Social networking

I've been looking at iYomu since it was in beta and so far it's been quite an interesting experience - more so than Bebo.

I signed up with Bebo (I've not tried Facebook or myspace) just to see what all the fuss was about but I'm a little outside their target market. I am, however, smack in the middle of iYomu's target market.

The tools are reasonably easy to use and the community is developing quite well even at this early stage. The same people seem to be popping up in the same forums I visit but that is the idea - people with similar interests sharing ideas, etc.

I won't be spending large amounts of time there - I spend enough time on the computer as it is - but I'll keep checking what's going on and putting in my two cents-worth now and again.

technorati tags:social, networking, iYomu, Bebo, Facebook, myspace

Swaying economies

The media seems to be making out that we're heading into a recession, house prices are tumbling and doom and gloom is upon us. This is an example of the media creating what it reports. If readers/viewers/listeners believe the media they tend to act accordingly and things happen faster than they should.

A friend of mine once went for a helicopter test flight (to see if he could win free lessons). One of the things he had to do was hover and hold the helicopter steady. What happens (to the inexperienced) is that the helicopter starts to drift so the pilot corrects. Usually this correction is slightly too much because the effect is not immediate. They then correct in the opposite direction once the initial correction starts to take effect and so on. The result is a swaying (or seesaw) effect.

I believe this swaying effect is now taking place in our economy. I have noticed it particularly with house sales as we are both selling and looking to buy elsewhere. It is easy to believe that prices will tumble so those really keen to sell are dropping their price to allow a quick sale. Buyers are expecting prices to drop so they are aggressively negotiating.

This effect will slow then swing in the other direction for a while - back and forth, back and forth.

It could be a bumpy ride but not disastrous. The main warning is don't get in too much debt. We will probably downgrade on house value so that we carry less debt (hopefully even none).

technorati tags:economy, predictions, helicopters, seesaw

Disorganized chaos

My family and I went up Mt Ruapehu (Whakapapa ski-field) last Saturday to see what the conditions were like. Had they been better we would have tried to get some skiing in.

The weather was deteriorating and instead of the expected rain it began to snow. This caused some rather disastrous events. Over the loudspeakers we heard an announcement for anyone who had a two-wheel drive car to move it further down the mountain. Those that tried to move their cars or to leave the mountain often did so - sideways. Cars were sliding into other cars or off the road. In amongst all this some clown in a plough decided to try and break the land speed record while clearing the road of snow. The result was snow flying all over pedestrians, road cones (not snow cones) narrowly missing pedestrians and vehicles, and the plough itself coming close to removing everyone and everything from the mountain in a few quick runs.

We managed to quietly sneak away in our newly-tyred 4WD and head off to the hot pools - much better idea.