to shoot at the stores to try to ensure their demise. Kinda like how a ruling party would blame, attack and cast aspersions, but then look to a certain economist as a model. Same logic base, different topic.
But on the same topic of technology; you know this Apple feature called Facetime? For those of you in a Galaxy far away, who may not know about Facetime, it is like Skype, where you make calls, from iPhone to iPhone. So, as soon as you “facetime” someone, they can see you on the screen when they answer your call.
Well, I was answering a call (of nature) and somehow the gadget in my pocket dialled a colleague, with the facetime feature.
As I heard the strange tinkle, I pulled the phone from my pocket. And there he was – my colleague, John – staring me in the face, as I sat comfortably in the john. Or, to be nice, let me say, loo. (Lennox Loo, please don’t be offended) “Hey, Vee, what’s up?”
“Just sitting here, waiting for something to happen.”
“You’re waiting for Godot, or what?”
Same logic base, different topic.
Veoma Ali is an author, broadcaster, advertising exec and most important, a karaoke lover.