Welcome back Belly

During February the telephone exchange was burnt out by bushfires and for two long weeks I had no land line or internet.

While my agent contacts me by mobile for any auditions or work, they always follow-up with emails detailing set location, times and other pertinent info.

I also conduct my personal banking and other contacts with companies via the internet.

Not to mention all my friends with whom I keep connected with emails.

So I guess my answer is no, I require the net for business purposes and I need the net for my friends and the challenges of writing posts for OLO and other sites.

Hey Belly, glad to see that your absence was technology related.

I could live without it but would miss the freedom from geography it brings. I love the ability to exchange learnings with people who have similar interests it brings. I'm working on a couple of hobby related projects at the moment and neither of them are likely to be things where people in my day to day life are likely to be able to share idea's. The web lets me connect with others doing similar things and exchange notes, avoid some of the mistakes others have already made etc.

I love the ability to source bit's and pieces from around the world, rarely being constrained by "we don't have that but we might be able to get it from our supplier in Sydney, that will be at least 4 weeks". Now a short exchange on the web and a paypal transaction and a part from the other side of the world is here within a week or so.

I can live without it but I'd rather not.

R0bert

Dear Belly,

Welcome Back! We've missed you heaps, and it was Forrest
who managed to reassure us that you were allright, Bless Him.
Sorry to hear about your computer problems - but relieved
that things finally worked out.

Could I live without the web? Yes. I can live the web,
without books, music, art, the theatre,
all the things that make life interesting.
But would I want to?
No! Because I enjoy the mental stimulation -
having access to such a variety of information and people,
at the press of a few buttons. I can access a variety of topics
and communicate with people in far away places in an instant.
It makes life far more interesting,
as well as being educational.

As for OLO - well I definitely would
miss so many great posters that It's been my
privilege to connect with in cyber space.

I'm glad you're back Belly, and may we
all continue posting for years.

I could not live without the web. I could exist but it would not be a life. The ability to show what can be done and make friends that the web affords, the way that ideas can be shared instantly, immensely enhances the quality of life, and raises the levels of enjoyment to be had from life. Living in Sydney the place is full of very smart technical people so a simple phone call to a mate and the doctor fixes my PC. Having been a professional manager all my life, I have a backup PC for when I travel so that I am never isolated.

I have not as yet been able to turn it into a fortune, but if the group I am involved with in Sydney knocks off Land Tax, as I believe they will, Nathan Rees will either have to sack his lawyers and restore the Supreme Court as the High Court has said he must, or leave like Iemma did. The States have a way of making heaps of money, even without Land Tax, more than enough to make up the two billion dollar black hole they are facing when it goes, but a few sacred cows and bulls are going to have to be sacrificed.

How many of you know the story of Elijah and the bulls. Elijah was one Prophet, and Baal had four hundred. Elijah was told to have a competition. Two bulls were killed and placed upon a pile of sticks, and the two competing Gods, were given one each. The Baal prophets worked all day, but nothing happened. Elijah said, Are you finished. When they said yes, he took water and soaked the wood. He stepped back and Zappo. The whole pile was turned to ashes. He then had the four hundred prophets killed for pretending. ( I Kings:17)

The story continues but the moral remains. Don’t mess with God. My job, tying the Australian Constitution back to its roots in the Holy Bible is possible because of the web. I am blessed as promised in the 23rd Psalm

i used to be one of them protestors you see on the news[occasionally]camping rough..doing politics ,govt lobby and law[as the..'defendant']it was a huge pain..[but i was with 'real' people]

in my two years of web activism.. i like to think i do what i chose to do more affectivly than doing the real activism on the road,..but that might just be because i sleep in my own bed at night,..dont need to buy masses of news papers,books and magizines to get my info,and can comment in real time now..[straight from my bed...lol]

yeah i would miss the net..[but arnt prepared to pay the earth for acces to it]..am sort of looking forward to net 2..so i can hit the road again..[and face of..face to face with those criminals we elect].

yeah i lived without it before..[and am well prepared to do it all again]..but this time i will do it better..now im..[sort of]..web literate,..i know anything i need is as near as a web cafe,next time i will be ready to do my own publishing and vidio straight on to the web

It is good that you're back, Belly. You were such a regular poster, that it became a valid concern that something was amiss. I too had started to wonder what was happening. But Poirot was on the job!!; and all is good.....well, sort of.
____________

I can live without the 'net and plan to do so if this contraption gets mortally ill. I won't replace it.

I know the merits of it, they are undeniable. Thankfully we can 'compare notes' with folk all over the world. That has been a gigantic step for democracy in my view.

But it has allowed pedophilia to flourish. I HATE that more than anything else.

And I also believe it is literally addictive. It certainly is for me, and takes up far to much of my time, which could be more valuably spent elsewhere.

I also rate it as the most flawed technology of any modern day invention.

So when it's time; time is up!